“It looks like there’s a free bench over there. Let’s rest for a bit.”

  Shuusuke led Shinoyama over to the bench and helped her take a seat.

  “Thank you very much.”

  “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

  Maybe he’s a nice guy after all.

  She shook her head.

  “All I require is a moment of respite.”

  I took a seat next to her.

  “I need to sit down too.”

  Haruhi dejectedly walked over.

  “We’re not going again?”

  She’s really into that roller coaster, huh.

  “If Shinoyama is okay with it, I can stay here with her and you two can go again.”

  I turned to Shinoyama to see how she felt about my suggestion.

  “It bothers me not. I wouldn’t want you two to deprive yourselves of joy for my sake.”

  Haruhi’s eyes brightened and she pumped her fist.

  “Let’s go!”

  Shuusuke looked at me.

  “If Reina-chan asks you for anything, you better do it for her, dude.”

  “What kind of guy do you think I am? I wouldn’t ignore a sick girl’s request.”

  “Just making sure. Let’s get back in line, Okino-senpai.”

  Shuusuke turned to leave, but Haruhi hesitated.

  “Umm, Shuusuke. Is it okay if I hold your hand?”

  This is the first time I’ve seen her ask anybody else, and right in front of his girlfriend too?!

  Shuusuke turned back to Shinoyama.

  “Reina-chan, is it all right?”

  She nodded.

  “She has particular circumstances, doesn’t she? It bothers me not.”

  “Then sure.”

  Haruhi excitedly grabbed Shuusuke’s hand.

  “Come on, come on! Let’s go!”

  She dragged him off towards the entrance of the coaster.

  ...

  Seeing them walk away hand in hand like that...

  I’ll admit it—it made me feel jealous.

  I knew that I wasn’t special.

  I should have known that, at least. But actually seeing it happen in front of me...

  I don’t have exclusive rights to her, but maybe I want to...

  Better not to think about it too hard.

  I sighed and turned to Shinoyama.

  “Don’t you feel jealous?”

  She shook her head.

  “I know his love for me is true—holding hands with another girl is not going to negate that. Does it make you feel jealous, Matsuda-sama?”

  I shook my head.

  “We’re not like that.”

  She smiled.

  “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”

  Yeah, my feelings are probably pretty obvious just by looking at me.

  “We’re not like that...”

  I could only repeat what I had already said.

  “My apologies if I upset you.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “Matsuda-sama, I have a request, if you wouldn’t mind.”

  “What is it?”

  “Would you be so kind as to let me hold your hand?”

  “Huh?”

  She cocked her head to the side slightly.

  “Is that not okay?”

  “Why do you want to?”

  “It would ease my nausea.”

  How?

  “If you want to...”

  I did promise Shuusuke. I don’t think this is what he had in mind, though.

  “I do.”

  She gently wrapped her fingers around my hand.

  I was getting antsy after sitting like that for a few minutes.

  “Are you feeling better, now?”

  “Very much so. Your assistance is much appreciated.”

  I’m glad it helped, at least.

  “Umm, is this really okay? Us holding hands like this?”

  She looked at me quizzically.

  “Were you not adamant that it wasn’t like that between you two?”

  “That’s not the problem! What about Shuusuke?”

  She pouted.

  “He’s holding hands with someone else—am I not allowed to do the same?”

  She might be jealous after all.

  “Haruhi asked him for consent and he asked you for permission. Doing it behind his back feels a little different.”

  She leaned closer to me, lowering her voice.

  “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Besides, I’m already keeping plenty of secrets from him—what’s one more?”

  This girl is surprisingly mischievous now that we’re alone...

  “Well, I’m not a fan of that idea.”

  “I’m positive the same could be said of you and Haruhi. Can you honestly claim that you aren’t keeping any secrets from her? Do you genuinely believe that she isn’t keeping anything from you?”

  I shook my head.

  “Of course not.”

  I know that.

  “You’ll never know the inside of her heart. She’ll never know the inside of yours. Shuusuke will never know the inside of mine. That’s just the way it is. If you can’t accept that, then you don’t deserve to live in this world.”

  She’s right.

  “Yeah...”

  A smile spread across her face and her demeanor shifted.

  “But even so, is there not value in the attempt to reach understanding? There is a romantic beauty in that struggle—hopeless though it may be.”

  “Maybe...”

  I can’t say whether she’s right or wrong.

  She squeezed my hand and continued to smile at me.

  “I apologize for creating such a dour atmosphere—however, it’s a lesson I feel more people need to learn.”

  I really can’t get a read on this girl.

  “Umm, why do you care? About me, I mean. Like, why bother giving me advice?”

  “Shuusuke told me quite a bit about you. He worries about you, you know. He cares a lot about his friends.”

  “That’s all? Even though we’ve never met before?”

  She turned away from me.

  “That is not all, no...but I was hoping you would remember on your own.”

