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I was drinking coffee in the kitchen on an early Saturday morning. I sipped at it and savored the taste once bitter now sweet thanks to the creamer. I glanced at the newspaper. They're having the Tokyo Cats and Dogs Show this year. I wasn't particularly interested in that. I was thinking about light. The speed of light wasn't actually about light. It was about information. It was the speed of causality. Things didn't happen any faster because if they did effects would precede their causes.

And yet how mysterious?

We were constantly being bombarded by light and yet I found I could make neither heads nor tails of the substance. It might have a little bit of rest mass so time may yet pass for the insubstantial substance. But if so it was miniscule. Like that of a neutrino. All the more reason to be impressive with my studies.

Komachi came out of her room. She was rubbing her eyes and gave a little yawn. "Don't tell me you were up all night…" she murmured.

"I got like a hot six hours," I informed her. "They're having the Tokyo Cat and Dog show this year. I figured you'd be excited to hear that."

"Really? Omigosh! Where'd you learn that?"

"The newspaper."

"...quiet, you two. You're being annoying." Our mother crawled out of her bedroom, cursing and looking very much like a golem. She had bed hair, her glasses were on crooked and she had shadows under her eyes that wouldn't go away.

"Sorry," I apologized for us both. My mother didn't know about my psychosis. It would only cause her undue stress. There was no cure and that shit was permanent. We didn't have the money for the sort of medications I really needed. Or for me to see doctors and get a grip. So I struggled in silence regarding my mental illness. At least Komachi knew.

I'm sure it was tough enough being a career woman without a psychotic son.

As she put her hand on the bedroom door, my mother looked over her shoulder. "You," she said. "You're free to leave the house, but watch out for cars. Since it's humid and the cars start playing up in this sort of weather, it's easy for an accident to happen. Don't do something stupid like let Komachi ride on the bike with you."

"Of course," I responded. As if I'd make Komachi go through something so dangerous.

The love my parents felt towards my sister was very deep. Yeah it was because she was a girl, but she did the chores all the time and she was so good at everything she tried. (Except looking after me.) Not to mention she was just soooo adorable. No wonder my parents treated her like glass.

As for me, well, we'd just have to see how often they visited my fucking grave. I'd probably die before my parents did. I gave a low chuckle at the morose thought. Komachi hit me.

"What?" I asked.

"You went to a dark place, didn't you?"

"Maybe a little. So sue me. So set me on fire."

"I'm worried about you, you idiot," my mother said.

"...huh?" I turned to look at her. She was sighing deeply as she looked at my face. "Mom?"

"I really am worried. If you got your sister hurt, your father would kill you."

"That old man," I grinned and took a sip of coffee. Empty. Why is the coffee always gone? Come back Coffee-chan!

Our old man was currently in dreamland. Indulging in sleep.

Honestly, things were never good when my father was around. He doted on Komachi so much and looked at me with half‐suspicious eyes, I knew. But he only told me things that were irrelevant to me, like watch out for those extortionists out to ruin your reputation, or that women who chat you up on the street are only interested in your wallet, or that investing in future funds is more or less a scam, or that to work is to lose. And what really made it awful was that almost all of that came from my father's own experience, so I couldn't ignore it.

Whenever he left the house, he slammed the door as hard as he could, disturbing me when I dozed.

"There's no need to worry since we're going by bus!" Komachi turned to our mother, laughing sheepishly.

"Ah, we'll need the bus fare!"

"Alright then," said my mother, "how much was the two‐way ticket again?"

"Uhh…" Komachi started counting on her fingers. Um, if a one‐way ticket was 150 yen, then a two‐way ticket was 300 yen. I did not see how she needed to use her fingers to work that out.

"It's 300 yen," I answered in the end, before Komachi could finish her calculations.

To that, my mother responded with an "okay" as she dug out a small coin from her wallet. "Here you go, 300 yen."

"Thanks!" said Komachi.

"Excuse me, mother. I'm going too, you know…"

"Oh, you need your fare too?" My mother put her hand in her wallet again as if she had only just realised my existence.

"And I'll be eating out today so I need some lunch money tooooo!" Komachi sang.

"Huh? I suppose it can't be helped…" At Komachi's request (which was just oozing with opportunism) our mother handed over two whole bank notes.

Wow, Komachi sure was amazing. That said, my lunch money was the usual 500 yen, so why that translated into 1000 yen when my sister was the one asking was beyond me. Please, enlighten me, mother.

"Thanks! 'kay, let's go, big brother."

"Mm."

