When I opened my eyes, I saw a ceiling. It was the familiar ceiling of my own room. There was nothing strange with it. Hearing the familiar, despised by me sound of the alarm clock, I weakly stretched out my hand in order to turn it off. My first thought was obviously “Give me five more minutes...”, but then the second thought came. 

I realized that the day that was awaiting me wasn’t going to be just another boring, repetitive day. It was the day I was supposed to meet that girl again. Even though thinking about it made me distressed, I was excited just as much. What was our relationship? She was merely a little bit more than a stranger to me. That said, why was I so excited to meet that stranger? 

There was a more intriguing question I couldn’t just brush off my mind: What was I aiming for? Why was I trying to befriend her, a random person, that probably had a lot of people to talk to already? What would I gain from it? 

Furthermore, she was a girl. The last time I had talked to a girl that wasn’t my sister or another family member, was so long ago that I had completely forgotten how I was supposed to deal with them at all. From my latest experience, I could already tell that it was very different from talking to a guy. It was a bit easier because of her being physically smaller than me, but on the other hand, a lot more intimidating, because... I wasn’t able to comprehend that, it was just because she was a girl. 

Either way, I had never been good at making friends, so there was a huge chance that something could go wrong and we wouldn’t meet anymore. 

•

“Hey Takao, did something good happen?” 

Yamaguchi approached me during one of the short breaks and gave me a curious look. I had been restless and excited since the beginning of the day, which caused a grin to appear on my face. 

“Not at all!” 

I wanted to keep what happened a secret from him. However, he had means to presume what was going on since I had asked him a few days ago about that girl. He wouldn’t forget something like that. I couldn’t wait for the lunch break to finally begin so I could go meet her on the rooftop. The weather was finally clear today. 

“Why are you in a such good mood today then?” 

“Because it’s sunny after all!” 

I decided to use the weather as an excuse. It had been raining so much lately so it wasn’t completely a lie. 

“Huh...”, he made a doubtful expression, “You’re so obvious, Takao. I bet a girl asked you out! You lucky bastard!” 

He didn’t mention that girl I had asked him about back then, but just any girl. Maybe he had forgotten after all? Either way, he wasn’t right. 

“No way...”, I laughed. 

“Don’t be shy!”, he said as he firmly patted my back a few times which hurt. 

Luckily for me, the bell unexpectedly rang, saving me from Yamaguchi. As I looked through the window, there was no trace left of the rain that happened a few days ago. 

She likes rain, huh? 

•

The second the lunch break began, I stuffed the books into my bag and brought out my own lunch. Would I be able to eat it? I doubted it. I rushed out of the classroom after some time passed and headed upstairs, towards the rooftop. 

I hoped that Yamaguchi somehow didn’t notice. I didn’t mind telling him in the future, but if he decided to follow me and caught me with her, I would be incredibly humiliated. 

The nervousness effectively slowed me down when I reached the staircase. Slowly taking a step after another, I finally found myself before the rooftop entrance. I held out my hand to grab the handle. All that was left for me to do was to push it. 

In fact, I wasn’t even sure whether she had been waiting for me inside. She might have caught a cold so bad that she wasn’t able to go to school today, or maybe she was in school, but didn’t go to the rooftop – either because she was scared or didn’t want to meet me at all. What was waiting for me behind the door? I had no way of knowing but to open it. 

As I carefully pushed the door open, a gentle wind immediately reached my body and I was dazzled by the clear, bright blue sky. It took a while before the clear picture of the gray concrete floor reached my eyes. 

Was she waiting there, or was she not? 

People laughing outside the building and birds sitting on an antenna chirping around could be heard. On the sizeable rooftop that gave off a desolate feeling, there was a single figure leaning against the fence. 

One of her eyes was hidden behind a black eyepatch, whereas the other one kept looking at the distant, cloudless sky. Her blonde hair swayed in the sky along with the gentle breeze. The only thing this scene was lacking were sakura petals falling from the sky. 

... 

She did instinctively turn her gaze to me as she heard the door opening, but turned back the second she saw my figure. 

