My eyes fluttered open, letting me see my dark room, the curtains shut as to not allow light in. It was a familiar, lonely sight, and one I wanted to didn’t want to have to leave behind. But begrudgingly, I got up and changed into my uniform, beginning my morning routine.

I would wake up, get changed, and then stomach the fact that I had to go out into the world. Before summer vacation, I would have had breakfast with Lilly, but now she’s gone. A part of me missed her, another part of me was glad she’s gone, and both parts of me hated myself for thinking either of those thoughts.

I slowly opened my door just a little to see if anyone was in the hallway. The residents of the girl’s dorms usually weren’t up this early, and with summer vacation most of the students have vacated temporarily. I enjoyed that; it meant fewer people to be looked at by.

I finally prepared myself to go outside, resisting the urge to just go back and crawl into my bed for the whole day. Taking a step out of my room, I quickly shut the door behind me. There. Now there’s no turning back from-

I feel a pair of eyes looking at me, almost making me immediately retreat into my room. Just ahead of me was a student with messy auburn hair and no arms. Tezuka. She didn’t say anything as she continued staring at me.

I hated being stared at, but then again, I hated a lot of things.

“G-g-good morning…” I said, flinching internally at how pathetic my voice always sounded.

“Good morning,” Tezuka responded as her eyes continued to bore their way into my face. It wasn’t a pitiful stare like most people gave me, and it wasn’t revulsion at my scars. It was just a blank stare, but it was still unnerving.

“A-are you going somewhere?” I asked as I met her gaze slightly.

“Yes, I am going somewhere. I am always going somewhere. Are you going somewhere?”

I heard rumors that she was odd, but seeing it for myself firsthand was jarring. It was like talking to someone who just blurted out whatever she’s thinking, no matter how absurd.

“I-I was heading out to breakfast.” I felt my feet twitch slightly, every instinct in my body urging me to just ditch this conversation and go somewhere quiet, where there was nobody to deal with.

“Oh. So am I. Guess we’re both thinking the same thing. Maybe we joined our thoughts when we both thought of that,” Tezuka noted flatly, the ridiculousness of her words baffling me. What was with this girl? “Actually, Hisao probably made me think that. Did he make you think that too?”

“I-I don’t think so…?” was all I could respond to that weird comment.

“Oh,” Rin replied quickly. Is she disappointed? Upset? I can’t tell and it’s scaring me. She stares some more at me and I shift uncomfortably until- “Well, if you want to come, come. I’m going to the cafeteria. Hisao is waiting for me, like those kids' stories where a parent waits for his child.”

Rin turned her head around and started to walk away, barely acknowledging that we even had this conversation before she was out of sight.

Breathing a deep sigh of relief, I immediately got out of the dorm building before anyone else can see me. It was much easier now that most of the school’s students and faculty were gone, and I quickly found myself at ease again.

I hated being alone, but I also hate it when others are nearby. I was nothing but a charity case, someone who people either ignore or hung out because they felt bad for the poor orphan girl with scars all over her body. It made me sick and angry just thinking about it.

But…

Tezuka didn’t seem to ignore me, but she didn’t seem to pity me either, if she even knew how to. She just acknowledged my existence before walking away like it was nothing out of the ordinary, where it would have usually taken nothing short of blindness to not flinch at the sight of me.

I feel my stomach growling slightly and walked to the cafeteria, my head down low so that I didn’t have to look at anyone.

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The cafeteria was close to empty this early in the morning, a still atmosphere in the air. I quickly grabbed a tray and whatever food that was on display without looking at the servers. No doubt they would just see the scars. People always see the scars.

I quickly glance around to see if Tezuka and Hisao were there, and sure enough they were in the farthest corner of the cafeteria, quietly eating their breakfast together. I took a step towards them before stopping.

Thoughts immediately swarmed my head, as they often do when I thought of approaching people on my own: “You would just be bothering them.” “They don’t really want to hang out with you, they were just extending the courtesy.” They made themselves heard in my head again and again, and my body remained frozen in place.

I tried to shut them out as I forced a step forward, then another, and another. Eventually Hisao noticed me walking towards them. He didn’t say anything, but simply nodded before returning to conversing with the girl opposite of her.

“H-h-hi.” I stammered out as I got close to them. This time, Hisao and Rin both looked at me. They didn’t seem surprised, but they weren’t particularly inviting either, especially Rin. “C-can I eat with you two?”

