College has always seemed far off and unreal. The people I see everywhere are social and refined: boyfriends, girlfriends, and best friends. They carry drinks and shopping bags, laptops and books, backpacks and shoulder bags. They wear fashionable clothes, enjoy the newest games and movies, and manage to keep up with their studies at the same time. They show their mastery in their juggling act, balancing school, life, and social lives.

I never once thought about the people who stayed out of the spotlight. They must have had their reasons—things that stopped them from being "out there" with the others, things like low self-esteem or social awkwardness. Something could be holding them back, whether it was something that only existed in their mind or was all too real: paranoia, a problem, or a promise.

Distraction

Tomone was big on "occidental" tea. She talked about it with me once: It was convenient, and she loved the flavor. Although she liked green tea just as much as the next person, her preferences leaned more toward the western variants. Chamomile was her favorite.

Among our age group, coffee was actually more popular, but she stubbornly refused to drink the stuff. "Caffeine makes you crash if you don't drink enough after drinking too much," is what she argued. She also repeated a lot of things I had heard elsewhere: Coffee was unhealthy and addictive, and science proved that tea had better effects with little to no downsides. I have the feeling she was more of a spiritual drinker than a studious drinker, but either way she was still passionate.

That conversation led her to introduce me to her supply of tea from America. Almost a dozen flavors of tea bag were hidden in a container under her bed, but she laid the boxes out on a table and told me I was free to use them as I liked. She wrote her favorites on a sheet of paper and put it up on the wall. I think she was hoping to get me addicted, because the note was also an all-inclusive guide on which flavor to pick depending on the time and situation.

Mint was Tomone's pick for late-night study sessions. The label on the box described it as an "invigorating herbal infusion" with peppermint, spearmint, and tarragon. There were three-step instructions scribbled out for me: add hot water, wait five minutes, then enjoy.

Kindling my love for foreign tea must have been her plan all along, but I honestly did not mind sharing more in common with her. I set my steaming hot drink aside and picked up a pen to twirl in my fingers. I might just leave college westernized—first slippers, now mint tea.

My notebook had gone untouched for a while now. It was open between a blank page and one nearly covered in my handwriting. I was wide awake thanks to my invigorating herbal infusion, but I was no longer in the mood to put pen to paper.

Studying was not difficult, but it took up a lot of time. I had discovered that recently, when I estimated half a day of downtime but ended up with not even one hour. It was a downer that I would not have the same amount of freedom as I did in high school, but I had not arrived expecting college to be a breeze.

In the last three years, I had barely taken the time to open a textbook outside of school. All of my time had been spent indulging in games and hobbies or running around town enjoying merchandise stores and restaurants. I would never go as far as to say my habits had been shameful, but I wanted to turn over a new leaf. Attending university had been a desperate last-minute decision arranged for me by my teacher, but now that I was here, I may as well give it my all.

Even for all my bravado, parts of me still wanted to seek comfort in my old ways. I thought of all the people I left behind when I uninstalled most of my online games from my computer. I could imagine a controller in my hands, and it was still a much more familiar grip than holding a pencil. There were heaps of books and DVDs in my room that I had yet to open. I used to invite Kagami over to my house, and we would enjoy each and every new release together.

My phone buzzed and lit up. Glad for an excuse to continue not working, I slid it closer and clicked receive without even bothering to check who was calling.

"Hey, Konata!" I recognized the voice as soon as I picked up. "I'm not even surprised you're still up."

"You know me well, Kagamin. I'm a night owl, and it doesn't matter to me if I'm studying or playing."

For a while, we made meaningless conversation about the usual stuff. We compared our progress on the homework from our shared class, and she was ahead of me even though I had decided not to leave it for later. I was thinking about asking her if there was a reason why she had called before I heard my name over the line.

"Konata, what are you doing right now?" she asked. "Are you free?"

I stopped spinning my pen for a second and looked over my shoulder. My room-mate was unconscious, having dozed off while reading a novel. "Yeah, I could use a distraction. Something in mind?"

