“So you don’t have a TV or a bookshelf.”
“I’m not really the reading type at all. And as long as I have my smartphone, I don’t really need a TV, either.”
Beneath the sound of Edamoto-san’s voice, I heard running water.
“Oh, sorry. Are you bored waiting for me?”
“No. I’m not bad at being patient.”
Although I wasn’t good at being patient, either. Perhaps I had never gone about waiting for things the right way before.
“I thought I might pass the time by talking with you, Edamoto-san.”
“Oh, sounds great.”
“But will you be all right talking while you work?”
“I’m fine, no problem. I normally talk to myself tons while I’m cooking.”
“…You should probably be careful about that.”
I could imagine Edamoto-san having a lively monologue alone in her room easily enough. At the same time, I pictured a chicken energetically moving around inside a pen.
“You seem like you read a ton of books, huh, Sayaka-senpai?”
I was fairly sure someone else had said that to me before. Perhaps that meant I gave off an intellectual impression.
“Well… I suppose you could say that.”
“Do you go to the school library a lot?”
“I go to the library…on occasion. But I mostly just read the newspapers.”
Edamoto-san didn’t reply; I wasn’t sure whether she could hear my voice over the clamorous sounds of cooking. Even though I had said I would talk to her, I didn’t want to be a distraction, so I tried to make sure I wasn’t initiating the conversation. Just as she had said, as she started cooking, she talked to herself more.
Occasionally, she would even whistle. Many of her choices were children’s songs; though it wasn’t yet sunset, she was trying to go home with the crows in her song. Maybe it had to do with her being able to hear that melody being broadcast in the distance when evening did come.
“Oh, riiight,” she groaned abruptly. This time, she didn’t seem to be talking just to herself.
“What is it?”
“I don’t have many plates or bowls. Ha ha…”
Edamoto-san leaned back to show me her face, grinning sheepishly.
“Oh, right, since you live alone and all.”
It was only natural that she wouldn’t have more than the minimal number of dishes and chopsticks she needed.
“You can use mine, but then I wouldn’t be able to eat… Maybe I could borrow some from next door…? No, this isn’t quite right.”
Edamoto-san grumbled to herself uncertainly. While she did so, I came up with a simple solution.
I only faltered for a few seconds about whether to do it or not.
Before my feet could entangle themselves into the floor like roots, I drank all my tea and then stood up.
“I wonder if the home improvement store carries tableware?”
“Huh? Oh, good question…I think they have lunch boxes and stuff, at least.”
“Lunch boxes… Well, that ought to do just fine.”
I picked up my bag and headed to the entryway. Right as I was about to pass her, Edamoto-san scurried over to cut me off.
“Senpai?”
“I’ll go buy tableware while you’re cooking. I hope the store’s easy to find.”
Even though I’d been commuting to this college for over a year already, I hadn’t walked around the area outside campus much before. I always went shopping in my familiar home neighborhood, and on the rare occasion I went out with college friends, the only place I’d go would be a family restaurant.
“Ahh…I feel kinda bad. Let me pay for it, at least.”
“It’s fine, especially since you’re treating me to food and all. Make sure you lock the door.”
With that light warning, I put on my shoes. As I did so, I looked at Edamoto-san’s shoes next to mine. At a glance, they looked like children’s shoes, so obviously her feet must be quite small.
For some reason, I was strangely perturbed to think of a girl with such small feet living alone.
After I finished putting on my shoes, I felt eyes on me and turned around to find Edamoto-san standing right behind me. She was crossing her arms behind her back.
“Uh, it might be weird to say this, but…like…”
She hemmed and hawed for a moment and then broke into a smile like a blooming flower of happiness.
“Come back soon.”
“…Yes, I’ll be right back.”
I hesitated before exchanging the greeting with her, feeling strange and bewildered.
Since this wasn’t my house, and she was just a friend… “strange” was the only way to describe how it felt.
It was rare for me to feel confusion that wasn’t unpleasant, so I ended up answering how she wanted.
When I went out the door, my heart shaken a bit, the heat that I had nearly forgotten was waiting for me outside.
I headed to the stairs, sighing automatically due to the blinding sun. Perhaps it was pointless to go out of my way to buy tableware that I might not use again in the future. Maybe I was wasting my time, and maybe I was taking a detour. Regardless, I still walked on beneath the summer sky.
It was the beginning of the summer of my second year of college, and I still didn’t know what I was supposed to achieve.
Since I didn’t know the right answer, I could proceed in any direction I chose.
“Welcome back, Senpai.”
“…Thank you.”
There really was something embarrassing about having that exchange at a friend’s apartment. That was no different than our exchange on my way out, though.
I had even gone to buy tableware, almost as though we were living together… Anyway, it was weird. Edamoto-san didn’t seem particularly aware of that as she welcomed me back, peering at the shopping bag that dangled from my hand.
“You didn’t get lost?”
“I didn’t have to take any turns, so yes, I managed.”
The walk to the home improvement shop was a straight line past the front of the college. According to her additional directions, turning left partway and walking further would get you to the supermarket. In a town that was chock-full of buildings to the point where it felt cramped, it might only be natural that the roads were minimally planned.
I was relieved to find that the air conditioning in the apartment was working well. On top of that, there was something fragrant mixing in the smells of the apartment. Drawn in by the scent that was stronger than Edamoto-san’s, I peered into the kitchen and found the source of the smell in a pot containing simmering chicken and eggs.
“Is that oyakodon?”
“Yeah, since I had leftover chicken, plus some rice I made yesterday.”
I reached into the bag and pulled out the bowls I’d purchased. I had bought two, thinking of the possibility that there might be a soup, but perhaps that was excessive. In a frying pan next to the pot, there was something that seemed like a stir-fry of green onion and shiitake mushrooms.
“And that’s just something I ate a lot at home. Also…”
Edamoto-san turned to the table. Irresistibly following her gaze, I found a mountain of torn lettuce pieces—just raw, unseasoned lettuce—piled high in a bowl.