Wait, Tadeshina’s here, too…
It was only then that Sousei thought about it.
Well, of course she is. She was here before. Yeah. Ever since the incident in the hallway, she’s always been here. But it seemed so natural, I didn’t think anything of it.
“Seriously?!” Wakkuu glanced at Iori, who was cowering next to him for some reason, then looked at Sousei. Next, he shifted his gaze between Asumi, Moena, Yukisada, and finally Kuchina, who was walking a little ways behind everyone else. “Damn, seriously? Huh. What’s that? An amazing coincidence? No way. Not Friday or Saturday, but today? Thursday Greora? That’s crazy. What an amazing coincidence, huh…?”
“Ye—” Iori, once again under Wakkuu’s gaze, started to say something, but she cut herself off and looked down. “…Wh-what…coincidence…are…ta…buh…huh…?” Iori seemed like she was trying to say something, but it was completely incomprehensible. That wasn’t like her.
“Oh!” Moena pressed a hand to her mouth.
“Hm?” Asumi tilted her head in confusion, or rather, it went completely horizontally.
“The two of you”—Yukisada directed his gaze at Wakkuu and Iori—“are going somewhere together? Actually, since you said it’s an amazing coincidence, does that mean you’re going to the Aurora Light Show?”
Iori let out a deep breath, as if she was trying to concentrate her energy in her core.
“Yep!” Wakkuu answered immediately, flashing a flawless, toothy smile. “We are, actually. I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea, so I’ll just say that I’m the one who invited her. I was quite forceful and persistent about it. And Tadeshina said okay, as long as it was on Thursday and she was home by seven thirty. So that’s how it is. Tadeshina and I are heading off now to see the illumination of the Aurora Light Show at the Greenbelt! It’ll be an execution!”
“…There’s going to an execution?” Kuchina said quietly. Of course, Wakkuu still heard it.
“Yeah, an execution! Wait, an execution?! That sounds like a bad omen! Am I going to be executed?! Hang on—I was the one who said it, wasn’t I?! No, no, there’s not going to be an execution. There’s no way. An execution… You won’t execute me, will you, Tadeshina?! You won’t…right?”
“Why would I have to execute you?! For crying out loud, you’re always saying the stupidest things—if I had to pick one thing, that would be your crime!”
“Daaamn! I’ve been declared guilty! I probably am, though!” Wakkuu was clearly in high spirits.
“Oh, so this is a date?” Yukisada asked. He nodded with a look of satisfaction on his face, which enraged Iori.
“A d-d-d-d-date…?! Wh-wh-wh-who is going on a date with whom…?”
“You, Tadecchi, with Wakkuu, ri—?” But before Moena could finish what she was saying, Iori snapped at her.
“That’s not what this is!”
Of course, Iori didn’t actually bite Moena, but she closed the gap between them so violently that she very well could have.
“Wakuya and I are just going to see the Aurora Light Show, which I have not seen in the past few years, and everyone in my family is busy, so when I mentioned that, Wakuya said he’s free today and invited me to go with him, and since I’m not particularly busy on Thursdays, I thought it would be rude for me to refuse without a reason to, so I—!”
“I know, I know. There, there.” Moena patted Iori’s head, and Iori shook Moena’s hand off.
“Don’t pet me!”
“That’s great, Wakkuu!” Asumi held out her hand, and Wakkuu responded by giving her a high five.
“I’m glad I was born…! I’m so happy! Life is wonderful…!”
“In that case—” Kuchina mumbled from under her scarf.
“…Huh? What?” Sousei asked. Kuchina shook her head and lowered her gaze. The gesture seemed to say, “It’s nothing,” but she’d said, “In that case.” Sousei had definitely heard that.
“Umm… If there’s, you know, if there’s something—”
“…It’s just…”
“Y-yeah? Just what…?”
“The two of them.”
“…The two of them?”
“Wakuya and Tadeshina.”
“Oh. Yeah?”
“I mean… It would be better with just the two of them.”
“Huh…?”
“Since it’s special… It’s a date.”
“Ohh!” Sousei wasn’t the only one who’d caught on. Asumi, Moena, and Yukisada had also been listening carefully.
“That’s true.” Yukisada glanced at the group, which had a fair number of people, and Moena gave a wry smile.