  “Huh?”

  She sighed.

  “’Twas nothing but a hopeless little reverie of mine. Pay it no heed.”

  “If you’re talking about when we met in the park, I remember that. I just didn’t think it was that significant.”

  She shook her head.

  “Not that. It was a much longer time ago.”

  I’m not really a fan of the forgotten childhood friend trope. Especially if there’s no foreshadowing.

  “If it’s so significant, why can’t you just tell me?”

  She turned back to me.

  “Where is the romanticism in that?”

  “Is ‘romanticism’ really necessary?”

  She sighed wistfully.

  “Imagine if Sleeping Beauty was woken by anything other than true love’s kiss...”

  “Can I at least have a hint? I need something to go off of.”

  She pouted.

  “The hint is already in your hands.”

  “What?”

  She lifted up my hand. We were still holding hands.

  “It seems it held more significance for me than it did for you. You and her truly are made for one another.”

  Shinoyama let go of my hand.

  “I remember every girl I’ve ever held hands with.”

  It’s not hard—there aren’t that many.

  She crossed her arms in a huff.

  “Apparently not.”

  “I’m sorry for not remembering.”

  She sighed.

  “In the end, it doesn’t really matter. The past is the past. The naive little girl you held hands with back then no longer exists. I’m a different person now. So are you.”

  “I guess so...”

  “...”

  “Can you at least tell me more? When would I have even met you?”

  “I may go to Sousaku now, but I didn’t always go to a private all-girls school. I went to Harayoru Elementary.”

  That was the name of the elementary school that I went to. Back then, I lived in a different part of the city, so it wasn’t the elementary school that was closest to where I currently lived. That detail made it seem believable.

  I don’t remember much about back then. Well, I do remember a few things—probably because they were too embarrassing to forget—but other than those, it’s pretty much a blank slate. However, I’m surprised that I don’t remember her. Maybe I didn’t think about girls as much back then. I don’t think I thought about much of anything back then.

  Maybe that was for the best.

  “I’m sorry. I still don’t remember.”

  “There’s no need for you to apologize again. I’m already over it.”

  “...”

  “...”

  “Still, it’s wild that we bump into each other after all these years and you’re dating Shuusuke.”

  “It is quite the unbelievable coincidence...”

  We passed the rest of the time in silence.

  I got bored just sitting there and started browsing the internet on my phone.

  Eventually, Shuusuke and Haruhi returned. They were still holding hands as they approached, but Shuusuke wriggled free as they got closer.

  “Are you feeling better, Reina-chan?”

  “Indeed. Matsuda-sama was quite the gentleman. He fulfilled all of my requests no matter how unreasonable. He even bought me a bottle of water without asking. Isn’t that right?”

  She turned to me and smiled.

  That didn’t happen.

  Was she just flaunting the fact that she was lying in my face? And now she was trying to make me complicit in her lie? It’s not like it was going to hurt anyone but it made me feel weird.

  “Yeah.”

  I agreed anyway. I wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it when I wasn’t entirely sure of her motivations.

  “That’s good to hear. He’s a little weird, but he’s not a bad guy.”

  Haruhi nodded approvingly.

  I feel a little guilty because I didn’t actually do anything. I don’t have what it takes to be a liar...

  Shinoyama stood up from the bench.

  “That said, I think I am done for the day. I’ve grown a tad peckish.”

  Because we were starting to get hungry and we didn’t want to eat at the amusement park, we all decided to leave. As we parted ways, Shinoyama said one last thing.

  “I hope one day our paths may cross once again, Matsuda-sama.”

  For some reason, it was only later that night that I realized she had probably been lying about the whole her knowing me in elementary school thing. Of course I wouldn’t remember it, because it didn’t happen. She was probably laughing at me the entire time as I trusted her over my own memories.

  No, I knew the reason. I just didn’t want to think that someone would lie to my face like that. That’s not something that a normal person would just do, right? I didn’t have definitive proof, but maybe she was actually a demon.

  Yeah, some people were actually demons. They betrayed your trust for their own amusement. Trampled all over other people for their own gain. Were completely selfish and unempathetic. I had been hanging out with such nice girls lately that I had almost forgotten that demons existed.

  Hopefully, I won’t forget again.

  Part 4 - Bare Hearts

  1 - Morning Call

  Sunday morning.

  No school.

  No little sister to wake me up.

  Just me and my bed.

  After the amusement park ‘get-together’ yesterday, I had spent the rest of the day thinking about my story. And that was what I was doing now too. Cozied up in my bed half asleep, lost in a fictional world. It was nice.

  Ring ring.

  Which is why I got so annoyed when my phone started ringing.

  Who’s calling me at this hour?

  I snaked my arm out from under the covers to pick up my phone.

  ‘Unknown number.’

