Our town had a train station. Over the years, the area around it had changed. There were brand-new high-rise buildings, huge offices, expensive stores, and restaurants. This place seemed to be on a constant upward trajectory, offering ever more attractions, and the atmosphere changed completely when night fell.
By day, it was filled with kids coming here to hang out after school, go on dates, and whatever else it is that school kids do. But by night, it underwent a total transformation: it became a watering hole for society's most fashionable members. A gentle, snazzy evening, with suave men in overly-expensive suits and snooty women clinking wine glasses.
The tall, 48-story building that looked over both of these scenes on a daily basis was called the Midnight Tower, and it was this building that most people used as a landmark for the station.
There I was, in a fancy restaurant on the Midnight Tower's thirtieth floor, looking over the city lights through the window. It was 8 p.m. I wore the Amani suit I had for just such an occasion, and waited for Mashiro to arrive.
My faint reflection in the window almost caused me to crack a smile. How often did you see a high schooler dressed like this? Still, even somebody as averagely average as me could look good if I dressed up right —and sure enough, I didn't look too bad. I booked this place pretending to be an adult, and I doubted I was about to get found out looking like this.
I was sitting there minding my own business when an older man approached me: the waiter.
"I believe your guest has arrived, sir."
"Thank you. Hi, Mashiro. That suits you." I smiled at the girl shrinking back behind the waiter.
She was wearing a cool blue dress. The thin belt around her waist was adorned with an unassuming golden clasp. Her outfit was flashy but not
gaudy. Though the dress was a little open at the top, revealing her pale white skin, it gave off an air of delicacy rather than obscenity.
Her hair was done up, her lips painted, and her make-up perfect. This was clearly Mashiro at her very best.
With a bright-red face, Mashiro sat down stiffly in the chair the waiter pulled out for her. The way her arms and legs moved perfectly in sync with one another was almost robotic, and I couldn't help but laugh.
"D-Don't laugh at me."
"You look so nervous that it's kinda funny."
"Shut up. It's your fault for booking this stupidly fancy place."
"What? You don't like it?"
"No, I do, but...I feel like I'm not old enough to be here."
"No, see, whether you belong here or not is something you get to decide
for yourself."
"Still, it looks really expensive... You know Dad would pay if I asked
him, right?"
"What kinda guy would ask his date's dad to foot the bill? No way."
I could hear him now, scolding me for knowing nothing about how to treat
a lady in that smooth voice of his. Besides, if he found out I was on an actual date with his daughter, I probably wouldn't live to see next week.
"Don't worry about the bill. I'll use the Alliance's budget."
"The budget?"
"That's right. The Alliance is doing pretty well now, moneywise. I
wouldn't use the money for personal stuff, but if it benefits the team, I'm all for spending it."
"But I'm, I mean, I don't help with your game stuff, right?" Mashiro asked, looking at me particularly intently.
"Right. I can't tell you everything just yet, but eating out here tonight has got something to do with the Alliance and its activities."
"Huh?"
"Don't worry about it. Just enjoy your food."
"O-Okay. Um, where are the menus?"
"There aren't any. It's a set three-course meal."
"O-Oh."
Despite her father's wealth, it looked like Mashiro wasn't used to these
sorts of fancy restaurants. She was fidgeting, her eyes darting all over the
place.
That wasn't to say I was used to them, of course. I had come here before
though, and that was to get Sumire on my side. I failed back then, but it prepared me for this time. I couldn't just blackmail her into joining us, so for good measure, I invited her out here to try and butter her up. It ended up being a total waste of time, but I don't really want to go into that now.
It's kinda rude to be thinking about other women when you're on a date too.
"Is this what you meant when you told me on LIME you were gonna 'dress to impress'?" I said the first thing that came to my head when I looked at Mashiro.
She fidgeted bashfully some more before giving me a nod.
"Do you not, um, like it?" she asked, looking up at me anxiously. "It's cute."
"What?"
"Nothing. Don't worry; it's very stylish. And it suits this place too." "Th-Thanks..."
I needed to put my filter back on. It was probably because Otoi-san
grilled me earlier on whether Mashiro was cute or not. She looked cute, of course, but there was more to it than that. It was heartwarming how hard she tried to dress herself up when she was naturally withdrawn and asocial.
And to think, this adorable girl had declared her love for me. It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance, a pure stroke of luck I might never encounter again.
I noticed Mashiro looking around the place thoughtfully.
"Something the matter?"
"There are a lot of...grown-up couples here."
"Well, yeah, this is the sort of place couples go to. This is where you go
to have a good talk with your significant other." "O-Oh."
Mashiro had been charmed by the magic of this place without even realizing it. The prickly reception I got in the classroom was nowhere to be seen now.
"Does that put you off? I guess it would..."
