「Can I call you Shiori¹? I’ve been wanting to meet you for so long, you know!」

         Within the first minute of meeting me, the girl standing in front of me asked if she could call me by my first name without any honorifics.

         Things were moving way too fast. I’d never had someone try to get this familiar with me so quickly.

         Never before had a complete stranger whose name I didn’t even know asked if they could call me by my given name without any honorifics.

         Suppressing the urge to run out of the fairly crowded café, I looked around for Sendai-san, who was supposed to be working today, but she was nowhere to be found.

         「Oops, am I being too familiar? In that case, can I at least call you ‘Shiori-chan’? You can just call me Mio.」

         Before she even took my order, the café employee who had introduced herself as “Hazuki’s friend” told me her first name. Even so, I still wasn’t comfortable with her calling me “Shiori-chan.”

         Apparently, she’d been wanting to meet me for a while. She was also Sendai-san’s friend from university, and the one who had introduced her to this job.

         Which meant she was technically the one who had taken Sendai-san away from me this winter break.

         It felt like, no matter what, I was going to have a hard time getting along with her.

         I let out a small sigh.

         I shouldn’t have come to a place like this alone on New Year’s Eve.

         I couldn’t help regretting my decision to visit Sendai-san at work.

         I hadn’t come here to be pestered by a waitress who insisted on calling me “Shiori-chan” and wanted me to call her Mio. Instead of taking my order, she just kept rambling and asking questions like, “You and Hazuki are friends, right?” and “I heard you two were roommates?”

         「Mio-san, may I place my order?」

         Instead of looking at Sendai-san’s friend, who was beaming at me, I kept my eyes on the menu.

         She was an employee, which meant she should leave once she’d taken my order. There was no way a waitress would stick around after taking a customer’s order.

         「No, no! You have to call me ‘Mio’!」

         She exclaimed cheerfully, and I looked up at the annoying waitress.

         「… May I ask what your family name is?」

         「It’s Komatsu. My name’s Komatsu Mio, but call me ‘Mio,’ okay?」

         「Komatsu-san, I would like the cheesecake and tea set, please.」

         Calling her by her first name would only encourage the familiarity she was after.

         So I addressed her by her last name and gave her my order.

         「Aww. You were supposed to call me ‘Mio’ there!」

         Komatsu-san, whose hair was lighter than Sendai-san’s, protested in a bright, cheerful voice.

         I really shouldn’t have come, I thought to myself.

         If only I could turn back time. Then I’d tell my past self from an hour ago not to leave the apartment.

         I swallowed the sigh threatening to escape and looked at Komatsu-san, who wore her hair in a bob that suited her well.

         I didn’t really care that she’d been wanting to meet me, and I didn’t particularly care about meeting her either. I was simply bored of sitting at home by myself, so I’d decided to come to the café for a change of pace.

         But now I realized what a mistake that had been.

         Komatsu Mio didn’t seem like a bad person. She was bright and friendly, like a ray of sunshine, but she just wasn’t the kind of person I liked being around.

         「Shiori-chan, just try calling me ‘Mio’ once.」

         This waitress really didn’t know when to quit.

         Calling her “friendly” was putting it mildly. She had absolutely no sense of personal boundaries.

         Why are all of Sendai-san’s friends so convinced everyone likes them?

         「Um, Mio-san. How do you know my name?」

         I gave in and called her by her first name, though I kept the honorific. I had a feeling that if I ever called her just “Mio,” she’d start calling me “Shiori” too, so I steered the conversation in a different direction.

         She probably knew my name because Sendai-san had told her, and she already knew what I looked like because Sendai-san had shown her a picture of me. Still, I couldn’t think of anything else to talk about.

         「Hazuki told me.」

         She replied exactly as I’d expected, and I couldn’t help but curse Sendai-san.

         If Sendai-san hadn’t mentioned Komatsu-san—no, Mio-san—to me, none of this would’ve happened. Well, no. I hadn’t come here because I was curious about her or anything. My coming here had nothing to do with Sendai-san mentioning Mio-san to me.

