I still remember that day as clear as when it first happened, summer was coming to an end. The weather was starting to get cooler as fall was approaching. As usual, life in the city went on. Adults went to work, students went to school, and so on and so forth. But through all the hectic and bustling city life that I witnessed, last year was the first time I truly felt my life slow down and for the first time in my life, I enjoyed the summer breeze and took a nice stroll out of my house.
"You know the other day when the teacher was talking about different love languages?"
" Yeah, even though it was a Math class."
" Is that what you're thinking about?? Come on you know what I meant!"
" I'm not a mind reader, unfortunately."
Just as I said that she seemed to get slightly dejected as I replied to her questions with the usual half-hearted attitude, but this time I felt a little sorry for her which was quite uncharacteristic of me. So I decided to put a little more effort into my replies.
" So what about love languages?"
I nonchalantly asked. This seemed to do the trick as she was back to her usual cheerful and bubbly self. Sometimes I found it quite funny how easy it was to change this girl's mood.
" So I was wondering what your love language was?"
" Is that the kind of question you ask everyone?"
" Come on I wouldn't do that. This is a question I only ask people who I want to know more about."
I sighed after hearing her answer that she said with such an earnest and sincere gaze, it got me thinking how she could be so sincere and honest about such things with someone like me.
" Usually this is the kind of question where you give your answer first before hearing the other party's answer."
" Oh was that an indirect way of asking for mine?"
" It was a direct way."
She started to laugh at the answer that I had honestly replied to which once again made me extremely embarrassed.
" Well it's not like I have anything to hide...hmm.. let's see. If I had to choose one, I would say mine would be touch."
" Now you sound like an old man or a parent."
" Eh really! Do I sound that old to you?"
" It's just not the kind of answer you'd expect from a typical high school girl."
" EH! But I am just your average high school girl, albeit with a slight difference."
I often wondered how she could say those lines so casually, normally it would be such a heavy topic to talk about, joking about it was even more absurd, and yet she casually jokes about it. She really is strange, way too strange for me.
For some reason, this conversation I had with her over 4 months ago still played back in my head as I lay on my bed. I don't know why this particular conversation stuck out to me, but I couldn't get it out of my head. Rather I couldn't get her out of my head. Aoi Furuya, a strange girl I met at the end of last summer. Our meeting was one of pure coincidence, although she would probably tell you it was something else. It was the 11th of September, a Sunday when I went to the hospital to visit my sister who recently had surgery to remove her appendix.
" You know you don't have to make the trip here every day."
" It's not really my choice, Mum said I had to be the one to pass you this every day."
" Ohh her homemade cooking again, I wonder what she made today?"
As I sat next to my sister, I took out the new light novel I bought at the bookstore and read it while she was eating the homemade cooking my Mum prepared, but then she started to ask me questions regarding school.
" Are you sure you don't wanna spend your time hanging out with your friends? Your years in high school won't last all that long, so you should make the most out of it."
" It's fine, even if I had time, I don't have anyone to hang out with."
" It's been a year Haruto, don't tell me you still haven't made friends. Are you purposely making yourself unapproachable?"
" Not really, I don't intentionally make myself out to be some sort of a loner. But that's just the image people have formed of me, and I'm not really that concerned over not having any friends so what's the big deal."
After I said this, she started to sigh as put her hand on her forehead as if she was frustrated at me, which I clearly didn't understand why she was.
" You know Haruto, most guys your age would all be thinking about how to enjoy their youth. Hanging out with their friends, experiencing their first love, doing all sorts of fun things. Yet you're here spending your summer afternoon with your sister in the hospital reading a light novel? Honestly, I'm worried about you."
I casually shrugged off her concerns as nothing that she mentioned seemed to really be an issue for me. It's sort of true what she said about me not caring about the same things most guys my age do. This is why in class I usually just keep to myself and read books during my free time, whenever I'm approached by others, I simply talk like a normal person. I don't really think I have much of a problem talking to people, I simply don't see a need to. Books are more than enough to satisfy me, plus I usually head home to work on writing my own novels, it's sort of a little hobby of mine. Although I don't ever plan on showing it to others.
After a while of reading, the doctors and nurses had to do a daily check-up on my sister, so I had to excuse myself for a while, I bought a can of juice and headed to the rooftop of the hospital, apparently, my sister told me it's a great spot for ' bookworms' like myself. Opening the door to the rooftop, I noticed how big it was, I was just about to settle down with my book to enjoy a nice reading session, but I was interrupted by the sound of someone whistling.
Turning around, I noticed a girl sitting down near the end of the rooftop whistling, but she was also drawing something on her sketchbook, walking closer without being noticed I realised she was sketching a picture of the city view from the rooftop as well as the rooftop itself. I noticed how detailed and well-drawn it was. It almost made me think she was some sort of professional for a moment. I noticed she was wearing a hospital gown as well which meant she was probably a patient staying here. But judging from how young she looked, I found it odd that someone who looked as healthy as her was staying in the hospital.
I decided not to interrupt her and tried to find some other place to go to, but just as I was about to close the door and walk off, she turned her head around and our eyes met for a few seconds. It made my eyes widen for a second as I thought of how familiar she looked, I tried to recall who she looked like but nothing came to mind, just as we met eyes, she looked quite shocked and looked away. I thought she acted like that because she was embarrassed someone heard her whistling and found her drawing. Thinking that way, I quickly shut the door and left. Not thinking about that encounter for much longer, but I really found it odd how someone who looked so healthy was in the hospital, she seemed to be quite average in height and she had long flowing black hair and an overall average figure, nothing about her seemed off, she looked like your average high school girl.
After I got home, I didn't think any further about the interaction and it faded to the back of my mind as I busied myself with reading and writing.
The next day at school, I sat down at my seat as usual and took out my book to read, it was just your average day in school. However once class started, I noticed someone in class was missing. Just then the door to class burst open as the missing person showed up.
Immediately she apologised profusely for being late as tbe teacher told her that since it was her first time she would be excused.
As she made her way to her seat, her friends began to question her on why she was late.
" Aoi did you oversleep?"
" Oh no it was nothing like that, I even got up early."
Just as all this was going on, suddenly looking at her now jogged my memory as I realised this was the same girl I met at the hospital yesterday. Aoi Furuya, my classmate who I met at the hospital yesterday. Turning away to hide the shock, questions filled my mind as to what she was doing there, but nothing I came up with sounded reasonable. I didn't know it at the time but seeing her that day would be the catalyst to the beginning of everything.