"All right, have a nice day out." My mother waved us off languidly before disappearing into her bedroom once again. Sleep tight, mother.

Then, as I was leaving the house, I grasped the door with every fibre of my being and slammed it shut.

That noise was just for you. Rise and shine, father!

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It took a grand total of fifteen minutes for the bus to get to the venue of the Tokyo Cats and Dogs Show, the Makuhari Expo Hall. Even though it was the TokyoCats and Dogs Show, I was surprised that it was being held in Chiba. I didn't have the money to go if I mistook it for the Tokyo Big Sight or something.

The venue was crowded inside. There were also many pets. I sneezed a little into my elbow as Komachi swung my hand.

"So what's today look like?" She asked me.

"Like a six. A strong six."

"Really? That's great! I'm happy when you're not… you know…" Psychotic. The word you're looking for is psychotic, little sister.

I could see that Komachi was brighter and more cheerful than usual. Perhaps because of what she was wearing: a border tank top matched by a flimsy pink cursive with a broad neckline along with short pants that went down to her thighs, somewhat in the vein of a low-rise skirt. Plus she had on a carefree million-dollar grin that threatened to split her face in twain. Whenever that little sister of mine smiled like that, she looked so unapologetically proud of herself. Not that she smiled like that jus anywhere.

Anyway it might have been called the Tokyo Cats and Dogs show but it was pretty much a pet sale. There was no admission fee or anything either - it was an event to be feared. Chiba really was the greatest.

As soon as we got in Komachi started pointing at things very excitedly. "Look big brother! Penguins! So many penguins walking around! How adorable!" I picked at a bug in my ear. Just because today was a good day so far didn't mean my hallucinations were non-existent. They still pressed in on me. Still, I was resolved to enjoy my Saturday out with my little sister.

"Oh, that reminds me. I heard the word penguin derives from the Latin word for 'fat'. When you think about it, they're like obese salarymen waddling around outside the office."

"Oh, wow. Suddenly, I can't think of them as cute anymore…" Komachi lowered her arm, dejected. She turned on me and glared resentfully. "Thanks to your useless trivia, I'm gonna think of the word 'fat' every time I look at a penguin, big brother…" she muttered in complaint, not that it would have done any good saying that to me. Blame it on the guy who named the penguins in the first place. "You know, big brother, you're not meant to say that kind of stuff on a date, you know? If a girl says, 'How adorable!' you're supposed to say, 'Yeah, but you're even more adorable.'"

I rolled my eyes. "I'll try and keep that in mind next time the opportunity arises."

Even the penguins living in the South Pole would catch a cold if they were subjected to such a chilly conversation, in my opinion.

"It's fine, it's fine. It wasn't like I was telling you to say that seriously to me, you know. I already know I'm adorable."

"Saying it yourself ruins the effect…"

What a sparkling conversation to have while dogs and cats and penguins mill around in the background.

"Thanks for the pointless commentary! Anyway, look, look! Let's look over there for a sec," Komachi said as she broke off into a run, yanking my hand.

"Oi, hang on, don't rush it. You'll hit something."

Somehow or other, we ended up in what looked like the bird zone, populated by parrots of all shapes and sizes. A world of blindingly rich colours opened up before our eyes. Yellow, red, green… all the primary colours were splashed around here and there so vividly it hurt my eyes to look. Whenever the birds spread their wings and soared, light shone on their feathers, showing off their brilliance.

But among that flood of brilliant colours, what really stood out was a glossy head of black hair. Every time the owner of that glossy black hair buried her nose in the Tokyo Cats and Dogs Show pamphlet she held in one hand, her twintails swished back and forth.

"Isn't that… Yukino‐san?" It seemed Komachi had recognised her too.

Seriously, there was no one who stood out so obviously like she did. She was drawing quite a lot of attention to herself. Clad in a quarter‐size cream‐coloured cardigan and a neat, fluffy one‐piece dress with a ribbon tied just a little below her chest, she gave off a softer impression than usual. Whenever she walked, the simple strap sandals she wore over her bare feet made a light, cool sound. But the girl in question seemed to pay no heed to the gazes around her, looking around stone‐facedly just like she did in the clubroom.

Yukinoshita checked the hall number and looked down at the pamphlet. Then she looked around herself and down at the pamphlet once more. And then she let out a sigh of resignation. What was up with her? Was she lost? Yukinoshita snapped the pamphlet shut as if she had made her mind up about something and broke out into a jaunty walk ‐ straight towards the wall.