She came here. She knew that I would come here, yet came here anyway. To be honest, I had prepared myself to see the roof empty, but she was waiting for me there. Did that mean she actually cared about me? Did that mean all my efforts were not in vain, and I had chances of making friends with her? She truly was a strange person. 

I noticed that she wasn’t holding anything in her hands. No smartphone, no rice ball, no lunchbox. It meant that she wasn’t intending to eat anything there. What could that mean? 

Either way, what was I supposed to do? It’s not like I hadn’t expected that, but she was standing there motionless without uttering a word. What was I supposed to say now? 

Thinking that she may have been pretending not to notice me for some reason, I decided to greet her. 

“Hi there...”, I said hesitantly, scratching the back of my head. 

She didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she pushed herself away from the fence and turned over to me, strangely trying to look at me but averting her eye at the same moment. Then, she put her left hand inside her skirt and brought out something from there. 

In the hand she extended to me was the folding umbrella I had given to her a few days ago when it was raining. I looked at it stunned... Had she just performed a magic trick? No, this umbrella wasn’t that large, so it would fit under a skirt without a problem, probably. 

“I’m returning the item. It wasn’t of use to me.” 

Confused, I held out my hand and took it from her. I looked at it curiously and concluded that it was the same umbrella as before. It had been touching her thigh just a moment ago, hadn’t it? Why had she decided to store it there instead of bringing it in her hand or a bag like any other person would? I thought that maybe she wanted to impress me. To be honest, she managed to. 

Wait, maybe her lunchbox was also hidden under her skirt? 

“I see...” 

Thankfully, she did not proceed to bring out something else from there. What was the deal with that girl? I didn’t even have the courage to ask her about it. I just hoped that she would finally say something, so I waited and waited as I kept looking alternately at the umbrella in my hand and the concrete floor. In my other hand, there was the lunch I had brought with myself, but it seemed that I wouldn’t get to eat it at all. 

The sounds of other people chattering around could be heard. During this time of year, the weather on the rooftop was pretty good; the wind was calm and the sun wasn’t shining too much causing one to feel hot or even become sunburned. A large part of the neighborhood was visible from there – in fact, if I looked carefully, I might have even spotted my own house. Despite all this, almost no one came here. Why was that? Did everyone think that the door was closed? Or was that because nobody even felt the need to come here? 

Either way, that probably made it better. People that truly wanted to be alone could come here and spend the recess in solitude, not disturbed by the loud noises of other classmates. 

Actually, one such person was standing right in front of me. I didn’t know much about that girl other that she was unusual. She spoke in a strange manner, wore an eyepatch and pretended to be tough. It seemed strange to me, but maybe there was a plausible reason for that? 

“Hey, human. Aren’t you trying to deceive me?” her firm, but jittery voice suddenly broke the silence between us on the rooftop. 

She left me confused by calling me a “human”, just as if she wasn’t one. 

“Huh?” I accidentally expressed my puzzlement. 

Why did she call me “human”? Why did she suggest that I was trying to deceive her? In what way? 

Although her statement initially caught me off guard, I slowly came to realize that it had thrown light on her personality. When we had first met, she offered me to become her ‘servant’. She always spoke in a slightly disregarding manner to me. She had been walking in the rain without an umbrella. And now, she called me a “human”. 

All along, she was pretending to be some other, higher being. I could only guess what had initially caused her to start doing it, and why she kept pretending when talking to me. 

In the first place, I thought that it was an incredibly childish thing. I would understand if she was only doing it after school, with a group of friends – then it would be probably called roleplaying, but she was doing it all the time, even at school, with a person she barely knew. That was strange. 

“I’m not...”, I had no other way but to respond bluntly. 

In all honesty, I wasn’t trying to deceive her. Why even would I? If anything, I was worried that she was the one deceiving me. 

“Many times have I grieved over trusting a human... Why would I believe you that you are different?” 

Wasn’t it she that called out to me in the first place? That's right, she had asked me to become her ‘servant’. Didn’t that mean that she had used her all-seeing eye or whatever was hidden under that eyepatch and determined that I was trustworthy? 

