Chapter 11 – Sotis I Need to Go Outside
My mother currently works as an editor at a publisher. It was a small company, but she worked hard every day to make ends et and to pay for my tuition.
Because of this, my mother was extrely busy.
She left for work early in the morning and ca ho late every day. She even worked overti during the weekends sotis.
On occasion, she cos ho earlier on a workday, but she would still be working from ho. On such days, she wouldn’t have ti to cook, so we end up ordering food, which wouldn’t be all that different from what Asanagi and I have been doing. But still, we couldn’t exactly hang out like usual when my mother was ho, could we?
To , Asanagi was rely a ‘friend’, but to an unconcerned party’s eyes, it would seem like I was bringing a girl ho. I kept the matter between and Asanagi a secret from my mom, so it would be troubleso if she were to find out about this.
“…I see. I can’t co over next week, huh?”
“Right. Well, you can still visit the week after that though.”
I felt disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to hang out with Asanagi, but as I previously ntioned, this way she could spend more ti with Amami-san.
Besides, it would be nice to spend so ti alone once in a while. After all, there were so things that you could only enjoy when you were alone.
“It’s for your mother’s job, so it can’t be helped, right? Guess I’ll concede our match next week to you.”
“You’d better git gud in two weeks’ ti. You can run or hide, but I’ll still snipe you from a distance the mont you let your guard down.”
Asanagi’s skills have been improving lately. I needed to make sure that I could keep her humble.
“…That said, it’s getting late, I’m going ho.”
“Mm… Then, see you in two weeks.”
“Huh? What are you on about? Sure we can’t hang out in your house next week, but my plan for the week is still the sa.”
“Eh?”
What does she an by that?
We can’t hang out like usual because my house will be off-limits, so that should clear up her schedule for next week, right? What is on her mind?
“If we can’t hang out at your place, we can just hang out outside, no? Of course, we’ll eat together outside as well.”
“…Huh?”
That was an idea a loner like would never think of.
* * *
So ca the next week. There was no change in our plan, both Asanagi and I decided to hang out like usual.
Except that we’ll be outdoors.
“How did it turn out this way…?”
After school, I went back ho, changed into my casual clothes, left to the ticket gate in front of the station, and stood there alone. By the way, the said station was the biggest shopping district in the area.
It was currently the evening rush hour, so the station was packed. Office workers, students, and housewives were moving about, running their errands and whatnot.
I usually visited this place at least once a month to buy gas or books, but whenever I did, I would co early in the morning when there were fewer people around. It had been a while since I had to stand in the middle of such crowds.
“…What are you doing, fiddling with your smartphone like that? You know, I thought that it would be harder to find you in this crowd, but you stand out a lot, Maehara, I almost laughed out loud. You’re like a drop of oil in the water.”
“My bad, it’s totally my fault that I can’t blend with my surroundings like a ninja… That said, yo, Asanagi.”
“Yo.”
When I looked away from my phone, Asanagi was right in front of , dressed in her casual clothes. She said it would take a while for her to dress up, but she still arrived five minutes before the appointnt ti.
As expected, she was a punctual one, but then again, I ca here fifteen minutes earlier…
“I’m hungry, let’s eat first.”
“Ahh, sure. But, do you have a place in mind?”
“Yeah. I called the place earlier and they said open tables, so we should be able to eat there.”
“My budget is only 2000 yen though, will that be enough?”
“Well, that’s for our stomachs to decide.”
Well, I’ve brought more money than that, just in case, but it wouldn’t hurt to save it.
Today, I left everything to Asanagi as she was the one who invited . She was actually the one who offered to take the lead as thanks for always letting her co over to hang out. I didn’t really like crowded places, but I figured doing this should be okay once in a while.
“By the way, Asanagi.”
“Mmm?”
“Are you okay dressing like that?”
I didn’t ntion it until now, but Asanagi’s attire was much less refined than I would have expected.
She was wearing a black baseball cap and an oversized hoodie. Her lower garnts were jeans paired with a pair of cheap sneakers.
Her attire seed so plain, like sothing you would wear when you go to a convenience store.
Well, I was wearing sothing similar, but they were the best clothes I had. It had been a long ti since I went out, so I actually took about half an hour to decide what to wear.
But, the way Asanagi dressed seed like she didn’t have that much trouble deciding on what to wear.
“Well, I don’t usually dress like this, but today is an extrely special case… You see, we kept our friendship a secret from the rest of the class, no? So, I figured that we should keep a low profile, just in case.”
Understandable. While I haven’t seen any of our classmates, I did see a lot of students wearing our school’s uniform.
In my case, no one would be able to recognize since I was a loner and all, but they would definitely recognize Asanagi.
“…If you’re afraid that soone will find out, why do this in the first place?”
“Because it’s fun, duh. Enjoying ourselves outside like this while hiding our identities, doesn’t it sound exciting? And everything will be fine, I made backup plans in case sothing did happen.”
“Alright, fine.”
“That’s what I’m talking about. Let’s go!”
I’m still worried, but I’ll trust her.
…Risks aside, I do look forward to hanging out with her like this.
My thoughts about the situation aside, the fact that it took half an hour to decide on what to wear, I swore to myself that I would take it to my grave… After all, she would definitely make fun of if she ever found out.
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