Minutes later, I was alone in the silent hallways with my gray shoulder bag resting against my side. The glass double doors at the end of the corridor previewed nothing except darkness, but light from the street lamps entered my vision as I approached. When I reached the doors and pushed them open, a breath of cool wind blew past me. Stepping through the door was like walking into an air-conditioned room.

Kagami was waiting for me. "That was fast," she commented and walked closer, smiling. "Were you that eager to get out of studying?"

"Maybe, maybe not," I grinned, "but I'm always ready to have fun!"

From streetlight to streetlight, we walked to the edge of the university grounds and along the perimeter sidewalk. Every once in a while, Kagami caught my eye in some way or another. She was wearing a white t-shirt with the words Tokyo City spelled out in English. Her shorts were black and stopped just above her knees. She met my eyes and smiled.

Around this time of year, the weather was average even during after hours, but a barely detectable breeze lowered the temperature a few degrees. I crossed my arms and nudged her with my shoulder to get her attention.

"Where's your jacket?" I asked her. "It's a little icy, isn't it? I'm cold and I have long sleeves!"

"I'm not that cold," Kagami shook her head.

I grabbed her arm. Her skin was cool to the touch. "Really? Feels like I'm holding your frozen heart in my hands."

She gave me a short laugh and pulled her arm away. "You're imagining it. Your body temperature is higher than mine."

My hands were warm, and I took advantage of that to warm my wrists. The university was behind us now, and we were surrounded by the neon lights of the city. In the streets of modern Japan, night did not necessarily mean dark. Power outages were the only thing that shut off the lights. Kagami led me to a shop with no seating and very little in the way of furniture. Regardless, some other people were gathered here, talking and sipping colorful drinks through straws.

"I've been here once or twice," Kagami said. "Their boba tea is pretty good compared to most of the other places."

Boba tea was apparently a Taiwanese thing. It was chilled milk tea mixed with tapioca and jelly. For some reason, it was more popular overseas than it was in Japan, even though the concept seemed to go hand-in-hand with Japanese nightlife. I even thought it was a Japanese thing until I read about it on the internet.

"We can go get crepes too," she offered as we walked out of the shop with our drinks in hand. I shook my head—any more and I would have trouble falling asleep tonight.

The shopping mall was not on our agenda as it turned out. Kagami might have had a destination in mind, but I was just following after her. Together, we walked down a straight path for a while, and eventually the shops and businesses of the city center grew quieter.

"We can catch a train back to the university," she told me. "For now, I wanted to take you here. Have you been here before?"

Again, I shook my head. In the first weeks of school, I had not gone far from the university; everything I needed was closeby if not within the building. A change of scenery was nice though, and this was my first time exploring the city I had moved to. Buildings no longer towered above our heads on both sides, and a huge open space welcomed us.

"I didn't know this place existed!" I looked around, but darkness prevented me from seeing much of the park. "Civilization at the heart of the concrete jungle, huh?"

"There's something wrong with that sentence," Kagami retorted. I laughed and walked ahead of her, raising my voice to challenge the solitude of the empty park.

We set off on the winding sidewalk that led through the park. I looked into the blinding light of one of the lamps that lit our path, then glanced sidelong at Kagami. There were so many things that I would like to say to her, but I had no idea where to start.

A fountain guzzled water in the center of the park and, like a child, I was drawn to the sound of running water. To my disappointment, Kagami insisted on taking it slowly, so we stayed on the path and filled the time with idle chatter.

She gave me a curious look when I told her about my room-mate's obsession with tea. "You mean Tomone, right?" she asked. "How is she? As a room-mate, I mean."

I took a sip of my drink before answering. "She's normal, but not normal." I grinned as Kagami frowned, trying to figure out what I meant by that. "We share a lot of interests, so we get along well."

She looked relieved and happy on my behalf. "I'm glad," she sighed. "I'm not sure what to think about my room mate, though."

"Tell me about her," I prompted. "What's her name?"

