After leaving class, I went straight toward the dormitory. Kushida,
who was supposed to have left with a friend earlier, appeared to be waiting
for someone while leaning up against the wall. Noticing me, she smiled like
always.
"I'm so glad! I was waiting for you, Ayanokouji-kun. There's
something I wanted to talk to you about. Do you have a minute?" she asked.
"Yeah, sure…"
She couldn't be confessing her feelings for me, could she? Nah, there
was about a 1 percent chance of something like that.
"I'll just ask you outright. Ayanokouji-kun, have you seen Horikita-san
smile even once?"
"Huh? No, not that I can remember."
Apparently, Kushida had come to talk about Horikita again. Thinking
back, I didn't recall ever seeing Horikita smile once. Kushida took my hand
in hers, closing the distance between us. Did she smell of flowers? I breathed
in an extremely pleasant scent.
"You know, I…I want to become friends with Horikita-san," she said.
"I think she guesses your feelings. At first, a lot of people tried
reaching out to her, but now you're the only one."
"You seem to know Horikita-san pretty well, Ayanokouji-kun."
"It's not like I'm watching her or anything, it's just that you tend to
learn a lot about the person who sits next to you."
Girls were girls, after all, and they'd been really eager to form groups
since the first day of school. They were also more aware of cliques and social
circles than guys, and in this class of about twenty people, four held the most
influence. You could claim they put up a façade, that they weren't genuinely
being themselves.
However, Kushida was the exception. She definitely held favor within
each group, but more than that, she was tremendously popular with everyone. She was persistently warm and gentle toward Horikita, as part of her
continued efforts to become her friend. That wasn't something an ordinary
student could do. That was probably why everyone adored her.
Plus, she was really cute.
Cuteness makes everything better.
"Didn't Horikita already warn you not to try again? I don't know what
you can say to her next time," I said.
I knew that Horikita wasn't the type to mince words. If approached, she
would probably respond harshly. To be honest, I didn't want to see Kushida
hurt.
"Won't you…help me?" she asked.
"Uh…"
I didn't answer right away. Normally, I would immediately agree to
such a cute girl's demands. However, since I was the type to avoid trouble, I
couldn't answer her. I didn't want to see Horikita hurt Kushida by saying
something merciless. I thought I'd turn her down to avoid any later
heartbreak.
"I understand how you feel, Kushida, but…"
"So that means…you can't?"
Cute + Pleading + Upturned Eyes = Lethal.
"Well, I guess I don't have a choice. Just this once, okay?"
"Really?! Oh, thank you, Ayanokouji-kun!" she cried. Kushida's face
lit up.
She was cute. Even though I'd agreed to help her, I was still the kind of
person who preferred to remain in the background. I shouldn't do anything
reckless.
"So, what exactly are we going to do? Even if you say you want to be
friends with her, it's not that simple."
Personally, I wasn't equipped to know how to make friends.
"You're probably right… Well, first I think we should try to make
Horikita-san smile," Kushida said. "Make her smile, huh?"
Smiling means letting your guard down in front of another person, even
if just a little. Such a relationship could most likely be referred to as
friendship. Kushida seemed to understand people well, especially when it
came to making them smile.
"Do you have an idea how?" I asked.
"Well, I thought you could help me think of something, Ayanokouji-
kun." She giggled sheepishly and lightly smacked her own head. If she were
an ugly girl, I would have been totally turned off, but Kushida made it
charming.
"Smile, huh?" So, because Kushida had asked, I was going to help her
make Horikita smile. Was such a thing possible? I wondered. I doubted it.
"Well, anyway, after class, I'm going to try inviting Horikita out again.
If we wind up back at the dorms, though, I'll have no idea what to do. Is there
any place that she wants to go to?"
"Ah. Well then, how about Palate? I've gone to Palate often, and
Horikita might have overheard us talking about it before."
Palate was one of the most popular cafés on campus. I had heard about
Kushida and the other girls going there often after class. And if I'd heard
about it, then Horikita must have also been aware.
"How about if you two went to Palate and ordered, and then 'bumped'
into me by chance? Would that work?"
"Probably not. I think that might be expecting a little too much. What if
your friends helped out, Kushida?"
The instant Horikita noticed Kushida's presence, she would probably
get up and leave. I thought it'd be better to create a situation that would make
leaving difficult. I told Kushida my idea.
"Ooh! That certainly sounds like it would work! You're so smart,
Ayanokouji-kun!" she cried. Kushida nodded in agreement while she hung on
my every word, eyes sparkling.
"Oh, no, I don't think my plan has anything to do with being smart.
Anyway, that's what I was going for." "I understand. I'm excited for the result!"
No, don't expect too much. That'll be trouble.
"If you try inviting her, Kushida, she'll probably refuse you outright.
So, how about I invite Horikita?"
"Okay. I think that Horikita-san trusts you, Ayanokouji-kun," she said.
"Why do you think that? What proof do you have?"
"Well, I guess it just looks that way to me. She seems to trust you more
than anyone else in the class, at the very least."
That doesn't mean I'm best suited for this task, though.
"That's only because I was able to talk to her, but that was a
coincidence."
I'd just happened to be seated next to her on the bus. If that hadn't
happened, then I probably wouldn't have talked to her.
"But don't you meet almost every person for the first time by chance?
And then they can become your friend, or your best friend…or even your
boyfriend or girlfriend, or your family."
"That's true."
I supposed that was one way to look at it. Coincidence had allowed me
to talk with Kushida like this. Therefore, it was possible that Kushida and I
might eventually become lovers.