After we’d enjoyed the feast, I headed home.
Along the way, I took out my now-much-lighter wallet. I’d considered buying a vending machine coffee on the way home, but I had so little money left that I hesitated even to do that. Where had my Yukichi and Higuchi bills gone?
“Too expensive. But the flavor matched the price,” I muttered as I put my wallet away again. How much had I spent just today? As a student living alone, I didn’t even want to imagine it.
It would be one thing if all these expenses were because of something like Christmas, but today was just a regular day. I shuddered. The buffet didn’t serve food that you’d find at any old restaurant—it was all stuff that would already be pretty expensive on its own. Yet I’d gotten to eat as much of those delicacies as I wanted, so maybe I should be happy that my wallet had anything left in it at all.
“Can’t even buy a coffee, though…” I moaned pathetically and continued on my way home for real this time.
Looks like I’m not getting that gaming console I wanted this month.
When my apartment came into view, I noticed that the lights were on in my room. Shinohara had said that she’d celebrate her birthday with friends today, but maybe they were finished by now.
We’re finishing early today, so leave a key in the mailbox for me!
I’d received that message this morning. I wasn’t super worried about thieves breaking into my apartment, so I’d agreed without much thought and did as she demanded.
The time was 10:30 p.m. I didn’t know what she was doing this late at night. Probably lazing around and reading manga in my room, or something.
I climbed the creaking stairs and stood in front of the door. It wasn’t the shabbiest of apartments, but it was old, and I was on the second floor. When I opened the door and said, “Hi, I’m home,” I was greeted by the sound of my TV.
A familiar face peeked out from the other end of the hallway. Shinohara had tied her hair up into a loose ponytail. “Oh, hi! Welcome home.”
“Thanks. What have you been doing all this time?”
“Watching TV, obviously,” she answered and changed the channel she was watching. A woman receiving an interview suddenly swapped to a news program.
“Oh? Like what?”
“Secret. Never probe into a girl’s secrets.”
“I’m not really probing. Here, gimme the remote.”
“Ah!”
I took the remote and randomly flipped through channels until I was back at the woman from before. The caption on the top-left read, When do you find yourself wanting a boyfriend?, suggesting that it was a girls’ talk program.
“Wow. I’m surprised you watch girly stuff like this.”
“Aah! You’re ‘surprised’? That’s just mean!”
“Why were you watching this?” I asked. Shinohara averted her eyes nervously. “Well, if you don’t wanna answer, that’s fine. Anyway, today…”
“I was just wondering…if I’m out of touch.”
“Oh, you answered. Huh? What made you feel that way?”
“Argh, you’re being so cold! It took a lot of courage to say that to you!” She tried to glare at me, but she was just too cute for it to have any effect. “You know how I used to date Motosaka-senpai? Well, all that stuff made me wonder if I’m out of touch with normal people.”
“Huh. Awfully late to start wondering about something like that.”
Whether you were out of touch with the world depended so much on the environment you grew up in. It wasn’t really something you could figure out in one day. I’d say that she did have odd views from my personal perspective of common sense, but that was by no means a bad thing. It was just unusual to me.
“I told my friends that we broke up. We split last month, so the news was late to arrive, but I wanted to tell them directly.”
“Yeah? How’d they react?”
“Well, they felt bad for me being cheated on, they hoped my next relationship would be a good one… Stuff like that.”
“Hmm. Sounds like you’ve got a good friend group.”
“Yeah, but…” She shook her head. “It feels weird when someone says that stuff to me. I feel bad I caused trouble for you all on Christmas, really, but I was genuinely just with him because I wanted to try doing couple stuff… Like, the cheating really didn’t hurt me. But my friends tried to console me all day. It was exhausting.” She shrugged.
“Is that why you called it so early on your birthday?”
“Yeah. I dated Motosaka-senpai because I wanted to go to couples’ events, and he cheated on me. It made me mad, but I’m not actually personally hurt. Is that out of touch?”
“Sounds like it.”
“I figured…” She laughed at my frank answer. Her laughter was carefree, as if hearing that hadn’t particularly bothered her.
“I think there are a lot of men who start dating for the same reason you did. But normally, they wouldn’t date someone unless they liked them at least a little, so they’d be hurt if they got cheated on.” Looking back, she had only ever said that she was annoyed that Motosaka had cheated on her. She’d never acted genuinely upset. “Why did you get mad when he cheated on you?”
“Because it annoyed me.”
“Why?”
“Because he made me look like a fool.”
“There’s no jealousy or anything about him giving so much attention to other girls? Like, it didn’t make you wonder if his love for you was a lie?”
“No. All I cared about was how stubbornly he tried to get me to go out with him and then once I finally agreed, he cheated on me. Nothing more, nothing less. Like, what do you take me for?” After saying that, she noticed my silence and looked at me uneasily. “Am I easy?”
Now, realizing her way of thinking was different from others, she’d started worrying if she was “easy.” I frankly didn’t have enough evidence to answer her, but I could at least reassure her she wasn’t that far out of touch.
“Everyone thinks their own way. For now, how about you just wait until you find someone else?”
“I did wait. I met him, and he cheated on me.”
“I see.”
“Why do you sound like you pity me now?”
“Oh, sorry. It must be rough.”
“I just told you that attitude is exhausting!” Shinohara puffed out her cheeks angrily. Then, she pulled her knees close and put her head down in them. “I’m really jealous of everyone else. Couples in love… I wish I could experience that.”
“I get that.” For a moment, Reina’s face flashed through my mind again. I tried to force it away by reaching into the bag that Ayaka had given me. “Here, I got a gift for you. It’s a wallet.”
“Huh?!” Shinohara let go of her knees and scooted closer. I smelled something sweet, and it wasn’t my shampoo.
“Happy birthday. I hope it was a good one.”
“Wow… My heart just skipped a beat.”