Relationships between girls were always so strange and intimate.
If boys went to the bathroom together, it was only to smoke or get into a fight. Girls were different. Even without any particular reason, they still wanted to go together, all close and affectionate.
When Yui came out of the bathroom, she saw Junko Kamizawa waiting outside. Junko leaned against the railing with one hand, scrolling quickly through something on her phone with the other, a smile lingering on her lips.
Yui hurried over to the sink. "Just a moment, Junko. I'll be right there."
Of the three of them, Junko was actually the one Yui found hardest to deal with.
Junko was always smiling, and she smiled more often than she spoke. Though Yui was good at reading the room and picking up on people's moods, she actually hated having to guess what others were thinking.
"Yui."
Junko suddenly spoke from behind her.
Yui's voice remained cheerful. "What is it, Junko?"
Junko sighed. "Yumiko keeps insisting it isn't true, but she really does seem to treat Yukino differently from everyone else... I'm a little worried that romance idiot will mess everything up."
Junko had known Miura for over a decade. How could she not know that, for all her strength and reliability, Miura was utterly helpless whenever romance came up?
Yui's hands paused for a moment, then she smiled. "Weren't you and the others the ones egging Yumiko on, Junko? If you keep planting that idea in her head, she'll eventually think she's fallen for Yukino."
Junko's voice was low. With her back turned, Yui couldn't see the expression on her face.
"Yui, do you really think Yumiko's just talking herself into it?"
"...Huh?"
"When Yukino first transferred into our class, everyone was looking at her. You probably didn't see how Yumiko looked then."
Back then, the black-haired girl had followed Teacher Hiratsuka into the classroom, her skin as white as snow and her lips as red as cherry blossoms. She was as beautiful as a snow spirit from a fairy tale.
Yumiko herself probably hadn't noticed that, in that instant, her soul had already crossed the distance ahead of her body, leaving behind the gossip and prejudice of the past.
When their eyes met, it was as if a galaxy of stars had lit up in the blonde girl's eyes.
Yumiko had searched online last night for a bunch of answers to "how to get along better with a friend," but most of them were useless.
With no other options, the next day she could only grit her teeth and face the teasing and mockery of her best friends.
She took out her phone and quickly opened the group chat with her two best friends.
Yumiko Miura: [Junko, Kaho, help me figure this out! How can I get closer to Yukino?]
Relationships between girls were always complicated. There was an old joke about six girls having forty-two group chats. Miura and the others weren't quite that bad; they only had two.
One was a group chat with Miura, Kamizawa, and Ono, and the other was a four-person chat that included Yui Yuigahama.
The reason they had two chats had nothing to do with girls scheming against each other.
Yui Yuigahama was a very kind and wonderful friend, while Onozawa Kaho, Junko Kamizawa, and Yumiko Miura had been close friends since kindergarten.
But forcing Yui into a group chat the three of them were already used to having would only make her feel out of place.
So they might as well make a new group.
Kamizawa: [So what happened this time??_?]
Ono: [Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk]
Junko and Kaho were so annoying!
She knew they'd make fun of her!
Miura angrily weathered that wave of teasing.
[Just give me some advice already.]
[Other than me, Yukino doesn't seem interested in getting close to anyone]
[Won't she get lonelier and lonelier like that?]
This time, Miura really wasn't being conceited. It was simply a fact.
Ever since Yukino had gone back to black hair, she had grown increasingly aloof. Her reputation in Japan had always been poor, and though it had improved somewhat recently, her solitary, worldly-detached air meant that hardly anyone dared to cross the boundary and approach this iceberg.
If she counted carefully, in all of Sobu High School, Yukino was only slightly more amiable when she was with Miura.
Though Miura was smug and embarrassed about it, she still wanted to do something more for Yukino.
Maybe she could show Yukino the world beyond the one she had shut herself away in, beyond the walls she had built around herself. She had suffered too much cruelty and bullying, but there might be a little kindness and goodwill out there, too.
Junko Kamizawa: [You're suddenly asking how to get along better with a friend. I don't even know what to say. After all, we've been close with Yumiko since kindergarten.]
Onozawa Kaho: [Go to the aquarium. You absolutely have to go to the aquarium (●°u°●)"]
Yumiko Miura: [Why?]
Onozawa Kaho: [Last month's magazine poll said the best date spot for yuri couples is the aquarium | ?o?ωo)???]
Yumiko Miura: [...Kaho, you're so annoying!]
Junko Kamizawa: [Ahem. The zoo, an amusement park, or shopping would all work, too. The secret to getting closer is making happy memories together, right~]
Miura thought Junko made a lot of sense.
Even though Yukino sat right beside her, with only an aisle between them, Miura still found herself getting shy about this.
Wait, wasn't Yukino the one who had a crush on me? Shouldn't she be the one figuring out how to get closer to me?
But then again, with Yukino's awkward and aloof personality, counting on her to take the initiative and get closer was less reliable than doing it herself.
Miura angrily took out her phone and opened Yukino's Line contact. She'd agonized over it all day, and only sent the message when Yukino was about to pack up and leave after school.
[Yukinoshita, if you're free tomorrow, since it's the weekend, want to go check out the aquarium together?]
[Um, don't get the wrong idea! I have a club research project about this kind of thing...]
Yukino glanced at her phone in confusion. She didn't quite understand the point of sending a Line message when they were less than two meters apart, nor what there was to misunderstand about going to an aquarium.