“Good morning, Hanako. Of course you can sit with us.” Hisao said calmly and continued about eating his breakfast. Tezuka, however, kept her eyes onto me even as I sat down. She didn’t say a single word, and just kept her disturbingly ambivalent gaze on me.

Well, at least she isn’t pretending to not notice my scars. Not that I resented her stares any less for it.

“I-I-Is something wrong?” I asked her, barely containing myself any longer as I met her gaze with my own. I wanted to scream and run away.

“A lot of things are wrong. The world is dying, or so the news keeps saying. I hear bears are losing population, and that’s wrong,” Tezuka said, and I couldn’t tell whether she’s genuinely trying to make conversation or if she was mocking me. “This breakfast isn’t wrong though, even though I usually think it is.”

“I agree, the breakfast is better than usual,” Hisao noted as he took another bite. “You’ll have to put up with her, it’s how she is.”

“O-ok,” I replied meekly as the three of us ate breakfast together. It wasn’t like breakfast with Lilly, where the two of us would exchange pleasantries and talk about mundane stuff. The reassuring aura that she gave off wasn’t present with those two.

And surprisingly, I found it refreshing. They didn’t seem to pay attention to me apart from a simple acknowledgement of my existence. Rin and Hisao simply ate together in peaceful silence with me, and I found it easier to stomach the experience.

It also helped that Tezuka stopped staring at me so creepily.

“S-s-so, do you two often eat together?” I asked, and almost found it surprising that I was the one who broke the silence.

“Yes,” Rin answered as she sipped on a juice box. “I have remedial classes, so I eat lunch in class while Hisao does Hisao things. Do you do Hanako things?”

“I-I mostly just go to the library to read.”

“Yeah, I was actually thinking of heading there again once you go to classes,” Hisao stated as he finished his breakfast, pushing the tray away and letting out a content sigh before playfully adding “I need to do Hisao stuff because you’re not with me, Rin.”

Tezuka simply nods and continued sipping on her juice box. Looking down at my tray of food, I can’t help but feel like I’m an outsider to the entire conversation. Maybe it was a mistake to try eating with them…

“You like doing that,” I heard Tezuka say, and immediately looked up to see that her eyes were on me again.

“E-excuse me?”

“You like planting your head down,” she noted, closing her eyes. “I saw you once after class, and your head was facing down the entire way. Is there something interesting on the floor?” She opened them again, staring impassively at me.

I felt anxious at such a blunt question, the first one I’ve had in Yamaku. Everyone else always asks me stuff in a soft, almost condescending tone, but here comes Tezuka who doesn’t seem to grasp the concept of subtlety.

Oddly enough, the unintentionally rude way she asked was preferable to the appeasing ways other people do. It made me feel like I wasn’t being looked down upon.

“N-no,” I replied. “I-I just don’t like l-looking at people.”

“Oh,” Rin said, and closes her eyes. “I guess I can see that, sometimes I don’t like looking at people too. One time Emi came in as I was painting at I didn’t want to see her at all, so I turned my head whenever she was around for a while.”

“She looked at one of your unfinished paintings, didn’t she?” Hisao remarked dryly.

“She did, even though I said not to. I felt like kicking her back then, except I was painting, so I settled for not looking at her. She then said sorry again and again so I started looking at her again, like how my teacher would look at me again even though I ask him another math question.”

Hisao rolled his eyes at that last sentence, then begin chuckling lightly. I noticed Rin smiling slightly a little as well. There was definitely something between the two of them.

“You’re looking up now though,” Rin stated. “I think I like seeing you look up. It’s like seeing the number of sheep in the world go up.”

That sudden compliment threw me off guard, and I couldn’t blurt out anything in response. Tezuka’s...oddity was definitely something I’ve never encountered before in my life, and I wasn’t sure what to think of her.

“Isn’t it almost time for your remedial class, Rin?” Hisao said gently, causing Tezuka to close her eyes. “I know you don’t like it but…”

She simply nodded and stood up. She gave Hisao a slight nod and started to walk away. They didn’t kiss or hug or anything like that, they just simply nodded. Did they not like to do that? Hisao then turned to look at me, and I instinctively looked away.

“I’ll be heading to the library. We can read together, if you like to,” Hisao said, giving me a slight smile.

There it was again; the calm way in which he offered me that chance. He didn’t press me into reading with him, he simply told me to come if I wanted to. It felt relieving not to feel forced into doing anything.

“O-okay,” I replied, a slight smile forming on my face.

