As an amateur, I ended up thinking, Why is she so worried if she’s already gone pro?, but I suppose that experience didn’t guarantee she could make a living on acting alone. The world of theater must be a difficult one.
“Wait, but you talk to Nanami-senpai, too, don’t you?”
“I haven’t had many opportunities to see her in person, but we’ve been in touch pretty often, yes.”
“Then why bother asking me? Isn’t that a bit pointless?” Koito-san laughed.
“It’s not pointless,” I politely objected. “I wanted to know how Touko seems to you.”
For many reasons, talking in depth about yourself to someone else was difficult. After all, if you don’t have a mirror, you won’t be able to see what kind of face you’re making.
I suddenly met eyes with Miyako-san, who was behind the counter. She gave me a slight wave with her usual soft smile. When I nodded back lightly, Koito-san noticed her, too, and gave the same greeting.
As we had just discussed, it seemed I was the only one of us high school graduates who dropped by here often. There were a lot more people who left their hometown to go to college than I expected. That included Midori and Manaka, and Touko, too.
The option of moving away from my parent’s house hadn’t even occurred to me.
For one thing, I didn’t have a clear objective. More importantly, I probably didn’t want what little time I had remaining with my elderly cats and grandparents to dwindle away.
Sometimes I ran into Hakozaki-sensei here. She was still working at the high school as always, and would give me the latest updates whenever we saw each other. Apparently the student council play had become established as part of the culture festival. Thinking about the fact that we’d left behind a definite legacy was a little embarrassing, somehow. She had invited me to come see it this year.
The conversation had shifted to getting the former student council members to attend as well, and now we were determining what came next.
“Will Touko be able to come, too? I know she’s busy.”
“It’s still far ahead, so we can’t be certain…but I think it’ll work out.”
“I see…”
If she did come, it would be my first time seeing Touko in person in a long while.
The distance between us had become a perfect excuse not to see each other.
Touko was living alone near her college, while Koito-san and I commuted from our family homes. Apparently, Koito-san had been staying over at Touko’s place “occasionally,” which I took to mean “very frequently.” Observing her now, I made a confident guess.
“You stayed over yesterday, too, didn’t you?”
Koito-san’s shoulders jolted, unable to hide her surprise. “Huh? How did you know…?”
“That’s simple…” I started to explain, then paused and let out a breath. “It’s a secret.”
“Whaaat…”
“If I tell you, then I can’t tease you anymore.”
“Hmph…”
Koito-san pouted, as if to accuse me of bullying. It never ceased to amuse me how easily she reverted to acting like my underclassman friend again with a little prodding, even though she looked different on the outside. But in comparison, Edamoto-san was slightly more childish despite being around the same age, I thought.
Perhaps her relationship with Touko had induced Koito-san to mature somewhat.
Though I supposed I didn’t know for sure whether Edamoto-san was seeing anyone or not.
“Saeki-senpai, what about you?”
“What about me?”
Koito-san grinned as if to say, See? It’s a hard question to answer.
“Have you done anything fun?”
This light question gave me a bit more direction to work with. However, it felt unusual to be asked if I’d done anything fun. We had talked about Touko’s future, so was I really getting off with such a casual question?
“Well…”
As I looked into the deep tawny brown of the liquid, a certain smile seemed to float to the surface.
There was also a sea otter’s face next to it, but it was probably best to ignore that part.
“I made a friend. A first year.”
That was about the extent of any recent changes in my life. I wasn’t sure if that qualified as “fun.”
“Oh yeah?” Koito-san’s eyes went round. “What are they like? Is it a girl?”
“Yes, she’s a girl…an energetic one. She’s a fast walker and a good cook, too.”
When I put those traits together, they felt only faintly related. I drank my coffee to distract from what felt like a half-baked remark.
When I put it that way, it was as though I didn’t know anything about her except that she walked fast prior to eating at her apartment.
There ought to be more to say, but I couldn’t really come up with anything.
“A fast walker and a good cook…so she’s talented and athletic, huh?”
“That’s a generous interpretation.”
When I watched Edamoto-san move around, I got the impression she leaned much more toward the latter.
“A friend of yours, huh… She is a friend, right?”
“What else would she be?”
I knew what Koito-san meant by her question, but I feigned ignorance anyway.
Edamoto-san seemed very fond of me, but I hadn’t thought too deeply about what sort of fondness it was exactly.
I brushed against the surface of the thought, but only looked at it vaguely, never focusing fully.
My mind was trying to avoid thinking about it directly.
Perhaps it was certain subtle behaviors of hers, or some kind of instincts of my own, or emotions deep down that I had yet to sort out… Whatever the case, my thoughts on Edamoto-san were still unclear.
Edamoto-san was a friend, but she was somehow different from my other college friends.
Though it was easy enough to put that much into words, I…
“I think I’d like to meet her sometime.”
“Right. Perhaps if the opportunity presents itself.”
In spite of my response, I wondered what kind of situation would ever bring Edamoto-san, Koito-san, and I to the same place.
What kind of relationship would lead to that happening?
I couldn’t even guess.
I filled my short periods of free time with the school library and newspapers.
Past the card reader, in the space immediately to the left, there were four benches. I sat at one of them and spread out a newspaper we didn’t get delivered at home. The thick carpet spread over the library floor absorbed sound, so footsteps disappeared into silence. It made the presence of other people seem distant.
Though there was a TV set up close by, the volume was low to match the atmosphere in the library, so I could only just barely make the sound out. There were science magazines lined to one side. Though I had picked them up before, I was uninformed when it came to science, so I just couldn’t get into them. From a young age, I think my interest in subjects—or lack thereof—has always been very black and white.
That applied not only to things but to people as well. When it came to other’s names and preferences, I couldn’t retain any of that information unless I had an interest in them.