"Oi, that's a dead end," I blurted out to her, unable to bear watching in silence any longer.

That prompted an openly hostile glare from Yukinoshita's direction.

But as soon as she realised that I was the one who called out to her, a somewhat enigmatic look came over her face and she made her way over to us. "What have we here? An unusual animal, I see."

"At least grant me my humanity. There's a person in here somewhere. At least I think so. Not entirely clear on the concept of personhood."

"Am I not correct? You are an animal, no?"

"Eukaryotic and everything. Fair enough. But I believe you are missing the point."

The first thing she did when she opened her mouth was treat me like a primate hominid. While she was absolutely correct from a biological standpoint you couldn't get much worse of a greeting than that.

"So why were you walking towards a wall?"

"…I was lost," Yukinoshita said darkly with an expression that could only be described as… defeat. It was like she was on the verge of committing seppuku. Her eyes were brim with annoyance as she opened up the pamphlet and pored over it yet again.

"Uh, this place isn't big enough to get lost in, you know…"

So she had no sense of direction, huh… well, I guess there were times when you got lost even when you had a map. Maps weren't really useful, especially when you were in a facility where each block looked the same as the one before it. Like Comiket or the underground level of Shinjuku Station. Umeda Station was so bad you'd be left stranded if you didn't bring graph paper and map it out yourself.

"Good afternoon, Yukino‐san!"

"Ah, so you came along too, Komachi‐san. Good afternoon."

"Still, I didn't expect to see you here," I said. "You came to see something?"

"…well, a few things here and there, I suppose." The cats, basically. She'd drawn a giant red circle around the cat corner… Having noticed my gaze, Yukinoshita calmly folded up the pamphlet as if nothing was wrong. "Hi‐Hikya…" She tried to play it cool, but she totally stumbled over her words. "Ahem, what are you doing here, Hikigaya‐kun?"

"Out on the town with my sister. We visit every year."

"This was where we met our cat, too!" Komachi cut in.

Like Komachi said, this was the place where we had encountered our cat Kamakura for the first time. He might have been a cheeky rascal, but he had a pedigree. The moment Komachi said she wanted him for a pet, it was a done deal. I felt sorry for our father, who only got called over to foot the bill. Yukinoshita looked at Komachi and me, a smile showing clearly on her face. Not again. She had this look on her face before.

"…you two get along as well as ever, I see."

"Not really, it's like an all‐year‐round event."

"Okay."

There was a pause.

"Bye, then."

"Yeah, bye."

The two of us uttered parting words, avoiding any further entanglement.

"Hold on just a second here, Yukino‐san. Since you came all the way here, let's hang out together!" Komachi tugged on Yukinoshita's sleeve before she could leave. "My bro is a total downer whenever he opens his mouth. I'd have much more fun being with you, Yukino‐san."

"I‐is that so?" Yukinoshita asked in reply, taking half a step away from Komachi, who was pressing against her incessantly.

Komachi nodded eagerly in response. "Yep yep!" she answered. "C'moooon!"

"It won't be getting in the way? …Hikigaya‐kun, I mean."

I was being sidelined as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Hold it, what's this crap you're spouting? I shut up when there's people around so I'm never in the way at all, you hear?"

"In other words, you blend into your surroundings, I see… in that sense, you have an amazing talent…" Yukinoshita looked neither surprised nor amazed. But well, in actuality, if you're part of the group and you go quiet, everyone makes a real fuss over you. "…very well, we'll look around together," Yukinoshita said.

"Is there something you'd like to see? I‐if there's nothing in particular…"

"Let's see…" Komachi hit her hand as if she had come up with a bright idea. "Since we came all the way here, let's look at stuff you can't normally see!"

"…I honestly can't tell if you can read the atmosphere or not," I said.

"Huh? What?" Komachi cocked her head in puzzlement.

"…I'll go along to your suggestion." Yukinoshita sighed in resignation.

It was hard to know what to say. I mentally apologised for my little sister. When it came to things like rare animals, there wasn't much space for the larger types as you'd expect. Given the situation, the bird zone had a pretty much even ratio. That was probably because the rare ones didn't eat up much space. After leaving the booth featuring gaudy birds from Southern countries behind us, we went to an area with a ridiculously awesome display. That area, which was blocked off by a handrail made of reinforced steel, was home to majestic birds of sharp beaks, sharpened talons and sturdy wings.

"How majestic," Yukinoshita observed the birds of prey.