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The library was completely empty, except for me, Hisao and the librarian. I liked that sort of privacy, to be in a place where others are present but without the unnecessary attention that they would give me in any other part of the school. The fact that summer vacation emptied out most of the people here just made it easier for me in the regard.

Like most of my other times in here, I decided to pick up another new novel to read. The library contained a variety of things, but I always found myself choosing fiction novels. Whether it was Tolkein or Andersen, most of the things I liked to read about things that aren’t rooted in the current world, though I have a particularly soft spot for stories with a slight element of romance in them.

Hisao relaxed beside me on another beanie, picking up what seemed to be a book about history based on the cover. He didn’t glance at me as he flipped over another page, his eyes focusing on the large leather-bound book.

It was rude to stare at him, so I continued with my latest read, quickly immersing myself in the world and its characters. As always, these books provide me a doorway to emotions I feel I could never get in the real world: happiness, appreciation, comfort.

Books didn’t judge what the reader was, and books couldn’t see my scars. That was what was so great about them.

Hisao didn’t bother to make conversation with me, but I found the silence much more comforting than last time we were at the library together, which was mainly just awkward. We were simply in our own little worlds, with one unaffecting the other.

Eventually, curiosity and the pleasant aura made me feel at ease enough to speak to him. “U-um, Hisao?”

“Yeah?”

“U-um, d-do you like hanging out with me?” I asked.

He immediately turned his face to me, and for the first time didn't turn away. It took a lot in me not to even move my eyes away from him, but I managed to. He didn’t smile at me, but simply said “I do. It’s nice having you around, and I prefer it to reading on my own.”

He said nothing more as he turned back to his book. I didn’t know if he was intentionally trying to make me feel comfortable, or if he simply wanted to continue reading. I also resumed reading my book, before I heard his voice.

“Do you like hanging out with me? Honestly?”

I stayed silent at that question, my mouth quivering as I debated on what to do. How much should I give away?

“I-I do…” I finally managed to utter out. “Y-you d-don’t talk much to me, though.”

“I would like to talk more, honestly,” Hisao said, eyes still on the book. “But I don’t want to force you to, or make you say something you don’t want to. I trust you’ll talk to me when you genuinely want to.”

I asked, shocked. “R-really?”

“I do.” Hisao said calmly. “We’re not friends, but I’d like us to be. I’d like to be more open and honest with you, and for you to do the same to me. Of course, that’s only if you wish to.”

Those words completely took hold of my thoughts. He trusts me? He wants us to be friends? To be more open? I almost wanted to believe that’s true, but another voice in my head already screams at me that it’s all just a lie. He just wants to feel better by having someone inferior around.

I wanted to believe. I so desperately wanted to believe. But how could I?

“Hisao…” I said, my attention on the book evaporating. I needed to ask this question, I needed to make sure he isn’t lying. “W-why are you here? At Yamaku?”

He stayed silent for a while, and I immediately felt my hope sinking. I figured he didn’t trust me after all.

“I have arrhythmia,” Hisao said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. “It’s a condition where my heart could beat irregularly. If I don’t take care of it properly, I’ll have a heart attack.”

My mind immediately blanked at his answer. Risking a glance, I saw that he was looking through his book and that his eyes seemed different than before. Not just sad, but a deep worry on his face, as if saying that sentence somehow put his life in jeopardy.

“Oh…” was all I could manage before I placed my book in front of my face, ashamed to distract myself by reading. “I-I’m sorry for asking that, i-it was rude of me to…”

“It’s alright, I’m not mad,” Hisao said. “Like I said, I want to be open and honest with you. I...haven’t been so in the past, and it caused me a lot of unnecessary hardships. Besides, there’s no point in lying about it.”

I felt my chest getting tighter as I slowly lowered my book, allowing myself to peek at Hisao’s face again. He placed the book down on his lap and was looking at me again. His face wasn’t smiling, but it wasn’t angry either. It was...an honest face, nothing hidden.

It was a face I felt I could trust, that I wanted to trust, if only a little.

“T-thank you for telling me.” I couldn’t bring it in me to smile, not with how awkward I'd made things by asking him, but I could at least look him in the eye. “I-I would like for us to be friends.”

At that, Hisao showed a slight smile. “Then we’re friends, then.” His smile widened as he added, a little playfully. “Want to shake on it?”

I couldn’t help but smile a little as I nodded slightly. Hisao extended his hand and I extended mine, and we shook our hands once before looking away.

