Volume 3 - CH 2

I woke up to the feeling of oppressive heat. Turning over, I looked at the alarm clock next to my pillow. It was 10am right now, and three… no, just four minutes. Even though there was barely one week left in August, the heat showed no signs of leaving us alone.

“You’ll get heatstroke even in your room,” Akiko-san once told me, so I quickly turned on my room’s air conditioning. Since I had been sweating quite a bit in my sleep, I changed into some clean clothes. Upon opening the door leading to the living room, I was hit by a strong heat wave that gave me trouble breathing for a second.

When I looked up, I saw my old man standing on a ladder, fiddling around with the A/C, as Akiko-san looked up at him with a somewhat worried gaze. Although it was just another Sunday, it felt weird to see both of them in the living room together, but then I realized that maybe this was the reason.

“Ah, Yuuta. Morning.” My old man met my gaze.

“Yuuta-kun, good morning.”

“Good morning. So, uhh, is it not working?”

“We haven’t gotten any cold air from it for a bit now. Akiko-san woke me up, saying that it was rattling a lot.”

“Should I help you?”

“Ah, no, I’m still looking into it. I don’t know what to fix, either. Not to mention that recent A/Cs aren’t even made to be fixed by an amateur anymore.”

That makes sense, I guess. He seemed to be checking the error message while going through the user manual, sometimes turning it off and on again, even cycling through the different modes. However, the unit seemed to have no intention of blowing out cold air anytime soon.

“That A/C unit is pretty old, you know. If it’s not showing any signs of being kind to me, we might have to go and buy a new unit altogether.”

“We just bought one for Saki’s room, too… I’m sorry about this.”

“No, no. Don’t be. Saki-chan’s room had always been a storage room, which is why it wasn’t equipped with an A/C unit to begin with. Studying in her room without A/C would just be suffocating, right?”

“Thank you, Taichi-san.”

As the two of them started talking about Ayase-san, I realized she wasn’t with us in the living room.

“Is Ayase-san in her room right now?”

“Yes, I just saw her. But with the heat and all… She’s not very good at handling it, see.”

“Is that so?”

“She always gave me a lot of trouble about it when she was a child. As soon as summer rolled around, she would constantly beg me for ice cream, ask me to take her to the pool, that sort of thing. She was so persistent about it, too.”

When she mentioned Ayase-san as a small child, I was reminded of the picture my old man showed me before the marriage. If I had to guess, she was probably in gradeschool back then, and she did seem fairly energetic. Comparing that to now, she’s a lot more secluded and calm. I really can’t imagine her as a child who would constantly bother her mother like that.

“Over the years, she started getting a lot calmer about it, which is a bit lonely in a different way.”

“I guess this is just what happens when teenagers reach their adolescence. It’s embarrassing to have your parents around all the time. Yuuta was the same way.”

When my old man said that, Akiko-san lowered her head a bit and let out a sigh.

“In her case, I don’t think it was simply her growing up… Back in middle school, she was already the way she is now.” Akiko-san chose her words carefully, which caused me to guess what she was referring to.

Things weren’t working out in her family anymore, her father wouldn’t even come home anymore, and Akiko-san was always out working. I think that was the time period she mentioned. Ayase-san must have noticed her family’s wretched condition and started begging for things all the time.

“I see, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“It’s fine.” Akiko-san smiled faintly.

I feel like Akiko-san didn’t even mind that much, but my old man seemed terrified. Listen, even if you hole up on that ladder, you’re not helping anybody. So when she was younger, Ayase-san really liked the pool, huh…? To be honest, I can’t really imagine an innocent and young Ayase-san swimming like that. So if someone told her that she could act the same now without any cares in the world, would she do the same?

For an introverted and inactive person like myself, simply moving around and exercising sounds like it’d be exhausting, let alone joining any large crowds of people, so I’d rather not.

“Hmm, it doesn’t seem like I can fix it. Calling someone over to repair it would probably be the best choice, but considering how busy they are this time of year, I can’t even hazard a guess as to when this can be fixed.”

“I see. How troublesome. Ah, be careful when coming down, Taichi-san.”

“Yuuta, I think it’d be best if you stayed in your room today.”

“I don’t really mind.”