I was inclined to agree with her. But staring at the falcons and eagles just made me think of the Falcon Heavy rocket owned by SpaceX. It was a reusable rocket design unlike that of the Saturn used by the Apollo missions. The idea was that this way most of the cost of rocketry would be fuel. Not that rocket fuel was cheap. And the rocket still demanded some maintenance between uses. But the idea was to slowly lower launch costs. Eventually there would be a whole orbital swarm around Earth. Full of rotating space habitats for artificial gravity. There was no known other way to generate gravitons, not that spin gravity generated gravitons. It was just a rotating inertial reference frame. One day more people would live and work in space than lived on Earth but that day was a long way off.

We slipped out of the bird zone and into the small animal zone. This was the zone that grouped together pets like the hamsters, rabbits and ferrets.

Komachi really got into the Petting Corner, as evidenced by all the oohing and aahing she made and how she just refused to budge an inch from where she stood. Yukinoshita, on the other hand, cocked her head after a short‐lived attempt to pet the animals.

It seemed the feel of their fur wasn't quite the sensation she was looking for. She was more hung up about it than I expected…

Incidentally, the animals scampered away whenever I got near them. Well, damn. Don't tell me I was hated even by small animals.

"Komachi, let's move on…"

"Eeek, how cute! I almost stood on it! Oh, huh. Big brother, you can go on ahead. I'm gonna stick around a little longer here."

"That so…"

The reason she thought it was cute wasn't cute at all. Was this girl okay? Since I'd received Komachi's permission and all, I decided to move on. If I recalled correctly, the dog zone was up ahead and the cat zone was probably after that.

"Okay, Yukinoshita. The zone after the next is the cat zone. Sorry, but could you watch Komachi for me?"

"I don't really mind, but Komachi‐san is old enough to take care of herself, I believe. Aren't you being overprotective?" Overprotective? She was my little sister. It was my job to look after her. Make sure she wasn't the one who found my body and so forth.

"Nope. It's called keeping an eye on her so that she doesn't step on the animals."

"I do not step on them," Komachi interjected. "Oh, Yukino‐san, you do know you can go ahead and look at the cats too, right?"

"Oh, i‐is that so? W‐well, since we've come this far already…" Yukinoshita said, standing up hastily. Just how much did she want to see those damn cats? "Well then, let's be off."

Then, ignoring my existence completely, she boldly stepped forward into uncharted waters. But the moment the phrase "dog zone" came into view, she did a double take.

"Something the matter?" I asked. "Nothing…" Yukinoshita slackened her walking pace, and then slowly she walked around me so that she was behind my back, leaving me to take the initiative. Crap, she's got my back! I'm screwed! I thought, but at the same time I didn't feel any particular malicious intent from her. ‐oh right, it was because of the dogs. She really didn't like them, huh.

"I'm pretty sure you already know this, but you do realise they're just puppies." Since this event also functioned as a sale, the particularly familiar types of pets on display ‐ the cats and dogs ‐ were puppies and kittens. It was all very sad, but it was a business. I had no idea whether my words got through to her, but Yukinoshita averted her gaze.

"Puppies are even wo… l‐I'm only saying this to be clear about it, but it's not as if I'm bad with dogs or anything, you understand? That is… they're not particularly my strong suit, you could say."

"You know, in our society that means the same thing as being bad at it."

"It's within the margin of error." Really now…? Well, if she said so.

"Hikigaya‐kun… are you a dog person?"

"Relax there chief. I'm barely even a person. I don't really take sides."

"I take that to mean no one would take you?"

"Pretty much. But whatever, let's go."

"I thought for sure you would be a dog person," Yukinoshita muttered idly as she started walking behind me.

"Huh? Why?" I asked, looking over my shoulder. But Yukinoshita's answer didn't offer much in the way of hints.

"It's because you were that desperate." Was there a time Yukinoshita saw me get desperate over something? Only one thing came to mind. It was probably from that time. Totsuka's tennis match. Yeah, I really was desperate that time. I fought hard for Totsuka's sake. I mean, he's so cute and all. Back then, Totsuka had been all precious like a Chihuahua, so I would count myself as a dog person, indeed. In that case, it was probably correct to say I was a Totsuka person. I think I loved Totsuka too much.

As I scratched my head, thinking 'Oh, now I've done it,' Yukinoshita tapped my shoulder repeatedly. "Can you please get going already?"

"Oh, right."

