Chapter 11

Chapter 11 – Sometimes I Need to Go Outside

My mother currently works as an editor at a publisher. It was a small company, but she worked hard every day to make ends meet and to pay for my tuition.

Because of this, my mother was extremely busy.

She left for work early in the morning and came home late every day. She even worked overtime during the weekends sometimes.

On occasion, she comes home earlier on a workday, but she would still be working from home. On such days, she wouldn’t have time to cook, so we end up ordering food, which wouldn’t be all that different from what Asanagi and I have been doing. But still, we couldn’t exactly hang out like usual when my mother was home, could we?

To me, Asanagi was merely a ‘friend’, but to an unconcerned party’s eyes, it would seem like I was bringing a girl home. I kept the matter between me and Asanagi a secret from my mom, so it would be troublesome if she were to find out about this.

“…I see. I can’t come over next week, huh?”

“Right. Well, you can still visit the week after that though.”

I felt disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to hang out with Asanagi, but as I previously mentioned, this way she could spend more time with Amami-san.

Besides, it would be nice to spend some time alone once in a while. After all, there were some things that you could only enjoy when you were alone.

“It’s for your mother’s job, so it can’t be helped, right? Guess I’ll concede our match next week to you.”

“You’d better git gud in two weeks’ time. You can run or hide, but I’ll still snipe you from a distance the moment you let your guard down.”

Asanagi’s skills have been improving lately. I needed to make sure that I could keep her humble.

“…That said, it’s getting late, I’m going home.”

“Mm… Then, see you in two weeks.”

“Huh? What are you on about? Sure we can’t hang out in your house next week, but my plan for the week is still the same.”

“Eh?”

What does she mean by that?

We can’t hang out like usual because my house will be off-limits, so that should clear up her schedule for next week, right? What is on her mind?

“If we can’t hang out at your place, we can just hang out outside, no? Of course, we’ll eat together outside as well.”

“…Huh?”

That was an idea a loner like me would never think of.

* * *

So came the next week. There was no change in our plan, both Asanagi and I decided to hang out like usual.

Except that we’ll be outdoors.

“How did it turn out this way…?”

After school, I went back home, changed into my casual clothes, left to the ticket gate in front of the station, and stood there alone. By the way, the said station was the biggest shopping district in the area.

It was currently the evening rush hour, so the station was packed. Office workers, students, and housewives were moving about, running their errands and whatnot.

I usually visited this place at least once a month to buy games or books, but whenever I did, I would come early in the morning when there were fewer people around. It had been a while since I had to stand in the middle of such crowds.

“…What are you doing, fiddling with your smartphone like that? You know, I thought that it would be harder to find you in this crowd, but you stand out a lot, Maehara, I almost laughed out loud. You’re like a drop of oil in the water.”

“My bad, it’s totally my fault that I can’t blend with my surroundings like a ninja… That said, yo, Asanagi.”

“Yo.”

When I looked away from my phone, Asanagi was right in front of me, dressed in her casual clothes. She said it would take a while for her to dress up, but she still arrived five minutes before the appointment time.

As expected, she was a punctual one, but then again, I came here fifteen minutes earlier…

“I’m hungry, let’s eat first.”

“Ahh, sure. But, do you have a place in mind?”

“Yeah. I called the place earlier and they said open tables, so we should be able to eat there.”

“My budget is only 2000 yen though, will that be enough?”

“Well, that’s for our stomachs to decide.”

Well, I’ve brought more money than that, just in case, but it wouldn’t hurt to save it.

Today, I left everything to Asanagi as she was the one who invited me. She was actually the one who offered to take the lead as thanks for always letting her come over to hang out. I didn’t really like crowded places, but I figured doing this should be okay once in a while.

“By the way, Asanagi.”

“Mmm?”

“Are you okay dressing like that?”

I didn’t mention it until now, but Asanagi’s attire was much less refined than I would have expected.

She was wearing a black baseball cap and an oversized hoodie. Her lower garments were jeans paired with a pair of cheap sneakers.

Her attire seemed so plain, like something you would wear when you go to a convenience store.

Well, I was wearing something similar, but they were the best clothes I had. It had been a long time since I went out, so I actually took about half an hour to decide what to wear.

But, the way Asanagi dressed seemed like she didn’t have that much trouble deciding on what to wear.

“Well, I don’t usually dress like this, but today is an extremely special case… You see, we kept our friendship a secret from the rest of the class, no? So, I figured that we should keep a low profile, just in case.”

Understandable. While I haven’t seen any of our classmates, I did see a lot of students wearing our school’s uniform.

In my case, no one would be able to recognize me since I was a loner and all, but they would definitely recognize Asanagi.

“…If you’re afraid that someone will find out, why do this in the first place?”

“Because it’s fun, duh. Enjoying ourselves outside like this while hiding our identities, doesn’t it sound exciting? And everything will be fine, I made backup plans in case something did happen.”

“Alright, fine.”

“That’s what I’m talking about. Let’s go!”

I’m still worried, but I’ll trust her.

…Risks aside, I do look forward to hanging out with her like this.

My thoughts about the situation aside, the fact that it took me half an hour to decide on what to wear, I swore to myself that I would take it to my grave… After all, she would definitely make fun of me if she ever found out.