“I’ve been trying to talk to you but you keep ignoring me! Don’t you think that’s a little harsh?!”
“Oh,” I said. “I thought you were talking to someone else.”
“And you didn’t even look up to see who was talking?!”
“I might’ve noticed if you’d said my name,” I said.
“W-well...” Her voice trailed off as her eyes darted around nervously. “I couldn’t remember your name.”
Ohh, so that’s why she just said “hey” over and over.
“It’s Yashiro. And you are?”
“You’re Yashiro-kun, got it. Do you have a hard time remembering names too?”
“Yep.”
“I know I’m not one to talk, but that’s pretty bad!”
It wasn’t like I could help it. I never really paid attention to anyone else, so I was bad at matching names with faces. I could count the number of classmates whose first and last names I knew on one hand.
“I’m Kanon Hanamizawa. K-A-N-O-N!” The girl with dyed hair spelled out her name for me. Jeez, even her name is dramatic.
“Okay. What do you want, Hanamizawa-san?” Even though she’d emphasized her first name, I just couldn’t bring myself to call her by that.
“Oh, right. Can you give me some advice?”
“You want advice from someone whose name you couldn’t even remember?”
“I’m sorry about that already! Besides, you didn’t remember mine either!”
“Yeah, because I have absolutely no interest in you.”
“Hey, that’s not very nice! Couldn’t you say it more nicely, like you just had no reason to talk to me?! I’m gonna cry!”
“But why do you wanna ask me for advice?”
“Why? Because you’re always alone,” Hanamizawa-san said, fidgeting awkwardly.
“The girl behind me’s always alone too. Wouldn’t it be better to ask her, since you’re both girls?”
“I already tried that, but she completely ignored me!”
“Oh...”
Well, she was wearing noise-canceling earphones. They must have also canceled the noise that was Hanamizawa-san’s voice.
“So what’s your question? Is it something you can ask me here?” I asked.
She hesitated. “Well... I’d prefer to ask you in private. Does lunch work for you?”
“I have to work in the library.”
“Then do you have time after school?”
“I guess so...”
“Thanks! See you then.”
And with that, Hanamizawa-san went back to her own seat right as the bell rang. A few moments later, the homeroom teacher came in. I turned around and tapped my fingers on the desk behind me. I heard the girl’s book slam shut.
◊◊◊
I watched videos on my phone while I ate lunch, and even after I was finished eating I sat there zoning out to more videos for a while. Suddenly, I felt someone stirring behind me. Oh, it’s time. I packed up my lunch box and headed towards the teachers’ lounge.
“Hello.” I bowed as I entered the room and grabbed the keys to the library that were hanging next to the door. “Thanks.” I left the room as quickly as I came and walked towards the library, which was on the same floor down the other hallway. I used the keys to open the door, then tossed them to the person waiting in front of the door. “Here.” Out of the corner of my eye, I watched them unlock the resource room next to the library, then headed straight to the circulation desk. I sat down and turned on the library computer. I heard a window open, then felt the cool autumn breeze blow in. Mm, that feels good.
I’d bought some café au lait and unsweetened black tea from the vending machine on the way to the teachers’ lounge. I set those down on the counter along with the book I was reading this morning. Just as I was about to open it up, someone set three books down in front of me. Only three returns today. Well, not many people use the library.
Nowadays, people could use their phones to read whatever they wanted, plus there were tons of funny videos online to watch if you needed to kill some time. I wonder if there’s even a point in having school libraries anymore, I thought as I finished checking the books in.
I watched the books being ushered away to be reshelved, then opened my own book. I slurped my café au lait through a straw as I flipped through the pages. I heard a chair next to me creak.
My lunch break was the same today as it was every day. And I stayed there until the bell rang again, just like I did every day.
◊◊◊
Hanamizawa-san came straight over to my desk as soon as last period ended.
“Remember our conversation this morning?” she asked.
“About how you wanted to talk to me?”
“Yeah. Well, should we—” Suddenly she stopped short.
“Wh-What’s the matter?”
“Oh! Um, nothing...”
What was her problem? Did she see something that startled her? I was about to turn around, but she suddenly slammed her hand down on my desk and leaned forward.
“Anyway! Will you come with me or not?”
“Uh, sure.”
“Let’s go somewhere else, then! Okay?”
“F-Fine.” I hastily nodded, intimidated by her threatening attitude. I packed up my stuff and followed her out of the classroom. We walked for a bit as she led me to a spot behind the school building. It was just the two of us there. If someone else happened to see this, they might think I lured Hanamizawa-san here for a shakedown or something.
“Now that I think about it, meeting behind the school like this makes it seem like a shakedown or something.” Apparently she was thinking the same thing. “Uh-oh. Does it look like I’m gonna bully you?” Well, I guess she wasn’t thinking the exact same thing.