3

Tell and I’ll kill you.

The first message that Eita ever got from Mio really set his heart thumping, though maybe not in the usual way.

After the message popped in a wild stamp that featured a rabbit character getting ready to plunge a nail into a voodoo doll.

“…What kinda stamp is that?”

Was it supposed to be a joke or something? Even if it was, Eita didn’t find it very funny.

He wanted to reply, but he had barely slid by the day before by playing dumb, so he couldn’t just let on that he got it now. And asking what she meant again could just be playing into a different trap.

So what was he supposed to do?

As Eita agonized over the several moving boxes in his room that showed no signs of packing themselves away, another message came from her.

Do you have a moment today?

Was this gonna lead to her calling him out and really cracking down? That seemed like the obvious conclusion, but her follow-up message was beyond his expectations.

I have a favor to ask. Please respond.

The thought that it was a trap blared in his mind, but when she asked like that, he could only answer one way.

Fine, but what is it?

She asked to meet him at the north exit of Fujisawa Station. That put them right smack in the middle of a big city with over 400,000 people in it. Three lines converged on that one station: JR, Odakyu, and the Enoshima Electric Railway. The whole place was decked out in Christmas decor, making the end of the year feel closer than ever.

As Eita walked towards the north exit, hunched over to block out the cold, he spotted Mio in a corner right next to a Bic camera store.

“Oh, Izumi.” Mio noticed him and waved.

Eita had to wonder if, for just that brief moment, it might look like he was meeting with her for a date or something. He thought he might have felt the gazes of a few onlookers.

“Sorry to drag you out here.”

“S’whatever, I had nothing better to do.” He walked over to Mio, leaning back against the railing.

“A kouhai of mine is meeting us here. She wants to get in contact with Souma… so help get her connected.”

He heard her words well enough, but wasn’t sure if he actually understood.

“…Huh?”

So he ended up just making a stupid sound.

“I said that a kouhai of mine wants to contact Souma, so get her connected.” Mio looked a little annoyed, like it was his fault he couldn’t understand.

“C’mon, what do you actually want?”

Mio already had Haruto’s contact info. They had all swapped with each other the day before.

“You sure are thick-headed for a guy with a college recommendation.” Mio’s bad mood practically radiated out. She didn’t even try to feign calm.

“Can’t you just talk to Haruto?” Eita couldn’t imagine a single scenario where playing the middle man made things any more efficient. It was a tremendous waste of time.

“I… can’t.” When faced with an undeniable truth, Mio suddenly backed off, looking away.

“Why not?”

“…I have entrance exams.” Probably realizing that wasn’t any kind of legitimate reason, Mio turned away like she was sulking. It was probably the most childish way she could have chosen to try and cut off the conversation.

“And the entrance exams are related how?”

“C’mon, Izumi, please.” Mio cut Eita off, leaving no room for rebuttal. She was acting rather desperate, and seemed annoyed with herself. It appeared that no matter what, she couldn’t bring herself to contact Souma. Even though she had no problem contacting him.

And Eita was not amused.

“Oh, fine then.” When he finally managed to give a response, it was rather curt.

Things turned awkward between them pretty quickly.

“There you are! Hey, Prez!” A bouncy voice thrust itself into the foray.

“That’s her.” Drawn by the voice, Mio looked towards the station.

A girl with hair even lighter than Mio’s came running up. She wore a short down jacket and crisp jeans. Her appearance was lively, and the energy that exuded from her face and eyes even more so.

“So Komiya-san, this guy’s-”

Eita made eye contact with the girl as Mio began an introduction. Her eyes were brimming with a vitality that was even more aggressive up close. Eita generally kept away from her type, so he was already feeling uncomfortable.

Eita saw himself reflected in her eyes as she furrowed her brow for a moment in a silent question. Then, she smiled, leaning in towards Eita as if she had found a hidden treasure.

“Gotcha, mysterious transfer student!”

