Chapter 8: The Next Time We Meet, It Will Be the Three of Us.

The beginning of the week following my date with Saho Minakata. Usually, I’d be loathing the start of another gloomy five-day school week, but today, my heart felt completely different. I, who usually struggle to get up, woke up the moment my alarm went off; I’d already finished breakfast and my morning routine and was about to head out.

Even though it was Monday morning, my mood was bright and my step was light—as if I’d been reborn, I couldn’t wait to get to school. If I arrived early, there was a chance I’d get a moment to talk to Minakata in the classroom. When I thought about that, I couldn’t bear to lounge around the house.

However—after I finished putting on my shoes, I ended up crouching in the entryway, unable to move. My childhood friend, Yua Yushiro, coming by the house to hurry me along as we go to school together… those days, which felt like an illusion of being back in elementary school, had already become deeply ingrained in my life.

In just a few more minutes, she would be coming to pick me up today, too. While my body wanted to move toward school as fast as possible because of my deepening bond with Minakata, I was tormented by a sense of resistance toward leaving Yua behind and going to school alone.

“…I’m so indecisive.”

Still crouching on the step of the entryway, I rested my elbows on my knees and ruffled my hair in frustration. I was coddled by this life with a childhood friend that was filled with a sense of security; whether it was love, friendship, or both—I felt strangely furious at myself for neglecting the feelings she had, at the very least, been directing toward me.

“You went through all the trouble of getting ready, and now you’re taking a second nap while sitting up?”

Concerned about her brother who wouldn’t leave the house, Kanami Tsuzuki walked up to me.

“Not really… I’m leaving now.”

“Is that so? To me, it only looked like you were waiting for someone.”

As if sensing everything, my sister hit the nail on the head regarding why I was lingering.

“Do you remember… what I told you on Saturday, before you left?”

“That no matter what kind of relationship Yua and I end up in, as long as we’re both satisfied with it, that’s all that matters… right?”

“That’s right. And as your sister, I said as long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters. But I don’t want you to misunderstand—the ‘best case’ for me is for the two of you to be happy together.”

“What are you trying to say first thing in the morning?”

“There’s no deep meaning. It’s just that if you’re going to dawdle here, torn over whether or not to run away, I think you should just have a real talk with Yua-chan and tell her how you actually feel.”

“Torn over running away? Me?”

“At least, that’s how it looks to me. Even you staying here right now… it feels like you’re running away from making a choice and just leaving the final decision to Yua-chan—”

“I’m not doing that!”

I cut my sister off and stood up from the entryway step. But I had no room to argue; her words hit the mark perfectly. In the end, even this reaction was likely just another form of running away in her eyes.

I grabbed my bag, flung the front door open with force, and bolted out of the house. As the door swung shut behind me, I glanced back; she didn’t chase me or try to stop me—she just watched me go with a gentle, knowing gaze.

Just how much of my heart did my sister see through? Having looked after me like a mother figure, she understood me better than anyone—perhaps even better than I understood myself. That was exactly why I had no choice but to refuse to even listen to her.

I jammed my key into my bicycle lock and straddled the saddle, pulling away from the Tsuzuki gate as if to shake off the guilt.

“Morning, Sora-kun!”

Immediately—a voice called out from behind me.

I considered pretending I hadn’t noticed and just keeping on, but by instinctively slowing down for even a fraction of a second, it became obvious that any attempt to ignore her would be intentional. Reluctantly, I brought the bike to a halt and, still seated on the saddle, looked back.

“…Morning, Yua.”

I tossed out a single word, struggling to suppress my turbulent emotions. Without even making eye contact, I returned the greeting to the childhood friend who had gone out of her way to come pick me up.

“It’s rare to see you already out of the house, Sora-kun. Do you have something to do at school?”

“No, I just happened to wake up early…”

I offered a plausible excuse, and she let out an “Oh?” in response.

Just thinking about how I must look in Yua’s eyes right now was terrifying. Because I’d listened to my sister right before leaving the house, my awareness of Yua—which was already high—had become painfully hypersensitive.