She hesitated and bit her lip. "Alexandra," she said slowly. "I may be saying it wrong. She told me it's European." She stopped walking and put a fist on her chin in thought. I tried to create Alexandra in my mind's eye as Kagami described her to me.

Alexandra was a tall, matured girl with dyed red hair that she let down. Her eyes were black and constantly moving. She was smart but took a gung-ho approach to her studies, preferring to spend her time going out with friends or relaxing by herself.

"We're practically polar opposites," Kagami said. "She prioritizes her personal life over everything."

"She sounds a bit like me in a way," I nodded sagely. "Not bad."

Kagami laughed and tapped my shoulder. "You two may get along, yeah. But I don't think she's very invested in anything like you are, so that's one difference between the two of you."

"Like I am?" I repeated. I had no idea what she meant by invested. It might have been a bad thing that I could not think of any examples.

The sidewalk disappeared beneath me, and I realized the road had curved while I was not paying attention. "Well, your hobbies," Kagami began to explain as I righted myself. "You have a huge collection of anime and manga, you're a black belt in martial arts, you can cook... That sort of stuff."

I was happy to hear her say it. Everything she said was true—label me as an otaku, martial artist, and chef. Those were all things to be proud of.

The fountain was closer now. Kagami made like she was going to continue, but she saw the fountain and paused for a second. "I actually wish I was well rounded like you." She looked at me and smiled. "When it comes to that type of thing, I don't really have anything to show besides maybe a lawbook."

"Nah, don't say that!" Immediately, I refuted her statement and jabbed her in the side. "If you act like that, you'll ruin college for yourself. Trust me, I know this kind of plot development," I added with a grin.

Her laughter struck a chord in me, and the next sip of my bubble tea was sweeter than the last. "Thanks, Konata."

We neared the fountain and left the conversation on that happy note. Over the gurgle of the water, the scuffing of my shoes on the pavement sounded intruding. Beside me, Kagami took a deep breath and let out a relieved sigh. For a few minutes, the only sounds were of the fountain and of us shuffling around. The lights were too far from the fountain to have any effect, but our close surroundings were visible thanks to the moon, which would soon be floating directly above my head.

To no avail, I tried looking for the stars that were surely up there as well. There was a whole explanation about why there were no stars in Japan's sky, throwing around science terms like light pollution. It was ironic, considering how meaningful the stars were in Japanese mythology; our ancestors' culture had revolved around astrology like the earth around the sun, and yet we had blocked our view of the heavens by building a field of glowing lights on the ground.

"Konata?" Hearing my name being called drew me out of my thoughtful mood.

"What's up, Kagami?"

She was sitting next to me on the edge of the fountain, dipping a hand into the cold water. "You've gotten so mature, lately." Her eyes, which had been cast down at the water in search of something, went to me. "It hasn't been all that long since we graduated from high school, and... Now that I see you looking so pensive and relaxed..." she trailed off. "You've really come a long way, but I don't want Konata to disappear."

After a second, I let her see my trademark smile. "I'm not going anywhere," I told her. Kagami smiled and looked back at the fountain. The worry I had seen in her eyes disappeared. Her lips moved, but I heard nothing.

"I wanted to tell you something," she said after a moment. Water dripped from her fingers as she lifted her hand from the water and shook it gently. That something must have been the reason why she took me here in the first place. It was only obvious that whatever she had to say was important.

Kagami placed her nearly empty drink down and put her hands behind her on the edge of the basin. Taking my silence as encouragement, she trained her eyes on the sky and spoke. "You already know Kazuo. He's that guy from my class back in high school."

Her pose was relaxed and her eyes lazy, but the way she was speaking set off alarm bells in my head. My guard was already up at the mention of Kazuo; as if that was not enough, she was beating around the bush. Once it was obvious that I was not going to comment, she kept going.

"We've been hanging out, since our schedules are really similar," she said. "Did you know he's planning to get into business?"

"I didn't know. That sounds cool," I lied. Business had never been appealing to me, but to each their own.

"And he can probably do it, too! He's smart and plans ahead." Kagami nodded in approval. "But when it comes to him as a person, there's actually a lot more to him."

