After talking and playing for another hour, Shizu went home.
I offered to take her home, but she curtly denied me by telling me that her place was just around the corner so there was no need.
When she finally left, I gently closed the door to my house and leaned my back against it as I slid down all the way to the ground.
"This can't be real... It feels just like six years ago," I murmured.
She had the same expressions, mannerisms, and actions as the girl I once played with.
There was no doubt that they were the same person.
That was a good thing, but there are some problems as well that I had just realized.
Does she remember the promise that we made that day?
If so, that is really embarrassing at the age we're at right now...
Let's just pretend I don't know any better in the meanwhile.
Another problem is the difference in experiences ever since we were separated.
There's a good chance that there are some new sides of her that I haven't seen yet, which is quite troubling as a childhood friend.
Maybe, just maybe, there is more than what meets the eye when it comes to her...
***
The next day at school, something a little troubling happened.
"What are you eating for lunch, Haru?"
"Ooh, I watched that anime when it premiered and I loved it a lot!"
"Haru~ Let's go eat lunch together!"
After the reveal of us being childhood friends, Shizu had begun to interact significantly more with me at school.
Every chance she would get, Shizu would skip over to my desk to chat with me.
Although this wasn't technically a bad thing, there were some repercussions with the way she was acting.
The boys of the class would always stare daggers into me whenever Shizu would speak happily with me.
Even Sakura was glaring at my back throughout the day... Don't even ask me how I know that...
When a break in-between classes happened, I went to Shizu's desk before she could hop on over to my desk like usual.
"Hey, let's talk."
"O-oh, ah... Okay."
She seemed to be confused as to what I wanted to talk about, but she understood that I was being serious by my expression.
Once we left the classroom and found a spot to talk without other people listening in, I began to explain what was wrong to her.
"Hey, Shizu."
"Hm?"
"When a man and woman conversate happily with each other, what do you think their relationship is?"
"They're best friends?"
"Okay, let me rephrase this. When a woman gives a single man special attention and only talks to him, what do you think their relationship is?"
"That they're dating... Oh."
Bingo, she finally got it.
"Listen, I know you're happy to reunite with me, but the way you're approaching it is a little... too strong," I scratched my head. "Instead of looking like best friends, we kind of look like lovers to other people..."
There is a clear difference between being best friends and lovers, but the way Shizu was acting at school made the boundaries unclear to other people.
I'm happy to reunite with her as well, but I don't want to make this school my final resting place.
According to my calculations, I'll die in this very school from the jealous glares of my classmates in a few days if the situation doesn't change.
In contrast to my thoughts, Shizu flipped my reasoning upside down.
"Does it matter what other people think about us?"
My train of thought came to a standstill when I heard Shizu say this.
Is this the same person who was so worried about her classmates' opinions way back when?
Back in elementary school, Shizu would always play the role of the nice quiet girl in order to have everyone like her.
She was always scared of changing the status quo, always scared of what others thought of her, always scared of others...
Is the person in front of me truly the same person back then?
What had happened in those six years that had resulted in such a drastic change of personality?
I wanted to ask, I wanted to know, but...
I was too scared to find a new side of her that I didn't know.
My fears from the night before... were becoming realized.
"Nevermind, it's nothing," I lied. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay with everyone knowing that we're good friends."
Shizu gently smiled and patted me on my shoulder when she saw my anxiety. "It's okay, it makes it easier for me to hang out with you if everyone knows we're childhood friends. I don't care about anything that anyone else says, so please be rest assured."
"Is that so..." I said. "Okay, that's the only thing I wanted to talk to you about. I'm gonna hit the restroom real quick, so you head back to class first."
"Mhm!" Shizu nodded, enthusiastically. "I'll see you there."
Shizu promptly turned the corner and left me alone to wander in my own thoughts.
Once again, I was reminded that the passage of time can change people.
This childhood friend of mine was no longer the same one from that time, rather she was a different person with different experiences.
Although they were the same person, they didn't have the same experiences in life.
That was why they would've had different reactions to the current situation.
The old Shizu would've been a lot more cautious and careful about her relationships with her classmates, but the new Shizu decided to forego all of that worrying by focusing on what she wanted to do.
That was a truly commendable feat that she was able to pull off, but...
I couldn't help but feel just a tad bit lonely.