2

“Bath’s free, Onee-chan,” Mio called towards her sister’s room.

The door immediately opened, and Mina poked out into the hallway. “Oh, that’s right. I saw Eita-kun on the way home.”

Mina had clearly been waiting to say that, and the second she saw Mio, she brought it up. Mio didn’t like that she was clearly trying to imply something.

“You didn’t say anything unnecessary, did you?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

Mina was definitely up to something, and Mio didn’t trust her for a second. “Are you sure?”

“I did hear that Eita has a university lined up. Joei, specifically.”

Mina put a heck of a lot of stress on pronouncing the name of the university. Of course she did. Mio knew exactly what she was trying to do. She wanted to really just say her piece since the cat was out of the bag, but felt like arguing would only prove Mina’s point.

So Mio just said, “It’s not what you think,” and went back to her room, slamming the door.

The exam was tomorrow, so Mio sat down at her desk for one final review, but she noticed the notification light blinking on her phone. A LINE notification. She turned on the screen, finding a message put in the group chat.

They had started discussing the weather for tomorrow, since Mio had to get to her entrance exam. Hazuki commented I hope it’s sunny, whereas Haruto chimed in Looks like it’s gonna snow tonight. Yoriko brushed it off with Snowing at night’s not the problem. But then the conversation kinda derailed, and Haruto ended up suggesting that they all have a snowball fight if it really did snow.

I like that idea! Snowball fight! Mio wanted to have as much fun as possible once her exams were over, so she put her response in right away.

Everyone was getting fired up and on board, until Eita said But it’ll be cold and everyone started making fun of him like the old man he was.

So Haruto kept the conversation going, completely ignoring Eita. They set in stone that they’d have a snowball fight in two days. Celebrating the end of entrance exams was their pretense to go goof off, but Mio didn’t really care. She was glad she could have that kind of casual conversation the day before exams. She hadn’t even noticed her nervousness melting away.

Go get ‘em! Haruto cheered.

Give it your best! Hazuki encouraged.

You’ll be alright! Yoriko comforted.

But no matter how long Mio waited, there was one person who stayed silent.

“You’re supposed to say something,” Mio complained to Eita’s profile picture. A moment later, a stamp saying I’ll do my best! came in. From Eita.

“I’m supposed to say that.”

Everyone in the group started calling Eita out on the weird response.

Mio looked out her window. Her house was on top of a hill, providing a wide view of the entire city. It was 10 PM, and lights were on in all sorts of places, illuminating the lives within them. Mio found herself watching one particular cluster of lights. The big condo complex where Eita lived. All sorts of windows were lit up, and one of them might have been Izumi Eita’s room.

Was he watching his own phone? Maybe hoping to see a reply? What did he think when read notifications popped up on his own messages?

Mio looked back at her phone, sending her own I’ll do my best! stamp that had a rabbit character she always used. It was immediately read by everyone, but nobody responded.

Mio opened her English textbook, ready to do one final review. Just then, she wanted something sweet. She reached for a small box on her desk, opening it up to reveal four bite-sized chocolates. She picked one up and tossed it into her mouth. They were supposed to be Valentine’s chocolates, but even though she bought them, she didn’t give them to anyone.

She would tell him when she passed. About everything.