“Oh, Sakochi... and, Konuma?”
After finishing band practice, Sako and I walked back together. Just as we exited the ticket gate at Ichika-cho Station, a lively, sporty beauty called out to us.
“Ah, Hina.”
The person Sako called Hina was Mizusawa Hinata.
She was a classmate of mine and Sako’s back in middle school.
“Hey, it’s been a while. Konuma-kun and Hasu-san.”
A slender, gentle-looking man wearing glasses, who had been standing next to Mizusawa before I noticed, spoke up.
“Nishi, it’s been a while too.”
He was Aoba Nishiyama, nicknamed Nishi.
He was also a classmate from middle school. Incidentally, only Sako called him Nishi.
“Konuma-kun?”
Nishiyama was calling me. Oh no, if I don’t greet him, Yuri-neesan will get mad at me.
I activated the skill [Greeting] that I just learned recently.
“G-Good morning...!”
“No, it’s already night!”
Mizusawa laughed. Well, that makes sense...
“Konuma-kun and Hasu-san, are you guys in the same high school?”
“Yeah.”
Seriously, Sako, a response with just one character?
“Ah, um, Musashino International High School. We’re in the same school. Me and, Sako.”
“Konuma-kun, your speech is getting awkward.”
When I hurriedly added words to make up for Sako’s lack of response, Nishiyama chuckled.
“Um, are Nishiyama and Mizusawa in the same high school too?”
I felt embarrassed being laughed at, so I cleared my throat lightly and asked a question of my own.
“That’s right, we’re at Segawa High School. Keigo Nara is with us too.”
“Ah, Nara-kun too...”
Nara-kun was also from Ichika-cho Junior High, but he was someone who felt like a complete normie compared to these two. I haven’t talked to him much, but he’s kind of scary. The reason: he’s a normie.
“It’s the same for me and Hinata, but Konuma-kun and Hasu-san, you’ve been together since kindergarten and you’re still together now. You were always together in middle school too. That’s amazing. You’re childhood friends.”
I don’t really get it, but Nishiyama seemed impressed.
Then, Mizusawa chimed in with a correction from the side.
“No, no, apparently they weren’t *always* together. Right, Konuma?”
“Eh, ah, yes...”
Does Mizusawa know about the Cold War era between me and Sako?
“Sakochi sent me a LINE last year! She said, ‘I can’t talk to Takuto anymore, I want to die’!”
“Wait, Hina.”
Sako hurriedly tried to stop Mizusawa.
So she was consulting her about that...
“On the day she told me, ‘We made up,’ I even got a LINE with emojis from Sakochi! Have you ever seen them? Sakochi’s emojis.”
“Hina!”
Sako shouted unusually loud. Her face was turning red.
“Whoops, sorry, Sakochi.”
She probably didn't expect her to get that angry. Mizusawa lowered her eyebrows and apologized.
“I was just so happy that Sakochi and Konuma made up. I think I understand just how important Konuma is to Sakochi.”
Seriously, this girl is just digging her own grave now...
“Wait, Hinata, both Hasu-san and Konuma-kun have bright red faces...”
Nishiyama stepped in to stop her.
“O-Oh? Did I say something I shouldn’t have again?”
“Well, yeah...”
While Nishiyama and I were exasperated,
“Takuto,”
Sako tightly grabbed the sleeve of my shirt.
“You don’t have to... worry about it.”
“O-Oh...”
Staring into her eyes, which were slightly moist from embarrassment, my reply became flustered.
“Still, I’m really, so glad...”
When I looked toward the tearful voice, Mizusawa was crying.
...Eh?
“Why are you crying!?”
Mizusawa’s level of empathy is dangerously high. I don’t get it at all.
“I’m just... most afraid of losing friends. When I heard that you guys, who were so close, ended up apart, I thought about how painful it must have been... There’s nothing more painful than that for Sakochi or for Konuma. Thinking about that, I’m just so glad you could make up...”
As Mizusawa spoke word by word while wiping away the tears that kept falling, I unexpectedly felt like I was going to start crying too. Oh boy.
