Friday night.
Uesugi Hara lay on his back, fingertips sliding across the screen. The message Karuizawa Kei had just sent said that Kushida had asked Ayanokouji to arrange an introduction so she could befriend Horikita. They'd settled on Palette Café for three o'clock Saturday afternoon.
He stared at the message for a few seconds, then tapped out, "Keep it up," and sent it. Afterward, he held down the chat and promptly deleted the entire conversation.
"Finally, some decent intel," Uesugi Hara thought with a silent sigh. The earlier reports had either been trivial or entirely irrelevant. At last, this one had something worth paying attention to.
Before the Terminal screen went dark, he opened another chat. The recipient was Sakura Airi. He hesitated for a moment, then typed, "Are you free tomorrow? Want to go out together?"
For the next few minutes, the screen remained quiet. Just as Uesugi Hara was beginning to think she wouldn't reply, a new message appeared, its words plainly hesitant: "A...are you asking me?"
Uesugi Hara's fingers paused over the screen. Suddenly, he found Airi's timidness a little amusing. He typed back, "Who else? It's not like I'm asking a virtual character in a game."
Less than ten seconds after he sent the message, she replied with a string of ellipses, followed by an even more timid explanation: "B-but no one's ever asked me out before..."
"Well, someone has now," Uesugi Hara replied briskly. "Tomorrow at one in the afternoon. I'll wait for you at the entrance to the Commercial District. If you're late, I'll print out your photo portraits and plaster them all over my room, so the first thing I see every morning will be cute Airi."
The silence on the other end lasted even longer, so long that Uesugi Hara wondered if she'd thrown her Terminal away.
He was about to send another message when the screen finally lit up. "I-I won't be late! So... see you tomorrow?" A cute little emoticon followed, as if she'd had to work up the courage to add it.
Uesugi Hara's lips curled into a faint smile. He didn't reply, instead scrolling through their old messages, most of which were about Airi.
Uesugi Hara clicked his tongue, tossed his Terminal aside, and got up. Only when the cold shower ran over his head did he finally calm down a little. Water streamed along his jaw as he stared blankly at the trails it left on the tiles. He'd actually gotten all worked up just from reading a few messages.
An hour later, Uesugi Hara returned to bed and picked up his Terminal for a look. Sakura hadn't sent anything else, so he turned the device off.
Moonlight spilled across the bedside table. He blinked up at the ceiling. Three o'clock at Palette Café and one o'clock at the Commercial District entrance—it was almost as if he'd split the whole day in two.
At half past twelve on Saturday afternoon, the automatic doors at the Commercial District entrance slid open. Uesugi Hara immediately spotted Sakura Airi standing beside the fountain, clutching the straps of her canvas bag.
She wore a light blue dress, and her hair looked fluffier than usual. She'd probably secretly curled it with a curling iron before leaving, though a stray lock behind her ear had escaped her notice. She looked like a little animal peeking out of its den, wanting to hide yet unable to resist its curiosity.
She looked lovely, but she was still wearing her beauty-sealing glasses, ruining the whole look.
"You're half an hour early. And you're not allowed to wear those while you're with me today." Uesugi Hara walked over, removed the glasses that sealed away her beauty, and slipped them into his pocket.
Startled, Airi shrank half a step behind the fountain. She didn't dare object to what he'd done. The cat charm hanging from her canvas bag swung back and forth. "I see you really are afraid I'll plaster your room with your photo portraits."
Without her glasses, Airi looked especially shy.
"N-no, that's not it!" She waved her hands hurriedly, though her fingers twisted the bag strap without her noticing. "The Commercial District is really far away. I just left early."
Uesugi Hara glanced at her reddening ear tips but didn't call out her lie.
"You haven't eaten yet, have you?" he asked suddenly, his eyes falling on the canvas bag she was clutching a little tighter. It didn't look like it held a lunchbox.
Airi really did freeze for a moment, her fingers instinctively pressing down on the bottom of the bag. "I-I had some bread before I left..."
"Bread doesn't count as a proper meal." Uesugi Hara turned and headed into the Commercial District, giving her no chance to argue. "There's a place over there that serves omelet rice. The sauce is ten times better than the school cafeteria's. If we dawdle any longer, we won't even get a window seat."
Airi hurried after him, her white sneakers tapping softly against the marble floor. "B-but won't that be too much trouble for you? Besides, I still have some points. I can pay for myself..."
"Do your points even cover half a serving of omelet rice?" Uesugi Hara glanced at her, just in time to see her fingers freeze on the zipper of her canvas bag. Her ears had turned so red they looked ready to bleed. "Or do you want me to watch you chew on dry bread later?"
She shook her head at once, her ponytail swishing behind her. "N-no, that's not it!"
The restaurant area was past its lunchtime rush, so there weren't many people around. Uesugi Hara went straight to the omelet rice counter, ordered two of the set meals, then turned to Airi. "What do you want to drink? Coke or orange juice?"
Airi stared at the menu behind the counter. Her voice was so soft it was like a mosquito's buzz. "C-cold water is fine..."
"Orange juice," Uesugi Hara decided for her, then turned to the server and added, "No ice."
