＊
Asahi bid his friends farewell at the station and hopped onto the train which dropped him off at the closest station to his house. He usually would’ve cloistered himself from the outside world by listening to some music on his headphones and either reading a book or fiddling with his phone, but not today. Fuyuka was with him, and they engaged in chitchat while swaying to the train’s movements.
“Do you remember when I made curry a while ago?” she asked.
“Yeah, you pulled that off really well.”
“I actually made one mistake when I prepared it. Do you know what it was?”
“Nope. Can’t say I do. It was pretty tasty, and I didn’t think anything was wrong with it.”
“I... got some of the curry on my clothes,” she admitted with a timid chuckle.
“Oof. How was I supposed to guess that? Actually, you know what? I might’ve heard you yelp or something.”
“The only silver lining was that my clothes were dark... Still, they were some of my favorites. I can’t say I wasn’t upset,” Fuyuka grumbled.
Her shoulders sagged in dejection, so Asahi offered a few words of encouragement. The train rapidly approached its destination whilst they spent the time talking about that night’s dinner and the math quiz they’d had.
“Oh yeah, you spoke with a guy after classes ended, right? What’s-his-face... Ryouma Yamada, right?” Asahi casually brought up something that had been weighing on his mind since earlier that day.
Asahi’s information about the other boy was fragmented, and could be summed up as the following—Ryouma was handsome, popular with the ladies, and incredibly skilled at soccer. He was the team’s best player, and—according to Chiaki—he commanded great respect from male students in the school.
I still vividly remember how everyone rallied around him when he scored that goal at the sports festival.
Ryouma was, for all intents and purposes, just another student at the school. Asahi’s sudden interest was a symptom of the subtle changes taking place in his character.
“Yes, I did. Is he an acquaintance of yours?”
“Not exactly, but he is pretty well-known.”
“So it seems,” Fuyuka stated without conveying any notable inclination. Her lips curled into a slight grin before she continued, “He apologized to me on behalf of the three seniors from the other day. He’s a very nice, kind person.”
A vague unease spread over Asahi’s heart, a bizarre emotion he didn’t quite know how to handle. He was absorbed in thought when the announcer declared that they had arrived at their desired destination. The squeals of the grinding brakes brought the train to a halt and quieted the machinations of his own mind.
“I think this is the first time we’ve walked home together, isn’t it?” Fuyuka noted.
“Now that you mention it... I suppose so, yeah. ”
“We’ve known each other for quite a while, but this still feels new to me,” she said. They both passed through the ticket gate when she mumbled behind Asahi, “We were both probably avoiding it, deep inside.”
“You picked up on it?”
“Of course I did.”
Fuyuka’s choice of words was perfect, though it only applied to when they were specifically at school.
Students tended to walk home with the same group each time. Common choices were fellow members of a club, classmates, or friends who used to be in the same class. There were obviously some instances where someone tagged along as a spur-of-the-moment decision, but it would be a stretch to apply that to Asahi and Fuyuka. After all, they were in different classes, which meant their interactions there were limited.
I mean, technically “The Ice Queen” made it her life’s mission to keep people away from her. Now imagine if she started acting friendly with some random guy out of the blue—of course it’ll stick out like a sore thumb. The underlying rationale behind why they never walked to school together—despite being neighbors—was because being seen together at school put them under the spotlight. “Wanna just pretend we’re strangers at school?”
“What?” she replied after a pause.
“You know, it’s pretty annoying for both of us this way. All those rumors circulating, having to explain everything to everyone all the time...” he muttered. It’s only after you’re on the receiving end of gossip like this—where people assume you’re dating, or even married—that you realize just how stressful it is.
Denying the claims altogether wouldn’t help ease the spread, and it wasn’t like the two could possibly corral the entire school and explain their situation to them. Mentioning they have dinner together each night would simply add fuel to the fire. There weren’t many options available other than to reset their relationship... at least, while they were at school.
There’s no smoke without fire, after all. This way, we won’t have to worry about adding to the rumor mill, he concluded. “It’s probably too late anyways. The whole thing might backfire, and we’d just end up confirming their doubts. What a pain,” he lamented with a sigh.
His breath whitened into a wisp of vapor before disappearing. Much like his breath, Fuyuka’s expression seemed to have clouded over.
“Is spending time with you at school that much of a bother, Asahi? I still want to speak with you while we’re there and have lunch with you in the cafeteria... also, if possible, I’d like to walk to school and come home together.” Fuyuka’s voice grew progressively more feeble, and her pace gradually slowed until she came to a complete standstill. She reached out to grab the sleeve of Asahi’s jacket loosely. “Can we... keep being friends?”
Asahi turned to face her and found the image of a frail girl, who was imploring him with tear-filled eyes. Her plea and pathetic expression made it impossible to deny her request... not that he had any intention of doing so in the first place.
“I’m sorry, Fuyuka. I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t mind people gossiping about the two of us, per se; it’s having to deal with it that stresses me out,” Asahi muttered, fumbling over his words. He hadn’t recovered from seeing her like that, and took a few short breaths to compose himself. When he peered at her again, the words readily rolled off his tongue. “I hope we can still be friends. Same as before.”
“Definitely! I hope we can be friends for a long time!” she replied happily, beaming.
Her expression made his heart skip a beat. He had gotten past the point where their friendship alone threw him for a loop, but it had been replaced by a new sensation entirely. It was a unique emotion that blossomed beautifully with each beat of his heart.
“So what do you want for dinner today?” he asked.
“We had fish yesterday, so how about a meat dish today?”
“Gotcha. If we hit the supermarket now, we’ll make it in time for the flash-sale.”
They both resumed walking; the distance between them had grown slightly closer.