“Back then... you asked me to become your servant, didn’t you?”, I retorted and then continued unsteadily, “You had some reasoning behind it... right?” 

When she heard that, she involuntarily backed down and lightly hit the fence with her back. Using her own words against her and seeing her becoming uneasy, I felt a little bit guilty. 

“That was...”, she placed her hand under her visible eye. 

Moreover, she had told me to forget about it when we met again later. 

“It was a joke, a lowly human wouldn’t understand, kakaka!” she ended her sentence with a peculiar laugh. 

I doubted that it was really the case, but since I didn’t want to make her feel uneasy again, I didn’t say anything to question it. Besides, a joke that no one but her could understand shouldn’t have been called a joke. 

“I see...” I responded awkwardly as my head leaned forwards forcing me to look at the gray concrete floor. I could also see her legs – covered with black knee highs, and ordinary school shoes on her feet. When I looked at her like that, she seemed just like any other girl. That’s right, a girl was standing before me... 

Raising my head tentatively, her silhouette once again came into my view. Her eye looked to the side as though she wasn’t sure where she should direct her stare, and her right hand was continually pinching and releasing her skirt, as if fidgeting. Those signs made it clear to me that she had been anxious, just like me, if not even more. Clearly seeing that she certainly wasn’t having a better time eased me a little. 

The air between us was tense just like a barrier preventing us from making a move. What could I do to relieve the atmosphere? When I thought of opening my mouth and saying something, the muscles just refused to move, scared of something incomprehensible, just as if the eye behind her eyepatch had the power to completely destroy my existence, and she wouldn’t hesitate to use it if I only dared to stutter. 

Then, why did she have the appearance of being insecure as well? 

In a split second, I felt something leaving my touch. My hand accidentally let go of the lunchbox, causing it to fall on the ground, which made a clearly audible sound. Now that I disturbed the silence, was she going to use the power to kill me? 

“...!” 

I could already see her hand reaching for the eyepatch on her left eye. Before long, I was going to be turned into dust and that would set the end of my short, pathetic existence. 

But no, it seemed that she had enough mercy for me. In fact, she only slightly trembled as if startled by the sound of the falling lunchbox. As I looked down to check it, its contents hadn’t spilled out. As it felt only natural to do it, I bent down and picked it up. 

Remembering that it was currently the lunch break and that she didn’t seem to have brought her lunch here, I took the opportunity to talk to her. 

“Do you have... lunch?” 

Was she going to keep pretending she didn’t have to eat anything, or would she finally give in? 

“Maybe.” she responded in a condescending tone. 

What kind of an answer was that supposed to be? She didn’t refuse, yet she didn’t say she wanted to eat. Damn, she was astute. 

Seeing her presumptuous behavior, I decided to pretend she wasn’t there and having crouched down, opened the lid of my lunchbox. Since I hadn’t prepared it myself, I didn’t know what was waiting for me until I took a peek. Inside, there was a simple meal – two sandwiches with lettuce sticking out of them. 

It was difficult reaching for them. I did my best to pretend she wasn’t here, yet I couldn’t behave freely. In fact, she was standing right in front of me, so no matter if I wanted to or not, I was forced to see a part of her body unless I moved away. 

What would she do? Would she perform a magic trick again by bringing out her lunchbox from under her skirt, just keep standing there motionless, or maybe even attempt to leave? I honestly hoped it wouldn’t be the latter. 

In the end, I couldn’t help but look up and notice her clearly looking directly at me, or rather my food. The moment she caught a glimpse of me about to raise my head, she discernibly turned her gaze away. I looked down at my lunchbox instinctively. There were two sandwiches. 

“...Want one?” I asked uneasily. Why did I even think she, a person I barely knew, would agree to eat my sandwich? 

“T-the only thing humans are... good at is... making food...” 

My mom was a pretty good cook, if I do say so myself. 