Guiltily, I found myself spacing out while she listed some of his endearing qualities. I had never seen him as a friend, especially since he had only officially introduced himself to our group in the home stretch of our final year. I tried to make a few comments here and there, since it was rude to offer nothing but silence. Being enthusiastic was more difficult than I thought it would be.

"He'd totally be popular with the ladies, am I right?" I joked, stretching my arms above my head. "He must be a total chick magnet. Hey, be honest," I found myself asking, "how much do you like him?"

Too many seconds passed in between question and answer. I wondered if I had come off as cheeky by asking, but the thought perished when I looked at the girl sitting next to me. Her head rested at a tilt, her face upturned, eyes closed and brows knit.

"I like him a lot," she finally spoke. "Which is why I agreed when he asked me to meet him outside of school on Sunday."

"Outside of school means... a date?" My mouth must have been hanging open. Shutting my mouth and locking my jaw, I watched Kagami nod with a nervous smile creeping across her face.

"A date, Konata! I might be overreacting, but I'm so excited!"

This was Kagami's first date. Making that realization was like watching a bird rise out of its ashes. My expression was out of place, so I fixed it. "You finally found yourself a soul mate?" I cheered loudly, confident that only she could hear. "Kagamin, you've made me so proud, I don't even know how to respond to that!"

Our drinks were empty, so we tossed them into a trash can on our way out of the park. Sure enough, we were able to board a convenient taxi that dropped us off at the university—it beat having to walk home. As our driver took off, the two of us walked to and through the glass doors of our school. Thankfully, our student access cards let us into the locked building where the dorms were.

"I'll see you later!" I started and saw that she was already leaning down a different hallway. I waved, giving a smile in place of words. With that, she turned and walked down the branching hall.

I stared after her for a few seconds, knowing she would stop and come back at the sound of my voice, before pulling myself away.

The lights were already on when I unlocked the door and tried to sneak into my room. "Hi Kona," Tomone greeted me. "What were you up to?"

"Hanging out with a friend," I said. "Kagami. You met her." Tomone's eyes lit up and she nodded, but she did not inquire further. For some reason, I felt vaguely let down, like the conversation was left unfinished. Who knows how much I would have told her if she had pried—ironically, she was too polite to question me.

"Your tea was getting cold," she pointed at the desk. Steam rose from my cup. Its lid had been removed and put to the side. "I added some hot water, but it was too diluted, so I just made some more. I think I put in the right flavor: mint?"

It was still hot, and it tasted better than when I had made it. I reassured her that it was the right flavor and thanked her for making it. She had to have brewed it recently, but she had no way of knowing when I would have been back.

Out of idle curiosity, I asked her how she knew it was diluted. My room mate giggled and touched the back of her neck.

"Tea is my thing," she answered. "I take it seriously."

I settled for that answer and sat down at the desk. She had not moved since I last saw her, book in hand. As much as I wanted to go to bed immediately, Tomone had gone out of her way to refill my cup. Midnight was still to come, and I did not feel tired. The warmth of the tea gave me shivers but helped me to relax. There was no need to rush.

My notebook was still in the same place and on the same page. It sat invitingly, waiting for a pencil to touch its pages. After a moment, I sighed and decided studying could wait. I had plenty of days to finish. That left me without anything to do. There was no television in our room, and I knew it would be a waste of time to turn on my computer.

Vapor floated up from my drink and disappeared before my eyes. The minty taste was strong and refreshing. I knew that certain blends could have different effects: chamomile could lull a person into sleep, and green tea could keep them awake. Tomone had suggested mint for studying; she told me it would help me focus and stop me from nodding off.

Those were the two things I wanted least right now. It was impossible to blame her for having good intentions, but I bit my lip and frowned into the light greenish-brown liquid. However nice this mint tea tasted and smelled, it was the opposite of what I wanted right now. I did not want to sit idly for the best of half an hour. Without something to do, there was no point in drinking tea to stay awake. I had nothing that I wanted to think about.

So, Kagami and Kazuo, huh...