“What—?”

The question caught me off guard.

“Is there anyone you like?”

I turned around only to find Torigoe nonchalantly doing her job, sliding another book into place.

“…That baseball player. The legend. I like him,” I said.

“Who, Nomo?”

“Really? You think that’s who I meant?”

“…Could ask you the same thing,” she muttered, urging me to answer seriously. “Hurry up, or class is gonna start without its class rep.”

“Well, excuse me for being slow. I’m not used to this job.”

But it was kinda brazen of me to complain after volunteering to help her. I handed her the few books I had left, and she swiftly put them on the shelves.

“Now we’re done. Thanks.”

“No need to thank me. Not like I was much help, anyway.”

She shook her head, and her silky hair swayed. “For the thought, not for any actual help.”

“O-oh… Okay, then…,” I answered faintly before leaving the library.

Back at the classroom, Fushimi gave me a worried look.

The teacher came, we did the greetings, and once class began, we started writing back and forth.

Was Torigoe okay?

She’s fine. She understands it’s no one’s fault.

From what I could tell, Fushimi didn’t have any real, true friends, despite having an excess of people to talk to. I wanted her to get along with Torigoe. I knew them both individually, and I was very surprised to see them chatting so freely. I never would have guessed they’d be friends.

Sorry. I won’t go to the physics room anymore.

As soon as I finished reading that, I raised my head to see that she was forcing a smile.

Torigoe would appreciate that; it was her time and place to be in peace and quiet, free from worrying about anyone else.

That was when I realized. They didn’t have to limit themselves to lunchtime to get along.

Wanna go somewhere with Torigoe after school?

She nodded.

Now I have to get the other one to accept.

Fushimi started sneakily tapping at her phone below her desk, keeping her eyes on the blackboard.

We couldn’t look at Torigoe, since she was behind us.

After what seemed like a few messages, Fushimi made a circle with her fingers to signal Torigoe had given us the okay.

I’m glad Torigoe still wants to be friends with her.

Classes ended, and Fushimi wrote in the class journal while Torigoe stayed at her seat, glued to her phone.

“What’re you looking at?”

“Manga.”

A fan of the digital versions, eh?

“All done!” Fushimi closed the journal with a thud, grabbed her bag, and stood up. We did the same.

“Fushimi, are you sure?” Torigoe asked.

“Yes. I wouldn’t ask you otherwise.”

“No… I don’t mean it in that way…” Torigoe scratched her cheek, troubled.

I couldn’t tell what she meant, and apparently Fushimi couldn’t, either, as she turned to look at me.

We left the classroom and went to the staff room to deliver the journal, then headed out.

“Ryou, any idea where we should go?”

“How about the library? Not the school’s, obviously—a city library. There’s a big one pretty close to here.”

One time, I left school early and spent a few hours there until it was time for my mom to leave for work. Couldn’t go straight home and have her finding out I faked being sick.

“What do you think, Torigoe?”

“Sounds good.”

And so our destination was decided.

Torigoe didn’t seem to be upset at Fushimi, maybe thanks to our talk back during lunchtime. The wall between them wasn’t totally gone, either, but I could see some progress.

It took us just barely over five minutes to get to the city library on foot.

“I-it’s huge…” Torigoe sounded surprised.

“It’s as big as a gymnasium.” Fushimi’s comparison was on point.

There were bookshelves everywhere, and that special smell of carpet and old books filled the air.

“This place is perfect for us, but what’re you going to do here, Ryou?”

Fushimi seemed to think I’d never held a book in my life. And yeah, I wouldn’t call myself an avid reader. Obviously, the possibility of me doing homework instead would never have crossed her mind.

“What do you mean, what am I going to do? Well, of course, silently read a book by the window.”

“Ha-ha-ha.”

“Hey, don’t laugh. I wasn’t joking.”

I took the book I borrowed during lunch out from my bag.

“Ah… That.”

“It’s the one Torigoe recommended. I’ll be reading it. By the window.”

“What’s the deal with the window?” Fushimi asked, and Torigoe giggled.

I’ll leave the bookworms all alone to bookworm it up.

I headed for the reading space so as to not bother them.

There were a few people already there studying, probably third-years preparing for entrance exams. I gave them their space, too, and sat right by the window, just as I’d said I would.

Once I saw the other two disappear into the sea of bookshelves, I opened my book.

I bet they’ll be friends in no time.

Shizuka Torigoe

“This one’s great!”

Fushimi’s taste in books was quite refined. She had read authors I’d never heard of, and she had already gone through the works of others I was interested in.

There were few books we had both read, but all the ones she had under her belt were incredibly interesting. I was having a great time asking her about all of them.

“This one’s kinda moody. You feel like it’s raining all the time while reading it.”

“You…really love tragedies, don’t you?”

“Ah… Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

A lot of the books she recommended had tragic endings or were about the protagonist going through some sort of hell. I would’ve pegged her as more of a fan of fluffy, girly stories, so the revelation came as quite a surprise.

“Wow.”

“Is it that shocking?”

That dissonance worked in her favor to make her more interesting.

Honestly, I envied her. Fushimi would get points for being intellectual with a book in her hand, while the same behavior on me just added to my gloomy vibe.

“…Why did you invite me? I’m only getting in the way.”

I knew they always went back home together, just the two of them.

“Ryou was the one who suggested it. And I also wanted to get along with you.”

“…I see.”

What…is he thinking?

I looked around for him and found him at the reading space—right by the window, just as he’d said, with the hardcover book open in front of him.

He had his head resting on his hand…and was fast asleep. He would.

I had to smile. “After all that insisting that he’d be reading, now he’s sleeping.”

Fushimi noticed it, too, and laughed.

““Right by the window!”” we said at the same time, then let out muffled giggles.

I felt the same thing I had back during lunch—I didn’t like the princess act when everyone else was around, but once I saw her laugh like this, I couldn’t bring myself to hate her.

For that same reason, I wanted to ask her. I wanted to tell her.

These few seconds of laughter made up my mind.

“Fushimi, what would you do if you met a girl who liked Takamori?”

“What…? Why the sudden question?”

She must’ve realized—her cute face turned grim. She tried to hide it behind a smile, but it was obviously artificial.

“’Cause I think I…like…Takamori.”