That girl crouched and sat down on the cold, concrete surface, reminding me of when I had first seen her on the rooftop. As I held out the lunchbox to her, she used her pale hand to take the leftmost sandwich, and then turned away from me so I couldn’t see her face at all. 

I wouldn’t have ever thought that she would take my food that easily. Perhaps had she not only forgotten to bring her lunch to school, but also to eat her breakfast? I couldn’t understand her at all... 

“Thank you for the food”, I placed the lunchbox on the ground, took the other sandwich from it, and stuffed it into my mouth. Slowly chewing it with my teeth, I stared absentmindedly at the rooftop entrance. 

Come to think of it, there was no certainty that nobody was going to come here anytime soon. The entrance wasn’t locked, after all. We currently were in an ambiguous position, which might have led someone to a misunderstanding. Even though the chances of the person supposedly entering being someone that would recognize me were low, it awakened a feeling of uneasiness in me. 

Suddenly, I heard a rustle from behind. Even without looking I could tell that it was her standing up. It made me want to instinctively turn around, but I stopped myself in the last moment. 

She had taken a few steps towards the entrance, so her figure came into my view in the end. I was certain now that she was going to leave, but I didn’t feel the need to stop her. How were we going to meet again? Were we going to meet again at all in the first place? Had she marked me as just another deceitful ‘human’ that she would regret trusting? 

I saw her figure approaching the door, but instead of grabbing the handle to open it, she stopped herself right in front of it. 

Then, to my surprise, she turned around to lean against it. That way, she effectively made it unable to open from the inside, but also prevented me from exiting. I could see her blue right eye from time to time glancing at me for a split second and then instantaneously reverting to staring at nothing in particular. 

She stood there for a good while, not saying anything. What was the purpose of that? 

I was slowly losing hope that she was going to say something. I felt that in the end, the school bell would ring, we would head to our classes and then never talk to each other again. What was wrong with that though? In fact, I wasn’t even sure why I tried to talk to this girl after we had stumbled upon each other coincidentally. Maybe I had believed that it was a manga-like chance to change my life once and for all? That was certainly foolish then, because manga-like situations do not happen in real life. On the other hand, she looked like a manga character. Why would someone wear an eyepatch like that at school, after all? 

Her feet were scuffing against the concrete. It was probably a sign of her restlessness at the moment. Finally, she pushed her body away from the door and stood weakly, staring at nothing in particular. 

“Hey, human”, her tone wasn’t that disrespectful anymore, but rather timid. She kept calling me ‘human’ in spite of that. To be honest, it didn’t annoy me at all. In fact, it sounded far less intimidating than if she called me ‘Fujioka-san’ or ‘Takao-kun’. 

“Are you different from them?” she asked me straightforwardly. 

Last time, she asked me whether I had been deceiving her. Her new question was confusing to me because I didn’t know the answer to it. Seeing how she had called me ‘human’ earlier, I guessed that by ‘them’ she meant other people. 

Was I different from other people? In a way, everyone was different from each other, so there was no point in that question. That said, I couldn’t just answer ‘Yes’, because she might have understood that question in a different way. In the end, the only person that could accurately answer that question was her. 

“I don’t know...” 

I couldn’t find an answer better than that, but it seemed that it was satisfying enough for her. 

“I see...” 

Having said that, she turned around and approached the door. This time, she stopped right in front of it as well, but without looking at me, said in a casual, but slightly trembling manner:

“See you then, human.”

Before I knew it, she had gone through the door and I couldn’t see her silhouette anywhere anymore. I was left alone on the rooftop.

Her last words left me astonished. They most likely meant that she didn’t see me as just another deceitful human...

I kept pointlessly staring at the clear, blue sky before being interrupted by the bell announcing the end of the break.

megu3

So, I want to thank you all for reading this story! I had thought that maybe 5 people at most would make it to the third chapter, but I was so pleasantly surprised when I saw that there were almost 30 of you! Yeah, I know that compared with other series on this platform those are rookie numbers, but it really means a lot to me. Thanks to that, I managed to write much faster than usual, so I'm releasing this chapter a few days earlier than I have originally planned to. Have a nice day!