She grabbed Eita’s hands and held on tight.

“You already know each other?” Mio asked, her eyes casting suspicion.

“Yup!”

“Not at all.”

Eita and the girl gave opposite answers at almost the exact same moment.

“So which is it?” Mio asked. Unsurprisingly, she was annoyed.

The girl, who introduced herself as Komiya Ena, decided that instead of standing there to talk, they should all go to a nearby family restaurant.

They took a booth table, separating the sides by gender, and got themselves a round of drinks. As their drink order was getting taken care of, Eita was more or less able to put together what Ena wanted from him.

“So your photography club could get shut down unless you win a contest prize… and you want to submit a photo of Haruto and I to said contest?”

“Yup!” Ena leaned all the way over the table. Eita backed up into the booth, widening the gap just as much as she’d closed it.

They had only met a few minutes ago, but Eita was already completely overwhelmed by Ena’s energy. It was like she ran on a different power source than him and Mio.

“These pictures look really good. They’re almost professional quality.” Mio was taking a look at several of the photos spread over the table from her spot next to Ena. All of the photos had been taken personally by Ena, and they were of Eita and Haruto doing their at-bat competition on the day Eita had gone to Kashiogawa High to re-introduce himself to the school.

Eita’s powerful pitch. Haruto’s full-strength swing. Haruto and Eita watching the ball fly. Their profiles, one boy ecstatic, and the other dazed. Everything up to Haruto leaping on Eita was beautifully captured.

They were a clear step above the random pictures Eita would snap on his smartphone.

“They’re almost better than real life,” Mio commented sarcastically.

But she was right. They looked truly professional.

“…So, if these are going to a contest, a ton of people will be seeing this, right?” Eita finally asked the question that had been nagging at him.

“Y’know that place down by the river? The something-or-other Hall?”

“The Civic Hall? That’s the exhibition spot?” Mio chimed in.

“Yeah, there!” Ena replied.

“That’s really close by, so who knows who might end up seeing that… sorry, I can’t.” Ena’s photos were amazing, no two ways about it. But Eita just could not justify exposing himself like that to the public.

“Whaaat? Why not?”

“I don’t want to stand out, and this kinda thing is already embarrassing to begin with.”

“But the pictures are really good, so why not just go along with her?”

“If it’s such a great idea, then why don’t you be the subject, Natsume?”

“Well, I… can’t.”

“Then don’t try to push someone else into it.”

“It’s not that I can’t, I just… have a lot of stuff going on.” Mio averted her eyes, looking like she’d been forced to say something she didn’t want to admit.

“…”

“…”

The conversation stalled, and an awkward silence permeated the group.

Eita took a sip of his drink, trying to fill the gap somehow. His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he reflexively pulled it out.

Mio started at almost the exact same time, pulling her own phone out of her purse.

Both of their phones began vibrating several times in a row, practically simultaneously.

When Eita opened his LINE app, the reason was clear.

Messages were torrenting through the group chat they had both been put into the day before. Haruto, Yoriko, and Hazuki were messaging back and forth. Evidently, Hazuki and Yoriko were walking a dog, and Haruto wanted to go join them.

Suddenly, Eita got a direct message.

Isn’t Souma scared of dogs?

It had come from Mio, the girl right in front of him.

He sure was before. Don’t know about now.

Mio seemed satisfied with his reply, putting her phone down on the table.

Ena looked back and forth between Mio and Eita with great interest. “Are you two dating?” She asked, completely carefree.

“No, we’re not,” Mio denied instantly.

“Mhm…” Ena replied ambiguously, giving Eita a look, though he still didn’t reply. She definitely had more to say.

Eita decided to press the conversation forward before anybody else said something unnecessary. “So, as I said, the contest is a no go.”

“So you don’t care if the photography club is disbanded?!” Ena slammed her hands on the table, leaning forward as far as she could. Other customers glanced at her, wondering what was going on.

