Since I didn’t feel like saying anything yet, I stopped in the middle of the walkway first. I glanced at that girl with a corner of my eye earnestly to see whether she would stop as well. My already high heart rate rose tremendously before I noticed her gradually slowing down in front of me. Unexpectedly, she turned over to me, resulting in our eyes inadvertently meeting. We immediately retracted our heads with cheeks flushing red. 

I wholeheartedly hated situations like this. Before I got to enjoy her cute embarrassed expression, I got caught in something similar and all my muscles refused to move.  

All of a sudden though, I heard a small voice coming from her direction. 

“D-didn’t you forget your bag?” 

For some reason I believed that her words were right, and was about to start panicking before I remembered that I had given it to my sister. 

“I took it home already...” 

“Eh? Then why did you come back?” 

Ah, I actually came back in order to look for her... but I couldn’t possibly tell her that. On the other hand, what would happen if I actually told her? Would she be flustered, or make fun of me? I had no other way of knowing but to try... but that far exceeded my abilities as of now. 

“I forgot something...” I told her a blatant lie. 

A moment of silence followed, we didn’t even flinch until she uttered faintly: 

“...In my classroom...?” 

It was just as if I had been interrogated and my lies got caught. I wouldn't have ever thought that she would remember that. Earlier, after I entered the building, I headed immediately for her classroom. She might actually have seen it all... but I didn’t notice her anywhere until she appeared out of the blue before the classroom entrance. 

“Ah... yes...” I had never been good at lying, so I considered the possibility of telling her the truth. 

“...Under my desk?” 

Gulp! She had actually seen all of it... how embarrassing! I wanted to run away, but I somehow managed to hold back. I couldn’t get any response out of my mouth for a longer while. Maybe I would be better off telling her that I came there looking for her... which surely would have been embarrassing, but the way things were going now, I was risking becoming another ‘deceitful human’ in her eyes, whatever that meant... 

“Human, you’ve been dec–” 

“Sorry! I-I actually came here... looking... for...... you!” 

I felt like I was going to pass out in a few seconds as I panted heavily and looked at the ground. I couldn’t believe that I had actually said it. Silence continued for a few minutes in my perception, but in reality it were only a dozen of seconds. She seemed to be at a loss of words, because I didn’t hear a single sound from behind. 

I couldn’t bring myself to move a single limb. It was just as though I had been doomed to stay in that place like a statue forever. And there I was, thinking that she would appreciate my effort, when I heard a silent, peculiar laughter from her... 

“Fufufu...” 

What was going on in her mind at that moment? Was it ‘what an idiot’? It had to be it. She realized that the reason I took the trouble to go back to school after the classes had ended and visit her classroom was merely to meet her... that would creep her out, wouldn’t it? 

“You’re funny...” she continued in a low voice. 

Suddenly, I heard a footstep from behind... and then another one followed. Turning my head a little to confirm what was happening, I noticed her going away at an unsteady pace. She continued picking up her tempo with her bag rubbing against her hip, and before I knew it, she broke into a dash. 

Of course, I didn’t even think about running after her. I kept staring at her silhouette gradually disappearing under the brightly shining sun. I couldn’t look away and my mind was devoid of any thoughts. 

That was when, all of a sudden, she tripped over something and hit the ground face down. Her packed bag flew in front of her, its contents didn’t spill out since it was zipped. 

“Ow”, I heard her making a sound from a distance. 

“Eh?” I let out my confusion loudly, but she was too far from me to hear it. 

I had already seen a similar situation not once, but twice today. 

Without thinking, my legs just started moving by themselves, slowly and anxiously. No, I had to speed up... In the end, I just threw the bike aside which fell on the grass and dashed towards her. 

She was lying on the ground, trying to pull herself up while wobbling. I didn’t know if it was a good idea to say something, so I just found myself standing in front of her, hesitantly holding out my hand which she didn't even notice. 

“U-um...” 

Kneeling on the tiled walkway, she used both hands to fix her eyepatch on the left eye, maybe because it loosened when she fell down. Not turning her gaze to me, she said in a barely audible tone as if she was talking to herself: 

“Looks like there is a power that wants to bring shame to me. Don’t worry though, such cheap tricks won’t work on me.” 

I backed down inadvertently as she pulled herself up from the ground completely and continued while brushing off the dirt of her sleeve. 

“Damn, it’s all this human’s fault. Why does he keep going after me? It’s impossible that he has clean intentions... so why does he want to humiliate me that much?” 

Were those her thoughts leaking out? She didn’t know that I was standing behind her? Realizing that I wasn’t supposed to hear that, I unthinkingly made steps backwards as quiet as possible, without looking. So she thought that I want to humiliate her, after all? I was deceitful in her eyes? 