“If we go like this…”
“Right, it’s just as Miss Hitsujimoto said…” Asumi put her hands together in apology. “Sorry, Iorin! We weren’t being considerate!”
“That’s none of your business, I already telled you that!” Iori was so agitated, it seemed like steam was going to start rising from her ears—which was probably why she’d said a word that wasn’t a word.
“Ohhh—” Wakkuu pressed a hand to his chest as if he had just been shot. “So cute. That was so cute just now…”
“Wh-wh-wh-what was?!”
“The bit where you said I ‘telled you’…”
“I didn’t say any such thing, I’m tellin’ you!”
“‘Tellin’ you.’ So cute…”
“I’m going home!” Iori tried to run off in a rage, but Asumi and Moena held her back, Wakkuu apologized, and Yukisada and even Sousei—though he couldn’t do much—tried to calm her down. It was more than a small quarrel, yet they somehow managed to get it under control. If Iori really had gone home, Wakkuu would probably have felt incredibly dejected. The resulting vibes would have had an effect on everyone else’s morale, too.
In the end, they calmed Iori down by saying it was definitely not a date, and they all decided to head to Greenbelt together. They took the subway from Tsukasachou Station to Shizukamachi Station. It was only two stations, so they got there in no time.
Shizukamachi was a transfer station for the Tozai and Namboku Lines on the subway. As they left through the ticket gate, the underground shopping area called Colorful Town spread out before them. The area around the subway station had once been fairly lively, but now, due to the bustling Kawaramachi area, it was dominated by office buildings. They lined the entirety of Central Street, from the subway station to Kawaramachi, while government offices monopolized the road in front of the City Hall, to the northeast of Central Street.
Together, the group strolled through the Colorful Town underground shopping area. They could have gone up to ground level, but there was an underground passage from the center of Colorful Town that led to the road in front of City Hall. It was just after sunset and still too early to enjoy the light show, so they thought they’d kill some time.
“I don’t really come to Colorful Town much,” Asumi said, gazing inquisitively at the shops in the underground shopping area. “I wonder when I came here last.”
“Wasn’t there a bookstore around here?” Moena asked as she looked around restlessly.
Iori pointed ahead of them. “The bookstore is that way. On the opposite side.”
“Oh, it is? Do you come to Colorful Town often, Tadecchi?”
“Just occasionally, to look for books.”
“You really like books, huh, Tadecchi?”
“Huh?” Wakkuu butted in. “You come here to look for books? Why don’t you go to a library or something? What do you mean?”
“Different bookstores have different selections, you know,” Iori said, sounding slightly indignant. “I go around to different places in the city to find what I need.”
“Whoa! Isn’t that a lot of work?! Or is that why you like it?”
“Well, yeah, I guess…”
“I buy books online,” Yukisada said, using his hands to mimic using a phone. “Mostly e-books.”
“I definitely prefer print books. There are studies that say you retain information better. And I believe you lose something when you’re not holding and reading a book in your hands.”
“I prefer paper books, too,” Asumi said, nodding enthusiastically. “I mostly read manga, though. It’s just too small reading it on your phone, don’t you think? You can’t really see the pictures or any of the details.”
“Can’t you zoom in?” Moena asked, making a pinching-out motion with her thumb and forefinger.
Asumi frowned. “Isn’t that annoying to do all the time, though? And don’t you think it sort of disrupts the flow?”
“Reading flow is important.”
“It really is! We’re totally on the same page, Iorin!”
“Me too, me too! Reading flow is super important! So that means I’m also on the same page as you, right, Tadeshina?!” Wakkuu immediately cut in.
Iori glared at him, vertical lines appearing between her eyebrows.
“I don’t know about that…”
“We are. We are, I’m telling you. And even if we weren’t, I could make it so we were. They don’t call me the human fabric softener for nothing.”
“You do know that fabric softener is an oil-based liquid used to soften clothes, don’t you?”
“Huuuh? So does that mean I’d be softening other people up…?”
“That’d be a good thing, right?” Moena chuckled. “Tadecchi is such a square. Making her a little softer ’round the edges would definitely make life a whole lot easier.”
“Who are you calling a square?!”
“Oh…” Kuchina let out an extremely quiet sound. Wondering what it could be, Sousei looked in the direction of her gaze to a store a little ahead of them and to the right.