Looking to the side, Sako’s eyes were also moist for a reason other than embarrassment.
“...Hinata’s obsession with her friends is a bit of a serious condition. Her catchphrase is, ‘You must absolutely cherish your friends.’ There’s no one else like her.”
Nishiyama sighed as if exasperated, yet gently.
“...I don’t want to hear that from you, Aoba.”
Mizusawa muttered a bit sulkily and glared at Nishiyama. Nishiyama didn’t mind and just smiled kindly.
“Hina, thank you.”
Sako said, taking Mizusawa’s hand.
“No, not at all. Because, you must absolutely cherish your friends.”
“She’s seriously saying it.”
“Oh, she really is.”
Sako burst out laughing.
“How do I put it... you guys really understand each other.”
This time it was my turn to be impressed.
“Well, we’re each other’s only childhood friends. We understand at least that much.”
Nishiyama said so.
“Hm? Sakochi and Konuma are childhood friends too, right?”
“I guess...”
Being called childhood friends didn’t immediately click, but I suppose you could say we’ve been familiar since we were young. Beside me, Sako was nodding solemnly over and over again. Is she a squirrel or something? Wait, what’s up with her?
“Well, see you later.”
“See ya!”
We parted ways with the Nishiyama-Mizusawa duo in front of a convenience store a short walk from the station.
“Hey, Sako. Are those two dating?”
“They’re not dating. They’re friends.”
“Hoh.”
Is that how it is? They were going home together, though. If I said that, Erina-san would probably say something like, “Are you really the one to say that, Takuto-kun?”
“But for Hina, friends might be more important than a lover.”
“Well, she does have that catchphrase.”
Like Nishiyama said, it’s a serious condition... I smiled wryly, recalling the scene from earlier.
“Hey, Takuto.”
“Hm?”
“We’re friends, right?”
“Uh, probably, if Sako doesn’t mind, probably.”
I was exasperated with my own pathetic answer. Then, Sako put her hand on her chin and made a thinking gesture.
“So, Takuto is friends with Yurisuke.”
Sako was asking (probably).
“Yeah, we’re friends.”
Since we’re certified as being on good terms, it would be rude to Azuma not to call her a friend.
“And with Erina?”
“Uh, well, friends.”
Erina-san hasn’t explicitly said we’re friends, but Ichikawa told me it’d be rude not to call her a friend since she consults me. Or maybe, accomplices?
“...What about Ichikawa-san?”
Being stared at with those straight eyes, I was at a loss for an answer. What are Ichikawa and I?
“Classmates, band members, and... friends, I guess.”
“Hmm...”
She frowned with an unconvinced expression. “I might not like being ‘friends’.”
Sako muttered softly, her lips pouting just a fraction of a millimeter.
“Eh...?”
“Earlier, you said, ‘if Sako doesn’t mind’.”
“Eh...”
She doesn’t want to be friends... I thought we had made up, but I guess it’s not like that...
“Not ‘friends,’ not ‘band members’...”
“Then what...?”
I was completely dejected...
Then, Sako whispered,
“Childhood friend.”
“Hm?”
“I want ‘Childhood Friend.’ Because it’s only me.”
“Huh?”
What is this girl saying?
Leaving me behind, Sako raised the corners of her mouth by a fraction of a millimeter and said,
“Takuto and I are childhood friends.”
As if confirming it.
“I’m the only childhood friend, right?”
“I guess so...”
I didn’t really understand the meaning, but Sako seemed to be in such a good mood that her voice drifted upward at the end, so I decided it was fine.
“Right, Takuto?”
(Author Note: The middle school classmates who appeared this time, Aoba Nishiyama and Hinata Mizusawa, appear as main characters in the novel "Ichika-cho Story" which has started serialization. I am restructuring, rewriting, and uploading parts of what I wrote and finished before writing "Bedroom Musician Loner." If you are interested, I would be happy if you could read that as well! I will do my best writing "Bedroom Musician Loner Chapter 2.")