The school festival came to an end, and the next day, we all went to school to clean everything up.
“It was so hard to make, and yet it only takes a second to dismantle it,” grumbled Naitou, the design team’s leader.
“Yeah.” I chuckled and nodded in agreement.
I saw a piece of tape on her shoulder.
“Oh, let me get that,” I said, peeling it off for her. She looked a little embarrassed and nodded.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.” I smiled back at her.
“Ah!” she said, turning to look at me. “Your band was amazing, by the way.”
“Oh, thanks. I was a total amateur, so I was worried I’d make everyone sound bad.”
“No way! You had a totally different aura from usual. It was really charming!”
“Really? Wow, I’m not sure what to say. Thanks.”
We both blushed, but then someone interrupted us.
“Yuzu. Take this cardboard.”
“Huh? Oh!”
Suddenly, someone shoved a heavy cardboard box full of even more folded cardboard into my arms, almost toppling me over.
“Kaoru!” I exclaimed.
“Maybe if you moved your hands as fast as your mouth, we could go home early,” she said.
“Yeah, yeah. Is the rooftop okay?”
“Yep. Hurry it up.”
“Geez, you’re so strict.”
I lifted the box, and Naitou chuckled and looked between the two of us.
“You two seem close,” she said, and I nodded.
“Yeah, we’re in the same club.”
“The literature club, right?”
“Yeah. But Kaoru…”
“I said, hurry it up!” Kaoru shouted impatiently. I chuckled and said goodbye to Naitou.
Kaoru plopped down on a chair and started tearing up the posters that had been plastered all over the wall and stuffing them into garbage bags.
“Stop flirting,” she muttered under her breath as I walked past.
“It’s not like that,” I said.
She glared at me. “Hurry it up!”
Ooh, scary.
The cardboard box was pretty heavy, and I could barely see in front of me, so I had to walk down the hallway really slowly.
“Yuzuru?”
I heard a voice from the other side of the box. It was Ai.
“That’s a lot of stuff. Want some help?” she asked as she poked her head out to one side.
She was carrying an armload of garbage bags, all filled to bursting.
“No.” I shook my head. “You’re taking out the trash, right? I’m going in the opposite direction. I’ll be fine.”
We were putting all the cardboard and wood up on the rooftop and taking everything else to the garbage area on the first floor.
“Hm, okay. Well, be careful not to fall!” she said as she passed me. “Oh!” She stopped, then turned around with a grin and said, “Let’s walk home together today!”
Just then, a male student passed us by and gawked.
I nodded, a little embarrassed. “Sure. I’ll wait for you in the club room when I’m done.”
“Thanks! It might take a minute, though. We still have a lot of black poster paper stuck on the windows.”
“It’s okay. I’ll read while I wait for you.”
We smiled and then took off in different directions.
For some reason, it felt like it had been a while since I’d walked home from school with Ai. Since we started the band, I’d been going to Nagoshi’s house all the time to practice, and then we’d been preparing for the school festival, so there hadn’t been a lot of chances to head home together.
Now I had something else to look forward to after school, and my steps felt a little lighter.
I carefully climbed the stairs, and by the time I reached the roof, I was completely out of breath. Opening the door was quite a challenge while holding the cardboard box.
I twisted the knob with my left hand and pushed against the door with my shoulder.
Suddenly, it swung open, and I stumbled forward. “Whoa!”
“Whoops!” Someone caught me just as I was about to fall.
When I looked up, I saw beautiful golden hair reflecting the sunlight.
“Nagoshi.”
“We just keep meeting like this, don’t we? Are you stalking me?” she joked.
“Come on! You’re the one who’s always hanging out on the roof!” I shot back and glared at her. But then, I added quietly, “Thanks for catching me. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
She burst out laughing.
The teachers asked everyone to come to school and help clean up, but attendance wasn’t mandatory. They probably couldn’t figure out a subject to assign the time to. Though if that was the case, I wondered why we couldn’t just do it during homeroom. There was probably some reason or other.
But since it wasn’t mandatory, some students were bound to skip out. A few people in my class hadn’t shown up, and I’d assumed Nagoshi wouldn’t either, but…
“Do you think I’m some kind of delinquent?” she asked.
“Well, aren’t you? Serious students don’t skip class to hang out on the roof.”
“Ha-ha. I suppose you’re right.”
As if to prove my point, Nagoshi had shown up at school, but she was clearly still skipping out on the cleanup.
“Do you have any friends, Nagoshi?” I asked as I set the cardboard box down in the designated spot.
“No. Girls find me annoying, and guys only want to date me. So I’m a loner.”
“That must be pretty tough.”
“Yeah, it is.” She laughed, sounding like she didn’t care at all.
Maybe she was the type who could live alone. Maybe she found it easier that way.
I took the folded cardboard out of the box and stacked it in the storage area. The last box hadn’t been flattened yet, and I struggled with it.
“Hrm…”
It was reinforced with multiple layers of duct tape, making it tougher to take apart than I’d anticipated.
“Here.”
As I was crouched down struggling with the box, Nagoshi handed me a box cutter.
“Oh, thanks.”
Seeing her with it unsettled me a bit.
I hesitantly took it from her and used it to cut the tape. It made the job a lot easier, and I was finished in no time. I stared at the box cutter for a while and said, “I think I’m gonna need this for a few more boxes. Can I borrow it?”
She leaned against the fence and snorted.
“You’re not going to return it anyway, are you? Just keep it.”
“Huh?” Her casual response caught me off guard.
She grinned mischievously. “Or would you rather have the one I use for cutting my arm?”
“What?!” I froze, box cutter in hand, and she burst into laughter.
“I’m only kidding! Just take it.”
“Um, thanks.” I hesitantly put the box cutter in my breast pocket.
Maybe she didn’t need it anymore. I hoped that was the case.
“Hey, Asada?”
“Yeah?”
“Remember how I told you there are people who don’t want anyone to know anything about them?”
I remembered. She’d said that when I came here to eat lunch with Ai.
“…Yeah, I do.”
She smiled dryly and muttered to herself, “I used to think I was one of those people. But I guess I was just lying to myself.” She looked at me. “You and Andou both tried so hard to draw out my feelings. And in the end, you saved me.”
Her words were so sincere I could only blink in response.
“Thanks,” she said casually. “And tell Andou I said thank you, too.”
I stared at her blankly for a while. Then, I chuckled. “You should tell him yourself.”
“Gah,” she frowned. “He’d get way too excited. No way.”
“Well, in that case…” I scratched the tip of my nose shyly. “Maybe if you played the bass with him again, it would be like saying ‘thank you.’”
Her mouth fell open slightly. Then, she burst out laughing. “So bold!”
I snorted.
“Maybe if I feel like it,” she said with a chuckle.
I was relieved she hadn’t simply refused.
She pointed at me. “And you. Don’t you dare quit the drums after all that practice.”
I stiffened up. Come to think of it, I’d been so relieved after the performance that I hadn’t really considered whether I’d continue playing.
“If I feel like it,” I said, imitating her vague reply.
She laughed. “So bold,” she said again.
Somehow, her smile felt a lot more genuine than usual, and that made me really happy.