I knew that I couldn’t possibly get out of this situation, but I brought doom upon myself by tripping over an irregularity in the footpath and falling, making quite a loud sound. Hearing that, she bewilderingly turned over and saw me lying on the ground. Her cheeks instantly became red and the pupil in her right eye grew smaller. In response, I only averted my eyes. 

“Ah...” 

I thought that she was about to break in a dash. This time though, I was certain that I wouldn’t see her ever again. In a way, I actually humiliated her just now, so her thoughts, unfortunately, weren’t wrong. 

To my surprise, nothing like that happened. 

“Y-yo...you-.......!” 

She stood there mumbling desperately incomprehensible words until she finally screamed out something understandable in a forlorn tone while looking in a completely different direction: 

“W-why aren’t you laughing at me!?” 

“...” 

At that moment, all my suspicions had been proven right. 

“Y-you humans are such despicable beings, j-just make fun of me as much as you want and leave me al–” 

“Why would I laugh...” 

Her current tone was incomparable with that condescending one just a few minutes ago. 

“Why do you assume that... everyone around you has only evil intentions?” 

“...” 

“I don’t really care about your weird pretend play... and I don’t mind you calling me ‘human’, but... I am not here to make fun of you...” 

I knew that what I was saying didn’t make sense, but for some unknown reason I kept doing it. It was one of the rare times when my reckless self won over the annoying, cowardly me. As soon as silence would fall upon us, I wouldn’t be able to deal with embarrassment and run away like a startled cat. 

“Huh...” 

Proceeding to gradually stand up from the ground, I continued: 

“I think that... you don’t have to be like that anymore...” 

Although I didn’t know that girl and I certainly didn’t understand her, I told her as if I knew what was good for her. Raising my head vigilantly to look at her, I recalled the words she said to me during the course of that week we had been meeting. 

That’s right... she approached me with a grain of distrust, but on the other hand... I felt that she wanted to believe me. There was an invisible barrier between us that had been set by her, but she didn’t know how to break it... so I had to do it myself, somehow. 

Her dejected face was directed mindlessly at the ground, rendering me unable to perceive her expression. 

“Lumiya...-san, I think you’ve gone through a lot in the past, but... I won’t hurt you, I promise...” 

There was no way I wouldn’t regret saying that later, but I continued with the flow. She made only slight movements, probably shivering. 

“I don’t know how I can prove it to you... y-you can order me to do anything you want, and I’ll do it right now!” 

Obviously, there were things I wouldn’t do... so I took a really high risk saying that. I just hoped that she would be considerable. 

“Then...” I heard her voice for the first time in a while. 

“Close your eyes... and don’t open them, or... I’ll kill you” she continued in a trembling manner. 

Huh? She only ordered me to close my eyes? What I thought about first hearing that was that she was going to kiss me... but this thought was not only dumb, but unbelievable. As for her threat of killing me... that would have made me laugh if I wasn’t in such a tense and embarrassing situation. 

Doing as she told me, I mumbled and closed my eyes slightly leaning my head down. Soon after, I heard her making a single footstep... and probably something rubbing against her hair. After a few seconds of pure silence, I heard the same sounds in reverse order. I had no idea what she was doing, but I didn’t feel anything touching my body. 

“I’m done...” 

At that moment, I leisurely opened my eyes and got dazzled by the brightness reflecting from the ground. Her figure was standing in the same place as when I had closed them. 

“Maybe... you’re trustworthy, so...” 

Earnestly listening to her words, I didn’t dare to speak up. 

“So... I can approve you as my servant, but... if you try something funny, I’m going to end your life entirely!” 

Would she use her concealed eye to do it by turning me into rice, I wondered. 

“I understand”, I said in a serious manner. 

That was when I heard some sounds from the direction of the school building, and unwittingly turned my eyes there. What I noticed was a group of students heading out... was it already that late? Nevertheless, we had to hurry and leave that place if we didn’t want to be noticed, which was certainly the case, even though we surely didn’t know them. 

“Um...” 

“I know. Our enemies are approaching... W-we have to leave this place as soon as possible.” 

She knew it without even turning around... was her hearing that good or something? 

“Alright”, I responded quietly as I hurriedly strolled off in the direction of the bike. 

Having hit the tiled pavement a few times with my feet moving forwards, I bent down to pick up the abandoned vehicle. I quickly returned to her leading it. As soon as I reached her, she began walking forward in a slightly hurried manner. I was already tired from all this walking and driving around, so keeping up with her on foot wasn’t the easiest task I could imagine at the moment. 

“Uh... this bag of yours seems heavy, I can carry it for you if you want”, I offered out of my own concern. 

“Tch, tch”, she began her response like a kindergarten teacher scolding a little child, “There are many important items in here I need to have access to instantly.” 

Like what? I wanted to ask her, but gave up as I realized that chances of receiving a proper response were low. 