I only had work in the evening today, so that was fine by me. When I asked the two of them what they would be doing about it, Akiko-san mentioned that she wanted to go shopping, and my old man would join her to carry all the stuff. Yeah, doing anything outside at all is also an option…

“I’ll go tell Saki,” Akiko-san said and headed towards the kitchen. She called out to me on the way. “Yuuta-kun, would you like to eat something? I haven’t made anything for myself yet.”

“Ah, yes please.”

My old man and Ayase-san seemed to have already finished their breakfast, so Akiko-san and I warmed up the leftovers and enjoyed them. My old man opened the door to their bedroom, which caused a cool breeze to pass through the living room, but it didn’t take long for me to start sweating like I was sitting in a sauna. At times like these, I really would love a fan.

After finishing the meal and cleaning up the table, I took a page from Ayase-san’s book by grabbing some cool drinks from the fridge and hiding from the heat in my room. Now then, what should I do today? That reminds me, I wonder what Ayase-san is up to in her room? This thought came to mind as I was flipping through a page in a book I was reading, but I was interrupted by a sudden phone call from Maru.

He asked me about my afternoon plans, and when I told him I was basically free, he told me to tag along for a shopping trip. At first, I nearly declined because I couldn’t be bothered to head outside in this heat, but then I remembered that I was in a prison of heat in my own apartment, so I agreed.

The area in front of Shibuya’s train station was even more noisy and filled with people than any other weekday, despite it only being early in the afternoon. When I looked out at this crowd, it felt like the heat had only grown even more intense.

I parked my bike at the usual parking lot. Since I have work in the evening today, it’ll make going home a lot easier later. Maru had invited me to a store that sold anime-related goods. Since it also sold manga and light novels, it was pretty much a direct competitor to the store where I worked. Well, constantly worrying about that sort of thing won’t benefit me at all, and the bookstore I work at doesn’t sell any anime merch, either.

After making my way from the front of the train station down north Jingu-dori street, I turned West after running into Inokashira-dori street. The path then split, and I headed on to Udagawa-dori street. That’s probably a somewhat easy explanation to follow. To people who don’t know Shibuya’s layout, this might seem like quite a long distance, but with the city that never sleeps and is always brimming, it was more like a walk than a chore.

There were new types of canned juices in open areas on the street, and young ladies were hawking a popular product in front of stores. You could find yourself quickly reaching your destination here just as you looked around. Around five minutes before we were supposed to meet, I reached the store in question.

“Yo, sorry to call you all the way out here.” My friend Maru Tomokazu approached me, his face a bit more tan than before.

“It’s been a while. So you didn’t have any practice today, huh?”

“Yeah. We only had morning practice today. Nowadays, endless training isn’t exactly popular or in style. In this heat, it’s more likely that you’ll just end up exhausted or even injured, so you have to take some proper breaks from time to time. That’s how we’re doing it, anyway.”

“I see, I see.”

Well, I still consider it to be pretty harsh training overall, but I’m sure they want to avoid any injuries or other health-related problems.

“Anyway, my bad that I had you come here on my behalf.”

“Well, about that…”

I told Maru about the whole A/C fiasco at home, and how I figured I’d at least have fun in some way if I was forced to endure the heat anyway. It’s not like I particularly fancied telling him about my living situation, but I figured he wouldn’t feel as bad if I gave him the general gist.

“That sounds rough. So I’d like to get my main goal done first. I’d be bad if they sold out before I got to it.”

“Sure.”

Normally, Maru isn’t the type of person to force his interests on other people, but when he actually asks for help, he always has a good reason. Such as when a product is a limited purchase for one person only. Unless you check out several stores, you often won’t get what you want. In times like these, Maru can be quite merciless. Then again, since the release was on Friday, he must be worried about it being sold out.

Now that I promised to help out, I was prepared to help out until the bitter end… Oh yeah, I didn’t even ask him what goods we were after.

“After we finish the mission, let’s grab something to eat.”

“OK.”

Although I had gone to a manga and light novel corner many times before, since I’m not too interested in the actual goods, I had Maru show me around.

“So, what are we getting?”

Maru answered as we kept walking. It seems like we’re after goods for a spring anime. The season already ended a few months back, but depending on how sales go, they start selling the goods even after that. I remembered the name of the anime when Maru mentioned it. It’s a show with five girls. It’s some kind of slice of life series.

“And there’s a robot.”

“What?”

