ãCan I call you Shiori? Iâve wanted to meet you for a long time.ã
She called me out within a minute of meeting her.
Itâs too soon.
I think itâs the shortest record.
I had never been asked before by someone whose name I didnât even know if I could call them by their name.
Suppressing the urge to run away from the reasonably crowded evening café, I look for Sendai-san, who is supposed to be working part-time here, using only my eyes. But I canât find her.
ãAh, was I being chummy with you? Well then, can I call you Shiori-chan? You can just call me Mio.ã
Though the name of the café waiter, who introduced herself asãHazukiâs friend,ãwas halfway revealed before I could place my order, I wasnât comfortable with being called Shiori-chan once she knew my first name.
Judging from the words âIâve been wanting to meet you for a long time,â this person was the college friend of Sendai-sanâs who introduced the part-time jobs to Sendai-san.
I could say that sheâs the one who took away Sendai-sanâs winter vacation from me.
No matter how I look at it, getting along with her seems to be a difficult task in itself.
I let out a small breath.
I shouldnât have come all the way here, alone, on New Yearâs Eve.
I canât help but regret coming to Sendai-sanâs part-time job.
I didnât want to get involved with the waitress who called me Shiori-chan and insisted that I call her Mio, and she would abandon her duty to ask for the order and kept talking to me one-sidedly with questions like,ãYouâre Hazukiâs friend, right?ã orãYou share a room with her?ã
ãMio-san, may I place an order?ã
I look at the menu, not at Sendai-sanâs friend who is looking at me with a friendly smile.
She is a waitress at a café, so as long as I place my order, she should go away. I donât think she would stay here even after hearing my order.
ãNo, not like that! I told you to call me Mio.ã
A bright voice descends and I glance at the troublesome waitress.
ãâ¦May I ask your family name?ã
ãKomatsu. Komatsu Mio, so call me Mio.ã
ãKomatsu-san. Cheesecake, with tea, please.ã
I call her by her family name, which gives me a friendly atmosphere.
I should call her by her first name and force myself to order.
ãEhh. Why donât you call me Mio?ã
Komatsu-san, whose hair color is lighter than Sendai-sanâs, says in a bright voice.
I really shouldnât have come.
If I could rewind time, I would tell the me of an hour ago not to leave my house.
I swallow the sigh that almost comes out and stare at Komatsu-san, whose bob cut suits her well.
It didnât matter that she wanted to see me, and I didnât want to see her. I just came to this café because it was boring to stay home alone, and I thought it would be nice to go out somewhere once in a while anyway.
But I think I was an idiot to consider that.
This Komatsu Mio person doesnât look like a bad person, she looks bright and bubbly like blue sky, but sheâs not the type of person I am very good at.
ãShiori-chan, try saying âMioâ.ã
They say the bad shopkeepers donât like to give up.
And by the way, beyond friendly, her distance is bugging me.
Why is it that all of Sendai-sanâs friends seem to believe that no one hates them?
ãUhh, Mio-san. How did you know my name?ã
I will take her opinion and call her by her given name, but avoid calling her by her family name. If I call her Mio even once, she is likely to call me Shiori, and I should deflect the conversation.
I know that she probably knows my name because Sendai-san told her, and she must know my face because she showed her a picture or something, but there is nothing else to talk about.
ãBecause I heard it from Hazuki.ã
The words came back as expected, and I resent Sendai-san.
If Sendai-san had not told me about Komatsu-sanââ err, Mio-san in the first place, this would not have happened. No, I didnât come here because I care about her. It doesnât matter what Sendai-san said about Mio-san.
ãShiori-chan, you donât want to call me Mio that much?ã
Mio says ruefully.
ãWeâve just met.ã
ãIs that so? Then, just call me Mio-san for now. Iâll call you by your name when we get to know each other better. Oh, but letâs not use honorifics. Letâs not use honorifics, Shiori-chan.ã
I donât want to say I understand, and if I say I understand, sheâll say itâs an honorific.
What should I say then?
Stuck for an answer and searching for Sendai-san with only my eyes, I hear a slightly low voice.
ãHey, hey, donât bully the customer.ã
ãAh, Senpai.ã
As if being followed by Mio-san, I looked at the owner of the voice, and the memory of when I came to this café with Maika came back to my mind.
This person was a slightly scary looking customer who was talking with Sendai-san.
She is a regular customer here, and I am pretty sure that she is the senior who introduced Sendai-san to the part-time tutoring job.
What I remembered was not funny, and my brow almost wrinkled. I tug my bangs deceptively and then drink from a pretty glass of water.
ãSo, Miyagi-chan. Are you living with Sendai-chan?ã
Mio-san also abruptly says something that she never said.
Huh.
Strange.
Iâm not surprised that this senior knows my name, but Iâm not surprised that the inaccurate words came out.
I wonder what Sendai-san is telling this person about our situation.
ãHuh? I heard from Hazuki that Shiori-chan is her roommate, but do you live together?ã
ãMiyagi-chan, how was that?ã
I hear a very gentle voice.
