I stared at him wordlessly.
“Sorry, does that make you uncomfortable?” he asked, with an awkward smile on his face.
Uh-oh. If I was silent for too long, he’d think the answer was yes.
“Not really.” I answered him quickly, but at the same time I was embarrassed so I turned my face away. “Do whatever you want, and I’ll do the same.” I was definitely embarrassed, but...it wasn’t a bad feeling.
“Um, are you sure?”
I didn’t answer.
“Okay...” he said with a smile. “I’ll do that, then.”
◊◊◊
The days went on like that for a while. I’d read by myself in class, and then during lunch I’d read alongside Yashiro-kun in the library.
“Hey, Torano-san?”
“What?”
The only thing that was different from before was that Yashiro-kun spoke to me more.
“Do you read on the weekends too? Do you go to the library or anything?”
I didn’t answer. Silence fell between us. As usual, I was thinking way too many things in my head and was taking forever to answer. Any ordinary person would just think I was ignoring them or didn’t want to engage them in conversation. But apparently Yashiro-kun had caught on to my bad habit of overthinking, so he just read his book while he waited for me to respond. I really appreciated that, and since I didn’t feel any pressure, it helped me get my thoughts in order.
“Sometimes...”
“Hm?”
“I like to take baths in hot springs.”
“Hot springs? Like somewhere far away?”
“No, there’s a spa across the river that has natural hot springs.” Since I had enough time to think about what I wanted to say, I was able to have a normal conversation. That was because Yashiro-kun was so patient with me when we talked. When I’d told him that once, he had laughed and said, “It’s just like waiting for a video to load.”
He took out his phone and searched for the spa. “Oh, hey. They do have natural hot springs. That looks nice.”
“They are. I just...melt into them.”
“It’s kind of expensive on weekends though, don’t you think?”
“I buy ticket books on double point days.” It cost 850 yen on weekdays at that spa, but 950 on weekends and holidays. So on double point days, I’d buy a ticket book with ten tickets in it for 7,500 yen, which lets me use the spa on weekends for just 750 yen.
“7,500 yen, huh? Pretty expensive for a high schooler.”
“Well, yeah...” I’d love to go four times a month if I could, and the ticket books were good for more than two months, but it was pricey to pay for the whole thing up-front. But that’s what I had to pay, it wasn’t like I could split it.
All of a sudden Yashiro-kun clapped his hands together. “Hey, why don’t I go with you the day you buy the ticket book and we can split it? I want to check out the spa too.”
I didn’t answer. Did he mean...take a bath together?! I mean, yes, there were separate baths for men and women, but just thinking about this situation made my heart pound. But also...
“Kanda River...”
“Nowadays you don’t have to bring your own soap that’s just gonna break apart. They have body wash there that you can use, right? And I bet they have blow-dryers so you don’t get all cold with wet hair.” Apparently Yashiro-kun also knew a lot of Showa-era ballads. He chuckled wryly and scratched his cheek. “Sorry, would it make you uncomfortable? I can give you the money and you can just give me five tickets later if you want.”
I think that would be a good compromise. But... I thought about how fast my heart had raced and wondered what it would feel like to go to a spa together with someone. I’m sure it was much more fun than going alone. I was curious, and I suddenly was so bold it surprised myself.
“...Not really.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t mind if you come with me,” I said as I looked at him. His cheeks flushed. “Why are you embarrassed?”
“Oh, um... I just wasn’t expecting you to agree to go with me.”
“You’re not going, then?”
“No, I am! I am!”
And so we made an agreement to go to the spa together on double points day.
We went a few days later, and my overall impression was that since we were bathing in separate men’s and women’s baths, it wasn’t all that exciting. But my heart did race when we went to the nap room and lay down next to each other. As I lay there, I glanced over at Yashiro-kun from the book I was reading. He was reading one of the manga from the spa’s bookshelves.
I remembered him saying, “I keep glancing over at you sometimes, Torano-san.”
Now I’m the one looking at you... For some reason I felt embarrassed.
The spa was a place you could enjoy all by yourself. But...I found myself wanting to come back again with Yashiro-kun.
◊◊◊
A few days later at lunch...
“Here, Torano-san.” All of a sudden, Yashiro-kun handed me a paper bag. I stared at him blankly as I took it. I opened it up and saw a paperback book inside. There was a cute chibi tiger on the cover. It was adorable.
“What’s this for?”
“To thank you for going to the spa with me. I had a lot of fun.”
You don’t have to thank me. I had fun too, I thought, but just couldn’t get the words out.
“Plus, that character on the cover reminded me of you. You’re kinda catlike, you know?”
I didn’t answer. Catlike? Am I? I guess I didn’t know.
He smiled softly at me. “Most of the time you seem like you don’t care about what’s going on around you and you just do your own thing, but sometimes you do things that make me think you do care...and it always makes my heart skip a beat. That’s why you remind me of a cat.”
Th-That’s so embarrassing. I had no idea he saw me like that. I was just bad at showing my emotions. I wasn’t as easygoing as he thought I was.
“So...it would make me really happy if you hung out with me again sometime.”
I didn’t say anything. That wasn’t fair, because I felt the same way. In fact, I might even feel it stronger than him. I held the book to my chest and took a deep breath. Because I really wanted to make sure that he understood how I was feeling right now.
“...I’ll take really good care of this,” I said.
He stared at me in surprise for a few moments, and then smiled.