The So-Called Everyday

Satou Yunona was fifteen years old this year and a first-year student in the high school division of Senba Academy.

She had been feeling somewhat down lately.

The police told the public that Asakura Miyuki had been shot and killed on the spot because she resisted arrest and tried to continue killing people.

She remembered that girl. The first time she heard of her was when she learned that Asakura Miyuki had been violated by someone at her previous academy.

She was a beautiful girl, with crow-black hair cascading down like a waterfall, eyes as dark as the night sky, and skin as pure and fair as snow. Her elegant, quiet nature, dignified and proper manners, and outstanding grades made her seem like the ideal girl in every girl's heart. Asakura Miyuki was exactly that kind of person.

So when she was trampled into the mud, it seemed as though no one minded coming over to step on her.

But in Satou Yunona's eyes, Asakura Miyuki had never been some unreachable existence. To her, she was merely an ordinary girl who was a little prettier than most, with a pure and shy smile.

Why should a girl like that, after suffering such a thing, bear the unreasonable malice of others for no reason?

Satou Yunona's values and heart would never allow her to drift with the current just because the atmosphere had changed. She was a person with a sense of justice and courage.

So she had voiced her feelings without hesitation.

Why? Why should the person who had been hurt be subjected to such pointing fingers and treated so cruelly?

There was no reason for it. This definitely wasn't what people called right.

Even if she had only come to understand a little of the malice that person had faced, Satou Yunona's world had lost its original black-and-white clarity.

For the first time, she understood that human malice could be so pure and immense. By refusing to follow the crowd, Satou Yunona had also fallen into an invisible isolation. Friends who had once been somewhat close and with whom she could discuss interesting things gradually distanced themselves from her.

But it didn't matter. If they would abandon her over something like that, then their feelings had only ever gone that far.

Satou Yunona reached that judgment. Although she felt somewhat lonely, she didn't feel regret.

It was during this period that she spotted an ignored café near the academy. Satou Yunona entered on a whim, as if possessed. Perhaps she needed that tranquility.

"Wow, your mocha doesn't have chocolate syrup in it?" The girl sounded surprised, her eyes widening slightly as her pale lips, the color of April cherry blossoms, curved into a delighted smile.

"Mm." The boy was only a few years older than her at most. His indifferent expression gave his handsome face a cool, aloof air.

"It has Yemen coffee beans in it. You'll definitely lose money at this price, won't you?" The girl looked at the prices on the menu and grumbled.

"...As long as you like it." The boy's expression wasn't as indifferent as before. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but Satou Yunona seemed to see a trace of happiness on his face.

This café owner is surprisingly easy to understand.

"I've passed by here so many times, but this is the only time your café has been open. When do you usually open?" The girl twirled a strand of her long hair around her finger as she asked.

"When I'm in the mood." The boy wiped down the counter as he answered casually.

"What do you mean, 'when you're in the mood'?! What am I supposed to do if I want coffee?" Shocked by such an outrageous answer, the girl couldn't help letting out an exasperated cry.

Hearing that, the boy held his phone out to the girl.

"What for?" The girl, who hadn't yet understood, looked a little adorably blank.

"Add my email yourself. Message me when you want coffee." The boy didn't seem used to socializing, and his words were concise.

"That feels a little embarrassing." As she said this, the girl added his contact information without the slightest hesitation.

"By the way, I haven't asked your name yet." The girl waved her phone and pointed at the space for a contact name.

"...Su Qing'an."

"Oh, are you from Shenzhou? My name is Satou Yunona. I'm a first-year student at Senba Academy. I'll be coming to bother you to make coffee for me without hesitation from now on, so please take care of me." Compared with the boy, the girl's reply was lively, straightforward, and adorably cheerful.

After that, Satou Yunona and Su Qing'an became friends.

The café had only one regular customer, and even she was a rare sight—Satou Yunona. But the boy didn't mind in the slightest. To him, opening the café seemed to be merely one way of living, not an indispensable part of life.

In Satou Yunona's eyes, Su Qing'an was somewhat withdrawn. At first, whenever she spoke to him, he would only respond passively. It was only after they became familiar that he began taking the initiative to talk to her.

If Satou Yunona hadn't been a cute chatterbox who wasn't afraid of awkward silences, ordinary people would have found it completely impossible to get along with him.

But Satou Yunona knew that although the boy didn't like talking, he listened very attentively whenever she spoke. For example, she might casually mention what kind of coffee she liked, and afterward, the coffee she drank would be perfectly adjusted to suit the flavor she had described.

So she felt that the boy was sensitive and gentle. For instance, there was always a bowl of cat food outside the café that was regularly refilled.

But at the same time, he was lonely.

His way of life had become completely fixed. Satou Yunona seemed able to see him living that same lonely life until he was eighty years old.

Recently, however, Su Qing'an seemed to have changed. The café opened more often, and he had even hired a foreign beauty as a waitress.

Yet a woman's sensitive intuition told Satou Yunona that he was actually lonelier than before. It was as if a transparent pane of glass separated him from the world, while he remained tense every moment, as though he were walking a tightrope and would plunge into an abyss if he wasn't careful.

It was an understanding that couldn't be put into words. His words and actions had barely changed, yet she could somehow feel it.

Only when the boy casually petted the stray cats that came to eat the cat food outside could she see a truly relaxed expression cross his face for a moment.

She understood that it must be some indescribable emotion or matter. The only thing Satou Yunona could do was visit him more often and keep him company a little longer.

But Satou Yunona believed that one day, that boy would no longer wear such a lost expression.

She treasured this ordinary, uneventful daily life all the more.

Her mother had once said that nothing lasted forever.

Perhaps even these plain days would become something to miss in her memories, making her heart soften despite herself.

"Yuno, get up! Do you know what time it is? You'll be late."

"Ah! I'm getting up!"

Even on days like this, when her mother mildly scolded her for sleeping in and nearly being late for school, Satou Yunona still felt happy.

If only the future could always be like this. Biting into a piece of bread as she jogged toward the academy, Satou Yunona thought this, her footsteps light.