Egged on by Yukinoshita, I went through a cheap gate with "Woof Woof Zone" written on it. A huge mass of potential buyers were gathered in the corner of the pet shop, mingling with each other. It seemed a lot of customers were there ‐ the dogs attracted that much attention. The popular small‐sized breeds like the Chihuahuas, Dachshunds, Shiba Inus and the Corgis were first on the list, followed by the standard breeds like the Labradors, Golden Retrievers, Beagles, Bulldogs and so on. The breeder explaining all of these things spoke with such authority he looked like he was something of a pedigree himself, what with all the titles he used that were hard to understand, like GRAND CHAMPION and FESTIVAL NOMINEE and WORLD SELECTION and GOOD DESIGN.

From the moment we entered the dog zone, Yukinoshita refused to open her mouth. She was so damn quiet I almost assumed she'd stopped breathing. All it took to get me all bothered was a person deep in silence in a bustling surrounding. Seriously, it was too noisy around here. Especially with all those squealing girls snapping photos.

…and wait, that was Hiratsuka‐sensei over there. Let's just pretend I didn't see her. Sensei… please go on a date or something when it's your day off.

Meh, once we get out of here we can hurry up and get to the cat corner, I thought, but at that moment Yukinoshita let out a short gasp.

Just ahead of us in our line of us was a section with "Trimming Corner" written on it.

"Hm, what?" I asked. "Do they process photos?"

"No. They trim the dogs, combing their hair and bringing out the lustre in their fur. It's widely known as grooming."

As I was thinking about the four sisters at Watarai Ranch, Yukinoshita went on. "To put it in lay terms, it's a beauty parlour," she said condescendingly.

"What's the problem with that? Let people enjoy things." Why be so critical? Why not let people have their little groomed dogs and whatnot if it made them happy. Happiness was in such short supply in our society.

"It's such a waste."

"I guess."

As we were having our pointless discussion, it seemed one dog had just finished getting trimmed. A Dachshund with a long coat trotted out, its mouth yawning wide. So, uh, what happened to the owner?

"H‐hold on, Sable! Bad boy, you're not on your leash!"

The loose Dachshund turned its head around at the order, only to cheerfully ignore it. Then it dashed towards the exit like a bullet ‐ in other words, towards us. Even though it was just a dog.

"H‐Hikigaya‐kun. Th‐that dog is…" Yukinoshita was in a panic, not knowing what to do.

She looked around wildly and her hands were flailing all over the place. …it was rare to see her react like this. It was kind of a pleasant change, really, so I was tempted to leave her be, but the noise she was making was a pain in the arse.

"Look here," I said, seizing the dog by the scruff of its neck.

I didn't hold down our cat whenever it got pissed at me and tried to run away every day for nothing. Catching animals by hand was a special talent of mine. The dog was looking at me with miserable eyes, but once it got over its surprise, it brought its nose up to me and sniffed me before licking my fingers enthusiastically. Startled, I let go of the dog without thinking.

"Whoops, I let it slip…"

"Ugh, you imbecile," Yukinoshita said scornfully. "If you let go of it…"

But far from running away, the dog played around with my feet and rolled over leisurely. It showed me its stomach, its tongue wagging. What was up with this dog…? It sure was overly attached to me.

"This dog…" Yukinoshita peered at the dog closely from behind my back. Um, not that it was really such a scary life form, in my opinion…

"S‐Sable! I'm so sorry!" The owner, who came sprinting into view, held the dog in her arms and lowered her head in profuse apology. Her hairstyle, all bunched up like a dumpling ball, swayed with the motion.

"I apologise for what Sable‐"

"Oh my, if it isn't Yuigahama‐san," Yukinoshita declared, prompting the owner to look up with plain confusion written across her face.

That hairstyle, that voice, that attitude of hers ‐ there was no mistaking it. It was Yuigahama.

"Huh? Y‐Yukinon?" Then she turned to me mechanically. "Oh. Oh. Huh? Hikki? You're with Yukinon?" Yukinoshita looked at Yukinoshita and me in turn, uttering words of plain bewilderment.

"Yep." I went a little non-verbal.

"Oh. O‐okay…"

An extremely awkward silence reigned between us. Damn, this was hard…

The awkward silence was broken when the dog Yuigahama was holding let out a bark. Yukinoshita, who had merely been hiding in my shadow this whole time, flinched in response and closed the distance between us. It seemed her default reaction in times of danger was to use me as a shield.

"…oh, uuuuh. Um…" As Yuigahama gently stroked her dog on the head, her gaze wandering over the space between Yukinoshita and me. I could detect a sense of distance from that action.

"I didn't expect to see you here," Yukinoshita said to Yuigahama, causing her to flinch and shake a little in response.