“I couldn’t care less, to be honest.” It had absolutely nothing to do with him.

“Okay. I’ll give up for today.”

Ena backed down surprisingly easily, but something about the way she qualified “for today” didn’t sit well with Eita.

“Please give up tomorrow, too. And forever.”

“You never know what tomorrow will bring, so just gimme your LINE info.” Ena shook her phone from side to side. She was trying to use the built-in GPS function that added contact info from phones nearby. Eita always disabled his GPS functions, so he’d never messed with that before.

Eita looked towards Mio for backup, but she refused to meet his eyes.

“I gotta get to cram school.” Mio dropped some money on the table, standing up.

Eita would rather die than be left alone with that girl.

“Well, I’d better get going, too.” He grabbed the check, ready to head over to the cashier. But as he tried to head to the counter, he was suddenly pulled back. Turning around, he found Ena grabbing onto his arm.

“You’d give it over if Prez asked, though!”

It might’ve been a coincidence, but she chose particularly nasty phrasing. It didn’t look like Mio thought anything of it, but Eita sure did. He needed to bounce before Ena started prying him any further.

“I have some stuff to take care of,” he lied, quickly leaving the restaurant.

As soon as they were out the door, Eita and Mio went their own separate ways. Eita started heading towards the train station, then considered hitting the bus stop, then changed his mind altogether and decided to walk home.

Ever since his and Haruto’s little match, he’d gotten the urge to start trying to get in shape a little more. With that in mind, he figured walking back home would take about 30 or 40 minutes, which was a good amount of exercise for his still-sore muscles.

Eita tried moving his arms and was met with an uncomfortable sensation along his upper arms and back, but it wasn’t painful to the point of restricting his movements. He was more or less back to normal.

He checked up on other aspects of his physical condition as he walked, but after about five minutes, his mind had begun drifting to other matters.

Someone was following him. He could sense someone about 20 or so feet behind him.

When he stopped to turn around, Komiya Ena waved at him, completely unashamed.

She wore a helmet with attached goggles, and was pushing a moped with her as she walked.

“Hey, don’t mind me at all. Besides, you’ve got somewhere to be, right, Izumi-senpai?”

She pretended to look considerate while completely beating Eita to the punch before he could complain at her.

So Eita, who had to pretend like he had somewhere to be, swallowed his complaints and just kept on walking.

Ena never came up to him or spoke again, but she wouldn’t leave him alone, either.

Just how far would she follow him? He started to feel uneasy.

“You want me to call the police or something?” He lost patience quickly, and shot the question at her without turning around.

“Lying is just a gateway to other, more serious crimes, you know.”

Ena’s fabulously annoying counter completely shut Eita down, and all he could do was keep walking with his back hunched.

His phone rang while he was waiting at a traffic light. It turned out to be Haruto, so Eita tapped the answer button. A change of mood was just what the doctor ordered.

“I don’t wanna hear any bragging from you,” Eita started. According to the LINE conversation he had witnessed earlier, Haruto had gone to meet up with Hazuki, who was walking her dog with Yoriko. A phone call either meant he had made tremendous progress, or…

“Yeah, try the opposite…” was all Haruto’s dejected voice managed to get out.

“The opposite?”

“You know how I’m bad with dogs, right?” The boy’s voice was completely drained and soulless.

“Well, you were jumping right into it according to the group chat, so I figured you must have gotten over that.”

“Yeah, I wish.” Haruto let out a deep sigh, betraying his great despair.

“You shouldn’t have gone, then.”

“But I wanted to see Morikawa…” Though there was a slight sulk in his tone, the boy was still being very honest. It was a little embarrassing to hear. “I can’t take this any more, man. I wanna die.”

“Oh, quit it.”

“But I screamed and fell on my butt in front of Morikawa! How could I have expected that dog to bark out of nowhere?”

