The Bakery

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The bakery was on the corner of the shopping street and it opened at seven in the morning and closed at seven in the evening. I passed it twice a day. On the third morning I stopped and bought a melon bread.

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The woman behind the counter was old and she did not smile and she did not make small talk. She handed me the bread and took my money and that was all. I liked her immediately.

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I ate the bread on the way to school. It was still warm. It was the best thing I had eaten since moving.

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The next morning I stopped again. The morning after that, I stopped again. By the end of the week, the woman behind the counter had started to nod at me when I came in, which was as close to a greeting as she seemed capable of, and I had started to nod back.

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I did not know her name. I did not need to know her name. She was the first person in the neighbourhood who had recognized me as someone who came back.

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That was enough.

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───

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Hana found me at lunch on Friday.

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She sat down next to me on the roof and started talking about something that had happened in her homeroom and I listened and ate my melon bread and did not say much. She did not seem to mind.

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"You're a good listener," she said.

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"Am I."

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"You don't interrupt."

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"Interrupting takes energy."

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She laughed. It was a real laugh, not the performed one she used in class. For a moment, I thought she was going to say something else. But she didn't. She just looked out at the athletic field and ate her lunch and let the silence settle.

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The silence was comfortable.

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I had not expected that.

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───

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Yuki found me after school.

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"The debate club meeting is in room 204," she said. "You said you'd come."

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"I didn't say that."

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"You didn't say no."

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"That's not the same thing."

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"It's close enough."

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She turned and walked toward the building and I followed her because it was easier than arguing.

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The debate club had six members and they were all serious in a way that made the room feel smaller. Yuki introduced me as a potential recruit and the other members looked at me like I was a specimen. One of them asked me what I thought about the nuclear energy debate and I said I did not have an opinion and they looked at me like I had failed a test.

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Yuki looked at me like I had failed a test too.

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"You can't just say you don't have an opinion," she said afterward.

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"Why not."

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"Because it's a debate club."

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"I know."

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"Then you should have an opinion."

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"I have opinions. I just don't have opinions about things I don't know anything about."

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She looked at me for a long time.

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"That's actually a good answer," she said.

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"Thank you."

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"Don't thank me. Just come back next week."

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I did not promise to come back. But I did not say I wouldn't.

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She noticed that too. 161Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPGZh2zqpD

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