I faced forward again and started pedaling, feigning composure.

“Ah. Wait up, Sora-kun!”

She chased after me on her bike and quickly pulled up alongside me.

“Hey, Sora-kun… I said hey?”

“…What is it, Yua?”

“Sora-kun, do you feel sick? You’re acting completely different from usual.”

“Physically, I’m in top shape. Enough that I actually have the energy to head to school early.”

“Then why are you in such a bad mood? …Did I do something?”

“You didn’t do anything, so don’t worry about it.”

“I… see.”

Yua kept trying to engage me, and I kept snapping back with irritated replies. She seemed to swallow my words by force, falling into a long silence.

But clearly, she wasn’t satisfied with that. As we rode toward the station, I could see her racking her brain, desperately trying to find a way to reclaim our usual daily routine.

“Come to think of it… your date on Saturday… did you have fun going out with Minakata-san?”

With that question, the long silence was finally shattered.

That said, this wasn’t just a topic she squeezed out because she couldn’t stand the atmosphere; it was a question Yua posed out of genuine concern and interest.

Well, I expected her to ask this. In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I had been “running away from this topic”—it was something I really didn’t want to answer.

“…I had a good time.”

I forced the positive sentiment through a dry voice, spitting the words out bluntly.

“What did you two do?”

“We had burgers for lunch, I gave her a tour of the neighborhood on my bike, and we called it a day before dinner.”

“So you weren’t together until night. I can’t really picture it, but what did you talk about while you were hanging out?”

“School, our hobbies, memories… and Yua, your name came up quite a bit.”

“Eh… my name? Even though it was a date for the two of you…?”

Whether she was genuinely surprised or felt some sort of discomfort, Yua’s eyes widened, and she looked at my face in shock.

“Sora-kun… what exactly did you talk about regarding me when you were with Minakata-san?”

“Why should I go out of my way to tell you what I discussed with her—”

“Tell me.”

When I stole a glance at Yua’s expression, my thoughts momentarily froze. I was overwhelmed by the intensity of her gaze—it was as if she had suddenly tightened the air around us—and the words caught in my throat.

“U-uh…”

Cold sweat trickling down, I racked my brain for the details of Saturday’s conversation with Minakata.

“She already seemed to know we were childhood friends. She asked about the elementary school we went to, where we used to play… stuff like that.”

“When you gave her the tour, did you look around the school and the park?”

“Y-yeah. We went around there, and then… no, I think that’s about it.”

“Really?”

“…Fine. I didn’t let her inside, but we did pass by the front of my house…”

Refusing to let even a hint of deception slide, she pressed me further.

“Sora-kun. That day… you didn’t stop by my house, did you?”

“Eh…?”

—Did you walk home together back then, too? —So the direction of your houses was the same? —Should we go see Yushiro-san’s house while we’re at it?

At Yua’s question, those trivial snippets of conversation from the date came rushing back to me. To me, it had just been idle chatter arising from the flow of the moment—but to Yua, it seemed those words carried a “sense of wrongness.”

“…Of course I didn’t stop by your place. People already know we went to the same elementary school, so that’s one thing, but I wouldn’t just give out someone’s private information.”

“But the topic of my house did come up.”

“W-well, yeah…”

Given that we went to the same school and currently walk home together, anyone could figure out we live in the same neighborhood if they thought about it. But it wasn’t as if I’d given her the specific location of the Yushiro residence or told her how to get there.

Despite my explanation, Yua kept a strangely dubious expression on her face.

“That topic… did you bring it up, Sora-kun?”

“Did I bring it up?”

“You weren’t… led into it, were you?”

The underlying malice in the way Yua asked that made the blood rush to my head.

“Yua… is there something you’re trying to say?”

I took one foot off the pedal and came to a stop at the edge of the road. She stopped a short distance ahead of me and turned her neck to fix her gaze on me.

“It’s not so much something I want to say as it is that there are just too many suspicious points.”

“…Such as?”