“Alright, that’s actually pretty funny.” Eita had to hold back a chortle. From the pictures sent in the group chat earlier, Morikawa’s dog was just a beagle, and not even a particularly big one. It was pretty funny to think of the well-built, tall Haruto falling on his butt from just a little barking.

“Look here, man- Well, I guess Inui was getting a good laugh out of it, too.”

That made sense, given what Eita had seen of her. “What about Morikawa-san?”

“…I don’t think she was laughing.” Haruto spoke slowly, probably retracing his memories.

No doubt Hazuki had been scolding Yoriko for laughing with a very worried expression. That was the kind of vibe Eita got from her at the aquarium, at least.

“So maybe she doesn’t mind all that much, then.”

“But if she has a dog, then there’s no way she’ll fall for a guy that hates dogs!”

“Well, I don’t know if that’s necessarily true.” One example came to mind of a girl who owned a dog that liked a guy who couldn’t stand dogs. He was pretty sure Natsume Mio owned a labrador retriever. “Look, if it bothers you that much, then why not get over your fear?”

“Y’know, I bet that’s it! You gotta help me out here, man!”

Eita had been half-joking, but Haruto’s response was entirely authentic.

“Even if I wanted to help, I don’t have a dog.”

The pedestrian light Eita had been waiting for flicked to walk, so Eita got ready to go. Before he could move, though, a voice from behind stopped him.

“If it’s a dog you need, then leave it to me.”

Eita looked over his shoulder to find Ena smiling proudly.

“What’s that? Is someone else there with you?” Haruto asked in the background.

“Gimme your LINE info, and I’ll help you.” The corners of Ena’s mouth lifted up in a triumphant smile. Eita wasn’t so sure what made her so confident, but she sure looked like she thought she won.

“Eita?”

“Sorry, man. I’ll call you right back.”

“What? Ah, fine.”

Eita hung up the phone following Haruto’s confused but forced compliance. He turned back to Ena, who was fiddling with her phone.

“I’m not letting you enter that photo in the contest,” he remarked, holding up his phone’s LINE QR code towards Ena.

“It’s fine, I’ll get around to that later.” Ena put up her moped’s kickstand, walking over with a skip in her step. She moved her phone around, probably scanning his QR code.

Eita’s phone immediately responded with a buzz. He had received a message from a user with the registered name, “Ena”. It was a stamp with a cat holding its paws towards the front, saying Nice to Meetcha!

“You’re so nice, Izumi-senpai. I like that about you. Giving me your LINE info just to help Souma-senpai.”

“Wouldn’t say I’m too fond of you. Especially the way you can just say things like that.” Eita spoke frankly as he typed a brief response on LINE. Something about Ena’s openness was drawing him in just a bit. He normally wouldn’t be so up front with a person he had just met. Or even someone he had met several times before.

“Well, I’ve got dog work to do, so I’m outta here. Bye-bye!” Ena sat down in her moped, started the engine, and off she went.

Eita watched her go, thinking about what she had said to him.

Ena claimed he had acted for Haruto’s sake, but was that really true?

Haruto wanted to get over his fear of dogs as a stepping stone to getting closer with Hazuki. What would Mio think if their relationship actually moved forward? Was helping Haruto really something Eita was doing for Haruto when he knew how Mio felt?

“…”

But why was he worried about that in the first place? He wasn’t even completely sure where his own feelings lay. Well actually, he was, he just refused to acknowledge them.

It had already been a few days. Plenty of time to think through it all, and plenty of opportunities to see reality for what it was.

When he met her again for the first time at school. When he saw her profile, looking just as sad as she used to. When they exchanged LINE information. When he opened the photo that had her in it. When she messaged him for the first time.

When she had called him out, he didn’t just show up because he had nothing better to do.

So what was the reason? Why would he do that?

It was an easy enough question. Eita already knew the answer.

It was because she was Natsume Mio.

He didn’t have to check the answer key.

End of Chapter 2