I remembered back when she was watching that shark movie, and the satisfied glint she had in her eye when the popular kids got eaten. I got the
impression that she hated couples and everyone whose life seemed to be going swimmingly.
Maybe I should've picked somewhere a little more casual...
But Mashiro shook her head, a small smile rising to her lips. "Seeing couples doesn't make me mad...anymore."
"You really used to hate them though, right?"
"Well, they always looked so happy, and it was like they were trying to rub it in everyone's faces. Like they were laughing at me for being all by myself."
"Talk about a victim complex...but yeah, I get what you're saying."
"But I understand now. Those happy couples weren't laughing at me. In fact, they didn't care about anyone else at all. I get that, now that I'm in love too..."
I could feel my chest tightening as Mashiro mumbled away. She was so sweet that I just wanted to run over there and give her a hug.
It really did feel like we were on a date. I was pondering this when the waiter came over with our drinks. He poured a red liquid into our glasses.
Mashiro's eyes widened. "W-Wine? I'm... Um, I'm not..." "Non-alcoholic. It's this place's specialty."
"Y-You mean..."
"Grape juice, essentially." I smiled and raised my glass.
Relieved, Mashiro wrapped her hand around her own glass and lifted it to
meet mine. She tried to hold it like she was used to it, but it was kinda clear this was new to her. I didn't feel the need to correct her, though.
"Cheers."
"Ch-Cheers..."
We clinked glasses.
"Mm... This is good!"
"I told you. This isn't like the stuff you find in stores."
The moment she took a sip, Mashiro seemed to relax. The familiar taste of
the juice must have put her at ease, even in our high-class surroundings. I couldn't have asked for a smoother start.
"Thank you for waiting. I have the clam cocktail here."
Time for our starter: clams arranged artistically in a little glass. It was pretty cute.
"Ahh! They're so cute! Look! Clams!"
"I thought you'd like it, since you love seafood so much."
Seafood was a staple of French cuisine, and this restaurant in particular served a lot of fish.
"I didn't just choose this place because it was fancy, y'know."
"Thank you, Aki!" Mashiro giggled in delight.
Looks like I made the right choice.
And so, we started enjoying our food. It was a wonderful time. Each dish
was arranged beautifully, and we took pictures on our phones and shared our thoughts on the flavors. We were acting like a real couple.
Our fake relationship was borne of selfishness and convenience. It was all so that we could both get what we wanted. With Mashiro's confession, the relationship had the potential to move on to the next level. Depending on my response, everything could change.
If this were an anime, a movie, or indeed a light novel, it would be natural to assume the protagonist wouldn't decide on any one girl. He'd pretend not to hear their confession, or play dumb and ignore everything until the next plot point came along. I get that from an emotional perspective; this was the kind of thing that could drastically alter your relationship, or even destroy it. And that was scary.
Things would be different if these protagonists prioritized an efficient lifestyle above all else. They were afraid of change. So was I, which was why I had put this off for so long. I told myself I had to respond to Mashiro's confession, but I was honestly a little relieved when she kept avoiding me. If I couldn't respond, nothing would change.
I know that was a stupid attitude to have, though. By ignoring the whole thing entirely, I was losing something important. Any sort of god looking down on the situation would probably lump me in with those indecisive protagonists.
But whoever this god was, they didn't need to worry any longer. I wasn't going to ignore what was in front of me anymore. I was going to answer Mashiro's confession right then and there. I already knew what I was going to say.
"Hey, Mashiro?"
"Mm? What is it, Aki?"
"I wanted to give my reply to your confession. That's why I invited you
here."
"Yeah..."
I looked her in the eye, but she avoided my gaze. She put down her knife and fork, which caused the grape juice in her glass to quiver slightly.
"Dinner was lovely. Thank you for taking me here."
"I'm just glad you liked it. Mashiro, I—"
"It's fine. I don't need to hear your reply." Mashiro's voice was firm as
she interrupted me.
Don't worry; I planned for this. She had been avoiding me, after all, so I
thought she might chicken out here.
"I'm doing this now. Hearing your confession forced me to face my own
feelings. If I can't tell you now, I'll regret it for the rest of my life."
"I thought you might insist, because you're stubborn. But you've got it all
wrong." "Oh?"
"You're about to turn me down, aren't you?"
I gawked at her. She was totally right.
I spent my whole life avoiding romance and typical teenage nonsense.
Then I met Ozu and his incredible talent. Sumire and then Iroha came along, and I decided I'd form the Alliance. Just to give them a place where their talents were put to good use.
That was my goal, and to achieve it with maximum efficiency, I decided to shun everything else. That included all the things my peers treasured and cherished. That's why, thus far, I'd avoided things like confessions. Not having any experience with them came back to bite me in the ass here, though. After speaking with Iroha and Otoi-san about it, I came to a single conclusion: I couldn't accept Mashiro's confession.
