"Whewww… that scared me…"
After Takahiro left and she closed the door, Akari clutched her chest and took deep breaths over and over.
"That was the longest I've talked to someone who isn't family in forever… I didn't say anything weird, did I?"
As she replayed the conversation in her head, she first cringed at how much she'd stuttered, then anxiously wondered if every single thing she'd said had been okay.
She especially worried about giving him the food. What if he thought it tasted bad and regretted accepting it?
"Uuuugh… was that really okay…? But Satomura-kun seemed nice, so he probably wouldn't say anything mean, right? Oh, wait!"
She suddenly remembered something and dashed to her room. She pulled out the class name list. Thanks to privacy laws these days, it only contained names, but that was enough—she wanted to confirm how Takahiro's name was written.
"…Satomura Takahiro."
She stared at the characters, then traced them in the air with her finger—an old habit to memorize names.
Up until now she'd only ever said "Satomura-kun" out loud and hadn't been sure about the kanji. They weren't particularly difficult, but getting them wrong would be embarrassing. And she wanted to remember his first name too.
"…Oh no… did I look totally pathetic just now…?"
She suddenly caught sight of herself in the mirror and panicked. He'd seen her in casual home clothes instead of her school uniform. Especially with her bangs pinned up—how had that looked to him? She frantically patted down her hair, suddenly convinced it was sticking out everywhere, and started obsessing over split ends.
"I wonder if Satomura-kun will talk to me again…"
Negative thoughts spiraled: What if he thinks I'm ugly and never wants to deal with me again? Her earlier excitement quickly turned into depression.
"…But if he liked the food, maybe… maybe we could become friends…"
That tiny hope had already taken root.
The high school Akari entered had zero familiar faces. She had purposely chosen a school far from home with no acquaintances—which was exactly why she had no friends yet.
She'd enrolled with the modest wish of making friends in this new place, but so far she hadn't managed to call even one person a friend.
This wasn't a school that gathered students from all over; most kids already knew each other from the same middle schools and formed groups right from the start. Of course new friendships formed too, but Akari had never been able to join any of them.
At the very beginning, several girls in class had tried talking to her, but her crippling social anxiety made normal conversation impossible. She couldn't bring herself to actively approach anyone, and in the end she remained in no group at all.
The times she felt most nervous and tongue-tied were precisely when same-age girls tried to befriend her. Some were patient and waited for her to finish speaking, but even then Akari would panic and want to flee, cutting the conversation short herself. And so everyone drifted away.
"I want friends…"
She didn't choose to be alone.
But she was paralyzed by fear of how others saw her, how they judged everything she said and did.
She knew it was a problem, yet she still couldn't make the first move. It frustrated her to no end.
"Will we talk again…? Or was that it…?"
In Akari's mind, her conversation with Takahiro had been the most "normal" one she'd had in ages.
Part of that was because he was a boy, part because it happened at her own home with no escape, and part because he'd come to return something—so all she had to do was thank him. The correct response had been limited and clear.
Starting a conversation herself was far too difficult; she always ended up relying on the other person.
That's why, from that day on, Akari spent every day hoping Takahiro would talk to her again.
◇
Takahiro had the perfect excuse to talk to her again: returning the empty food container.
The very next day he brought the washed container to school, planning to give it back. The problem was how.
"Hey, Satomura, what've you been glancing at for the past five minutes? Something over there? Wait—were you staring at the girls?"
"No way, it's not like that."
He'd brought the container, but handing it over in front of everyone felt like it would invite all kinds of rumors. It would take serious courage.
When his classmate teased him, Takahiro realized he'd been obviously looking at Akari and hastily changed the subject. Returning it at school was impossible—he gave up.
"By the way, man, I started that new game right after getting home yesterday and dude, it's insanely good from the very beginning. Blew my mind."
"Seriously? The PV looked kinda meh, so I wasn't sure…"
"No no, for real. Story's still too early to judge, but the atmosphere is perfect. And the girls are super cute. Voice acting is spot-on. That's crucial."
"Hmm. Maybe I'll buy it then. But I've got a backlog…"
"You HAVE to buy it! My gut says the price won't drop for a long time."
"Well, I'll finish what I'm playing first."
While chatting with his friend, Takahiro's mind was entirely on how to return the container to Akari.
"…I actually came here, but is this okay…?"
In the end he went back to Akari's apartment. He couldn't return it at school, so he had no choice, but still—he felt pretty shameless showing up uninvited at a girl's place (especially one who lived alone) when they weren't even close.
But he was already here. Turning back now would just be stupid.
Ding-dong.
"…?"
No answer. He started worrying she'd make a weird face when she saw him.
He'd confirmed Akari left school before him—she had no friends or club activities, so she always went straight home. Takahiro was similar, but he often hung out chatting first. Today he'd killed some time too before heading over.
Ding-dong.
Still nothing.
Come to think of it, she lived alone—she had to do her own grocery shopping. She'd mentioned stopping by the shopping street yesterday. Maybe she was out doing that right now.
…
Waiting on her doorstep was definitely too much.
Resigned, he put the container in a plastic bag to hang on her doorknob—just as he was about to leave,
Click. The door opened.
"…S-S-Satomura-kun…?"
"Hey. You were home. I thought maybe you weren't back yet."
"S-sorry… I was slow… coming to the door…"
As usual, Akari hid most of her body behind the door and looked down while apologizing. She probably acted like this whenever anyone visited—she clearly hesitated to show herself.
"U-um… why are you here today…?"
"Oh, just came to return this."
"Ah!"
She looked shocked the moment she took the bag—like she'd just realized her mistake.
"I'm so sorry! I made you go out of your way again…! You could've just thrown it away, I can't believe I made you come all the way here, I'm really sorry!"
"Huh? No, why are you apologizing? It's seriously no big deal. The food was delicious, thanks. I couldn't hand it over easily at school, so I stopped by—if it's a bother, I'm sorry."
"A bother? N-no, not at all… I'm glad… you liked it…"
"Uh… yeah."
Takahiro suddenly realized his own mistake while she shrank back in embarrassment. When returning a container, the polite thing was to fill it with something in return—cookies, snacks, anything. He only realized that now.
If he'd been more thoughtful, they could've kept exchanging little gifts and naturally grown closer.
"…Well, I returned it, so I'll head home."
"W-wait…!"
"Hm?"
Before he could ask, Akari darted back inside. Same as yesterday. He waited.
She quickly returned and held out a paper pastry box with a handle.
"U-um… if you'd like… please take this. I-it's not really a side dish or anything…"
Takahiro recognized the box—it was from a famous local cake shop. Definitely cake or some kind of dessert.
"I-if you don't like sweets, you can just throw it away…!"
"Uh, no—I love sweets, this is awesome. Thank you, Yoshinaga-san."
He had zero reason to receive anything today, and it was obviously store-bought (probably not cheap), so he should refuse… but remembering how she'd nearly cried yesterday when he tried to decline, he could already picture her apologizing again as if she'd done something wrong. So he accepted.
"E-hehe…"
She smiled happily when he took it. Refusing now would practically be a sin.
"I'll bring something next time."
"Eh? N-no, you don't have to…!"
They exchanged a few more words like that before Takahiro finally headed home.
◇
"Yoshinaga-san has to be into me, right…?"
Eating the cake at home, Takahiro grinned like an idiot.
That's just how boys his age are—the moment a girl is even a little nice, they immediately start thinking it's love.