Chapter 9: CH 9

Quiet Sparks

When we changed our seats, we were assigned into groups at the same time, and I was put in the same group as Takane-san.

We were assigned to clean the library after school. Since it was a large area, one group from all of the three grades came to clean a different area. We were cleaning the area that contained literary books and the like.

It seemed that the reading club was also active here, so it might be a good idea to continue joining the club from junior high school. I had been scouted for an athletic club, but it seemed to be a club with few applicants, and I felt uncomfortable jumping into a new sport in high school.

Most importantly, I sometimes went to the gym after school, which had become a substitute for an exercise club. My sister would get upset if I didn’t go, so I had to show up at least twice a week.

“It’s not that dirty. We should probably get going.”

“Let’s do a little more and then go home. You should do the same, Senda.”

“I’ve got a few things to do in the library, so I’ll stay until it’s time to leave.”

“I see, good luck.”

The two boys in our group seemed to be more interested in their club activities. After cleaning for a while, they gave a quick shout to the other girls in the group and left.

I arranged the books and carefully wiped the dust off the shelves, just like I did when I was in the reading club. Then I picked up one of the books from the stack.

“Do you like mystery books, Senda-kun?”

“Ta- Takane-san…”

I was surprised to be called out of the blue. There was another girl in the group besides Watanabe-san and it seemed that Takane-san got separated from the two of them.

The book I picked up was called ‘A Study in Scarlet’, part of the Sherlock Holmes series.

“I was just looking to see what kind of books they had here. I thought I’d borrow it later.”

“Oh, I see. I’ve read some of the books around here.”

Takane-san pointed to the area where Agatha Christie’s works were lined up. I had read some of her books since they were in my junior high school’s library.

“Well, I usually read only manga. The reason I’m interested in these books is because they appeared in manga.”

“I don’t read manga, so I’d like to read it once.”

I had met some people who had a strict home and they had a rule of not reading manga or watching TV.

From Takane-san’s mood, behavior, and the way she talked, I imagined that her house might be a strict one. When she said that she had never read manga, it sounded very convincing.

“When I watch a drama based on a manga, sometimes I get curious about the original story.”

“Oh, my sister buys manga for the same reason.”

“Ah that’s right, you have a sister, Senda-kun.”

“She’s two years older than me and goes to a different high school. She uses the same station as Takane-san, so you might cross paths with her.”

“If I saw her, would I be able to recognize her as Senda-kun’s sister?”

“I doubt that, people often say we don’t look alike.”

Until last year, my sister, Ruru-Nee, also went to Hekiou High School. Even though I was her younger brother, I could tell her appearance was outstanding and she was good-natured. So it seemed that she was popular among boys in high school.

The reason I said ‘seemed’ was because my sister’s friend said it half-jokingly one time, and I hadn’t heard that she actually had a boyfriend. My sister was the kind of person who wanted to take me out and play with me on her precious days off, so it was possible that she was not interested in dating yet. It was a topic that we didn’t often talk about because we had courtesy even among family members.

“…… Oh, um…”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I do a lot of thinking when I’m talking. It’s a bad habit of mine.”

“No, it’s not that…”

Takane-san looked like she wanted to say something. She touched her hair on her shoulder and looked at me discreetly – a kind of teasing gesture.

Seeing her like this, I thought again. It was definitely not my imagination that her appearance was a little different from yesterday.

“Takane-san… Are you feeling a little off today?”

“Ah, no…”

Takane-san jolted in surprise and took her hand away from her hair. As I thought, the way she styled it was different from yesterday.

“…… After all that happened yesterday, wouldn’t it be better to be careful about such things?”

“Ah…”

Forced recruitment from the tennis club.

One of the reasons for that would be because Takane-san’s appearance stood out.

“It’s not that it’s not good… I think it’s good. I suppose you changed your hair and fluffed it up a little.”

“… Yes…”

Takane-san gave a short reply. It was not that I wanted to talk about her fluffing it up or some other ignorant expression about fashion. It was just that I couldn’t express myself accurately that I felt so frustrated.

