Somehow, I felt I could almost see the stars beyond my closed curtains. Were those stars glittering from within me, or was I taking in their light?
What light source was currently shining on me?
“………”
When Edamoto-san couldn’t sleep, I wondered if she ever left her apartment for a casual nighttime stroll. I was a little jealous of that ability, a privilege reserved for those who lived alone.
…I wondered whether Touko also had times like those, living alone. How was my friend spending her nights?
I had used distance, busyness, and all kinds of excuses to not see Touko directly.
I wondered if the day would come when I would ask Touko for advice about Edamoto-san.
My thoughts kept multiplying, making it even harder to sleep.
In the end, I welcomed the morning after a mostly sleepless night.
A bit after I got out of my bed, which hadn’t fulfilled its purpose, a feeling gradually and vaguely rose up in me.
“I have a girlfriend.”
I said it without thinking. Then, I walked around the room restlessly. It was light outside now. The town and people were on the move. I felt flustered by that and walked around and around as though trying to catch up to it. Of course, such a gesture was meaningless.
Edamoto Haru. The girl who was a year younger than me. Energetic, a little restless, with hair tied up in a little ponytail that looked cute when it wiggled…my underclassman. She constantly smiled at me, so when I thought of her, that radiant expression appeared before my eyes. Just as her name indicated, she seemed to be clad in sunlight.
This would be my second time dating someone.
I didn’t have good memories from the first time…but perhaps it only seemed that way because I could only remember the unpleasant parts. That was the kind of person Senpai had been, but I did have feelings for her at the time, and I was sure that she had once made a smile come across my face and made my heart bound.
I couldn’t say whether this new relationship would last long enough to call it forever, either. But even if our paths separated and we had to part ways, I wanted to have lots of good memories. That was my first thought.
“So, then…what should we do first?”
Inexperienced as I was, I couldn’t immediately string together which steps should happen, or when. In the past, Senpai had beckoned me over and we had talked, occasionally over the phone, and that was about it. I had already done those things with Edamoto-san. Was that enough? What were college students supposed to do?
As I was moving around, I felt a gaze on me; when I looked into the hallway, the tortoiseshell cat was staring at me.
It was rare for both of us to be up so early.
“G-Good morning.”
I became flustered as I wondered whether my cat had seen everything, and greeted it awkwardly. It left in silence without bothering to enter my room. I felt a sense of déjà vu.
Having finally been stopped by my cat’s gaze, my own eyes went to my hair that had come undone and fallen across my shoulders.
I took my hair in my hand and watched it flow down between my fingers.
My long hair made me feel a definite sense of time.
But I had gotten caught up in that slightly and let it get too long.
Putting it this way might be a little blunt, but…it was irrelevant now.
“All right.”
After deciding what I would do first, I stopped loitering and changed.
I left my room and washed my face. The water was somewhat lukewarm from the summer’s influence, but it got rid of the filminess that had formed over my face from my lack of sleep. Oddly enough, I wasn’t tired. I grew less and less concerned about my fatigue.
Having found an immediate goal, I started walking quickly like Edamoto-san.
I tried to start walking so I would be pulled into the cheerfulness, brilliance, and light.
But just as I went to pick out my shoes, I turned around and saw the gloom of the house’s hallway.
“Wait, I didn’t do it yet.”
I finally realized that once I had gotten all the way to the entryway, and scurried back.
Even then, my stride was quicker than usual.
After my second lecture ended, I asked Edamoto-san, “Where are you now?”
“On campus” was her vague response.
Her next text came a few seconds later. “Let’s meet!”
“That was the intent.”
After we decided the meeting spot in our replies, I put away my phone and faced forward.
I fixed the cord of my bag and took a step. My body moved as I consciously made an effort to go forward. Once I exited the lecture building, the strong light showered me with all it had, and I sped up with my quickening breaths.
I was sure Edamoto-san would come running, so I decided to hurry, too. I wondered how long it had been since I had dashed off somewhere. As people get accustomed to living and learn how to better use their time, they run less often, I think. It’s important to have spare time, but occasionally there are things you can only experience from trying to run—maybe.
Had I not met Edamoto-san, I likely wouldn’t have run at college up through my graduation.
It seemed like dating her would make every day busier…which wasn’t a bad thing.
I sprinted all the way there, but by the time I got to the front of the school cafeteria, Edamoto-san was already waiting. Just hurrying to the point that I was only lightly out of breath wouldn’t be enough to catch up with her, then. When I stopped, the heat that had followed close behind me seemed to close the distance and envelop me all at once.
It was enough to make me slightly regret running all the way there.
Perhaps I should take the weather into account when mimicking Edamoto-san.
Edamoto-san jogged over to me nimbly and then leapt back in surprise.
“Ooooh!” she exclaimed dramatically. Then, she approached me and stretched out her neck as though peeking behind me. She was acting like a child who had found something curious to look at.
“I cut my hair.”
I had changed my hairstyle, too, forming a small ponytail on the right side of my head, which probably helped her to notice immediately.
This was the step that I had decided to take first. I had severed the hair I’d let grow since graduating from high school.
“Does this have to do with, you know—with us dating?”
“I wonder if it does… I just sort of did it.”
“You just sort of did it?” Edamoto-san repeated. “No one’s heart has been broken yet, so it’s not related, then—yeah.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Edamoto-san’s easygoing way of thinking wasn’t far from the truth.
I had finally cut off what had been dragging me back a little, even if I claimed it was fine.
“You said you loved me when I had different hair, and now it’s suddenly short—what do you think?”
“Hmm, lemme see…”
Edamoto-san took three steps back and walked around me appraisingly.
“You’re beautiful.” Edamoto-san beamed as she reported her findings. “I think I might’ve fallen in love with you even more.”
She came straight towards me and brushed her fingers through my hair.
“I kind of can’t believe…um, that someone as beautiful as you would date me.”