VOLUME 1

Chapter 1: Part 4

It was around a month before I met Haruna, and the date was May 26th. As 1am was rolling around, I decided to head to a convenience store. It wasn’t as if I was looking to buy anything in particular. Rather, I was just looking for a diversion.

There, I saw a solitary girl quietly sitting in the convenience store’s garage, in which not a single car was parked.

Up to this point, I was never really interested in the girls around me. When I looked at the girls in my cla.s.s laughing and playing around, I never really got the impression that I wanted to be with these girls… I think I was too busy chasing dreams.

But that day, I met a dream-like girl.

The girl had sparkling silver hair that would make anyone jealous, and was wearing armor and gauntlets.

Of course, this was the first time I had seen a girl dressed like that. It wasn’t something you would wear to go to a convenience store.

She exuded an aura of mystery and was extremely beautiful. I couldn’t help but be drawn in like a bee is drawn to the scent of flowers.

Usually, there’s no question that I would think that she was a weird person, and would take refuge in the convenience store while avoiding eye contact. But that night, I stopped right there in my tracks.

Because then and there, she had seized my heart.

Our eyes met. The girl fixed her gaze firmly on me.

She was just like a doll… that was the only way I could think of to describe her. She had graceful looks that I felt belonged in an anime or manga. Even though she looked very young, perhaps because of her blue eyes, there was an air of elegance around her.

Making up my mind, I began to move towards her. For the first time in my life, I felt the urge to talk to a girl.

I remember that Orito had once told me something. “Girls are attracted to erratic behavior,” he had said.

…. Alright.

“Excuse me, do you believe in Mononoke Hime?” (1)

She turned her gaze away from me. It seemed that my first contact had failed.

Dammit… what should I do? This atmosphere is so uncomfortable now. What should I do… ah, umm… that’s right! If I go from a round-off into a moonsault, (2) that definitely should earn a high score!

I quickly put some distance between us, and took a deep breath. I took off into a run and did a cartwheel. Alright, that had good power behind it. With that kind of power…

When both legs touched the ground, I tucked into a somersault of two flips and one twist…

Krchh!

Aaaaaaarghhhhh!!! My ankle!!!! My round-off had failed.

I glanced at the girl.

I saw her shoulders shaking a bit, perhaps out of fear. Certainly, having someone you don’t know doing such suspicious things in front of you might scare you enough to make you want to run away. I was an idiot for believing what Orito had said.

I covered my head with both hands. Ugh, the more I think about it, the more I realize how embarra.s.sing that was.

As I was thinking that, the girl began to pull on my sleeve.

Her entire face showed no emotion when I removed her hand. She said not a single word, but just continued to stare at me. I couldn’t help but think that my soul might be stolen away by those blue eyes.

Under the light flowing out from the convenience store, Yuu took a ballpoint pen and a notepad from out of her skirt pocket, and tore off a single sheet… and on that sheet, she wrote this:

That was funny.

I was completely caught off guard and couldn’t respond. Wait, when her shoulders were shaking back then, that was laughter? Alright, let’s try a gag that Orito had done the other day. I lifted both my arms up.

So, don’t do it again.

What the h.e.l.l. With nowhere to go, my hands found their way to my head, and I ruffled my hair.

Who are you?

Her expression didn’t change, her gaze didn’t change. But her eyes seemed firm. She was probably on her guard.

“Just a normal kind oniisan.”

I will be the one to decide that.

“Quite right. Well, what kind of person do I look like then?”

Yuu took a bit of time to think about that question. She was motionless, as if her batteries had run out. When I tried to break the silence, she took out another memo sheet.

However I look at it, a suspicious idiot.

I burst into laughter. I guess that’s true. No matter how you look at it, I was a suspicious idiot.

In the end, she never spoke, but her right hand was very chatty. We talked for quite some time.

I never expected that it would be so fun chatting with a cute girl like this. I liked being alone, but talking with a girl like this was not bad either.

Having met Yuu, I discovered that joy.

Now that I think about it, it was precisely from that first meeting with Yuu that I began to act warmly towards girls.

Cutting off the conversation at an appropriate point, I waved goodbye to Yuu and began to walk home.

Be careful.

Yuu didn’t wave back, but just coolly swept her hair back.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES

(1) I’m inclined to say this is a reference to the Studio Ghibli, but it might be a mythology reference I’m not getting.

(2) Some gymnastics stuff. If you’re actually that curious, look it up.