"You're so slow, Masao," Jahy complained from the doorway, her voice dripping with impatience.
She stood there, already fully armed with a hand-crafted crossbow and the pistol Masao had made for her holstered at her hip.
A wide-brimmed hat shielded her from the sun's glare.
Beside her, Yukinoshita Yukino watched, her expression unreadable.
The expedition was Jahy's idea. The moment the weapons were finished, she had begun clamoring for vengeance against the crow.
Yukinoshita, noting it was nearly noon, had agreed. With lunchtime approaching, concentrating on studies would be difficult anyway. It was better to settle this matter first, eat, and then focus on studying in the afternoon.
The plan was for the three of them to go together—primarily out of concern that Jahy, left to her own devices, might end on the losing end of another avian skirmish.
While a crow wasn't a fearsome opponent, carelessness could still lead to a nasty scratch, or worse, an eye injury.
As they prepared to leave, one might have expected the two girls to be the holdup, but in the end, it was Masao who kept them waiting.
"Sorry," he said, looking genuinely embarrassed as he finally joined them. "I was talking to a friend and lost track of time."
He suddenly noticed Yukinoshita staring at him with astonishment.
"What is it, Yukinoshita?" he asked. "Is the idea of me having a conversation with a friend really that shocking?"
Yukinoshita flushed slightly, embarrassed that her reaction had been so transparent.
"My apologies. It was just... difficult to process. After all, at school, Masao-kun, you don't have any friends."
"Will you two stop chatting and get moving? I'm not waiting any longer!" Jahy interjected, stamping her foot.
She was the very picture of a bored, irritable child on a family outing, desperate to drag her dawdling parents away from the door.
"Alright, alright," Masao and Yukinoshita said in unison. They fell into step behind her, continuing their conversation as they walked.
"Just because I don't have many friends at school doesn't mean I can't have any outside of it," Masao countered. "And, Yukinoshita, you said one thing that was factually incorrect."
"Oh? And what was that?"
Yukinoshita mentally replayed her statement, searching for a grammatical or logical error. She found none.
Masao puffed out his chest with a touch of pride.
"You said I don't have a single friend at school. But aren't you my friend?"
"Me?"
Yukinoshita pointed at herself blindsided. She had considered every possibility except for this one.
Were they friends? By any objective measure—the amount of time they spent together daily, the fact they visited each other's homes—they could easily be classified as such. But Yukinoshita hadn't made a new friend in nearly a decade.
The concept had become so abstract she was no longer sure she understood the parameters. Instinctively, she retreated behind a wall of pedantic reasoning.
"Masao-kun, to be considered friends, we must first establish a proper definition of the term."
Instead of a sarcastic retort, Masao considered this seriously.
"A definition... Well, I suppose it's someone you can talk to easily, and the next time you meet, you can pick up right where you left off. Someone like that probably counts as a friend."
"Is that all?" Yukinoshita was taken aback by the simplicity of his definition.
"How would you define it, then?"
"A friend..." she began, pausing to gather her thoughts. "A friend requires mutual understanding, compatibility, companionship, support, and inspiration. They share a kind of telepathy, an ability to comprehend each other's every gesture and expression. They encourage one another and share all hardships."
The more she spoke, the more Masao's eyebrow twitched in disbelief.
"Yukinoshita, are you trying to find a friend or a lifelong partner?"
She blinked, genuinely perplexed.
"Shouldn't true friends accompany each other for a lifetime?"
"Well..." Masao was speechless. "A best friend might reach that level, but those are incredibly rare. You don't just start as best friends. There are levels—acquaintances, good friends, then best friends. The bond deepens over time through shared experiences."
His logic was sound, and Yukinoshita found herself reluctantly agreeing.
"You're correct. The relationship between friends does deepen over time."
"So, between us..."
Yukinoshita glanced at his hopeful expression and turned away, her nose tilted slightly in the air with an air of cool dismissal.
"In your case, Masao-kun, you normally wouldn't qualify. But since you seem so earnest, I'll reluctantly grant you the status of an acquaintance."
"Eh? Just an acquaintance?" he groaned. "I thought we were at least good friends!"
"An acquaintance isn't enough for you? You aspire to be a good friend?" she replied, a hint of teasing in her voice. "In my estimation, you have a long way to go."
By any conventional standard, they were already good friends. But the proud, slightly tsundere Yukinoshita would never admit it so easily.
The day she verbally acknowledged Masao as a "good friend" would signify a bond far deeper than the label suggested.
"Then please, tell me how to level up!" he pleaded, only half-joking.
"No way," she said flatly.
A faint, triumphant smile graced her lips as she quickened her pace, leaving him behind. Her mood was visibly brighter. "You'll have to figure that out on your own, Masao-kun."
'Figure it out?' he thought, watching her go. But trying to decipher her now feels like it might just make things worse...
—
Their destination was a small wooded area on the outskirts of the neighborhood.
The atmosphere was almost leisurely, like a group of friends on a casual outing. The patch of forest was a designated natural park—sizable and somewhat remote, with few buildings nearby.
It was home to squirrels, birds, and other small creatures; anything larger was unthinkable, both due to limited resources and the public safety risk.
Masao eyed the narrow dirt path leading into the trees.
"Do you even know where that crow is?"
"Of course I do!" Jahy declared, puffing out her chest. "Just follow me!"
The mana stone she wore allowed her to perceive the location of its nearby stones guiding her with an unerring sense of direction.
When Jahy veered off the main path and into the untamed undergrowth, Yukinoshita hesitated.
"Are you sure we won't get lost?"
"It'll be fine," Masao reassured her. "This place isn't that big. Even if we lose our way back, we can just pick a direction and walk straight. We'll hit a road eventually."
Reassured by his logic, Yukinoshita nodded.
"You're right. We should keep up. We mustn't get separated."
"Okay," Masao agreed, and the two of them hurried after the determined little figure leading them deeper into the green.
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