“That being said—”
I muttered to myself, just like I had once before.
It was the first day of Golden Week, and I was sitting in my room, holding my head in my hands. Sure, I did live in this town when I was a kid. But like I’d once told Kuki, my range of activity back then was small, and I barely knew the area. The number of places I could actually show Minase around was extremely limited.
“Why the hell did I say something like that…”
I let out a long sigh and looked up at the ceiling.
I was the one who’d said we were similar in the first place. Spending every day wrapped up in club activities—weekdays, weekends, it didn’t matter—that had been me too. After quitting, I’d gone straight into working part-time jobs, and whatever advantage I had from quitting six months before Minase was completely gone.
It was too late to regret it now. My promise with Minase was for tomorrow. Guess I’ll have to go out alone today and scout around. But where should I even start…?
Just as I was thinking that, the doorbell rang.
I glanced at the wall clock—it was just past ten in the morning. Who could it be? Don’t tell me Minase got too excited and came over a day early… That’d honestly be kind of annoying.
“Yeah?”
When I answered the intercom, the monitor lit up—showing Koreda Murasakiko, or rather, Yukari.
“It’s me. Yukari.”
“I’ll open it right away.”
I had a bunch of questions, but first, I cut off the intercom.
Then I glanced down at myself. I was still in loungewear. Not exactly fit for going out—not even to the convenience store—but decent enough for answering the door to someone I knew. I ran my fingers through my hair in front of the mirror to make it look at least somewhat presentable.
“Sorry for the wait.”
I opened the door.
There she was—Yukari, wearing a simple pair of pants, standing there with a confident, almost mischievous smile.
“Good morning.”
“Ah, yeah. Morning.”
We exchanged greetings a beat late.
“What brings you here?”
“You’re going out with Minase-san tomorrow, right?”
“Oh, she told you?”
Not that it was a secret. It was something that could easily come up in casual conversation.
“Yeah. She invited me to come along.”
“Figures. She’s the type who thinks the more, the merrier when it comes to hanging out.”
Knowing her personality, that made perfect sense.
“So, you’re coming too?”
“No, I’m not.”
Yukari shook her head. So her schedule didn’t work out, huh?
“So it’s back to the original plan—just me and Minase.”
“That’s right. …So, where are you planning to take her?”
“Uh…”
I froze.
That was the problem. If Yukari were coming too, I’d planned to leave the planning to her. But now that idea was dead.
“You really do agree too easily,” she said with a wry smile, clearly having seen right through me. She probably knew that I didn’t know this town well enough to guide anyone around.
She wasn’t wrong. I’d been asking myself the same thing earlier—why did I even accept in the first place? I guess it was because she’d asked me, and I thought if showing her around made her happy, then why not.
“How about we go scout things out now?”
Yukari suddenly suggested it.
“Huh? You mean you and me?”
“Of course. You were thinking about doing that anyway, weren’t you? And if that’s the case, having a genuine local like me with you wouldn’t hurt.”
She was right. I had just been planning to do a little scouting, and going with Yukari—who actually knew the area—sounded way better than wandering around cluelessly on my own.
“Alright, mind coming with me?”
“Gladly.”
Yukari smiled brightly.
“Then I’ll get ready real quick. Ah, but I feel bad leaving you standing out here. Come in.”
“Oh my, how bold. Inviting a girl into your place when you live alone… What’s with that face?”
Yukari frowned a little.
Apparently, I made some kind of expression that bothered her.
“Nah, it’s just… I think I mentioned this before, but I used to think that way too. Then Minase kept saying things like ‘come over’ or ‘let me in,’ and eventually it started to feel stupid. Like maybe I was the one overthinking it. But then you react like that, and now I don’t even know which reaction’s the right one anymore.”
“Ah, I see.”
Yukari chuckled softly, understanding.
“Don’t worry. You’re doing fine. At first, it’s good to be cautious. Then you watch how the other person reacts and figure out the right distance. That’s all there is to it.”