For a second, I failed to understand what he said. If my memories served me right, the setting was in a rural town, and it was like any other average adolescent story… right?

“The light novel the protagonist read in episode 5 was a science fiction work, right?”

“Yeah…”

I remember now. Recently, the existence of otaku and their interests has started to turn more into general knowledge, with even normie protagonists and side characters are interested in the world of otaku, but… Oh yeah, I think he liked science fiction stuff, but it never really went anywhere in the main series.

“So wait, are you…?”

“Yeah, I’m getting that robot the protagonist really liked.”

“What does that have to do with the anime?!”

“I can’t help it. That robot is just awesome.” Maru said. He told me the name of the illustrator who was responsible for drawing said robot, but I’m sorry, I don’t recognize them.

When I told him as much, Maru looked at me in shock and disgust and started telling me about how famous of an individual that illustrator is.

“So basically you want a toy version of this robot, right?”

“That’s the sum of it.”

Once we reached the actual marketplace, they luckily had some of the aforementioned robot toys left. They had enough for Maru and I, but I think those were the last ones, so we cut it fairly close. We both carried one as we walked to the cash register. There were a lot of customers even though it was Sunday, so the line was fairly long. We kept talking as we slowly progressed through the line.

“I see. This robot is pretty awesome.”

“Right?”

I’m really not familiar with this kind of thing, but its appearance was pretty cool. The robot was inside a box around 50cm in height. It seemed to be some kind of air-combat robot the likes of which would never exist in reality. The anime’s logo was drawn on one corner of the box in a small font, which really made it hard to guess what the genre of the series was. It really looked like it was straight out of a mecha anime.

“It has a lot of movable parts, too. You can really play around with this.”

“Play with it…?”

“Oh? Don’t tell me. Didn’t you play with robot or monster toys when you were younger, Asamura?”

“I might have, but definitely not much.”

I understand collecting them as a kind of hobby, but I don’t understand the point of actually playing with them. I’ve always been focused on manga and novels more than anime, after all. When I was young, my old man had a hobby of buying plastic models of battleships, but my blood-related mother got angry at him because they were always in the way, which was why he decided to never get into it again. I feel like it would be an enjoyable hobby if your family and lifestyle allowed for it.

With manga and novels, I could fill my room, and they would never get in the way if you simply put them on shelves.

“Oh yeah, Asamura, Narasaka and Ayase invited you to the pool, right?” Maru suddenly changed the subject.

Upon hearing this, my brain froze up for a moment. Who’s going to the pool with who? Maru, for his part, didn’t even notice my confusion.

“Seriously, you’ve turned into one hell of a playboy while I wasn’t looking.”

“What are you talking about?”

“What do you…? I’m talking about you and Ayase going to the pool with Narasaka.”

“First I’ve heard of it.”

The hell is he talking about? Since I showed no signs of understanding what Maru was referring to, he told me what he heard through his connections at the baseball club. According to these rumors, Narasaka-san was getting together a group of boys and girls to meet at the pool, and the members apparently included Ayase Saki and Asamura Yuuta.

“Were you not invited?”

“Nope. Heck, I haven’t even talked to Narasaka-san since summer break started.”

“Hmm, then you’ll probably get invited here pretty soon.”

“August is about over, remember?”

“It’s still as hot as ever, so no problems there.”

“Well… I guess so.”

So a plan like this was put in motion without my knowledge, huh? Also, am I even close enough with Narasaka-san that she would invite me like that? I can still count on a hand or two the number of times the two of us have talked to each other. I knew that Narasaka Maaya was very strong when it came to relationships and how she treated other people, but this is way more than I expected. Well, I guess that still doesn’t mean anything is set in stone. The information source is pretty much still just second-hand rumors, after all.

While we were talking about that, we reached the front of the line. We finished paying, returned to the train station the same way I came, and entered a cafe nearby the bookstore I was working part-time at.

Both Maru and I ordered an iced coffee, and he added a club sandwich to his. That’s a sports club member for you. He sure can eat a lot. Compared to the coffee from family restaurants, this one is about twice as expensive, but at least it allows you to have a comfortable seat and not be rushed. I called it a cafe, but it pretty much is just a bit more stylish than an average family restaurant.

