Hectic day
The events take place just after the summer festival. Nishikata finally dared to hold Takagi's hand, who had wanted to and made him understand for so long.
Nishikata was lying in bed. He was staring at the ceiling, thinking about the evening he had just had with Takagi.
''I wonder what was going through my mind,'' he thought to himself as his heartbeat grew stronger and stronger.
He lifted his hand, examining it before thinking aloud ''Her hand...I held her hand...and...it felt really good to hold !''
While thinking about it, he felt his cheeks getting redder and redder, and his heart kept speeding up. Then, suddenly, he calmed down and fell asleep from exhaustion. It was three o'clock in the morning.
The sun woke Nishikata, who had inadvertently forgotten to close his curtains because of fatigue. It was 8.30 a.m. when he woke up, he had not slept enough the night before and now he could not go back to sleep. He was thinking about Takagi. His heart was beating fast, faster than the night before because he now had some distance on what had happened. He blushed even more as he thought of the hand he had held as he walked down the steps to the temple, where he would have liked to watch the fireworks with her, if they hadn't gotten lost in the crowd.
He thought out loud, ''No, I have to stop thinking about Takagi. She's my best friend, so it's only right that I hold her hand so we don't lose sight of each other... Right ?''
No one was there to answer him. But he knew deep down that Takagi wasn't just his best friend, she was also the person he went to and from school with every day, the person he thought about most of the time, seeking revenge for all the teasing he endured. She was the person he'd had laughs with, tears, but most of all, she was the person he wouldn't leave for anything.
''Could it be... love ?'' he asked himself as he got out of bed, blushing even more, ''No, that's not it, I'm doing it to get back at her for her teasings, nothing to do with... love'' *
He left his room, even though no one was up yet, and put on his shoes to go for a walk around the neighborhood, to refresh his ideas.
Takagi was also already up, eating breakfast. Indeed, unlike Nishikata, she hadn't been able to sleep all night, despite her fatigue, because she had been thinking about Nishikata.
''He...he finally did it!'' she thought to herself as she stared intently at her hand, her cheeks so red you'd think she was sunburned.
She smiled stupidly, her thoughts wandering between her memories and her hopes for the future of their relationship. She heard the kitchen door open: her mother had just woken up from a long night.
''Up already?''she said, surprised that her daughter wasn't sleeping after the festival. ''Didn't you sleep? Your eyes look... swollen and tired.''
Takagi was silent for a moment, before she replied, ''Actually, not really... I had too many things on my mind.''
''You were thinking about Nishikata, weren't you?'' she asked with an amused look.
''I...yeah you could say that...'' she said hesitantly. ''I'm having trouble figuring out his feelings right now, but I feel like he made a leap last night'' she finally replied with a big smile on her face.
''What happened ?'' Takagi's mother asked without any apparent discomfort.
''Everything went pretty well during the evening, except that I lost sight of him when the fireworks started...'' she began. I looked for him all through the show, he looked for me, and we finally found each other on the big stairs leading to the temple... I was at the top, he was at the bottom, we ran towards each other and we finally reached the same level when the fireworks stopped.''
She paused for a moment, sad that she hadn't been able to see the fireworks with Nishikata, then continued:
''I was going to start downstairs, but he... Nishikata took my hand with the excuse that he didn't want to lose me anymore... After that we went to light some wicks on the beach, and then we went home...'' As she said those last words, she blushed hugely, tears of joy at the edge of her eyes and a big, shaky smile on her face.
Takagi's mother smiled up to her lips as well, happy that her daughter's crush had finally taken a step.
''Since you've been telling me about him, I didn't think he'd finally make a move on you,'' she said, stroking her daughter's hair.
''You know,'' Takagi replied as she removed her mother's hand from her head, ''Nishikata isn't the type to be very quick-witted when it comes to the subject of love, but I think he's starting to understand that a certain person close to him has feelings for him, so it was to be expected that he'd try to make a move on me sooner or later.''
Her mother finally left the room after taking her cup of coffee with her, while telling her daughter with a chuckle:
''I'm happy for you, but you should go take a shower, because from the look on your face, people will think you've turned into a tomato.''
Takagi went upstairs to go to the bathroom, then looked at herself in the mirror.
''Mum is right, I'm all red ! I have to calm down or I'll never get any further with him'' she said to herself as she stepped into the shower after undressing. ''Even though, knowing Nishikata, he must be in the same state as me...'' she giggled as she splashed herself with cold water.
Nishikata was walking around his house, trying to think of something other than Takagi. As he passed by the intersection where they met every day to go to school, he froze. He thought for a second about how he could get back at Takagi for teasing him, looking around to see if there was anything he could use to help him.
He thought aloud, ''Maybe I could count the steps from that lamppost to the pavement over there ? No, that would be cheating and I don't want Takagi to think I'm a cheater !''
''Why are you talking about cheating ?'' came a voice from behind him.
Nishikata turned around and saw his friend Kimura approaching him, a bento in his hand.
''Hi Kimura ! What are you doing up at this hour ? And why are you so close to my house ?'' he asked with a surprised tone.
''You didn't answer my question.'' he replied, ''Why are you talking about cheating ?''
''Oh...uh...I was just imagining a way to tease Takagi...And I almost cheated, so I figured I didn't want her to call me a cheater...'' he replied in incomprehension of his friend's question.
''That's honest of you… Maybe a bit too honest of you...Say, aren't you finally in love with Takagi ?'' asked the guy thanks to whom he had been able to find Takagi the day before.
Nishikata turned red, then looked away from his friend and hesitantly answered: ''Wha...What ? No...I mean I don't think so...I'm not sure of anything right now...'' he paused for a moment to think, then suddenly added: ''But you still haven't told me why you were in the area...''
''You should thank me for the help I gave you last night !'' he replied without paying the slightest attention to what his friend was saying. ''Without me, you probably wouldn't have found Takagi in time...''
''You're right, thank you very much for showing me his position… well, more like shouted.'' he corrected with a chuckle and an awkward smile.
''You're welcome'' he replied, adding directly, ''Well, I have to go, I have someone waiting for me.''
He quickly trotted away from Nishikata, who hadn't even reacted to what Kimura had just said. It was only after a few minutes, when he had reached the abandoned plot, where he and Takagi used to compete in different areas. , that he remembered the last words Kimura had said to him.
''But where could he have gone ?'' he asked himself. ''He went in the direction of Takagi's house...Could it be that ? No, no, no...Kimura and Takagi aren't close in the least and Kimura has a crush on...on...nobody ? Is it really possible to have no one in sight at our age ?'' he thought, before picking up his phone and beginning to write to Kimura.
Nishikata: Hey Kimura, you still haven't said why you were up so early and why you were around...
Kimura: Does it bother you that much ?
Nishikata: No... But you went...in the direction of Takagi's house...so I thought that… maybe...
Kimura: Aaaah, so that's why ! Don't worry, I'm not at your girlfriend's house, I went to the girl's bakery downtown to buy a cake for my mother's birthday.
Nishikata: TAKAGI IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND !
Kimura: Yeah, yeah, whatever… I was just teasing you. Anyway, I'm late, see ya.
Nishikata stared at that word. «Girlfriend». He'd thought about it before, but hadn't really considered it. But now that he had held her hand, things were differents.
''No, she is not and never will be my girlfriend...because even if one day I fall in love with her...that love would never be reciprocated...'' he thought while sitting down on the wooden planks laid on the ground. ''And it doesn't matter, since I'm not in love with her...Right ?''