I felt just a little bit of courage building up within me to ask him something again. “U-um, Hisao? C-can I ask something...again?”

“Sure.”

“H-how do you find T-Tezuka?”

Hisao took a deep breath before answering. “She’s like a roller coaster, honestly. She can be so weird, so out there. I sometimes feel like I’m hanging out with a different person every day. But I care for her all the same.”

“I-I see. S-she seems a bit...distant.”

“She does give off that impression, doesn’t she?” Hisao said wryly, closing the book and sinking down further into the beanie. His demeanor was extremely relaxed, almost apathetic. “I try not to harp on it too much. She is who she is.”

Feeling like I’ve bothered him enough, I decided to continue on with the rest of my book. After what felt like a few hours I closed the back cover on it, the story coming to its end. Turning to look at him, I saw that he was still in that same position, his eyes deep in thought. His calm expression was something I wish I could have.

“I-I think I’m done reading for today,” I mentioned, which seemed to have caught his attention. “T-Thank you for keeping me company.”

“Thank you for having me,” Hisao said as he stood up, letting out a light yawn.

“U-um, if there’s anything you want to do....” I said as I stood up. We slowly walked together to put our books back into their respective places. “I-I feel like I owe you for asking you s-so many u-uncomfortable questions.”

“No you don’t. I chose to answer them, after all,” Hisao said as we stood there in the library, eyeing each other. “Though if you really want to, you can join me and Rin for dinner. We’re heading to the Shanghai after Rin is done with remedials. It’d be nice to have someone else to join us.”

I froze for a second. It’s been a while since I’ve gone outside Yamaku, and truth be told I didn’t really want to go where other people could so easily see my scars. I felt like refusing, but something in me dared to accept his offer.

“I-I...let me think about it,” I said at last.

Hisao nodded as we left the library together. “That’s still a ways away, take all the time you need. We’ll be at the Yamaku gate at 6 if you want to go.”

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We parted ways not long after we exited the library. As much as I liked my newfound friendship with Hisao, the desire to be alone was something I could never really get away from. Hisao seemed to understand, or at least he didn’t object, and simply thanked me for the company once again before leaving.

I went back to my room and quickly laid in my bed, hugging my pillow tight as I looked at the clock on my table. It was just past 1. There was plenty of time to make up my mind on whether to go or not.

There was a part of me that wanted to go, to be with the person I now considered to be my only friend currently in Yamaku. But another part of me, the part of me that always saw the worst of people’s intentions, that always took every act of kindness as cruel pity and every blessing as a hidden curse, came up again. Accusing Hisao of simply trying to make friends with the pathetic scarred girl that had nowhere to go and no one to run to.

It was a hard thought to ignore, especially when I’ve listened to it for so long I’ve come to believe it, regardless of the validity of those statements.

Another one came out, even worse than the last. It accused me of being undeserving of his friendship, of anyone’s friendship. I was a person who would resent people’s help no matter how genuine, and for that I didn’t deserve even an ounce of their time.

Slowly but surely, the thoughts of self loathing and suspicion started to outweigh the ones promising a friendship. I wanted to scream out at all the dark thoughts in my head, I wanted to shut them out so badly.

Why couldn’t I just let myself be happy? Why can’t I see anyone’s kindness as anything other than empty pity?

Lilly ditched me in the end, and eventually Hisao will too. Those were my only thoughts, even as I wanted to think about anything else but them. I pressed my face against my pillow, pointlessly hoping that it could muffle out the voices in my head.

I want to be open and honest with you.

That voice, Hisao’s voice whispered in my ear. My mind frantically remembered him in the library, with those calm eyes, saying those hopeful words.

I want to be open and honest with you.

Can I really believe him? I wanted so desperately to, but can I?

I sighed as I closed my eyes. Those dark thoughts were still in my head, but I managed to calm myself a bit and continued listening to that voice, the voice that promised me a way out of my misery.

I didn’t know when my mind was made up, but eventually it did. If Lilly’s absence truly made me realize something, it was that I hate being alone.

I looked at the clock again. It was 2. Four more hours to prepare myself. The question on whether I was going or not was no longer there. I wanted to go out with them; I no longer wanted to be stuck where I am, completely alone.

Taking a deep breath, I hopped out of my bed and started taking off my uniform to change.

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The sun was starting to set when I finally came out of my room. I was wearing a pink shirt with a blue jacket, as well as black jeans. My nerves were still getting the better of me as I fidgeted around with my fingers.