Though it’s an establishment where regulars put in orders complicated enough to sound like they’re chanting a spell, we succeeded in ordering something normal at least. Well, compared to a high-class coffee restaurant, this one is much more suitable for high school students. There was once a time when I entered a random establishment near the Shibuya train station without looking at the menu first, and left immediately after seeing how expensive everything was. A cup of coffee with four digits for a price is definitely too much for high school students.

Maru and I put our trays down on the table and let out a sigh.

“So spill the beans. Why did you need two of the goods?” I asked, glancing at the plastic bags with us.

“One for personal use, of course, and one for preservation.”

“I see. So no missionary work.”

“……You knew from the very start and you still asked me, didn’t you? Bad taste, my friend.”

“I actually didn’t, I just felt like asking. You mentioned someone you wanted to give a present to before, so it was a guess.”

I know that some people buy several copies of something they like. However, when I thought that maybe Maru had bought this for someone else, and needed my help to secure it, it sure didn’t sound too unrealistic.

“I was actually asked to do this.”

“Someone asked you?”

“Yep, a friend online. They really wanted it, but the current situation won’t allow it, you know. So I went and bought it. I’m gonna send it to them later.”

“Huh.”

I didn’t know Maru had a friend like that. When I asked him for details, they apparently got to know each other on an online forum when they were talking about their favorite anime. Their tastes lined up pretty well, and they got close enough to send each other this stuff. That being the case, they probably knew each other’s addresses too. Even so, they only know each other by their online names, but they seem to be good friends nonetheless. Maru knew that they lived in the same town, but they had never met.

“But if you’re such good friends, you might as well meet up in real life, right? Also, I feel like you’d be the type of person who’d organize that yourself.”

Although they could technically meet online whenever, humans really love meeting others in person, face to face. Since Maru knows how to organize and he has the ability to put a plan together, I was a bit confused as to why he hadn’t done so already. Then again, he’s constantly busy with his club, even on Saturdays, so maybe their chances are limited.

“That won’t do at all.”

“Why not?”

“Naturally, not everyone is like that, but there’s a small group of guys who would use this as a chance to hit on girls, you feel me? If there’s not a whole lot of trust involved, it’ll only end badly. At the very least, that’s what I think.”

“Yeah, being this cautious is a lot like you… Hm? Hitting on girls? Is the other person a female?”

“From what she told me, yeah. A university student, even.”

“A university student… so she’s older than you, huh?”

For a second, Yomiuri-senpai came to mind. She’s the only university girl I can think of that I know. Normally it’d be a rare thing for high school students like us to run across university students, so it’s rare that both Maru and I have had experiences like this. Well, I guess for online friendships it’d be more rare if they were the same age.

“Judging from her messages, she’s pretty clever. She’s knowledgeable and kind, and doesn’t have any prejudices against me. The conversations we have are actually pretty meaningful. Then again, the fact that she’s so positive sure helps a lot, I guess.”

“Huh, yeah she does sound like someone you could get along with. I bet there’s a lot of other people who feel the same way as you… Ahh, that’s why.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty popular in the chat.”

I see. So an offline gathering would bring in guys who would try to hit on her.

“I’m surprised you got close enough to send each other stuff like this.”

“Yup, it was a crazy coincidence. I’ll tell you the whole story sometime if I get the chance.”

“I’d love to hear it. So have you fallen in love with her?”

Maru apparently didn’t expect me to say this, and he seemed to panic for a moment.

“No, I don’t really… or anything.”

Oh, what a rare reaction. Well, normally he would act all assertive, so I have to pay him back from time to time.

“Really now?”

When I didn’t let up my questioning, Maru seemed to get flustered for real, and grew quiet. Eventually, he said “I’m going to the restroom real quick” and got up from his seat.

It’s surprising that Maru of all people is acting like this… Oh yeah, the person receiving Maru’s present, and the person receiving the goods from him… Are they the same person? That’s another side of Maru I’ve never seen, and it made me realize that I still didn’t know everything about him, which of course makes total sense. Though I have to admit that I didn’t expect him to experience romantic feelings like this. I guess we’re pretty different after all.

