Three days later, I sat waiting for Takigawa-san at our usual karaoke lounge. I meant to talk to her right away, but it took me three days just to summon the courage to put a note in her shoe locker. My heart raced out of control the whole time I was writing it too. If only we were mutuals on social media, it would have been so much easier. Gah, I should have asked Kazune if I could add her… No, wait, their handles are probably different…
Would she even show up? I waited and waited, taking tiny sips of ginger ale. In front of me on the table was a second, empty glass. I had told the front desk clerk that I was expecting someone to meet me here, so it would be extra humiliating if she didn’t come. Doubly so after all the other times we came here together. It would probably look like I got dumped.
Actually, now that I thought about it—while it must have taken a tremendous amount of courage for a girl to invite a guy into a private room, didn’t the opposite give kind of…creeper vibes…?
Just then, the knob on the soundproof door rattled loudly as it turned, and…
“Hi there, Takigawa-san,” I greeted her.
“What do you want from me?”
Her voice was as cold as her glare. This was the Takigawa Kazune of my world, exactly as I always imagined her to be…but after spending all that time with Kazune, it seemed so strange and out of character.
“Look, just have a seat, okay? Oh, and the drinks are free. Want me to get you something?”
“No, I’m fine right here, thank you.”
She continued to stand at the entrance to the room, hand on the knob, suggesting she didn’t trust me as far as she could throw me. Did she have a bad time with parallel Koyomi? Surely they must have talked to each other at some point, right? Either way, there was no point in dragging this out, so I got straight to it.
“You recently spent a week in World 85, right?”
Her answer was hesitant. “Yes.”
“Did you talk to my parallel self there?”
“Yes.”
“Cool.”
So far, so good. So what was my next move? “What was I like?” Zero chance she wouldn’t think it was a stupid question. Man, who would have thought a friendless loser like me would ever casually strike up a conversation with Takigawa-san? This, too, I owed entirely to Kazune. As I was lost in thought, low-key hoping to flee from my awkward reality, the unthinkable happened. Takigawa-san started to say something to me.
“Um…” she said.
“Hm?”
“Did you…talk to her too? My…parallel self?” she stammered, averting her gaze. Evidently, she was just as curious as I was. Not that I blamed her at all. Maybe Koyomi told her about Kazune’s personality and she had the same reaction I did.
“Yeah, we came here every day after school. Talked about all sorts of stuff.”
“Like what?” Takigawa-san asked.
“Oh, you know. Parallel worlds, imaginary science… We sang some karaoke too. What else… Oh yeah, Kazune told me her relationship with Koyomi wasn’t going well.”
“Kazune?”
“Oh, uh…s-sorry. She told me to call her that because ‘the version of you from your world’ was too much of a mouthful. If it makes you uncomfortable, I’ll stop.”
“…No, it’s fine.” With a small sigh, she finally relented and sat down across from me at the table. She left the door ajar, however. “So…er… What was she like?”
“What?”
“You know… Kazune…”
She still refused to meet my gaze, but I suspected she was on the same page as me. I figured I’d answer her question before I asked her about Koyomi.
“Well, to put it simply… Gosh, how do I describe her…” I thought back to her face, her voice, her word choice. We only had a single week together, an hour per day max, and yet it felt like a truly special memory.
Probably because I’m in—
“She was really smart, and surprisingly friendly, and sometimes a total bully… Oh, and she was in love,” I said.
“Love…” With that, Takigawa-san hung her head even lower.
What was concealed beneath that curtain of hair—behind those glasses? What was on her mind? At this point, I felt a far stronger connection to Kazune 85 than I did to the version of her that actually belonged here.
“Hey, uh…” I decided to come right out and say it. “Look, it has nothing to do with the relationship we have in that parallel world, but…”
My heart was pounding so hard it threatened to burst out of my ribcage. The way I felt writing that note to her was nothing compared to this. But I had to say it. It was the entire reason I invited her here. She stared down wordlessly at the floor, waiting for me to continue, but I was struggling to find the courage to finish. Maybe I’d never be like Koyomi.
Then I remembered what Kazune had said to me previously. “If you’re angling for that, you’ll have to give it your best.”
Yeah, that’s it… Come on, me! I gotta give it my best shot!
And so, I forced the words out. “Would, uh… W-would you wanna…be friends with me?”
Oh god.
Oh god, I said it.
My entire body broke out into a sweat and my face burned hot. It was way too early to say I was in love with her, much less ask her to be my girlfriend. That was why I wanted to start as friends first…but who would have thought it would be just as nerve-racking?
And what was her reaction? I snuck a peek at her, but she was still hanging her head, so I couldn’t see her expression.
“Friends…?” she muttered, without looking up.
Was it too much to ask, to be friends with a guy like me? Kazune had suggested we might be destined for each other, but clearly she was wrong. The anxiety was killing me. Feeling like I might burst into tears, I stared at her as she sat there in silence.
“…Kh…”
Her head and shoulders began to tremble… And then…
“Kkhh…keh heh…ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha!!! I can’t keep a straight face…!” Takigawa-san burst out laughing. “T-Takasaki-kun! ‘Friends’? That’s what you wanted to ask?!”
“Wh-what…?!” I couldn’t understand what was going on. Even Kazune had never laughed so uncontrollably in front of me! Was she always like this? “T-Takigawa-san…?”
“Hee hee hee! Look!” Still giggling, she showed me the IP band on her wrist.