“Even if it’s a friend’s hometown, normally you wouldn’t go out of your way to ask for a tour of a place that isn’t even a tourist spot.”

“That’s just ‘normal’ according to you.”

“This date was supposed to be an apology to you, Sora-kun, right? So why did she set the date for this town, where there are so few shops to choose from?”

“That was out of consideration for me—the person she was apologizing to—so that I wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of traveling…”

“Then why, despite it being a precious date, was it so focused on me?”

“Because Yua, you’re someone we both know in common, so you’re the perfect topic. …Besides,”

—Now that you’ve reunited with Yushiro-san after all this time, do you find yourself developing romantic feelings for her?

I suddenly recalled that question Minakata had asked me even before the date began. Even if the pretext was an apology, she went as far as to invite me out one-on-one. At the very least, her impression of me couldn’t be that bad. Regarding that question, it wasn’t impossible that she was indirectly probing into how I felt about Yua—even as I held onto that faint hope, a feeling snagged in the back of my mind about just how much of a “convenient interpretation” this was for me.

The points Yua found suspicious might seem like overthinking, but that was only because I was trying to stay on Minakata’s “side.” The counterarguments I was making were actually quite flimsy. If anything, I was just unconsciously repeating excuses that were convenient for me.

“Sora-kun, do you like Minakata-san as a member of the opposite sex?”

“…!? Where did that come from, out of the blue!”

Seeing me flinch at the sudden question, Yua lowered her gaze.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. Instead, I’ll just say this one-sidedly… You should stop yourself from falling in love with Minakata-san.”

At this meddlesome advice—which was clearly no joke—I got off my bicycle and closed the distance between us.

“You… the other day you said this was a ‘chance’… The day the date was decided, you were taking my outing with Minakata positively!”

“Based on what you’ve told me, the situation is different. …Even when I first heard about it, I did imagine there might be something behind it.”

“Something behind it? Minakata isn’t that kind of person!”

“Can you say that so definitively when you’ve barely spent any time together?”

“Then what about you?! You don’t know anything about Minakata, so how can you go that far?!”

I ended up getting emotional.

Before the date, when I told Yua about it, a murky feeling had formed in the depths of my chest—a selfish, spoiled dependency on her because she had, contrary to my expectations, supported my connection with Minakata.

Yua is the only one on my side. She has feelings for me. —From the gaps of security created by those fluctuating emotions, anxiety and dissatisfaction began to overflow. You were the one who sent me off… so don’t come back and deny it now.

“It has nothing to do with you, Yua…”

I spat out the negative emotion in a low mumble.

“Who I like has nothing to do with you. You’re not my girlfriend, and it’s not like you have feelings for me anyway…!”

Her lips trembled slightly, and the light gradually faded from her eyes. But I was already—past the point of no return.

“Just… leave me alone. Our relationship isn’t the same as it was in elementary school.”

I straddled my bike and started down the school route again, leaving her behind. I felt no sign of Yua rushing to chase me, and I didn’t try to look back.

That’s right, this is fine. Don’t come after me. I am far removed from the ideal childhood friend Yua envisions; a man as selfish and pathetic as I am now has long since lost the right to stand by her side.

☆

The date with Minakata was supposed to make us closer, giving us more chances to talk at school—at least, that was the expectation I held until recently. But reality isn’t that sweet. We exchanged greetings and light small talk, but we had done that occasionally even before the date; my daily life hadn’t changed much.

However, there is one thing in my life that has changed drastically recently. No, strictly speaking, it might be more accurate to say it “reverted to the way it was.”

The Monday after the date with Minakata—the day I argued with Yua over her. Since that incident, the distance between Yua and me has remained wide. Ever since she transferred back, I had been seeing her every day, but now we’re in a state of constant awkwardness, to the point where we avert our eyes even when passing in the hallway.

Commuting to school, lunch breaks, joint classes—as a result of my relationship with Yua souring, my school life inevitably regressed to being completely alone. Honestly, I’m lonely, but I was the one who selfishly rejected her. Even the members of “Yuu-s,” Yua’s fan club who used to treat me as an enemy, seemed to lose all interest in me the moment I distanced myself from her.