As far as romantic feelings go, I’m quite fond of romance novels, but I don’t really picture myself in those kinds of situations. I’d much rather watch over these kinds of events involving other people. I would never expect to experience some kind of romcom-like event myself. After all, this is reality. Something as convenient as getting to know a cute girl and eventually going out…

Well, I did end up living with a girl my age because of my old man’s remarriage, but it’s not like she’s—Actually, she is cute. Very cute, objectively speaking. Also, why am I even picturing her while thinking about this? It’s true that Ayase-san is cute, but she’s my little sister.

“Asamura-kun?”

That’s right, even her voice is cute, but a little sister is still a little… Wait, what? When I turned around, I was greeted with a blonde-haired girl looking at my face right from the street next to our seat. Of course, it wasn’t a hallucination. It was the real deal, Ayase-san.

“What are you doing here?”

“This is the closest cafe to our part-time job.”

“Ah… That makes sense.”

There was nothing weird about this. Since both our part-time jobs and even our shifts overlapped, it’s not odd of her to spend her time in a similar way, especially considering the situation at home right now. That entire thing is the main reason why I recommended this cafe to Maru. This was more than a coincidence, it was obvious enough to practically be expected. However, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t surprised to meet her here, and thus I didn’t even know how to continue the conversation.

“Anyway, I’ll be going now.”

“Eh?”

All my thoughts and ideas suddenly rebooted. Before I realized it, I was already looking at Ayase-san’s back as she walked away. She was wearing a one-shoulder top worthy of the heat, along with blue shorts. She’s got such high hips, almost like a model. Ah, she’s even wearing sneakers today, maybe to match her current outfit. As she walked away with light steps, the door to the store opened and closed.

“Sorry to make you wait.”

“Eh? Oh, Maru.”

“I remembered the time, so I came rushing back, but… Asamura, you were talking with Ayase right now, weren’t you?”

Time? I looked at the clock hanging inside the store, and realized that it was almost time for me to head off to work. I guess that’s why Ayase-san left so quickly.

“Something’s going on between you and Ayase, right?”

“No, that’s not…”

True—is what I wanted to say, but that would make me a liar. I feel like it would be much more efficient if I just told Maru about everything. And reassure him that because we became step-siblings because of our parents’ remarriage, whatever he might be thinking isn’t going on at all… But what would he even be thinking?

However, with my tightness of schedule in mind, I couldn’t go deeper into this conversation at all, so I split up with Maru almost like I was running away. Now I really lost my right to criticize adults who lived by the ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ mindset. However, I still barely made it to the office in time for work. I changed into my uniform, put on my apron and nameplate, and left the changing room. Right then, Ayase-san and Yomiuri-senpai came out of the women’s changing room.

“Yo, Junior-kun! Take care of me today!”

“Same here, Yomiuri-senpai.”

“Please treat me well today, Asamura-san.”

“Y-Yeah, right back at you, Ayase-san.” I stumbled over my words.

The influence of the sudden encounter at the cafe apparently still had left me reeling.

“It seems like it’s only us for the shift tonight.” Yomiuri-senpai said.

Basically, it’ll be just the three of us, huh?

“I feel like that’s not enough people.”

“True. Well, it’ll be fine. Saki-chan counts for two people.”

“Please don’t have too high expectations of me.” Ayase-san remained modest, but once work started, her efficient movements and work ethic really made it seem like several people were doing it.

She’s really diligent, and fast on her feet. Since she remembers everything when you teach it to her once, she can pretty much work independently from me. Not to mention that she’s very thorough. She still has her trademark blonde and flashy hair, but she does take off her ear piercings when at work.

Granted, it’s not like people would put her under the microscope just because of her looks, but when you work at a store that people of all ages visit, you never know when someone might make a complaint to management. I bet she doesn’t even care what other people think of her, but knowing Ayase-san, troubling the store is something she would want to avoid.

She even kept her nails plain, not decorated at all. They’re easy to see when you’re putting covers on the books when working at the cash register, after all. I doubt anyone would complain if she managed to do everything perfectly, but when Ayase-san first started working here at this bookstore, she had a bit of trouble pulling the vinyl off. When you wear flashy clothes despite being a newcomer who can’t do their work perfectly yet, it’s much easier to get complaints.

Ayase-san’s careful judgement and avoidance of any kind of risk greatly surpassed anything I could have imagined. And she was diligent enough that she started sweating ever so slightly from her hard work, despite the A/C inside the bookstore being on. When working part-time, you generally take breaks offset from other workers. Even more so when it’s only the three of us, since if all three of us took a break at the same time, nobody would be there to help any customers.