  Probably spam. I wasn’t going to deal with that right now. If it was someone who actually wanted to get in touch with me, they would call again or leave a voicemail or something.

  I declined the call and put my phone back.

  Time for more beauty sleep. I could use it.

  ...

  Ring ring.

  Fine.

  I picked it up.

  ‘Unknown number.’

  “Hello?”

  “Good morning, Onii-chan.”

  “Who is this?”

  I’m pretty sure I know who it is though.

  “You don’t recognize the voice of your own little sister? Even though I go through the trouble of waking you up every day? I’m so sad I could cry...”

  Yeah, who else could it be.

  “I only have one little sister.”

  “It’s me, right?”

  “No. She wouldn’t need to call me because we live in the same house. She can just wake me up in person.”

  “So if I lived in the same house as you, I could be your little sister as well...”

  “Listen here. We live in the same house because she’s my little sister. She isn’t my little sister just because she lives in the same house as me.”

  “Hmm...”

  “Enough with the games—what do you want, Mia?”

  That’s the only person besides Fuyuko who would call me Onii-chan. Probably the only other person that ever will—unless a future girlfriend is into little sister role-play. I wouldn’t go along with it, though. I’d shut that shit down ASAP.

  “I just couldn’t get the thought of you out of my head. I don’t think my mind—or my body—will ever be able to forget you. I can’t live without you anymore. I needed to hear the sound of your voice again or I was going to lose my mind.”

  “I think you’ve already lost it.”

  “Rude. I’m perfectly sane.”

  “‘Perfectly sane’ people don’t call strangers in the morning and pretend to be their little sister.”

  “Says you.”

  Says a lot of people, I think.

  “That’s it?”

  “Yep.”

  “Nothing else?”

  “Nope.”

  I hung up.

  Why is this happening to me? Getting prank called by an idol with a brother complex...

  I snuggled back up under the covers.

  Don’t interrupt my rest for nothing.

  Ring ring.

  “Hello?”

  “You’re so mean, Onii-chan! I can’t believe you would hang up on your own little sister like that!”

  I hung up again and sighed.

  I don’t know what I expected.

  Surely she should have plenty of better things to do than bother me. I guess being a high school idol is more stressful than I can imagine. She probably needs to blow off steam somehow. That’s the most charitable interpretation I can come up with.

  I just wish she wouldn’t make it my problem...

  2 - Overplanning

  “Any progress on your story?”

  Before we started reading, Chiaki and I were chatting for a bit like usual.

  “I managed to come up with an idea that I liked and thought about it a lot over the weekend.”

  “It’s good that you finally landed on an idea that you’re satisfied with. Did you take any notes?”

  I shook my head.

  “No, I just thought about it.”

  Chiaki pulled out her phone.

  “You should probably write your thoughts down so you don’t forget them. Whenever I have an idea, I make sure to jot it down in my phone’s notes app.”

  She showed me her phone screen and started scrolling.

  And scrolling.

  And scrolling.

  She was scrolling too fast for me to make out the words, but it still kept going.

  She pressed the power button and the screen went dark.

  “That’s a lot.”

  “I find myself thinking about my stories all throughout the day. If you take note of everything you think about, it starts to add up. Don’t let those thoughts go to waste by not making a record of them.”

  “That’s a good idea.”

  Especially with my memory.

  “So, did you actually write anything, or was it just thinking?”

  Actually put any words to the page? That I did not do.

  “No...”

  She sighed.

  “Planning is all well and good—but if you do nothing but think, you’re not actually going to accomplish anything.”

  “I know. I just want to make sure I know what I’m writing before I write it.”

  “Think about it this way: Writing is planning. As you’re writing a scene, you’ll come up with many more ideas than you would by just thinking about it.”

  She would know more than me.

  “Maybe...”

  “You don’t have to keep all the scenes that you write—you can still revise and iterate on those ideas later, or scrap them entirely—but in the process of writing the scene, you’ll discover more about your story.”

  “That makes sense.”

  “Even if you don’t have the entirety of the story planned out, you probably have an idea for a scene or two that you’re sure you’ll want to include. Try picking one of those ideas, write the scene, and see where things go from there.”

  I do have an idea for a scene that would be good for that. The scene where the tsundere girl finds out that the guy is going out with the new girl was one of the story’s key emotional moments. Writing that scene could help me explore her character more.

  “I’ll try that.”

  “I’m looking forward to it.”

  3 - PriCare

  I decided to ask Fuyuko if she knew about a girl named Shinoyama from our elementary school. I thought that it wasn’t true, but I wanted to make sure just in case. Fuyuko had the bright idea to check the yearbook, so Fuyuko and I were sitting on the floor of her room, pouring over its pages.

  “She’s not here.”

  We checked through the entire student body and not one kid had the family name Shinoyama. For some reason the name ‘Asahina Yuuna’ caught my eye, though. Probably déjà vu again.