Yukino: [I have extra lessons tomorrow.]
Miura: [QAQ]
Yukino: [...Never mind. I'll talk to my tutor and postpone tomorrow's lesson.]
She slung her bag over her shoulder and waved at Miura behind her. "See you tomorrow, Miura."
Miura stood there stunned for a moment, then happily clenched her right fist and thrust it into the air. She was so excited that she even turned around and grabbed Onozawa Kaho's cheeks.
"Kaho, did you hear that? Yukino, the study freak, is even putting off her extra lessons to go on a date with me!"
"Ahem, you saw it too, right? Yukino was the one who asked me out!"
"I couldn't refuse. I had no choice but to go along!"
Junko Kamizawa: "..."
She sighed.
That silly girl.
She really was a handful.
After school that day, Hachiman walked toward the Third Floor Service Club with his schoolbag on his back.
When he opened the door, he froze. "...Yui Yuigahama?"
The girl with pink hair, resting her chin on one hand as she gazed out at the evening clouds, was Yui Yuigahama.
The Service Club wasn't the Going Home Club, after all. To take requests, Hachiman spent half an hour to an hour every day in this empty clubroom.
He set his bag down on another desk and sat, then looked at Yui. "Is there a request you want to give the Service Club to pass along or take care of for you?"
Hachiman Hikigaya had founded the Service Club in his first year of high school. Teacher Hiratsuka had probably finally had enough of this lazy, aimless guy with nothing to do, so she'd dragged him into starting the club.
The name Service Club sounded a little suggestive, but its ideals were actually quite noble. The club's activities involved offering a helping hand to people in trouble and accepting all kinds of requests from students at the school. Once they accepted a request, they had to see it through.
Teacher Hiratsuka hoped it would give Hachiman something to do, give him a goal in life, or perhaps help him escape the self-imposed prison he'd built around his life by helping other people.
Hachiman had heard that Teacher Hiratsuka had originally wanted Yukino, that problem child, to start the Service Club, but she'd turned her down quite firmly.
"Sorry, my schedule for romance and life planning has no spare time for a club."
And so Hachiman had been drafted by Teacher Hiratsuka instead.
A one-person club—and it was a miracle it hadn't been shut down for violating the rules.
The pink-haired girl turned around, still wearing the smile she usually had on her face. "I just wanted to find somewhere empty to spend some time."
Her voice sounded muffled, as if her smile were forced. "So let me rest here for a little while, Hikigaya."
"Just take pity on your former 'love rival,' okay? Haha~"
Saturday, Earth Day in Japan.
They'd agreed to meet at eight, but Miura had barely slept the night before. At four in the morning, she'd leapt out of bed, wide awake.
She put on a face mask, curled her hair, and picked out an outfit, then spent ages doing her makeup. She also took a photo of the outfit she'd chosen and sent it to her best-friends group chat.
Ono replied quickly. [...Yumiko, you're dressed way too fancy for this.]
Kamizawa was just as quick with her sharp-tongued reply. [Are you going shopping, or getting married to Yukinoshita???]
Yeah, right!
This was the first real date of her life. What was wrong with putting in a little extra effort?
Although, maybe this really wasn't quite right...
Miura scratched her head and changed into something a little more casual.
Finally, after making sure she looked absolutely radiant and flawless, she took the train to the meeting place she'd agreed on with Yukino.
The passengers on the train and the people who passed Miura on the way all took a second look at her, men and women alike. Quite a few even tried to strike up a conversation.
Miura was already used to people looking at her admiringly, but today she held her head high, smug as a proud swan heading into battle.
Today, she was going to leave Yukino stunned.
But when she reached the destination, Miura was the one who was stunned at first sight.
The black-haired girl stood outside the shopping mall, calmly looking at her phone, apparently waiting for someone.
Her everyday clothes weren't particularly fancy. She wore a white long-sleeved shirt under a light beige sleeveless knitted vest, with an ordinary gray pleated skirt that ended just above the knee. It was a simple, typical schoolgirl look.
She didn't even seem to have put on much makeup. Up close, her fair, smooth skin was so flawless that not a pore could be seen.
But she stood there, and the light was there with her.
It was as if a hazy yet bright halo gently surrounded her, making her look so striking, so lovely.
Though she stood amid the crowd, she seemed to be in a brilliant, lonely sea of stars, cut off from everyone else.
Miura felt as if she'd returned to the day Yukino transferred into Class 2-F, when she'd looked up and met her eyes across the room.
Even knowing everything about Yukino's past, Miura couldn't help being captivated by her at first sight.
"Miura?"
The source of light standing in that isolated sea of stars greeted her in confusion, then walked over.
For a moment, Miura even had the illusion that the world had turned into a deep sea, its currents starting to flow again, and that the ray of light had crossed her dark, profound depths and swum into her world.
"What are you spacing out for?"
Yukino waved a hand in front of Miura, then glanced at her own clothes, looking a little uneasy. "...Do I look strange dressed like this?"
At school she wore her uniform, and at home she wore loungewear. She hadn't had many chances to wear ordinary clothes for going out.
After all, she hadn't had anyone to go shopping with since she was little.
"You don't look strange. You look absolutely, positively gorgeous!"
Miura immediately gave her a thumbs-up and praised her sincerely!
The clothes themselves were ordinary, but on Yukino, they seemed to become far more expensive and exceptionally elegant.
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