Hisao and Tezuka were waiting just outside the school gates. They were still in their school uniforms, and I immediately wondered if I should have changed at all. My nerves just increased as I approached them.

Tezuka was actually the first one to notice me as she turned her head towards me. I tried not to look away as I walked up to them. “G-good evening, Hisao, Tezuka.”

“Don’t call me that,” The red headed girl immediately said, though her face didn’t seem to be angry. “Teachers call me that, and you’re not a teacher. Call me Rin.”

“I-I’m sorry,” I said as I immediately took a step back.

Hisao let out a light chuckle as he turned to me. “Thank you for coming with us. I wasn’t sure if you were going to.”

“I-Is it really o-ok for me to be here?” I asked, my nerves reaching a boiling point. “I-I don’t want to get in between you two.”

“You and Hisao are friends, right?” Tezu...Rin asked suddenly.

“Y-Yes…”

“Then you’re my friend too. Emi says that’s how that works, even though I don’t know why. When you marry someone your friends don’t become your wife’s friends, and when you become someone’s boss you don’t become his friend’s boss…”

She went on and on, and I stopped keeping up with her babbling. Hisao looked at me and simply gave me a sympathetic smile as he said, “Rin, are you hungry?”

Rin cuts herself off and looks at Hisao before giving the most expressionless pout I’ve ever seen. “Yes.”

“Then let’s go. The Shanghai isn’t going to be open forever.” He turned around and started walking out the gate, and Rin followed shortly after. I quickly followed after them, determined not to get left behind. Oddly enough, Rin’s long...whatever it was...made me less nervous than before.

We walked on the roadside down the hill. There wasn’t any conversation between the three of us, and I was too nervous to bring anything up. I was walking just a bit behind them, almost as if I was a separate entity from the two of them, which I sort of was.

Eventually, we made it to the small town at the bottom. The place was quieter than usual, with hardly a person out on the streets apart from us. I looked at several stores on the way, and the employees inside looked extremely bored.

After a while, however, I realized that we were heading towards an unfamiliar part of town. This wasn’t the way to the Shanghai.

“U-um,” I started to speak up. “T-this isn’t the w-way to the Shanghai. I-I think it’s that way.”

Rin and Hisao turned around to look at me pointing at another street. It was the route Lilly and I go to whenever we went to visit the cafe. Seeing it again now that she’s gone made me a little nostalgic, and a little sad.

“Oh, is it? It’s been a while,” Hisao pointed out. “Why don’t you lead the way, Hanako?”

“M-me? Are you sure?”

“Yeah, you’re more familiar with this area of the town than Rin and I are. I usually just take the bus to...uh..” Hisao said before uncomfortably cutting off.

“The atelier,” Rin finished. “Did you forget, Hisao? Are you suffering from dementia already? I thought you need to be old to do that.”

“Hey!” Hisao said in mock offense, a slight grin on his face. “It’s not like you don’t forget things too.”

“I do forget things.” She nodded as she closed her eyes. “But I forget them because I don’t think they’re important. Why do I need to remember what food I ate on the 26th of May?”

Hisao could only shake his head, and I found myself a little jealous of them. Those two seemed like the type who truly cared for each other with no strings attached, and my mind wandered back to whether Lilly’s friendship was just as genuine or not.

“Anyways, mind guiding us, Hanako?” Hisao asked. “We would probably be lost without you.”

I nodded slowly and started to lead the three of us. Rin and Hisao continued bickering about forgetfulness, and while I didn’t join them, I didn’t put as much distance between us as I had.

It wasn’t long before we reached the Shanghai. It was decorated like a traditional tea house and before long, an old woman I didn't recognize smiled at us and invited us to sit. "What do you want to have tonight?"

“Do you have anything to eat for dinner? That isn’t bread?” Hisao asked.

“We have some chicken pie.”

“Alright, then one of those. Rin, Hanako?”

“Mmmm,.” Rin said and closed her eyes again. I wonder how often she does that. Does she close her eyes whenever someone asked her anything? “Pie.”

Turning to me, the elderly waitress didn’t flinch when she saw my face, though I did my best to keep it hidden all the same. “U-um, do you have the chicken sandwich? I-I’ll have one of those.”

“Alright, dearie. Any drinks? Desserts?”

“Iced tea,” Hisao said.

“Water. Preferably with a straw. Not straw water, the drinking kind,” Rin stated.

“U-um, some tea and a c-chocolate cake,” I finished quickly, feeling slightly embarrassed that I was the only one ordering any sort of dessert.

