The Fourth Class Is Modern Chinese (Continued)

I went over the relevant details with the staff one by one and asked a few questions while I was at it, which took quite a bit of time.

By the time I left the cram school, the sun was almost setting.

Crap, if I didn't hurry, I'd keep her waiting too long...

We were taking different trial classes. Considering we'd both have various questions about the cram school after class, there was no way we'd leave at the same time. Naturally, we'd arranged to meet somewhere... Though our conversation at the time had felt like we were awkwardly probing whether we should set up a meeting place.

Anyway, we'd agreed to meet at a café near the station.

I jogged toward our destination.

At dusk, the café lowered its blinds to block out the setting sun, making it impossible to see inside from the street.

But I had a feeling she'd be waiting in the innermost seat, reading.

When I stepped inside, just as I'd expected, I found Yukino quietly turning the pages of a paperback in the farthest corner.

The indirect lighting, combined with the sunset filtering through the blinds, gave her figure a hazy quality, like a painting.

The girl named Yukino Yukinoshita was beautiful enough to be a picture simply by sitting there and reading.

(Illustration 012)

I'd seen a similar scene before.

But there was one enormous difference.

The corners of her lips were slightly raised, and her gentle eyes moved across the words.

The sense of distance that had once made me worry that stepping into that space might ruin the scene was gone.

I quickly ordered a coffee at the counter and headed for her table.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

When I called out to her, Yukino immediately looked up from across