One day, I was heading to the student council with Touko as usual.
“Do you hear voices…?”
Interrupting our conversation, Touko glanced around. Then, she started to stray off the path.
As I followed her, wondering what was going on, Touko pressed herself up against the corner of the school building. She stretched out her neck as though she were looking at something, so I came up close behind her to peer around as well. It might have been the first time I had ever been so close to Touko. Inwardly flustered, I followed her gaze.
Between the forest-like grove of trees and the school building, there was a small open space. Since it was protected by the trees, very little sunlight penetrated the shade. A boy and a girl were standing there, close together, as they faced each other.
Was this…a confession?
It wasn’t a popular spot, so this might be the perfect location. They don’t need to do it on the school grounds, I thought, but I suppose school might actually be one of the only places students could reliably meet. Even I got confessed to at school, and I only ever saw her on the school grounds.
At any rate, in our present situation, we were essentially eavesdropping.
“I can’t say I approve of this…”
The best course of action would probably be to leave immediately, but Touko and I had already concealed ourselves in the shadows. These two had chosen a place where they wouldn’t be seen, and yet here we were watching them. The world was overflowing with people, after all.
Long after the fact, I found myself wondering whether someone might have been watching when Senpai confessed to me, too. Such thoughts of the past made me break out in a cold sweat.
“It’s Serizawa,” Touko murmured as she looked at the girl.
“Is she in our class?”
“No. But I competed with her in PE the other day.”
“What…?”
When did that happen? During PE, she said… Oh, right. I remembered Touko running at the front during marathon training. Come to think of it, there was one other girl who was close behind her the whole time. That must be her. The details became clearer and clearer as my memory revealed itself. The girl had been bold and intense when she was competing, but now her face and eyes were round, giving off the cutest and sweetest vibe she could muster. I suppose that was natural in this situation.
People have many faces, even if they aren’t aware of it. Wearing a face that shone with love, the girl stood intently still as though she were waiting for something.
I couldn’t hear what happened after, but judging by the fact that gloom didn’t come over the girl’s face and the way the two of them left together, I think she must have successfully conveyed her feelings. We kept peering into the space even after it was deserted for a while. Finally Touko urged me, “Let’s go,” and we ended our little detour.
I knew that it wasn’t exactly a popular spot, but that was still a shock. I wondered if I would run into things like this again on my way to the student council in the future.
“I wonder who confessed to who,” Touko said in a hushed voice as we walked.
“Based on how they acted, it must have been the girl.”
“Serizawa, huh… I wonder if she’s in the same club as Ogaki-kun?” Touko put her hand to her chin, nodding thoughtfully. She seemed to know the boy somehow, too.
“He’s not in the same class as her?”
“Ogaki-kun is in our class.”
…Is he?
“Right, of course,” I mumbled vaguely.
Touko’s eyes went round. “I thought you’d be the type to remember these sorts of things, Sayaka.”
“It’s just that I haven’t talked to him before…” I said, making excuses. The truth was, information that didn’t interest me wouldn’t stay in my head no matter what I did. When it came to Touko, though, I was sure I could remember just about everything. Even how she liked her coffee or what to put in it.
“I wonder if they’re going to start dating.”
“I’d imagine so.”
It was no small matter to be able to respond to a confession on the spot.
“So they’re lovers…”
I couldn’t help being a little embarrassed to hear the word lovers come out of Touko’s mouth, even though it had nothing to do with me.
Touko furrowed her brow, as though she couldn’t quite accept her own conclusion. “But isn’t it a little soon?”
“Hmm?”
“I mean, it’s only been a month since we started school.”
I understood this objection, too. You could probably only get to know someone so well after just a month of knowing them. If someone developed feelings for another person after such a short time, it might just mean that they really liked how that person looked.
…Not that I was in any position to judge.
“Yes, well…”
On the other hand, you couldn’t guarantee that you knew someone well even if you spent an entire year with them. That’s just the nature of human relationships.
“It’s not like you can be confident that your feelings are certain even after a long time.” As I spoke, I felt Touko’s gaze on me so intently that I almost stopped talking. “That’s what I think at least.”
“I see.” Touko nodded with exaggerated satisfaction. I felt a little embarrassed about what I’d said. “Does that mean you have some experience in this yourself, Sayaka?”
“I suppose you could say that.”
I wondered how Touko would react if I confided in her that an upperclassman who was a girl had confessed to me, and I had dated her. I couldn’t imagine getting a positive response, so I buried it deep inside, where no one would ever notice or see it. Still, if I stayed that way forever, I got the feeling that the distance between Touko and I would never change.
“I wonder if we should tell Serizawa later that we saw them.”
“Hmm…that’s a tough one.” If the love had been unrequited, I think it would have been better to pretend we had never seen it, but the confession had apparently had a happy ending. “What do you want to do about it, Touko?”
I wasn’t particularly close to either of them. It’d be odd for me to go seek them out to tell them that, so it would be better to remain silent in my case. But it seemed that Touko planned to continue to be friends with the girl—Serizawa.
“I was asking you because I don’t know what to do.”
“Well, if it were me, I wouldn’t say anything.” I looked at Touko. She looked back at me as if to ask why, so I continued. “If either of them ever wanted to talk to me about it, I’m sure they would approach me in their own time.”