The cicadas are so whiny this year, Wasabi thought to himself as he wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. Then he opened the door and walked into Siren.
“Welcome, welcome!” called Youko, dressed in her employee uniform and carrying an empty tray under her arm. Then she looked over her shoulder, and when she saw who it was, her face lit up. “What the heck? What are you doing here?”
“Mom told me you started working here part-time, and…I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Hey, boss! I’m going on break!”
Are you allowed to decide that for yourself? he wondered, mildly perplexed. But thankfully, the manager seemed like a pretty chill guy. He nodded his assent with a smile.
“Here, drink up,” said Youko as she brought Wasabi the daily special. Together, they sat down at a table by the windows. “So what brings you all the way here?”
For a moment he debated how to broach the subject, but then she beat him to the punch. “Relax, Wasabi. You’re fine just the way you are.”
“Uh, Youko-chan…?”
“Oniichan said as much himself, right? Just cheer up.”
Evidently she had jumped to the wrong conclusion.
“Actually, no, uh, this isn’t about my job.”
“It’s not?”
“No. It’s about…Hinako-san.”
The instant her name left his lips, Youko’s mood took a nosedive. “Oh, I see,” she spat, propping her chin on her elbow in a blatant display of disinterest.
“She’s acting weird lately,” he continued.
“So what? She’s always been weird.”
“She’s been talking to her water bottle. And walking around town with Senpai’s inflatable porpoise. It’s like…like she thinks the water is him.”
Wasabi had first noticed this during hose drills the other day, when he heard Hinako say to her water bottle: Look, Minato! They’re doing drills! Then, a few days later, he spotted her on the street, walking hand in hand with Minato’s inflatable porpoise in a Hawaiian shirt. He didn’t know if she was mentally unbalanced or what, but something was clearly wrong… So from that day forward, he’d spent each weekend checking in on her.
One time, Hinako and the porpoise went rowing in the pond at the park—Hinako did all the rowing herself. Worse, she talked to the thing like it was alive. Definitely not something a sane person would do! Not only that, she even took it onto the train with her, complete with a packed lunch, fully ignoring all the weird looks she got. (Then, when she started playing card games with it, they all averted their eyes.)
“You’ve been stalking her?!” Youko scoffed, scandalized. But that was the furthest thing from Wasabi’s intention.
“I was just…worried…”
“Why?”
“Good question… I mean, Senpai was always watching her from the station roof, so I started watching her too, and…the next thing I knew, I… But she was his girlfriend, so…”
Youko listened to this awkward confession with her lips curled in disgust.
“Er, sorry, I’m going off-topic! The point is, uh, I’m worried about her current condition… Really, really worried…”
“How stupid are you?”
“Huh?!”
“If you’re so worried about her, then tell her! To her face! You’re in love with her, right? So why are you telling me?!”
Wasabi couldn’t argue with this. It was an extremely good point.
“But just so you know, dating is for squares!” She slammed her hands on the table and jumped to her feet. “Hey, boss! My break’s over!”
And with that, she stormed off…leaving Wasabi alone at the table, hanging his head.