However—there was one person in the classroom who cared about me.

“Tsuzuki-kun, has something happened lately?”

Only Saho Minakata was looking out for someone like me. A few days after I became estranged from Yua—while I was eating silently by myself in the classroom during lunch break—she approached me with a worried look.

“…”

If it were something I could consult her about, I’d love to talk to Minakata and ease my mind. However, the catalyst for my relationship with Yua twisting was the date with Minakata. It wasn’t her fault at all, but I feared that telling her the truth would only make her feel guilty.

“Are you… worried about Yushiro-san, by any chance?”

It seemed Minakata had already guessed the general outline of my troubles; while I was still trying to decide what to say, she beat me to the punch with the question.

“I thought you looked like you had something on your mind, and I figured it would be better to listen to your problems in person rather than over LINE. Was it a bother, me talking to you in the classroom?”

“No way. I was actually just thinking about wanting someone to talk to.”

The group of gal friends Minakata usually hangs out with must have gone to the cafeteria, as they were nowhere to be seen. Normally, she would have gone with them, but she likely made an excuse to stay behind. However, even in their absence, there were plenty of other classmates in the room. I could faintly hear a group of boys in the distance starting to buzz: “Why is a plain guy like that talking to Minakata-san?”

While I was genuinely happy for Minakata’s concern, if rumors started to spread, things would only get more complicated.

“Could we leave the classroom to talk?”

“I guess you don’t really want people overhearing, huh?”

“Yeah. To be honest, I’m even a bit hesitant to talk about it at school…”

Not only was I being seen with Minakata—who boasts top-tier popularity among the boys—but the topic would center on Yua, who holds top-tier popularity among the girls. For someone like me who prefers to avoid trouble, I didn’t want to stand out for the wrong reasons in a public place.

“Hey… this ‘worry’ about Yushiro-san… it isn’t some kind of ‘lover’s spat,’ is it?”

“How did you even get that idea!?”

Minakata cupped her hand beside her mouth and whispered into my ear. Between my poor phrasing and the situation, I seemed to have given her an impossible misunderstanding.

“She’s just a childhood friend. We’ve never dated, not now and not in the past. …And obviously, we aren’t in a relationship that does those kinds of things.”

“Oh, thank goodness… Even for me, I don’t think I could handle a story like that.”

“What do you mean, you ‘couldn’t handle it’?”

“Envy, or jealousy, maybe? I’d start thinking ‘Man, I want a boyfriend too,’ and the actual advice part would probably stop going into my head.”

Pulling back slightly, Minakata tilted her head while pressing her right index finger against her cheek.

She certainly has a way of speaking that would make most guys misunderstand her intentions. Still, I can’t help but wonder why she cares so much about someone like me, especially since we’ve only gone out once…

“Why do you worry so much about our relationship, Minakata-san?”

“A reason for worrying, huh…”

She paused for a few seconds, seemingly organizing her thoughts.

“Tsuzuki-kun, you’re already a precious friend to me, aren’t you? If that friend ends up on bad terms with the childhood friend he cherishes so much, it makes even me sad. …Besides, if she’s someone you admire this much, I’d actually like to try and become friends with Yushiro-san myself.”

“…I see.”

Yua had looked at Minakata with suspicion, wondering if she was up to something, but to me, she seemed like nothing more than a kind girl who cares about her friends. Was Yua really just overthinking it after all?

“M-o-r-e i-m-p-o-r-t-a-n-t-l-y… Tsuzuki-kun, let’s finish this talk outside the classroom. If we don’t go soon, we won’t have any time left to talk, right?”

Minakata pointed to the wall clock, urging me to get up from my seat.

There were less than twenty minutes left until the end of lunch break—honestly, even if we started the consultation in a hurry, it didn’t seem like we could wrap things up in that amount of time. I’d probably end up finishing without explaining most of the situation.

