2

Mio carefully set down her mug that the café had filled with her requested cafe latte, then sat herself down. Across from her, Morikawa Hazuki was watching apologetically. “I’m sorry for the sudden request.”

“It’s okay. I have cram school after this anyway… I’d have to be at the station eventually.”

After the school’s opening ceremony and homeroom session, Mio and Hazuki had left class separately, meeting up again at the Tully’s coffee shop on the second floor of the fashion store complex near Fujisawa Station.

Just prior, Hazuki had sent her a LINE message. I’d like to consult you about something. Do you mind?

It was just before noon, but the café was moderately busy with a diverse clientele. A businessman dressed in a suit sat at the table next to them, typing away at something on his laptop. Beside them were two women who looked around college age, comparing their phone screens and making travel plans. The window seat nearby held a group of middle-aged women excitedly trading celebrity gossip.

A quick glance didn’t show any familiar faces or students in the same school uniform.

“I wanted to consult you about, um… what happened on New Year’s Eve.” Hazuki glanced up from her mug, and her eyes were looking at Mio, but she seemed like she was miles away.

“If I had to guess… Souma went and told you how he feels.” Mio couldn’t even make it halfway through her sentence before her eyes shot down to her mug. She didn’t have the courage to face Hazuki’s honesty head-on. Mio took a sip of her warm cafe latte, trying to calm down.

“You all knew, right? That’s what Yoriko told me afterwards…”

“I’m sorry. It was my idea to leave the two of you alone.” Mio’s nervousness was making her voice smaller and smaller.

“It’s okay.” Hazuki shook her head, evidently unbothered.

“But… um, I’m assuming you turned him down?” Despite her best efforts to calm down, the best Mio could manage was a timid upwards glance at Hazuki.

“Yes.”

Hazuki’s brief reply did nothing to share how she really felt.

“…”

“…”

Mio and Hazuki both took sips from their mugs to try and fill the awkward silence.

“I’d never been in that situation before,” Hazuki shared quietly, holding her mug in both hands. It was like she was trying to put her feelings into words on the fly. “I was so shocked that… I just spat out the first thing I could think…” She searched for the right words, trying to put everything together. “But I think that was wrong of me. I should have thought it all through, and put real effort into my reply.”

Hazuki looked up from the table when she finished. There was a faint but clear purpose in her fixed gaze, and Mio finally felt like she understood what Hazuki was trying to say.

“In that case… if he asked you right now, would you give him a different answer?”

Hazuki didn’t answer immediately, instead lowering her eyes, appearing to gather her thoughts. Evidently, she was putting what she had just said into practice.

About ten seconds later, she quietly answered, “I think… I’d give the same response. Oh, but it’s not to say that I dislike Souma-kun, or don’t want to be around him, or anything like that.”

“Right.”

“It’s just, I’ve basically never talked to Souma-kun until very recently. There’s so much I still don’t know about him… I just don’t think I can see him the way he sees me.”

It was obvious that Hazuki was carefully constructing her words. Rather than being afraid of failure, she was doing everything she could to face her situation head-on. Mio could see how sincere she was in that moment.

“And then there’s the fact that after graduation, I got a recommendation to an all-women’s college way out in Hyougo… so is it really okay?”

Mio thought it was okay. Everything about it. In fact, it was like Hazuki was shining a dazzling spotlight on how Mio had failed to get anywhere in the last several years.

“Sounds like Souma’s really on your mind.” Mio ended up talking before she had fully decided on being critical or supportive.

“Huh?” Hazuki looked surprised, like she had never noticed. “…Yeah. I guess you’re right. I haven’t been able to get Souma-kun out of my head ever since New Year’s.”

Hazuki was just expressing her honest feelings, but something about it made Mio’s own heart skip a beat. At first, the reaction didn’t make any sense. Mio thought back to what had happened to her recently to try and understand it.

Who had been stuck in her own head?

There were a few people she could think of. Definitely not many.

In fact, narrowing it down to one person would have been easy… so she stopped halfway through the thought experiment. She felt shaken, and it got a little harder to breathe.

“Gosh, it’s really embarrassing to say this kinda stuff,” Hazuki admitted with a shy smile. She hid her mouth by taking a drink, perhaps realizing she’d said too much.

Mio had never talked with Hazuki alone before. It was her first time spending any personal time with Hazuki in general. But even in that short time, it was easy to see many reasons for someone to choose Hazuki. If anything, Mio had to appreciate Haruto’s eye for character. Hazuki wasn’t a standout character in class, and if any boys were asked about the cutest girls in class, they would probably say Mayuko or Momoka. In fact, some might even say Mio, but Souma Haruto would probably be the sole boy to name Hazuki.

She was the kind of girl that wouldn’t be noticed unless someone was looking closely. Haruto would have only fallen for Hazuki after taking a good, careful look.

“…Why not tell all this to Souma?” The words were spilling out of Mio’s mouth before she even knew what she wanted to say.

“…Hm?”

“Say that you gave it some thought, and wanted to offer another answer.” Only after saying it did Mio realize it was exactly the words she had been looking for.

“That’s…”

“I think Souma would be very open to that.”

“…You think Souma-kun would be willing to hear me out?”

“Well, I can’t make any guarantees…”

Mio wasn’t Souma, so she couldn’t speak for him. Not to mention if Hazuki were to give it real thought only to turn him down again, it might really crush his spirit. But since Hazuki wanted the chance to think it over seriously, it didn’t seem like a bad idea.

The part that was most confusing to Mio was why she was willingly getting herself involved.

“I guess you’re right. Thank you, Natsume-san. I’m gonna give it my best shot.” Hazuki smiled, a tinge of embarrassment still peeking through her expression.

They left the café shortly thereafter, going their separate ways at the station’s ticket gate. Hazuki entered the Odakyu-Enoshima line so she could take the train back to Zengyou station two stops away.

Alone once more, Mio thought about what Hazuki had said to her as she walked towards the north exit of the station, headed towards her cram school.

“Give it your best shot, huh?”

Hazuki was positive in attitude, but lacking in confidence. That, Mio could understand perfectly.

As she remembered what she had just witnessed, she mumbled to herself, “I guess I better give my best shot, too.”