However, Takane-san didn’t seem to be in a bad mood, and after looking around, she asked me,

“Senda-kun… When did you realize it?”

“Well, that’s…”

From the moment we saw each other in the morning. But if I say that, it might sound like I was aiming for something.

They say that noticing changes in a girl’s appearance was an important part of gaining a good impression. Regardless of gender, it must be nice to be noticed. But I was sure there were also many situations when you did notice but couldn’t say, just like my situation now.

“It wasn’t just now right? Then that means…”

“I’ve been aware of it since this morning, but I thought you might be surprised if I suddenly said something like that.”

“Surprised…? Why?”

Before I knew it, I was being asked a lot of questions. I caused this to happen, but frankly, I felt cornered.

But Takane-san softened the power of her eyes she stared at me with. Then in a gentle, admonishing voice, she said,

“…I’m not surprised. No, I am a little surprised, but… I am more happy that you have noticed.”

Takane-san smiled. Relief spread in my heart when I saw her shy expression.

I was able to tell her what I was thinking. If Takane-san knew that I was worried that she might dismiss me as a ‘creep’, she would probably give me an annoyed look.

It had only been two days since we started talking. She talked to me this morning, and even now, she was the one who was giving me the opportunity to talk to her.

As long as we were in the same group, we would be doing more things together. But if one of us didn’t want to, we wouldn’t have had time to talk like this.

“I’m not sure what to say about that… Thank you, Takane-san.”

“No, no… Right now I should say thank you. Even yesterday…”

“This again…. I already got a can of coffee yesterday. It’s not that I don’t like the idea of people showing gratitude. I just don’t want you to take it too seriously.”

“That is…”

There was something I had been wanting to tell Takane-san.

If I didn’t say it now, when would I say it? If I missed this moment, I didn’t know when the next time we would get a chance to talk together would come.

“It’s best if things like yesterday don’t happen again, but Takane-san is very popular. So…  If you ever get in trouble, please… don’t be afraid to ask for help…”

I wanted to help her, but I just couldn’t put it into words.

I couldn no longer make excuses for my lack of self-confidence. She was talking to me, and it was rude to be nervous about it forever.

However, ever since I commented about her hair, I couldn’t look directly at Takane-san.

I could tell that she was embarrassed. I could also tell that she was still trying to listen to me.

“I knew I shouldn’t have relied on Senda-kun….”

I was still feeling reserved toward Takane-san.

But when she was forced to do something she didn’t want to, she didn’t need to have such reservations.

Before I could say anything else, As if she had made up her mind, Takane-san put her hand on her chest and continued,

“But… This morning, I had thought about it when we went to class together. I feel so much safer around Senda-kun.”

“I… I was so nervous that I wasn’t able to look at Takane-san at all. Even so?”

Takane chuckled, and then nodded.

She always had a calm expression on her face, but the smile she showed had a charm that caught my attention.

“I also had to give it my all to look back at Senda-kun this morning. But I really wanted to make sure that Senda-kun was there…”

When I walked into the classroom this morning and took my seat, I remembered the beaming smile on Takane-san’s face when she looked back at me.

I thought she was happy that I was sitting so close to her. Takane-san, herself, just confirmed my thoughts.

“A while ago, at the end of lunch break… Also between the fifth and sixth period, there was something I wanted to discuss with Takane-san.”

“What is it that you want to discuss…?”

The blackboard was a little difficult to see from Watanabe-san’s seat. Asatani-san was also worried about that.

However, saying that would mean that I hadn’t changed from the person I was when I was still trying to please Asatani-san.

And by discussing this now, if Watanabe-san and Takane-san switched their seats, that was the same as me saying that I wanted Takane-san to sit next to me.

While I was still in doubt at this point, Takane-san, who seemed to be nervous, took a small breath and relaxed her shoulders. She seemed to have a hint of red hue from the light of the evening sun which came through the window of the library.

“Actually, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about. It’s about my seat–“

When Takane-san was about to say that, in between the bookshelves, on the other side of our aisle, a female student who could not be mistaken appeared.

She looked at us while she sent her hair back over her shoulders. She then put her hands over her mouth and smiled,

‘Found you’, that was the expression I got from her.

