We left the house and walked toward the supermarket, chatting. Most schools had already ended their breaks yesterday and the students walking home wore the same depressed face I probably was wearing.
“So how was the placement test today?”
“Better than I’d expected.”
Last year’s summer homework I had rush-jobbed at the last minute, so I’d retained nothing of the content. The placement test had been a bloodbath. This year, with Riona walking me through every problem I didn’t get, the result was incomparably better.
“And that’s thanks to us, right?”
“Yeah, thanks to Riona.”
”…Hey, what about me?”
I’d stressed Riona in response to her stressing us, and she’d protested. But Reona was on the same team as me — the team that had been chased by Riona to actually finish the homework. I went into recovery mode.
“The English-composition stuff — that one was huge thanks to you, Reona, genuinely.”
“That sounded so manufactured it feels like I forced it out of you, I’m getting guilt.”
“Uh, sorry…”
Either response would have been wrong. As I thought that, Reona broke into laughter.
“You don’t need to apologize — it’s me you’re talking to.”
“R-reflex apology, habit.”
I’d made the excuse; Reona was still smiling. My flustered face had probably been the joke.
“Anyway, it’s nice to see how much you’ve opened up since the start, Ryouya-kun.”
“Was any of that conversation implying that?”
“You teased me about the homework just now. People don’t tease people they aren’t comfortable with.”
Now that she pointed it out — yes. There was no version of me where I’d tease a less-close classmate like that. Family aside, the only people I’d tease like that were now Reona and Riona.
“Right, I’ve been thoroughly contaminated by Reona-and-Riona-poison.”
“As usual, Ryouya-kun is not honest.”
“That’s me.”
“I know.”
By the time we’d had that exchange we’d arrived at the supermarket. I’d been letting Mio do the shopping recently and didn’t remember where things were.
“Sorry, I need the bathroom. Wait a sec.”
“Sure, no rush.”
“Mm-hmm, thanks.”
Reona walked off to the bathroom right by the entrance. While she was gone I was about to pull my phone out to think about my gacha team comp when someone called out to me.
“Oh — Yagami?”
”…Matsuyama-san. Been a while.”
The voice belonged to Matsuyama Sayaka, my childhood friend and first love. Why she was here was technically a question, but she lived nearby — of course she was here.
“Hadn’t run into you since we left middle school. Real long time.”
“Different high schools makes the chance encounters slim.”
I’d gone to Amaki, a college-prep school in the academic track. Matsuyama-san had picked a commercial-track high school. The directions and schedules were enough off that we’d not crossed paths. When we were young we called each other by first names; from the day we entered middle school we’d switched to surnames.
Around that time, Matsuyama-san got a boyfriend and my one-sided first love quietly died. I held some lingering soreness around her, so I wasn’t excited to chat — but she didn’t read the room.
“What’ve you been up to lately, Yagami?”
“Same old, more or less.”
“Right. I just broke up with my boyfriend, so I’m a little drained.”
“The boyfriend from second year of middle school?”
“No no — Kousuke was, like, three-back from current.”
So Matsuyama-san had dated three guys. Unlike me, who had never had a girlfriend, she was clearly popular.
Needless to say I was experiencing a complicated emotion. Hearing your first love casually mention three exes is — let’s say — a significant amount of damage. As I was processing, Reona came back from the bathroom.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Ryouya-kun — who’s this?”
“Oh, I think I mentioned her briefly before — my childhood friend—”
Reona had started with a wary look, but the instant she heard childhood friend, her face hardened. Yeah. This is going to be a thing.