Chapter 12: A Nice Girl
Hanazono noticed me and smiled.
“You came.”
I had been thinking about what to say when we met up, but that expression alone made everything fly out of my head.
In the end, I just replied with a short “Yeah,” and Hanazono nodded.
…I never thought Hanazono would come to me herself.
Remi had said that agreeing to a date meant there was interest, but would that really be proven true today? Either way, I couldn’t let this chance slip by.
“H-Hanazono?”
“Hm?”
“Why did you come out to meet me?”
At my blunt question, Hanazono looked puzzled.
“Eh? Because Yosshi looked so pitiful.”
“P-Pitiful…”
“Yosshi, you had a face that said you didn’t want to be alone.”
“Did I really have that kind of face?”
In reality, it was probably more of a “mission failed” face.
To have Hanazono invite me out – this was way beyond my expectations.
“You did, you did. When we parted, you looked so lonely, like a puppy. I couldn’t help but come back.”
Hanazono spoke as if she was a bit embarrassed.
I was probably a hundred times more embarrassed.
“Speaking of which, what were you doing with Nikaido-san? At first, I thought I might be interrupting your date.”
…For this question, the prepared answer might be best.
“It’s not like that. Sure, normally it would be a date between a guy and a girl, but Nikaido and I are childhood friends. When we were in elementary school, we used to go to that arcade a lot. So you weren’t interrupting anything, we were planning to split up soon anyway.”
As I was answering, Hanazono’s eyes crinkled with amusement.
It seems Yuzuha’s aim had missed widely, and there wasn’t even a hint of jealousy.
“Fufu, I see. Going to an arcade again as high schoolers, that’s kind of nostalgic, isn’t it?”
“R-Right? Though we didn’t take purikura photos or anything.”
“Of course not, I can’t imagine Yosshi doing purikura at all.”
“That’s harsh!”
As I retorted, Hanazono giggled.
Surprisingly, I found myself not averting my gaze from her.
My focus on her every move seemed to be winning over my sense of embarrassment.
“So, what now?”
“Huh?”
“You said you were planning to split up, so did you have plans? Should we part ways here?”
“N-No, I’m not going home. My plans, uh, they disappeared!”
At my somewhat forced reply, Hanazono blinked in surprise.
Then, her cheeks relaxed into a smile.
“I see. Then today is a date, right?”
“A… A date!?”
“Yeah. I’m not a childhood friend, so in your mind, that’s what this would be, right?”
Hanazono said this gently.
Whether to call it a date when two people of the opposite sex go out alone depends on the person.
I never expected Hanazono to explicitly call this time a date instead of just hanging out.
To think I could actually go on a date with Hanazono.
And this time, it’s the real thing.
“A-Are you okay with that, Hanazono?”
“Yeah. It’s fine.”
…Could this really be going well?
No, don’t get complacent.
The reason I first became close with Hanazono was through passing notes in the study room.
What accelerated our relationship was the cram school environment where we didn’t know anyone else.
I might have let my guard down a bit, but the same was true for Hanazono.
High school is very different from the cram school environment.
Plus, Hanazono had just been confessed to last week, so she should still be on guard.
This complacency could easily lead to stepping on a landmine.
But at least – it’s clear she has no resistance to using the word “date” between us.
“You’re right, this is a date. Looking forward to it, Hanazono.”
“Fufu. Yeah, me too.”
Hanazono replied, looking amused.
“Well then, shall we go?”
“Yeah.”
We started walking into town.
My brain couldn’t quite process the situation of Hanazono Yuka being next to me on a day off.
I could feel my body stiffening up from how unreal it felt.
The fact that Hanazono had so easily acknowledged this as a date was making me even more elated.
When I looked back ahead, I saw couples walking down the street.
Until now, they had often been objects of jealousy, but today for some reason they just looked heartwarming.
The occasional humming from Hanazono made me want to record every bit of it.
“Hey Yosshi, how did you become friends with Nikaido-san?”
“Huh? Oh, well, it was so long ago… Becoming friends with Nikaido was really just by chance.”
“Talking about other girls during a date, minus 500 points.”
I quickly turned my gaze back to Hanazono.
“Th-That’s unfair! It would be weirder not to talk about it in this flow, and wait, out of how many points!?”
“A thousand!”
“Should I see that as a pretty big deduction, or that I still have half left…”
“Fufu, I’m just kidding. I just wanted to say that.”
“Oh, so that’s what it was… That was dangerous.”
I had forgotten the kind of jokes Hanazono likes.
Jokes she can’t say at school can be unleashed when we’re alone.
“Damn, I got played. You’ve been itching to make jokes like this lately, haven’t you!”
“Maybe half right.”
Hanazono’s eyes crinkled before she spoke again.
“What should we do now? Want to go to the shopping mall?”
“Eh? I don’t know…”
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Normally that would be a reasonable choice.
But there’s a high chance of running into Yuzuha’s group that we just parted from.
“No, let’s skip the shopping mall.”
“Then how about a movie?”
“Let’s not.”
“A cafe?”
“Let’s not.”
“…Do you actually want to go home?”
“I don’t want to go home at all!”
I hurriedly smiled.
This is bad, I’ve rejected too many options without offering alternatives.
Just shaking my head without suggesting anything could ruin the good atmosphere we’ve built up.
Movies and cafes would overlap with our earlier plans, but I guess it can’t be helped.
I’ll try asking one last time.
“By the way, what do you want to do, Hanazono?”
“Me? Hmm, let’s see…”
Hanazono seemed to seriously consider it, stepping to the side of the road.
After a few seconds,
“I’d like to… get to know Yosshi a bit more.”
…That’s not really an answer.
But those words definitely warmed my heart.
“Like looking at old photo albums, that kind of thing?”
“Oh, that sounds fun.”
“Then want to come to my house?”
“Eh?”
Hanazono’s eyes widened.
And so did mine.
I froze completely, thoughts racing through my head.
This is bad, this is really bad.
What on earth am I saying?
We don’t need to look at actual photo albums.
There’s plenty of data on smartphones, that’s what modern technology is for.
“No, I mean! My house is pretty close from here, so we could take a walk and if we don’t find anything else to do… basically it’s just suggesting a walk!”
“I-I see…?”
I remembered Remi’s words: “I’ve decided I’ll kill you if you make a move.”
Going to my house worked with a childhood friend, but it’s much harder to apply to my relationship with Hanazono.
Especially inviting her over on our first outing, even if it is a date, is unthinkable.
“Sorry, I said something weird. I really didn’t mean anything by it, I just said it without thinking.”
“No, it’s okay.”
“Th-Thanks. Then let’s just walk around and…”
“That’s not what I meant. Can I come over?”
“Huh?”
I couldn’t believe my ears.
“N-No way. I mean, we’re not even dating…”
“Eh? That’s different from what you said earlier.”
Hanazono looked up at me slightly.
As if she were observing something in this situation.
Remembering her interaction with the senpai, I gulped.
“That’s true, but… I told you before, right? Even if we’re friends… as long as we’re male and female, we can’t rule out those kinds of feelings.”
“…Yeah. You did say that.”
“So then-“
“Maybe… it’s time for me to take that step too.”
Hanazono cut me off, taking a big step forward.
Then she turned to face me and spoke in a voice that seemed to well up from deep in her chest.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Sunlight shone from behind Hanazono.
A warm June breeze blew between us.
She turned away without waiting for a reply.
I couldn’t see her expression in that moment.
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