But I am scared because she looks at me with narrowed eyes.
ãWeâre just sharing a room.ã
My voice was quieter than I thought it would be, but I corrected the wrong perception.
ãMiyagi-chan, Iâd like to hear more interesting answers.ã
ãI donât know any interesting answersâ¦ã
ãSenpai. Youâre making Shiori-chan feel troubled. Letâs ask something easier to answer. For example, why you share a room with Hazuki, or about Hazuki in high school. Was Hazuki popular in high school, after all?ã
My ears twitched at the sound of Mioâs voice and my heart pulsated.
Even in high school.
That means Sendai-san is popular in college as well.
I knew it would be so, but until now I had been able to just imagine it. And yet, Mio-sanâs words have confirmed that this is so, and I begin to worry about various things that I have pretended not to see until now.
I wondered what kind of person that person was and how she responded to them.
Things that I didnât want to think about come up from the back of my mind and I find it hard to breathe, as if the oxygen has become thinner.
I look down at the menu and breathe in and out quietly to drive away the nonsense that occupies most of my thoughts, but the oxygen is still thin and I hold my throat.
Café latte.
Cafe mocha.
Matcha latte.
As my eyes followed the menu in an attempt to distract myself, an interesting voice rang in my ears.
ãMio, the manager wants to see you. Please return to your seat, Noto-senpai.ã
I removed my hand from my throat, looks up lazily, and sees Sendai-san standing there with a strangerâs face.
ãHazuki, oops. You got horns.ã
When Mio-san was exaggeratedly scared, Sendai-san snapped back,ãItâs mot growing.ã
ãBeautiful waitress, you can at least tolerate the move.ã
ãI canât. Senpai, please return to your seat quickly.ã
ãNo choice then. Iâll go back.ã
Noto-san, her senior, reluctantly returns to her seat.
ãShiori-chan, you want cheesecake and tea set, right?ã
When asked by Mio-san, who seemed to have remembered my order, and I answeredãYes,ãand her cheerful voice replied,ãRoger!ã
ãThen, see you.ã
I donât know what it was again, but Mio-san said happily and disappeared into the back of the store. Then, Sendai-san, who was the last one left, stared at me and let out a lower-than-usual voice.
ãâ¦Miyagi, you let her called you âShiori-chanâ?ã
ãI donât know. She just started saying it on her own. She suddenly wants to call me Shiori, and itâs exhausting.ã
ãDid you make her call you Shiori?ã
ãI didnât make her call me Shiori, so she called me Shiori-chanâ¦â¦ I didnât say that was okay either.ã
ãAnd now?ã
ãWhat about now?ã
ãAbout the Shiori.ã
ãI wouldnât let her call me that. In general, Sendai-sanâs friends areââã
I donât care what I say to Sendai-san, but itâs not good to speak ill of her friends. I know that much, so I swallow the words I am about to say and gulp down a glass of water.
ãYou can go on and say it.ã
ãItâs not a big deal, so itâs fine.ã
ãI want to hear and learn about your impressions of Mio and my Senpai.ã
ãâ¦Theyâre too sociable.ã
In case sheâs wondering, Iâll give her my impression of the two of them in an oblique way.
ãMio is a little too much, but not that crazy.ã
ãâ¦I donât think theyâre usually like that.ã
I think she lives in a different world from Sendai-san, who is always around people and can talk to anyone in a friendly manner. We donât seem to agree with each other.
ãI wonder. I mean, itâs normal to talk to friends of friends in a friendly way, even if itâs only to varying degrees.ã
ãSome people in the world arenât normal like that.ã
ãWell, maybe thatâs true. Oh, right. Miyagi, what did you ask for?ã
Sendai-san puts a period on the pointless discussions that have been going on parallel lines and changes the subject.
ãCake.ã
ãI see. Well, when youâre done eating that, wait here for a minute.ã
ãWhy?ã
ãIâm finishing early today, so letâs go home together.ã
ãItâs fine. Iâll go home alone.ã
I had heard before I left home that her part-time job would end early, but I didnât come to the café because I wanted to go home with her. Besides, if I stayed here leisurely, I would be asked a lot of questions again, and I donât think I want to stay long.
ãItâs alright. Itâs the end of the year. You should go home with me.ã
ãIf those people come again, itâs going to be trouble, and I want to go home first.ã
ãDonât worry, Iâll take care of that.ã
ãAbsolutely?ã
ãAbsolutely. I promise you.ã
I can hear Sendai-sanâs powerful voice, but nothing is absolute. In particular, Mio-san is so close to people that one can only assume that she has no personal space at all, and Noto-san is also very familiar with people. I feel that Sendai-san would easily go beyond the word âabsoluteâ and talk to me.
But today is the end of this year.
I can give Sendai-san a chance.
ãâ¦Iâll leave as soon as one of those two arrives.ã
ãIâll make sure to stop them.ã
Sendai-san chuckled as she said this.