“They really haven’t come yet.”
When my female upperclassman said that, I agreed with a sigh. “No sign of them at all.”
“I’ve been stuck with all the work since I was a first year because of them.”
Whenever we were working in the student council room, the two boys were missing. Kuze-senpai was never around, and we didn’t see the other male upperclassman very often, either. At present, the student council was essentially run by three people.
“Things are going to be tough for you in the coming year, too.”
“I’ll just tell myself that it’s a challenge worth overcoming.”
The upperclassman smiled at my rephrasing, flashing her white teeth. “Really, you’re such a good girl, Sayaka-chan.”
Sayaka-chan.
“………”
I would get used to it little by little, I thought. Then, eventually, it would become so natural that I wouldn’t feel a thing.
Humans are creatures of convenience.
“Come to think of it, is Touko taking today off?” For some reason, she didn’t add a - chan to Nanami Touko’s name, though I did have a feeling as to why.
“She had something to do…but she said she would come as soon as it was over.”
Leaving behind that message, Nanami Touko had quickly left the classroom. Since she wasn’t involved in any clubs except student council, I wondered what other business she had at school. I’d been mulling it over since getting to the student council room, but I couldn’t think of many possibilities.
The clouds spread throughout the sky like white-capped waves, and the sun was dim, as though it had sunk into the bottom of the ocean. The faint light didn’t even come through the large windows of the student council room, though at least it wasn’t raining. Despite this weather, the air felt slightly humid, and I could feel on my skin that May was approaching.
After a while, Nanami Touko arrived just as we were wrapping up most of the day’s work.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said, taking a seat next to me. I stood up from my seat as she did so, poured a cup of tea, and handed it to her.
“Thank you.”
“Did you finish what you needed to do?”
“I did.” Nanami Touko’s voice seemed a bit sad, which caught my attention at once. She noticed my gaze right away and quickly tried to play it off. “It’s nothing.”
“All right. If you say so…”
Maybe it was something she couldn’t tell me. Once again, I felt like I could almost see the distance between us.
We weren’t that busy that day, so there was no work left for Nanami to do by the time she came in late. Once we drank the tea and took a break for a bit, our upperclassman told us we could head home.
“I’ll lock up, too.”
“Thanks very much.” Nanami Touko bowed her head and left the student council room. Here we go. I followed behind her on my slightly stiff legs.
We had finished student council work. In my mind, this was where the biggest challenge began. I had been thinking of telling her that day if she showed up. Now that she had, I couldn’t run away.
If I fell behind someone else, all I could do was try to catch up. And, if other people could do it, I could do it, too.
I at least had that much confidence in myself.
“Nanami-san, could I have a moment?” I called out to Nanami Touko, who had gone outside before me and was standing around. For some reason, she jumped slightly.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
“I should ask you the same question. Are you all right?” I didn’t think that we had the kind of relationship where she would be frightened if I just called out to her.
“Sorry, it just surprised me because I was spacing out a little. Did you need something?”
“I wanted to talk to you for a moment.”
“Hmm…okay.”
For some reason, Nanami Touko’s response was hesitant, as though she were on guard. That worried me, but we would never get to the topic at hand if I kept pressing the subject, so I turned to the bench behind the student council building.
The busy scene of the forest spread out in front of the old bench, which was positioned as if leaning back against the student council room. There was so much going on in the scenery that I didn’t feel as relaxed as I’d hoped. We placed our bags between us, setting up a carefully defined distance.
“So, what is it? A confession?”
Though I knew it was a joke, I was at a loss for words. My vision nearly started to swim.
“The way you said you wanted to talk just set that kind of mood, that’s all.”
Nanami Touko was smiling at first, but once she saw my face, her smile faded. I wondered how strange my face must have looked like in that moment. I wanted to know, but I also didn’t want to see it.
“Sorry. Was it something serious you wanted to talk about?”
Following the cue of Nanami Touko’s calm voice, the thumping of my heart gradually withdrew. Nature was spread out before my eyes, so I breathed in the fresh air.
“I’m not sure if it’s serious…well, yes, I suppose I’m going to say this seriously.”
“Okay. Then I’ll listen to you seriously.”
Nanami Touko turned her body towards me. But when she acted that formally about it, it made it all the harder to say. I was sure what I was about to say wasn’t that big of a deal at all, but it was just enough to make me sweat slightly.
I propped the palm of my hand on the bench and leaned in.
“Can I call you Touko?”
The joints of my bent fingers felt warm.
“Well, sure…” Nanami Touko’s response was nonchalant. Silence fell, as though she was waiting to hear more. When she realized there was nothing else coming, she tilted her head. “Is that it?”