Rooftop Lunch

(Shin's PoV)

—

For a few minutes, we just ate.

It was good. Simple. Sora opened the melon bread with her usual precision, Akane stole the first chip from the bag before anyone else had touched it, while Daiki chewed mechanically on something he'd grabbed without looking, his eyes fixed somewhere past the railing.

I've rarely seen him in that state.

The city stretched below us in the pale afternoon light, and for once nobody had anything important to say, yet.

Then Akane set down her melon bread.

"Okay," she said. "Now I need to talk about something."

She was still sitting on my lap with one arm around my neck. She shifted enough to reach into her hoodie pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper with the school's letterhead at the top.

"Matsuro-sensei gave me this before the lesson ended. It's something that came from the principal's office."

She unfolded it and held it in front of her. I read over her shoulder.

Four lines in, I understood what I was looking at, and by the sixth, my body had already figured out how I felt about it.

It was a recommendation. Important people were interested in Akane and wanted to recommend her for admission to the country's most prestigious university, with tuition, housing, and living expenses covered for the entire duration of her degree.

Everything. For Akane.

"Apparently my grades and my 'exceptional academic profile' caught the attention of someone important," she said, managing to sound like she was talking about the weather. "Matsuro-sensei said it's extremely rare for them to offer something like this before graduation, and he seemed very excited about it."

She folded the letter once, and I kept staying silent.

"I know that this offer sounds like a dream coming true..." she sighed. "...But I told him that I needed to think about it." She said, her free hand gently caressing my cheek for an instant.

Sora's eyes widened. "Akane, that's... that's incredible. Wow. That university is literally the most important of the country! Do you know how many students would—"

"I know." Her voice direct.

Akane then folded the paper again and slipped it back into her pocket.

"That's why I need more than one opinion." She settled against my chest. "So... What do you think? Be honest." She'd asked the group.

Unfortunately, she was also sitting on me.

The second I heard Tokyo, every muscle in my body tightened.

'Tokyo.' Of course it had to be a far city.

The best university in the country... everything paid... a lot of people better and richer than me... The kind of opportunity that could give her an entire future without asking anything from her in return. And I was sitting there thinking about how far away it was.

"Shin?" Akane called, her voice soft.

Her voice was close to my ear.

She'd noticed. Of course she had.

I took a breath. "You... should accept, Akane, it's an incredible opportunity," I said, but my voice betrayed me.

"Shin is right," Sora said, smiling at her. "Something like this doesn't come twice. You've earned it, Akane. Every student in this school knows how brilliant you are."

Akane didn't answer immediately. Her fingers were resting against the back of my neck, and I felt them tighten slightly.

She just squeezed once, and I immediately got the message.

'We'll talk about this later.' 

That was enough.

"I'll think about it," she said. "There's no deadline yet. And honestly, I'm too hungry to make life decisions right now." She reached for another chip. "Moving on."

Then she turned her head toward Daiki, staring at him for a few moments.

"Your turn, Sakurai," Akane said.

Daiki had spent the last two minutes staring at an unopened juice box, and Akane's voice made him snap back to reality.

"W-what?" He asked. "For me, you should—"

"You've been sitting there with the face of a man attending his own funeral, Sakurai. So either you tell us what's going on or I start guessing, and I promise you my guesses will be louder and more embarrassing than the truth." 

Sora didn't speak, and neither did I.

Daiki opened his mouth, closed it again, then looked at me, then at Sora, and finally at Akane again.

"It's... nothing." He moved his gaze to the floor.

"It's Izumi," Akane said.

Daiki flinched.

"Seems like I was right... Ah..." She took a look at him. "Damn. You look like a zombie, Sakurai. Are you sleeping properly?" She bit into a chip.

Daiki kept staring at the floor, silent, while Sora kept eating.

I didn't want to enter this conversation. I had to leave everything in Akane's hands.

"Since you're Shin's friend, I'll be honest, Sakurai," She took a deep breath. "Only bad rumors circulate about that girl, since the very first moment she stepped into this school. I'm not saying I believe them, but rumors usually start somewhere, and if someone asocial like me had heard them, it means that they were loud."

Daiki's hands tightened against his knees.

"...What kind of rumors?" He managed to ask, his voice shaky.

