“Takamori and Fushimi are childhood friends!”

The news spread even further once classes ended, which made people think us going back home together was a normal occurrence.

All the dudes used to give me the side-eye before, but now that they knew about our friendship, they concluded that I presented absolutely no risk.

The silent comments changed from Screw that guy to Oh, the childhood friend and Our princess is in safe hands.

Then, in some sort of bizarre strategy to use me to get to her, a lot of guys showed up asking to be friends with me. All this during our short trip from the classroom to the school entrance.

“The school princess’s power is really something.”

It’s like I’m her retainer or something.

“Huh? What was that?” Fushimi tilted her head to the side.

“Nothing.” I shook mine.

We were walking home now, already far from school.

“Hey, Ryou—thank you for your help with Yoshinaga.”

“It was nothing, really. No need to thank me twice.”

“I wanted to say it again. You saved me.”

Please, it wasn’t that big a deal.

“On one hand, I don’t blame him. Sports clubs have the spring tournaments coming up soon. On the other hand, you’re as uptight as ever, huh?”

“What? No, no, no. Not at all. This is normal.”

I wonder.

“Wh-what’s that look for?”

“Remember when you, Mana, and I shared a shortcake, way back?”

“We did?”

“You were bawling your eyes out because you couldn’t slice it into three perfectly even parts.”

“…I—I was?”

In a way, I was Hina Fushimi’s walking Dark Past–opedia. I had a huge list of her failures and embarrassing moments in my mind.

“You sure did. You were all like, ‘Nooo, we can’t split the strawberryyy!’ Mana and I were super weirded out.”

“I—I don’t remember any of that! You’re making stuff up!”

She refused to look at me while insisting again and again it wasn’t true.

It was obvious she did remember, though I wasn’t sure whether I’d had to jog her memory first.

“I’m not trying to make fun of you. I was just thinking about how you like to follow the rules.”

“I can tell you’re insulting me… Just look at that huge grin on your face…”

Fushimi glared at me and blushed, either because of embarrassment or anger.

“First of all…why do you remember that stupid incident and forget our important promises?!”

The counterattack hurt; I’d teased her too much. I didn’t have a response.

“How many of those promises are there?”

“You don’t even know that? Geez… There’s as many as there are worldly desires in Buddhism.”

“Are you kidding me?”

That’s, like, over a hundred, right? No way I can remember that many…

My last gleam of hope was my promise notes, but I wrote them in random grade-school notebooks. Maybe I could find one that I’d saved for that purpose, but I had no clue.

We took the train and arrived at our station. After crossing the ticket gate, Fushimi whirled around, making her skirt swish in the air.

“Let’s say good-bye right here for today.”

“Oh, okay. You going anywhere?”

“Hmm? Ah, well, um, yeah, something like that!”

What a vague answer. Her expression was also strangely stiff.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“Wh-why do you care?!”

Now I’m suspicious… Oh well—I shouldn’t be prying if she doesn’t want me to know.

I ignored her weird behavior, and we parted ways.

When I got home, Mana was in the kitchen.

“Nuh-uh, I’m not helping you out this time. Nope. No way.” She wasn’t usually this harsh.

“Please, Mana. Sis. Don’t do this to me.”

She stopped chopping away with the knife, then turned her head toward me.

Once before, I’d asked her if cooking with those gaudy nails was hard, to which she’d replied, “Only an amateur would ask that question.” Okay. Sorry for being an amateur. What would a pro ask, then?

“It’s so out of the question there’s not even a question. Mom was very clear about it. What were you even doing skipping class?”

“…Huh? Well, I…missed my stop…”

“Then why didn’t you go back? If you’d taken the next train in the other direction, you wouldn’t have even been late.”

Ugh. She’s too damn smart.

I couldn’t tell her Fushimi had asked me to stay on the train.

“What’re you grinning about?”

“I-I’m not!”

I really couldn’t take any more of this. I knew it was my own fault, but having to skip dinner was too much.

“Then how about a snack?”

“The chips you stole were all I had. I haven’t bought more.”

No way out.

Guess I’ll curl up and suck it up for the night…

I considered getting something at the convenience store, but my wallet was empty.

Right then, my phone chirped with a text.

I’ll be there in a minute.

It was Fushimi. The time was already past seven PM.

sure, but why?

My text was marked as read, but she didn’t answer back.

After a short while, the doorbell rang. I opened the door before Mana could get there.

“What is it?”

“Um…this!” She actually said “Ta-daa!” out loud while taking out a box wrapped in a handkerchief. “I made you dinner.”

I was pretty sure I saw a halo shining bright behind her already dazzling smile.

“Thank you. Really.”

“You said they wouldn’t let you have dinner, so…”

She was still in her uniform.

So she went to the supermarket, then got cooking right away? For me…?

I was stunned.

“Oh, don’t get so emotional… I wanted to make it. For you.” She flashed a bashful smile, the kind she never would at school.

“W-wanna come in?”

“No, it’s so sudden, and it’s already late. I wouldn’t want to barge in like that.” She smiled like an angel, then said, “See you tomorrow,” waved her hand, and left.

“She made dinner for me…” I immediately went back to my room to eat it.

I opened the box with excitement, and what greeted me was the color brown. It was chock-full of boiled pumpkin.

“Th-this is…a dinner? …Not her leftovers?”

She’d wrapped it up like a typical box lunch, so I was expecting, you know, an actual meal.

I mean, I like boiled pumpkin, but…I’m not sure about this!

“Eat up!”

She probably thinks her surprise dinner was a big success. I mean, it certainly was surprising!

“I remembered you saying you like these.”

Yeah, but you gotta balance it out!

My boxed dinner was more like boxed pumpkin.

“Oh well, I do like pumpkin… And I am hungry.”

Despite my complaints, I ate the whole thing. It was good.