After around two hours, Ayase-san took her break. Of course, not a super long break, but about ten minutes. If you’re working full-time, you get about an hour. However, since we were basically working four hours from 6pm to 10pm, the break was kept short.

“Then I’ll be right back.”

“Yep yep. Have a good break, Saki-chan.”

“I’ll be back in ten minutes.” After giving a brief response to Yomiuri-senpai, Ayase-san headed off to the employee area.

“Hmmm…”

“What’s wrong?”

While seeing Ayase-san off, Yomiuri-senpai seemed to be lost in thought about something. A full-time worker was taking care of the register right now, and the number of customers had decreased drastically. Everyone was probably eating dinner right about now. So Yomiuri-senpai beckoned me over.

“Yes?” We moved to a space behind the cash register and started whispering to each other.

“It’s about Sakicchi.”

“What kind of nickname is that?”

“Oh, a complaint from the older brother himself?”

“Saki-chan, Ayase-san in public places, and now this. You’re all over the place.”

“I have a lot of them. Saki-chan, Sakisuke, Sacchan… which one would you prefer?”

“You don’t need to ask me. Just stick with Ayase-san.”

“Saki-chan it is then.”

In the end, she went in a complete circle and came back to the beginning. Well, it’s not like I really care what she calls Ayase-san. I don’t have any right to judge or complain.

“So, what about Ayase-san?”

“Tsk.”

“Why did you click your tongue?”

“Anyway, on a more serious note.”

“So you weren’t being serious before.”

“Your little sis. She’s a bit too diligent, you see.”

“Huh?”

How is that a problem?

“Ah, don’t misunderstand. I’m talking about her work ethic. She remembers everything quickly, and pulls it off perfectly. As a fellow excellent employee here, I can tell she’s doing a good job.”

“Part-time employee.”

“Don’t sweat the small stuff! Anyway, I feel like she blames herself too much for things she can’t do.”

I was still confused. However, Yomiuri-senpai continued explaining what she felt like she had seen. For example, Ayase-san’s self-deprecating attitude that she takes whenever she goes. Although this is a praiseworthy attribute that a lot of talented and outstanding people possess, Ayase-san was someone who never took any breaks voluntarily, so if there was ever a time that would force her to stop in her tracks, her heart would break—or something like that. Yomiuri-senpai mentioned a girl she’s friends with who ended up working herself sick because of that, and Ayase-san apparently resembled her.

“That girl was just as outstanding. She was always first when it came to almost everything in grade school. Of course, she wasn’t just talented. She also worked hard to achieve all of it. And in university, she suffered a setback for the first time.”

It’s probably something that happens a lot. That’s what the people around her probably thought.

“Every human being has a thing or two they can’t do. That’s what it means to be human, after all. However, she didn’t agree with that sentiment. She couldn’t forgive herself for not being able to do everything. She didn’t believe there was something she just couldn’t succeed at no matter what. And then she blamed herself for it, convincing herself that this was because she was slacking off.”

“So then… what happened…?”

“She went back to her hometown. I think she was from Shikkoku. No idea what she’s up to these days. I just hope she’s happy.”

Yomiuri-senpai is really considerate for worrying this much about someone who’s just a classmate of hers. But I couldn’t find it in me to tell her this for some reason. And from what she told me, people with strong self-sufficiency tendencies like Ayase-san constantly build up stress while trying to improve, and don’t get any rest at all.

It’s basically a thought process that goes ‘I can’t stop on my own’. Eventually, you end up exhausted, your heart worn out. When people have a mindset of ‘If I don’t stop running, I’ll die’, in order to actually stop them, there are times when you have to interrupt and get in the way of whatever it is that they’re trying to do. There may be a time where you want to respect the other person, but see no other option except to ignore their own freedoms and opinions.

After hearing all of this from Yomiuri-senpai, I remembered something. There was a time when Ayase-san’s thought process had crossed the threshold of what was safe, and she wouldn’t listen to what I was telling her. Back then, I was forced to stop her so that she would hear me out. Though I wasn’t really aware of what I was doing since it was in the heat of the moment. ‘Giving it your all at any given moment’ is probably a good way to describe this behavior.

“Saying that everything is important basically means that you don’t treasure anything at all, you know.”