"That's not the point, Sakurai." Akane's voice lost some of its bite. "The point is you look awful. So talk. This is your safe place. Break the dam."

Sora stayed quiet, both hands wrapped around her juice box. She was watching Daiki carefully, but she didn't try to interrupt.

For a while, neither did he.

Then he breathed out through his nose and leaned forward.

"...The first three days were perfect." His voice was so flat that I almost didn't recognize it.

Daiki is loud. He's the kind of person who can somehow make opening a classroom door sound like an announcement. Hearing him like this felt... wrong.

"I always had a crush on her. Since the first time I saw her face..." His voice softened a little. "So, since this is my last year here and I think that a mistake is better than a regret, I gathered all my courage and confessed." A small smile appeared on his lips, but his eyes were almost empty. "She said yes, and she seemed genuinely happy about it. We talked the whole time after that, and we walked home together. She laughed at my stupid jokes. She even..." He swallowed. "...she even kissed me. On the third day. Outside the station. She just turned around and kissed me like it was the most normal thing in the world. I swear that I felt like the happiest man alive." He looked down. "And then she disappeared."

Nobody said anything.

"Not literally," he added. "She's still at school. She still texts me back. But it's like someone flipped a switch. Suddenly she's always busy. Can't meet after school because of the festival. Can't go out on the weekend because she's studying. Can't call at night because she's tired. Even a dense idiot like me would notice that there's something wrong with all that." His fingers dug harder into his knees. "Every day, I've tried to see her, and every single time, there's a reason she can't." His voice was shaking. "I even started working so that I could buy something for her. Moreover, I wanted to do something cute for her yesterday..."

Akane watched him for a moment.

"Yesterday?" She asked

Daiki's jaw tightened. "Yes, yesterday I wanted to surprise her." He said. "I had just finished my shift, and I thought..." He rubbed a hand over his face. "I don't know... I thought maybe if I showed up, if she saw me standing there, she'd remember that I actually existed." A short, empty laugh escaped him. "So I went to her house and stood outside like an idiot. When she came to the door and saw me..." He stopped and took a deep breath. "She didn't look happy, Shin. That's the part I can't get out of my head. She opened the door, saw me, and she looked... scared. Heh. I still remember that she was a complete mess when she opened the door and how she didn't speak for five entire seconds."

The rooftop seemed smaller after that.

"She told me she couldn't come out because she had to study. At night. She apologized three times, then closed the door without telling me anything." He stared at the concrete between his shoes. "I stood there for another five minutes before I went home." His voice dropped. "And today she asked you to tell me not to wait for her. I wonder if she's doing well."

For a while, all I could hear was the wind crossing the rooftop and a bell ringing somewhere below for one of the clubs.

Then, Akane leaned forward slightly.

"Daiki. I'm going to ask you something, and I need you to answer honestly, okay?"

He looked at her.

"Did she ever tell you anything about her past? Before you started dating. Her family, her life outside school, her exes, anything unusual?"

"No." He shook his head. "That's the thing. She never talks about herself. Those first three days, I told her everything about me. My job, my family, my hobbies, every embarrassing thing I've ever done. She listened, laughed, asked questions." He picked at the corner of the juice box. "But whenever I asked her anything like... about her friends, she'd smile and change the topic. I didn't even know where she lived. I got her address from a classmate."

Akane stared at him.

"You showed up at her house after getting her address from someone else? Didn't you say that you used to walk home together?" She sighed.

"I know how that sounds. But I had forgotten what her house was..." Daiki replied.

"It sounds terrible," Akane said flatly.

"I know..." He stared down at the floor again.

Akane then sighed and rubbed her forehead. "But it also sounds like you care a lot about someone who isn't letting you get very close." Daiki's expression tightened, but Akane kept going. "And I don't think this sounds like she suddenly stopped liking you. If she had, avoiding you would be easier than whatever she's doing now. The excuses, disappearing after three days, panicking when you showed up..." She looked down at the half-empty chip bag. "She's hiding something. Maybe from you, maybe from everyone."

Daiki immediately looked at her. "Then... What do I do?" His voice was quieter than I'd ever heard it, and I couldn't help but feel something in my chest.

Akane looked toward the railing while gently playing with the silver hoop on my ear before answering. "You don't push."

Daiki frowned.