         「Shiori-chan… Are you really that against calling me ‘Mio’?」

         Mio asked, sounding a little disappointed.

         「Well, we just met…」

         「I see. Well, in that case, ‘Mio-san’ is fine for now. We can drop the honorifics once we’ve gotten to know each other better. Oh, and you don’t need to use polite speech² with me, so feel free to drop it, Shiori-chan.」

         I had no intention of following her suggestion, but if I replied with, “I understand,” she’d probably just tell me to drop the polite speech again.

         What do I even say here?

         At a loss for words, I looked around for Sendai-san once again. Just then, I heard a slightly deeper voice from somewhere nearby.

         「Hey now, don’t bully your customers.」

         「Oh, senpai!」

         Following Mio-san’s gaze, I looked toward the source of the voice.

         It was from the same slightly intimidating-looking customer who had been talking to Sendai-san the last time I came here with Maika.

         If I remembered correctly, she was a regular here, and the upperclassman who had introduced Sendai-san to her private tutoring job.

         Just remembering her put me in a bad mood. I tugged on my bangs to hide the frown on my face and took a sip of water from the cute little cup in front of me.

         「Anyway, Miyagi-chan. Are you cohabiting with Sendai-chan?」

         She suddenly asked me something not even Mio-san had brought up.

         That’s weird.

         Why is she asking me that?

         I wasn’t surprised that this upperclassman knew my name, but I was taken aback by the completely inaccurate term she’d used.

         How exactly did Sendai-san describe our situation to them?

         「Huh? I knew Shiori-chan was Hazuki’s roommate, but they were actually cohabiting this whole time?」

         「Well, Miyagi-chan? Is it true?」

         She asked in an unusually kind tone.

         But the way she looked at me with her sharp, almond-shaped eyes was a little intimidating.

         「No, we’re just roommates.」

         My voice came out quieter than I’d expected, but I corrected her misunderstanding.

         「Aww, come on, Miyagi-chan. Give me a more interesting answer than that.」

         「It’s not like I can just make one up…」

         「Senpai, you’re putting Shiori-chan on the spot. Let’s ask her something easier. Like how she ended up rooming with Hazuki. Or what Hazuki was like in high school. Was she as popular back then as she is now?」

         I flinched at Mio-san’s words, and my heart began to race.

         “Was she as popular back then as she is now?”

         So Sendai-san was popular at university too.

         I’d suspected as much from the beginning, but until now, it had only been speculation. Mio-san’s words confirmed something I’d been trying to ignore, and it began to gnaw at me.

         She’d probably already been confessed to countless times. I couldn’t help wondering what kind of people had confessed to her, or how she’d responded to them.

         The thoughts I’d been trying to avoid slowly resurfaced, and the air around me suddenly felt harder to breathe.

         I lowered my gaze to the menu and took slow, deep breaths, trying to drive those pointless thoughts from my mind. But the tightness in my chest wouldn’t ease, and I couldn’t stop myself from clutching at my throat.

         Caffè latte.

         Caffè mocha.

         Matcha latte.

         As I tried to distract myself by reading through the menu, a clear, familiar voice reached my ears.

         「Mio, the manager’s asking for you. Also, Noto-senpai, please go back to your seat.」

         I lowered my hand from my throat and slowly looked up. Sendai-san was standing there, wearing her customer-service smile.

         「Hazuki, you look terrifying! I can practically see the horns growing out of your head!」

         Mio said, exaggerating her fear.

         「I don’t know what you’re talking about.」

         Sendai-san shot back.

         「Hey, beautiful. Think you can let me get away with switching seats?」

         「No. Go back to your own seat, senpai.」

         「Well, it was worth a shot.」

         Noto-san said as she reluctantly made her way back to her own seat.

         「You said you wanted the cheesecake and tea set, right, Shiori-chan?」

         Mio-san, who had apparently remembered my order, asked.

         「Yes.」

         I replied.

