The two of them sat in the woods for quite a while.
Himeno Yuki hugged her knees and tilted her head back to gaze at the moon with a sliver missing. After watching it for a long time, she suddenly spoke.
"Tomorrow's get-together..."
She stopped halfway through and turned to look at Kazehara Tetsu.
Kazehara Tetsu blinked, taken aback by her gaze.
"What about tomorrow's get-together?"
"Tomorrow's get-together... you're coming too, Kagihara."
Kazehara Tetsu blinked, wondering if he had misheard. "Wait, when did I agree to that?"
"You haven't."
"Then what are you..."
"That's why I'm asking now."
Himeno Yuki hugged her knees, resting her chin on them as she looked at him. Her voice was level, but there was a firmness to it that left no room for refusal. "Come to the get-together with me tomorrow."
Kazehara Tetsu stared at her for two seconds before it suddenly clicked, leaving him unsure whether to laugh or cry.
"No, hold on. It's your class get-together. What would I be doing tagging along when I'm from another class? Besides, you never mentioned a word of this before. We sit under the moon for a few minutes, and suddenly you tell me to join you?"
"I know it's sudden," Himeno Yuki said.
"Then why are you..."
"But you owe me, Kagihara."
She raised her head, her eyes fixed clearly on him in the moonlight.
"That awful thing you did before, without any warning, exposing the words I'd kept hidden in front of the whole class in the very way I least wanted... that hurt me deeply."
Her voice stayed level as she spoke, but she enunciated the words "hurt me deeply" with particular clarity.
"..."
Kazehara Tetsu opened his mouth, but for a moment, he had nothing to say.
"That's downright nasty."
Only