“Sorry, but would you mind if we did this another day or talked over the phone instead? If we start now, I don’t think I can finish the whole story…”

“In that case, should we meet up and talk on a day off?”

“I-Is that okay?”

I reflexively questioned her unexpected proposal.

“Of course. Oh, how about the day after tomorrow? It’s Sunday, and I just happen to be free. Are you open, Tsuzuki-kun?”

“Y-Yeah, I’m free…!”

“Really? Then let’s meet the day after tomorrow. For the place… should we do your hometown again?”

“Since it was my neighborhood last time, I think it would be good to go somewhere else for a change. It feels wrong to make you come all the way here just to listen to my problems.”

“I don’t mind either way, but if that’s what you want, let’s do that.”

“Let’s finalize the plans over LINE then. I’ll think of some candidates for the time and place.”

If she was going to listen to my problems, I wanted to treat her to something this time as a thank you. There weren’t many restaurants to choose from in my neighborhood, so meeting somewhere more developed seemed like a better idea.

Even so, I couldn’t believe we were having a second date so soon… No, in this case, the reason for meeting was a consultation, so calling it something so flighty felt inappropriate. Well, the label didn’t matter. The fact that I could see Minakata again on a day off was, to me, something to be happy and proud of.

“The two of you certainly look like you’re having fun.”

But—that heart full of joy was clouded in an instant by a disturbing atmosphere. The classroom was thrown into a stir by the excited voices of the female students and the bewildered murmurs of the boys.

My childhood friend, Yua Yushiro, clad in the male school uniform—his… her appearance swallowed the atmosphere of the room. For Yua herself to appear right as she was the center of our conversation… what terrible timing. I could only think she had been watching from somewhere, waiting for Minakata and me to start talking.

“…Yua, what are you doing here? You don’t have any business here, do you?”

“It’s important business. You won’t even meet my eyes when we pass in the hallway, and you haven’t sent a single reply to my messages… Since that day, I haven’t been blessed with a single chance to talk to you.”

It was true; several message notifications from Yua had reached my phone. However, out of awkwardness and a desire for time to think, I had been putting off my replies. Facing her directly like this, I didn’t know what kind of face to make. …That was exactly why I had been trying to set aside time to resolve it.

With a desperate wish to escape reality, I glanced at Minakata standing next to my seat. She was clutching her face, which had turned beet red, and her body was trembling slightly. Thinking back, I remember Minakata muttering about how “cool” Yua was the very first time she saw her in front of the girls’ restroom.

Seeing Yua in the flesh after such a long time, Minakata seemed to be getting nervous as well. It was exactly how I used to feel before I got used to talking to her.

“So, Yua, you came here because you have something to say to me, right? What is it?”

“Before that, what were you two talking about? I could tell even from the hallway that you were having a lively conversation, so I got curious.”

“We weren’t really being that ‘lively’…”

There was no way in hell I could tell her to her face that I was arranging a consultation about her. As I hesitated, trying to think of a way to dodge the question, Yua shifted her gaze toward Minakata.

“Would you mind telling me, Minakata-san?”

“Hyau…! We were just making a p-promise to meet up, the two of us, on Sunday…!”

“Wait a second, Minakata-san!?”

With a peculiar yelp and a large, startled flinch, Minakata blurted out the truth of our conversation. Although she knew I was worried about Yua, she didn’t realize that she herself was part of the problem, so it made sense that she saw no reason to hide the truth.

“Hmm. A nice little weekend date, then?”

“Sigh… well, yeah, something like that. So, what’s your actual business, Yua?”

I let out a sigh at Yua’s pointed tone and tried to change the subject. But in that brief interval, she seemed to have hit upon an idea, and a small smile played across her lips.

“Actually, what a coincidence. The timing is truly perfect. You see, I came to see Sorato because I was planning on making a similar invitation myself.”

A similar invitation? What on earth is she talking about…? I had a massive, sinking feeling in my gut. And unfortunately, it seemed my intuition was spot on.