“That’s not entirely the same thing, Yomiuri-senpai.”

“There are people who truly treasure everything, and succeed. They have talent, you know. But for most people, for the average person, that won’t do. We have several things that we can’t hope to achieve. That’s what I believe. It’s fine to assume you can’t be a savant at everything.”

“I see. That’s an interesting thought.”

“That’s why you should preserve this willpower for the things that are truly important to you. Restraint is also important, you understand.”

“Yeah. Basically, if people aren’t properly pacing themselves, you have to tell them to, right?”

“Exactly! That’s Junior-kun for you! That being said, you’ll give me your break time, right?” Senpai put her hands together like she was begging me.

I can’t believe she went from a serious topic like that to immediately fooling around a second later.

“Why do you want me to do that for you, huh? Do you have some kind of business to attend to?”

“If I wait until my shift is over, the store will be closed. The trip will only take me about 15 minutes!”

I sighed in disbelief. This person is just…

“I understand. I’ll give you my break time, so go buy whatever you need to buy.”

“Yay, Junior-kun!”

“You’re not getting a high-five.”

“What a boring reaction.”

“I just can’t follow your speed, okay?”

I actually admire Yomiuri-senpai a bit for planting the seed for this train of thought inside my mind, but she had to go and say that next, wasting the opportunity.

“Well, if you really treasure your little sis, then you might be better off stepping more into her territory.” Yomiuri-senpai said and headed towards the cash register.

“If I treasure her, I should step more into her territory, huh?”

So she’s not even joking around that much. Senpai really is someone I’ll never understand.

Even after our shift ended, the heat didn’t decrease at all. On the way home, I was pushing my bike as always, with Ayase-san walking next to me. I remembered what Yomiuri-senpai told me. For this past month, Ayase-san has been really devoting herself to her job. If I had to guess, this was probably all for her goal to be able to be independent in the near future. One of the reasons for this was most likely because I failed to find a lucrative but not time-intensive way for her to earn money. Another was probably because of my knowledge about how a bookstore operates that she could use for herself. That reasoning made sense.

However, just like my old man said, I haven’t seen Ayase-san relax or act like a high school student during summer break for the entire past month. There’s also something that Maru said that stuck with me…

—If people aren’t taking proper rest, you have to tell them to.

Maybe I should ask now…

“Ayase-san, did Narasaka-san invite you to the pool? …The invite that extended to me as well?”

“…Did Maaya contact you?” Ayase-san asked while narrowing her eyebrows.

It seems like she really did get an invitation.

“Nope. It’s not like she has any way of contacting me in the first place.”

“Then how did you find out?”

Oh man, she’s really suspicious now.

“Simple hearsay. I had no idea about it, either.”

I explained about how there was talk going around about Narasaka-san inviting her friends to the pool.

“Do you want to go, Asamura-kun?”

For a brief moment, it almost sounded like she was asking if I wanted to go with her. But that was impossible. She was just asking me if I was interested in going to the pool in general. That’s the only way Ayase-san would even pose this question. She hates being misunderstood after all. She’s being as flat as always, simply asking if I want to go, which was why I decided to reply with the first words that came to mind when the question was phrased in that context.

“Honestly, going to the pool with all those outgoing guys sounds like a pain.” I flashed a wry smile as I responded.

For a moment, I felt like I saw a sad expression flash up on Ayase-san’s face underneath the street lamps, but her usual expression returned just as quickly as it was gone.

“I see. Then you don’t have to force yourself to go, right?”

Something felt off about the way she phrased that, almost like she was bothered by my response. I couldn’t guess what she truly felt. I sensed a bit of anger, a bit of sadness, but also a bit of relief.

“Are you not going to the pool?” I asked.

“I’m not going.” Ayase-san responded.

“Why not?”

“………”

I took the extra mile and stepped into her territory, but Ayase-san stayed quiet and did not give me a response. A car passed us by at that exact moment. I thought that maybe she couldn’t hear it, but in the event that she did, I didn’t want to bother her any further by prodding her with questions. However, something did feel off.

—I’m not going.

I wonder what kind of emotion Ayase-san said that with? As we made our way home, I saw the lights shining out of our flat. I parked my bike in the parking lot and let Ayase-san go on ahead without me. But until I opened the door of our apartment, I kept thinking about Ayase-san.