“Got it.”
By that logic, Minase’s sense of distance was completely broken. She’d been closing in since the start. Still, given that we’re classmates, neighbors, both living alone, and with similar backgrounds, it’s no wonder she felt some closeness.
“Anyway, can I come in now? That earlier thing was a joke, by the way.”
“Right, I know.”
I opened the door wide and stepped back. Yukari entered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
I took out a pair of slippers for her. She said “Thanks,” and slipped them on. It reminded me that I only had one spare pair. Maybe I should buy another one in case both Minase and Yukari ever show up together.
We walked down the short hallway.
“Wouldn’t it be easier to just go tomorrow together? …Oh, right, you’re busy then.”
“Exactly,” she replied, almost singing the words.
“Still, going a day early has its own meaning for me.”
“Meaning?”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s just something on my end.”
I guess that meant it wasn’t my business.
We stepped into the living room.
“Wow, this place is actually tidier than I expected,” Yukari said, glancing around the room with mild surprise.
“Well, yeah. …I’ll go change real quick, so wait here.”
“Sure.”
After hearing her response, I went into my room. I didn’t have many clothes, so I just grabbed the usual outfit from my rotation and changed. Throwing on a crossbody bag completed the look.
When I stepped back out, Yukari was standing there with the remote in hand, watching some talk show with celebrities discussing the news—or maybe it was a variety show, I couldn’t tell. The kind of thing we high schoolers wouldn’t normally watch unless it was a holiday. She watched with a perfectly blank face—the kind of expression that said, “This isn’t funny.”
“Ready? Then let’s go.”
With that, she turned off the TV without hesitation, placed the remote on the table, and headed toward the door. Her confident stride practically said, “Follow me.” Someone less assertive might hesitate to keep up.
I locked up behind us and followed her out.
“So, where are we going?”
After locking the door, I asked her that question.
She pressed her index finger to her lips in a “shh” gesture, then pointed downward. Combined, that clearly meant “let’s get outside first.”
I followed her lead and quietly descended the stairs.
“What’s with the secrecy?”
Once we were a good distance from the apartment, I finally spoke up.
“I didn’t want Minase-san to see us.”
“Would that really be a problem?”
If she saw us, she’d probably just say she wanted to come too.
“Oh, come on, Sakura. You really want to get caught scouting out date spots the day before, after saying you’d be her guide?”
“Yeah… that’d be kind of embarrassing.”
After all that talk about being a local, that’d ruin the image completely.
“Still, after all that chatting in the hallway, it feels a little too late for that.”
“You’ve got a point,” Yukari said casually. Hard to tell if she was being cautious or just carefree.
Honestly, worrying too much about it was pointless anyway. For all I knew, Minase could walk right past us on her way to the convenience store any minute now. Even if we’d tried to keep quiet back at the apartment, it would’ve been a wasted effort.
“So, where should we go first?”
I asked again.
“How about somewhere you normally go?”
“Huh?”
Her unexpected answer made me blink.
“Oh, did you want something more special?”
“No, not really…”
Dragging her to some fancy tourist spot or trendy café would probably be overkill.
“It’s fine, really. If you want to go somewhere like that with Minase-san, I can give you some ideas. I know a few places girls would like—cute shops, nice night views, that kind of thing.”
“Nah, that’s fine. If I try too hard, she’ll probably just think I’m weird.”
“Exactly,” Yukari said with a knowing smile.
“Don’t get me wrong, though. I’m not saying that’s all Minase-san deserves. I just think it’s more important that you don’t panic or act awkward tomorrow than trying to impress her.”
“Yeah, I get that.”
If I can manage to pull that off, I’d call it a success. And for Minase, that’s probably best too. She’d just quit her club and finally had free time—it made sense that the first step would be learning how to enjoy this town.
Though, honestly, that goes for me as well.
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