"So uh, what makes you think I'm turning you down?"
"Because you're too nice. You took me to this wonderful restaurant, and I'm going to remember this for a long time. But the moment you told me where we were meeting, I knew you were going to reject me."
"No, you've got it wrong. If I made you mad and our fake relationship broke down, Tsukinomori-san would have no reason to help us out anymore. I only treated you to a nice dinner to keep you happy because it was in the best interests of the Alliance. There's no way you can call this 'being nice.'"
"Aki, you really don't understand how much I love you, do you? I'm not going to fall for that. I know you're doing this because you're nice, and you
can't convince me otherwise." "Mashiro..."
"It makes sense, anyway. Iroha-chan is lovely, but you never fell for her, so it was silly to think I could just drop in and everything'd change." Mashiro spoke quickly, eyes on her lap. Her voice was trembling, but because of the low lighting, I had no idea what expression she was making. "I get it. I got all excited about falling in love with you, but your main concern is the Alliance. I never thought you'd be interested in dating me, but..."
Mashiro was trembling now as she gripped at her wine glass. But her voice was firm as she continued.
"I wanted to move forward. I wanted you to know how I felt. That was the only reason I confessed," Mashiro said hoarsely. "I've spent my whole life running away from things. I didn't want to run away again, just when I was about to change. I had to keep moving."
This. This was how she really felt. All this time, this mermaid had been shut up in her tiny clam in the ocean that was her room, afraid of anything that might hurt her. And yet, she had gathered all her courage to confess to me.
Now, I was going to hurt her again by rejecting her.
"But I'm happy with just this. I told you how I felt. I tried, and that's enough for me." Mashiro beamed at me.
I thought for sure she was crying before—but it was the complete opposite. Mashiro switched schools because she wanted to become stronger, and although she had her ups and downs, she had managed it. She'd grown. That was why she could give me such a determined smile right now.
"I didn't need a response to my confession. You just needed to acknowledge it. That's all."
Now it was like I was the one getting rejected. This was the cumulation of all the days she spent treating me coldly. A final strike.
"I don't know how many months or years it's gonna take, but I'll make sure you fall in love with me one day. You'll fall in love so hard, you won't be able to bear it. Next time, you'll be the one confessing to me."
"That...might not happen, you know? It'll be more efficient for you to forget about me and find someone else."
"Pfft. That's not efficient at all."
"Huh?"
"Efficiency is all about attaining your goal in the shortest time possible,
right? My goal isn't 'get a boyfriend.' It's 'make Aki my boyfriend.' The most efficient way to do that is not to give up."
"All I care about is the Alliance, and I don't know when I'll even have the time to think about anything else. At the very least, it won't be before graduation. And after that, who knows where you'll—"
"I know where I'll be."
"What?"
"I don't know what's going to happen with the Alliance either. But as long
as you don't give up on it, I'll be with you. I'll be with you until the very end."
"Okay, but..."
What was she talking about? We might end up in completely different places after graduation. Maybe she meant that, because we were cousins, or because her dad owned Honeyplace Works, she'd never be too far away. But even then, there was no guarantee we'd cross paths that often, if at all. Those weren't great prospects to start a relationship with, so why did she sound so confident?
I wasn't able to answer that question before Mashiro stood up.
"Thank you. It was a lovely dinner, and you helped me come to terms with what I should do. I'll do whatever I can to help out the Alliance. And I'll do whatever I can to make you fall for me." Though her words burned passionately, Mashiro's bow was meek and polite. "I'm heading home. I know this might be awkward for you, but..."
She took a deep breath.
"I'm going to be as annoyingly clingy as possible from tomorrow on! Brace yourself, AKI!" Mashiro smirked, then spun around and raced away.
Problem...solved? I wasn't sure, but it wasn't like I'd be able to control her feelings in any case.
Mashiro was in love with me, but I wasn't in love with Mashiro. I guess all that was left was to pick up where we left off with that knowledge in mind. The emphasis she put on my name with her parting words was weirdly robotic for some reason too. It reminded me of someone, but even after giving it a few moments' thought, I couldn't work out who.
Anyway, that was Mashiro dealt with.
I'm coming for you now, Iroha.
***
Murasaki Shikibu-sensei: I heard Mashiro-chan and Aki went out for dinner.
OZ: Yeah, he said he had something important to tell her.
Murasaki Shikibu-sensei: Iroha-chan's been acting weird too. Wonder what's going on.
OZ: Puberty, teenage romance, yada yada...something along those lines.
Murasaki Shikibu-sensei: Figures. I just hope everyone can find happiness <3
OZ: Same. Too bad bigamy is illegal.
Murasaki Shikibu-sensei: Yeah. Love triangles always leave at least one in tears.
OZ: At least we get to sit back and watch with our popcorn. Good luck, Aki.