Why was she here when she was not assigned to cleaning duty? If she came here, did that mean she came looking for us?

“You’ve already finished cleaning, right? Thanks for your hard work, Nagi-kun. You too, Takane-san.”

“Thank you for your hard work. What are you doing in the library, Asatani-san?”

“Yeah, I came to talk to Watanabe-san, but I think we got mixed up.”

If Watanabe-san wanted to talk to Takane-san about her seat, it could have been done while we were cleaning in the library. If she didn’t do that, it meant that Watanabe-san didn’t really want to switch seats, or maybe she didn’t think it needed to be done today. In fact, there didn’t seem to be that deep of a reason for her to leave before us.

But that was only if Asatani-san hadn’t come here.

If Asatani-san came here because she thought Watanabe-san was here, she could have told her to wait for her in the LINE app.

It was because Takane-san and I were here, but I didn’t dare to think so. Maybe I was just overthinking it, but ever since lunchtime, I had been swept away by Asatani-san’s words and actions.

“Oh, I’ll call Watanabe-san later, don’t worry. So, Nagi-kun, are you free now?”

“Eh… No.”

The flow of the conversation was too rapid for my mind to catch up. If you wanted to talk to Watanabe-san, just chase after her now, I was not even able to say that.

“If you don’t have any plans, why don’t we have tea for a minute? Nagi-kun has been taking care of me on a daily basis, and I wanted to thank you.”

There were only questions in my head, such as the fact that she kept calling me ‘Nagi-kun’ even in front of Takane-san, and the fact that she implied ‘on a daily basis’ part.

I couldn’t help but feel that I still had feelings for Asatani-san.

No matter how much we say we were just friends, if Asaya-san and I were together outside of school after school hours, there would always be rumors if anyone saw us.

I was sure Asatani-san knew that but she seemed unconcerned, as if she didn’t care about anything.

And most importantly, Asatani-san didn’t hesitate to ask me out, even with Takane-san in front of her.

“When you say taking care of you on a daily basis, do you mean studying with Senda-kun in the classroom?”

“That’s one thing, but it’s a lot of other things too. Nagi-kun and I have been going to the same school since the eighth grade.”

“Ah, Asatani-san. We have only known each other for two years. We are not that close…”

“We didn’t talk much, did we? But I knew about you, Nagi-kun.”

When I was in the second year of middle school, I had only few contacts with Asatani-san.

I thought they were all trivial events that only I could remember. I couldn’t believe that she was saying she remembered all that. I had no idea what she was thinking

“Oh, that’s right. Do you want to come with us, Takane-san? You two seem to have gotten along well lately. You were walking together this morning, right?”

If Takane-san wanted to avoid being misunderstood, she and I could just laugh it off and say it was normal.

But she had told me that she didn’t care what people said.

That’s why, there was surely no way for Takane-san to change her mind about asking Asatani-san that question.

“Asatani-san, what kind of relationship do you have with Senda-kun?”

A restrained and quiet voice. But I could see in Takane-san’s eyes that she was determined not to be deceived.

Asatani-san was unfazed by this.

In a voice that was as controlled as Takane-san, she said clearly,

“For the time being, I am Nagi-kun’s ex-girlfriend… Isn’t that right?”

The question was directed at me.

Takane-san looked at me. I couldn’t tell from the look on her face if she had been aware of it for a while or if she had just noticed it.

Asatani-san was smiling, as if to say, ‘It’s the truth, so I can say it, right?’

If I didn’t say anything, it would be an affirmation. I wondered how Takane-san wouly take the fact that I didn’t tell her about my relationship with Asatani-san.

What did she think of my ex-girlfriend, Asatani-san, asking me out? Would she think it was normal, or would she be dismayed at the half-heartedness of the relationship, or perhaps neither?

“If that’s the case, then…”

Takane-san opened her mouth. Asatani-san listened with a smile on her face.

“Senda-kun, it’s fine to say you’re single now, right?”

After looking at Asatani-san and saying that, Takane-san looked at me.

She was waiting for me to say something, as if she wanted me to answer in front of Asatani-san now.