The old waitress simply nodded before walking off. A few minutes later, our drinks arrived. Rin eyed the black straw in her cup, watching it spiral around the glass before finally leaning her head down to take a sip of it.

“Is there anything you’d like to talk about, Hanako?” Hisao asked as he calmly took a sip of his iced tea.

The sudden question threw me slightly off guard. “U-um…”

“Sorry if it came out of the blue,” Hisao said apologetically. “I was just wondering if there was anything on your mind, since you’ve been mostly quiet. If you don’t, that’s quite alright.”

“I-I…”

The waitress came over with our food before I could properly respond, which I was slightly thankful for. Rin, Hisao, and I all tucked in, which killed any and all conversation. It meant we didn’t kept going down an awkward path, but it felt very different from meals with Lilly, where we talked throughout. It felt wrong to comparing them to her, but for a long time she was the only meaningful social contact that I had.

However, the justification didn’t eased my guilt in the slightest, merely fueling it further.

“U-um,” I said as I finished my sandwich first, wiping my mouth with a tissue. I had to say something to make for what I’d been thinking... “I-I was wondering about how close you two are.”

“Are we close, Hisao?” Rin asked in between bites of her pie. “We’re next to each other, so I guess we’re close. But we aren’t touching each other, so we’re not that close.”

“She meant emotionally.”

“Oh.” Rin closed her eyes. “I guess we are.”

You guess? You two are boyfriend and girlfriend and you only “guess” that you’re close to him? What kind of relationship was this? Of course, I kept those thoughts to myself as I took a nervous sip of my tea, waiting for my dessert.

“I’ll take it,” Hisao commented as he finished his pie, looking at Rin with a slight smirk. “Sorry, you’ll get used to how she is.”

I don’t I ever will. I don’t even know how you got used to her.

“Me and Hisao are close like two people with a string attached,” Rin said. “Except the string is sometimes long and sometimes short, and you can’t tie people with it, and it doesn’t have a color so I don’t know whether to call it blue or red. Do you have anyone like that?”

Her eyes were onto me again, and I looked down onto the ground. “I-I don’t think I have anyone like that. I-I’m not close to anyone…”

“Oh,” Rin stated flatly, and though I could tell it wasn’t an insult, it still stung. “Would you like to be close to us?”

My eyes immediately snapped open towards her. She looked as if she hadn’t said anything, and I didn’t know whether to be angry or be happy. Hisao meanwhile looked at Rin with a look of mild surprise, though he gave me a sideways glance.

“I-I don’t know if I can…” I whispered quietly. “I don’t know if I should.”

“Because of your scars?” Rin asked, keeping her tone even.

I felt as if I should be mad at her calling out my scars so plainly, but for once I was glad at her neutral tone. She didn’t speak about my scars in pity or revulsion, just a clear statement of facts. It was probably the first time anyone spoke about my scars without any emotion one way or the other.

“N-no, i-it’s not that,” I said, a little louder this time. “I-It’s just...hard for me to trust anyone.”

Rin stared at me, looking slightly more serious. “A lot of things are hard. It’s hard for me to use a vending machine. No arms. It’s hard for Hisao to not be around me, or so he likes to say. But I still use a vending machine when I need to, and Hisao can stay away from me if I ask him to.”

“Even if I feel every second that I’m not with you is torture. Agonizing torture,” Hisao said in a mocking tone.

“But sometimes you need to do things that are hard, I think. If you don’t do things that are hard, then it’s like owning a room without any furniture to move. It’s just empty.”

I look at the two people before me, and they looked back at me. I think in that moment I understood a little why those two were so close. They said they didn’t understand each other, but they respected each other enough to not pretend to.

It was something I deeply envied. I wanted to experience that for myself.

“I-I think you’re right,” I said, putting courage in my voice. “I-It’s hard for me to trust anyone, b-but I want to trust you two. C-Can we be friends, Rin?”

Rin’s reply was a puzzled look. “I thought we were already friends. Are we not friends?”

I couldn’t help but let out a light giggle at that. For how weird and off-putting she’s been, she can be oddly nice to be with. “I-I’d like to think we are.”

“Then we are,” Rin said as she sipped from her cup.

The waitress finally arrived with my cake, and our conversation turned to other topics: school, exams, summer vacation soon ending. I found myself talking not because I felt forced to, but because I genuinely wanted to. The atmosphere around us was warm and inviting, and I found myself not resisting it at all, willing to enjoy the moment.