While they waited for their food, Airi sat by the window, repeatedly rubbing the cat charm on her canvas bag. Uesugi Hara noticed that the tabletop in front of her had been wiped exceptionally clean, without even a water stain. She was probably afraid of making it dirty.
When the omelet rice arrived, golden egg wrapped around the rice, and the sauce formed a half-moon curve across the plate. Airi's fingers trembled a little around her spoon. As she dug in for her first bite, she nearly splashed sauce onto her dress and hurriedly wiped at it with a napkin.
"Take your time." Uesugi Hara pushed the orange juice toward her. "No one's going to steal it."
She murmured, "Mm," and chewed in small bites, but couldn't help sneaking glances at him. Sunlight fell through the window onto the ends of her hair, making the stray lock she'd missed shine as if it had been dusted with gold.
Halfway through her meal, Airi suddenly stopped eating and asked quietly, "H-Hara-kun... why did you suddenly ask me out?"
Uesugi Hara was scooping up a spoonful of omelet rice. He paused at her question. "Because I always see you hiding in the corner like a stray cat no one looks after."
Airi's spoon clinked against her plate. She protested softly, "I-I'm not a stray cat..."
"Oh?" Uesugi Hara raised an eyebrow. "Then you're a precious little cat your owner keeps hidden away."
As soon as he said it, Airi's ears turned bright red, and a faint pink spread across her cheeks. She lowered her head and hurriedly shoveled in a mouthful of rice, not even noticing the sauce at the corner of her mouth.
Watching her like this, Uesugi Hara suddenly felt that he'd made the right choice. At least now, the little animal who was always curled up in her den finally had a bit of life in her eyes.
After paying the bill, Airi was still bent over, wiping sauce from the edge of her plate with a napkin, as if she wanted to erase every last trace. Uesugi Hara picked up her canvas bag and handed it to her. "Let's go. I'm taking you somewhere."
Airi looked up at him, bewildered. "W-where are we going?"
"You'll see when we get there." Uesugi Hara didn't say more. When she followed, he slowed his pace. Without her glasses, she kept staring at the ground, as if afraid she might trip, though the real reason was that she didn't dare meet anyone else's eyes. Her white sneakers scuffed softly against the tiles.
When they reached the appliances section, they heard a salesperson calling out promotions as soon as they entered.
Uesugi Hara headed into a high-end-looking appliance store and went straight to the camera counter. Various models were displayed inside the glass case. One pink camera was lit up, its screen showing a blurred cherry blossom background.
"I'll take this one." He pointed at the camera. When he turned around, he found Airi staring blankly at the display model, eyes wide and fingertips almost touching the glass.
"T-this is..." Airi snapped out of it, her cheeks instantly flushing. "H-Hara-kun, you're not going to..."
"When we first met, I saw how much you liked this camera. You were completely absorbed in it." Uesugi Hara took the box containing a new one from the store clerk, broke the seal, and took the camera out. After trying the buttons, he placed it in her hands. "I figured you didn't have enough points to buy a camera, so here. It'll be easier for you to take pictures with your own."
The camera was light, yet Airi's arms trembled as she held it. She gripped its strap so tightly her knuckles turned white. "I-it's too expensive! I can't accept it..."
"It's mine now. I'm just letting you hold it." Uesugi Hara closed the box and stuffed it into her canvas bag. He stopped halfway through zipping it up—the bag was too small, and one corner of the camera box stuck out like a tail she hadn't quite managed to hide. He simply took the bag and slung it over his own shoulder. "Just hold on to your precious cat charm."
Airi watched the canvas bag swing from his shoulder, then lowered her gaze to the camera in her hands. Suddenly, her eyes welled up.
She wasn't crying, but tears brimmed in her eyes. She bit her lip to keep them from falling, like a little cat who'd suddenly been given a dried fish and was too moved to know what to do.
"If you cry, I'll take the camera back. If you're grateful, take lots of pretty photos for me." Uesugi Hara flicked her forehead, though he didn't actually hit her hard. "I've got something to do this afternoon, so I'll walk you back first."
Airi sniffed and hugged the camera tightly to her chest. As she walked, she was so careful that you'd think she was afraid of breaking it.
Passing the mirror beside the escalator, she stole a glance at her reflection. Back in her glasses, her face looked a little plain and didn't quite match the rest of her outfit, but she could clearly see that the corners of her mouth kept trying to turn up.
Before they reached the exit, Uesugi Hara handed her canvas bag back. He'd packed the camera box at the very bottom, with her Terminal on top. "Remember to put the camera away safely." He paused, then added, "Next time I ask you out, I want to see the photos you took with it."
Airi hugged the bag and nodded, her voice a little nasal. "I-I'll take lots of good pictures!"
After she put everything away and turned to leave, she suddenly remembered something. Rising onto her tiptoes, she slipped an object into his pocket, then ran off with a flushed face. Uesugi Hara felt around in his pocket. It was a strawberry candy wrapped in crinkled paper, its corners all rumpled, as if she'd been carrying it around for a long time.
He watched Airi's figure disappear through the automatic doors, then unwrapped the candy and popped it into his mouth. As the sweetness spread over his tongue, he glanced at his watch. It was two twenty-four, with twenty-six minutes until his appointment at Palette Café. He had plenty of time to walk there at his leisure.