         「Got it! Anyway, I’ll see you next time, Shiori-chan!」

         I wasn’t sure why she seemed so sure we’d be seeing each other again, but with those cheerful parting words, Mio-san disappeared into the back of the café.

         Finally, with only Sendai-san left, she looked at me and spoke in a lower voice than usual.

         「… Miyagi, what’s with her calling you ‘Shiori-chan’?」

         「I don’t know. She just started calling me that on her own. She kept insisting on calling me ‘Shiori.’ It was exhausting.」

         「So you let her call you ‘Shiori’?」

         「I didn’t. That’s why she started calling me ‘Shiori-chan‘ instead… Not that I let her call me that either.」

         「What about from now on?」

         「What do you mean?」

         「Are you going to let her call you ‘Shiori’ in the future?」

         「No way. Besides, I think your friends are—」

         I cut myself off. I could say whatever I wanted about Sendai-san, but speaking badly about her friends would be going too far. I washed the words I was going to say away with a gulp of water.

         「You can say it.」

         「No, it wasn’t anything important anyway.」

         「Well, I want to know what you thought of Mio and Noto-senpai, so tell me.」

         「… They’re pretty weird.」

         I said, trying to sugarcoat my impression of them.

         「I know Mio can be a bit much sometimes, but I don’t know if I’d call her weird.」

         「… I don’t think most people act like that.」

         Sendai-san and I lived in different worlds. She was always surrounded by people and could get along with just about anyone, so I doubted we’d ever see eye to eye on something like this.

         「Really? Maybe she’s a bit more outgoing than most people, but isn’t it normal to act familiar toward a friend’s friend?」

         「Not everyone sees it that way, you know.」

         「I guess that’s true… Anyway, what did you order?」

         Sendai-san changed the subject, bringing the stalemate to an end.

         「Cake.」

         「I see. Can you wait a little while after you finish eating before you leave?」

         「Why?」

         「I’m getting off early today, so let’s go home together.」

         「No, I’m good.」

         Sendai-san had told me before she left home that she’d be getting off early today, but I hadn’t come to the café just so we could walk home together. Besides, if I waited around, I was afraid those two would start bombarding me with questions again. I didn’t want to stay any longer than I had to.

         「Come on. It’s the last day of the year, so let’s go home together.」

         「It’ll be a pain if those two come over and start talking to me again, so I want to head home as soon as I can.」

         「If that’s what you’re worried about, don’t be. I’ll take care of it.」

         「Will you really?」

         「Yeah, I promise.」

         Sendai-san sounded confident, but nothing was ever certain. Especially when it came to Mio-san, who seemed to have no sense of personal boundaries. Even Noto-san had been overly familiar with me. I couldn’t shake the feeling that they’d somehow get past Sendai-san and start talking to me again anyway.

         But like Sendai-san said, it was the last day of the year.

         It wouldn’t hurt to give her a chance.

         「… If either of them comes over to talk to me again, I’m leaving immediately.」

         「I’ll make sure they don’t.」

         Sendai-san said with a smile.

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1. Some of you are probably already familiar with this already, but in Japan, they generally attach honorifics to the end of people’s names, and generally, the default way to refer to someone is by their last name. I won’t cover the concept of honorifics here, especially since we’ve gone the whole series without mentioning it. But as a refresher, calling someone by their first name is generally a sign of closeness, and it’s pretty weird and/or inappropriate to be called your first name — especially without an honorific — by someone you’ve just met. This does vary based on the status and position of both parties, so as two young people that are connected by a mutual friend, this isn’t terribly strange, but everyone has their own level of comfort. ↩︎
2. I wrote “polite speech” here, but as some of you may have guessed, the original text says keigo (敬語), which is a highly polite and formal way of speaking to others. It’s commonly used with strangers, superiors, or in formal situations, and here, it’s meant to show the distance between Miyagi and Mio. I tried to convey it by writing Miyagi’s dialogue with Mio a bit more formally. ↩︎

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Chapter debt: 89

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