"If she's already trying to keep people away, chasing her is only going to make it worse. She'll feel cornered. Pretend you don't care." For half a second, Akane glanced at me. "Trust me."

I didn't need her to explain that part.

"But don't disappear either," she continued. "Send her one message. Tell her you're there if she wants to talk."

"One?" He asked.

"One."

"And then?"

"Then you leave her alone," Akane said, smiling.

He blinked. "That's it?"

"That's it."

She leaned back against me again.

"You give her space without making her think you've abandoned her. Right now, she needs doubts, not certainties. Playing the devoted puppy dog won't help you."

Daiki stared at her. "Space without abandonment."

"Pretty much." Akane smiled. "Whatever she's hiding right now, we'll find out. Don't worry about that."

He kept looking at her for another second, then shook his head.

"You're scary, you know that?"

"I've been told that my entire life. That's a compliment." She clung even more to me before grabbing another chip. "I'm considering putting it on a business card."

Sora smiled into her juice box before looking at Daiki.

"For what it's worth, Sakurai-san, I agree with her. If Yamashiro-san is dealing with something personal, be patient without disappearing." Then she hesitated. "And maybe don't show up at her house unexpectedly again."

Daiki groaned. "Uhm..." He scratched the back of his head.

"It was romantic," Sora said. 

He brightened slightly.

"But it was also a lot."

His face fell again.

Akane snorted, and I felt the laugh through her back.

Hearing all of that and comparing it to what I had seen in class 2-B, a small doubt arose regarding the other class representative, Masaru Fujiwara. I wanted to step into the conversation and ask about that, but my instinct told me not to. I didn't want Daiki to overthink.

"Alright." Daiki finally sat up straighter and cracked his knuckles, his usual signal that he was done moping, or at least pretending to be. "Space without abandonment. One message. No follow-ups. Don't be a stalker." He counted each one on his fingers. "Anything else?"

"Yes," Akane said. "Eat your lunch. You look like you've lost ten pounds this week and it's starting to concern me."

Daiki looked at the untouched food beside him.

After a second, he picked up the melon bread, tore open the wrapper, and took a bite. A proper one. He chewed, swallowed, then took another. "Oh. It's good. I didn't expect that those vending machines had something edible in them," he said.

"Of course it's good. Sora picked it." Akane said, looking at the president.

Sora smiled.

And then the conversation loosened, drifting into softer topics.

Sora asked Daiki about the athletics club setup. Daiki asked Akane about the arcade plans. Akane told Sora about the horror movie with the lighthouse and the heels, and Sora laughed so hard she nearly choked on her bread.

Akane's fingers stayed at the back of my neck, and every so often they moved in a small circle against my skin. She didn't mention Tokyo again, not even by mistake.

Then, after the last peaceful moments, the bell rang.

Lunch was over.

"Guess it's time to go back to our boring routine. Tch— I was so comfortable on your lap, Shin." Akane said, getting off me.

"You'll have to wait until the arcade," I said. "Don't worry, this time I'll beat you even at the shooting gallery."

"Oh, oh. Big words for a little man," She grinned. "Don't worry. I'll make you cry again." 

"So... what's the arcade?" Daiki asked.

"The Neon Dragon Arcade. The one and only." I replied, moving my gaze to Sora. "And you? Would you like to come with us, Sora?"

I saw a little blush on her face.

"I-I have to check my schedule... I'll let you know later, okay?" She looked away, playing with the tip of her hair. 

"Oh, come on, beautiful idol. You should come. It would be a great opportunity to know each other better." Akane said, leaning close to her, almost menacingly.

"Heh... I—"

"Okay..." I interrupted. "So... do we have stuff to do for the festival?"

Sora immediately moved her gaze to me. "Y-Yeah. We must go talk with the teachers."

"What a pain in the ass..." I sighed.

Then, Akane clung to me. "Okay, ghost boy, I'll wait for you at the gates as always, okay?" She said, kissing my cheek. "Don't make me wait too long." She then moved her gaze to Sora, who was looking down.

"All this sweetness disgusts me..." Daiki sighed. "Let's go, or I'll die of loneliness."

Then, with a collective laugh, we gathered our things and headed back inside.

Tokyo could wait until later, and so could Izumi.

At least until the end of class.