"Y‐yeah. Why are you and… Hikki together, Yukinon? I mean, it's rare to see the two of you together…" Yuigahama spoke to Yukinoshita rather stiffly, as if they hadn't seen each other for days.

She clutched her pet dog against her chest tightly, not meeting Yukinoshita's eyes. She might have asked us why we were together, but there was no reason for it at all since our meeting was a total coincidence. Yukinoshita and I exchanged glances before opening our mouths at the exact same moment. "See, the thing is‐"

Yuigaham interrupted us. "Oh, never mind after all! It's okay, I'm good. You don't have to tell me… it's obvious if you're out together on a day off, right? Yeah… I never noticed at all, silly me. And here I thought the only thing I was good at was reading the mood," she said with a strained smile.

"You're reading into things too much. We happened to meet here. Not unlike you and us. It wasn't planned," I corrected. Better to save Yukinoshita the embarrassment. I wasn't the type to spend my days off with girls besides my little sister.

The dog in Yuigahama's arms looked up at its owner's face and let out a lonely whine. Yuigahama stroked Sable's head, uttering soothing words. Her face was downcast. "Th‐then I should get going now."

She began to walk, her gaze pointed at her feet. She was stopped in her tracks when Yukinoshita called out to her.

"Yuigahama‐san." Yukinoshita's voice resounded clearly in the middle of the hustle and bustle. Only her voice reached my ears, as if all the noise in the background had faded away. Yuigahama, whose eyes had been downcast just a moment before, instinctively looked in Yukinoshita's direction.

"There's something I need to tell you about us, so could you please come to the clubroom on Monday?"

"…oh, ahaha… I might not really want to hear it… like, there's no point telling me now, when it's not my business," Yuigahama said softly.

Although there was a troubled smile on her face, her words carried a definite refusal. Yukinoshita lowered her eyes slightly, dismayed by Yuigahama's attitude. The level of noise in the background went up a notch ‐ or maybe I tricked myself into believing that.

Swamped by all the surrounding noise, Yukinoshita fumbled for words. "…I wasn't able to convey this to you because of the way I am." She paused, searching for the right thing to say. "But I want to talk straight with you."

For a long moment, Yuigahama said nothing, before finally mustering a dull "mmm" in response. It was neither acceptance nor rejection. A suspicious look came over her eyes as she glanced sideways at Yukinoshita, although she quickly averted her gaze. Then she swung around and started walking away.

Yukinoshita and I watched her retreating figure in silence.

It was only when Yuigahama's small, hunched back had disappeared into the crowd that I asked Yukinoshita, who was standing next to me, "Hey. What did you want to talk about with Yuigahama?"

"June 18th. Do you know what day that is?" Yukinoshita asked, peering at my face from below.

Yukinoshita's face was so close to mine I took half a step back reflexively. Somebody getting that close to me made me uncomfortable.

"Well, it's not a national holiday, that's for sure," I said belatedly.

Satisfied that I had no idea, Yukinoshita puffed out her chest. "It's Yuigahama's birthday," she announced proudly. "I think," she added.

"Really? …and wait. You think?"

"Yes, her phone address had 0618 in it, that's why."

"So you never asked her straight…" That was Yukinoshita's communicative powers for you.

"That's why I want to celebrate Yuigahama‐san's birthday. Even if she never comes back to the Service Club… I would like to thank her properly for everything she has done," Yukinoshita said blushingly, her eyes lowered furtively.

"I see…"

Yuigahama was Yukinoshita's first friend. Her words were covered in self-defeat. She most likely didn't want to lose that friendship. I felt a rush of guilt and glanced at Yukinoshita sideways. She recoiled in discomfort. I was probably eyeing her like a disgusting creep. Still though it was my fault Yuigahama and Yukinoshita were in this position. I did feel bad. Yukinoshita was, well, a total bitch. But I didn't deserve to be causing anybody any pain when I was barely awake and aware. I was hardly a person. I should be building bridges not burning them. I needed… I needed to do more where Yuigahama was concerned.

"Hey, Hikigaya‐kun…"

'"Yeah?"

Yukinoshita turned around, her hands held tightly against her own chest. She made a strained noise, as if she was nervous or something. In an attempt to hide her flushing pink cheeks, she looked at me with her moist, upturned eyes. Now I was getting nervous too, no thanks to looking her in the eyes. Yukinoshita's next words came out in a small whisper, as if something was caught in her throat.

"Er, that is… w‐would you go out with me?"

"What do you mean?"

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-WG