Yua paused for dramatic effect, then—deliberately addressing Minakata instead of me—she spoke:

“The three of us—Minakata-san, Sorato, and me. How about we all go out together?”

With a voice that was both sweet and gallantly seductive—that was the proposal she made.

“The three of us… including me? We’re all going out together…?”

Minakata made no effort to hide her bewilderment at Yua’s suggestion. Well, of course she didn’t. No one would have expected her to say something like that. Even as her childhood friend, I couldn’t keep up with Yua’s thought process; my heart was just filled with mounting confusion.

The intent behind the proposal was likely to stop Minakata and me from going out alone… but what did she plan to do once the three of us met? A likely possibility was that she intended to get between us and sabotage the relationship before it got any better, but I couldn’t imagine Yua actually executing such a spiteful scheme.

“What do you think, Minakata-san? If you say ‘I don’t want you interfering with my date with Sorato,’ I won’t force the issue. I’ll back down.”

“Hold on, Yua! You’re just saying whatever you want, but what about my opinion—”

I stood up from my chair and took a step toward her to protest. However, Minakata reached out and pressed her palm against my chest, as if to hold me back.

“…Let’s do that.”

“L-Let’s do that…?”

“Tsuzuki-kun… this time, let’s all three of us go out together!”

“Ha… HUH!?”

The unexpected consent caused a harsh cry to escape my throat.

“Wait, really, wait a second! You haven’t forgotten the reason we were meeting this weekend, have you!?”

I leaned toward Minakata’s ear, keeping my voice low so Yua wouldn’t hear.

“Of course I remember…”

She turned away, shielding her mouth with her hand, and I followed suit, turning my back to Yua.

“Think about it. Isn’t this actually a huge chance for you, Tsuzuki-kun…?”

“For me, too…?”

“Yeah. I don’t know the details since we haven’t talked yet, but you two are basically in the middle of a fight, right? Yushiro-san is probably inviting you out because she wants to make up with you.”

The term “fight” felt a little off, but I suppose that’s how it looks from a third-party perspective.

“Even if that’s the case, I wouldn’t exactly call meeting as a trio a ‘chance.'”

“Well, if it’s just the two of you, you might not be able to stay calm, right? If I’m there to act as a mediator, I think it’ll be much easier to keep the conversation smooth…! Right? Right!? What do you think!?”

“Isn’t your pressure a bit… intense?”

“No, no! Not at all!”

Minakata waved her hands frantically, denying my observation. Her eyes seemed to be sparkling even more than usual, but was I just imagining things…?

“Hmm, I see…”

That aside, what should I do about this situation?

I truly want to mend my relationship with Yua, and sooner or later, I need to have a heart-to-heart with her. If I keep dragging my feet like this, I’ll miss the timing, and eventually, I might not even be able to create a chance to talk at all. That was exactly why I considered consulting Minakata. If it’s going to be a trip for three instead of two, I’ll have to rethink how to even approach that consultation.

Still, Minakata had a point. Even if I set up a time to talk with Yua one-on-one, I didn’t know if I could speak calmly. With Minakata there, at the very least, I’d have a mental brake to prevent me from showing an unseemly side of myself. When I really thought about it, it wasn’t a bad plan at all.

Plus, if we all hang out together with Minakata included, those suspicious looks Yua has been giving her might just vanish more easily than I expected.

“…Alright.”

After a long period of reflection, I steeled my resolve.

“Minakata-san… I’ve decided to take a chance on that opportunity.”

I turned back toward my childhood friend, who was waiting for my answer, and swallowed hard.

“So, does that mean you agree too, Sorato?”

Faced with Yua’s question, I looked her straight in the eye. This was a chance for reconciliation that I had finally grasped—I absolutely could not let it slip through my fingers.

“…The day after tomorrow. Just as planned, let’s the three of us go out together the day after tomorrow.”

“Understood. Then, I’ll look forward to it.”

Enveloped in a cloud of tension, I accepted Yua’s proposal. And so, the promise for the three of us to meet on Sunday was officially made.