Going against the wind that chilled me as it blew on my sweat-covered brow, I remembered that I was still holding onto the rice ball she had given me some time ago. Was it proper to dig into it right now, I wondered. 

Looking with a side glance, I could see her brightly blonde hair slightly fluttering along with the headwind. It made me wonder – could I call her... my friend now? As she affirmed a while ago, she had made me her ‘servant’, and I guessed that was her word for ‘friend’. 

What it actually meant to befriend someone? I had never done it before myself. Right, I had one person I could call a friend, but it was he who spoke up first to me, so it could be said that he paved the way for me. This time, the person I was dealing with wasn’t that outgoing, most likely because she was too shy. This time, it was my turn to lead the way. 

“Um, Lumiya-san.” 

I called her name softly without thinking at all what I would say later. 

“Y-yes... I mean, human.” 

Her hair stirred through the air as she heard my voice, and one of her cheeks that I could see was painted vaguely red. Having stuttered trying to respond, she corrected herself instantly. 

Although by accident, I confirmed that she was embarrassed... but who wouldn’t after what happened. Either way, I still hadn’t thought of what I could say to her. 

For example – the eyepatch, her name... no, she actually had already told me about the first one, and about the other one, I felt that I would make her flustered by asking that. 

Realizing that anything I could think of would feel out of place, I gave up on saying anything and proceeded forward alongside her towards the intersection. 

“...” 

How did I end up in situation like this? I was pretty much walking home with another person... a girl. Was I supposed to be happy? 

I am not here to make fun of you... I won’t hurt you, I promise... y-you can order me to do anything you want, and I’ll do it right now! 

The words I had blurted out to her came flowing into my mind. How embarrassing... I wouldn’t mind vanishing from this world at that moment. Nevertheless, the person I said all of this to was still somehow walking by my side. They were unmistakably true – I wouldn’t hurt her nor would I make fun of her. If anything, I was worried that she would be the person to do that. 

The fact that I could see her that close, and technically even psychically touch her, proved that she more or less believed my words. Surprisingly, she hadn’t even laughed (aside from that peculiar laughter that was rather hilarious than intimidating). 

As soon as we made it to the crossroads, I was uncertain of everything. In which direction was she going to go? What if it was the same as mine? If it wasn’t, was I supposed to go with her? Probably not, since we weren’t talking to each other at all, but on the other hand, our talk just seemed incomplete, and if we left it like that, it would be incredibly awkward to bring it up again. If we ever met – that was, because I still wasn't feeling that we would. What would give me the guarantee – a defined meeting schedule, or some means to contact her anytime maybe? 

A means to contact her anytime... a phone numb– hey, had I just thought of asking a girl I barely knew for her number? By the way, we were living in the age of internet communications, so phone calls and e-mails were quite obsolete. I mean, messaging apps weren’t different from them at all apart from the way they worked under the hood, which wasn’t something I had to care about. That said, was it proper to ask her about that already? There was this thing called Lime or something, which I had installed a few months ago because Yamaguchi nagged me to. We exchanged only a few messages then, and it’d been radio silence since then, and for some reason I still hadn’t uninstalled it. 

In front of the intersection, she suddenly stopped. Startled, I followed. Left, forward, right – these were her choices. Would I follow her... I felt like I should ask her about it. 

“Um...” 

“Turn left. I-I can’t show you the way to my stronghold yet, so I’ll tell you where to leave me.” her sudden voice was small. 

That was unexpected. She said it in a manner as if I was her chauffeur and I was driving her home. She also called her home a stronghold, which was quite funny, but I stopped myself from chuckling. 

I had already passed through that street earlier today when I took a detour which basically indirectly made me go back to school and find that girl, which was now walking by my side. Did that mean that girl lived in one of the houses I had passed? 

Utter silence fell upon us. We passed through numerous houses with our mouths shut. I knew that if I didn’t speak up before leaving her, our chances of meeting again were poor, and even if, there would be a huge barrier called awkwardness between us. 

That was when I thought about trying to act in a similar way to her... Would I impress her or would she burst in laughter? Of course, what I meant by that wasn’t pretending to be a higher being, but a real ‘servant’ like she had called me. 

Ah, then I would have to call her ‘master’. No way, that’s ridiculous and humiliating. I had to stay the straight man in this relationship, she didn’t seem to have any issues with that. 

So I set off on a fight with the other side of myself. My goal: ask her for a means to contact her. 

“Um... Lumiya-san.” 

“W-what.” she responded in a low voice, somewhat adorably. 

“So... now that we are... fr–” 

I stopped myself before I was about to say something inappropriate. For some reason, I found calling her straightforwardly a friend somewhat lame.  

Now that you’re my master... oh hell, that had an atrocious ring to it... but I was certain that she would like it. 

“Now that you’re... my... master, I think it would be great if... we had a way of contacting each other...” I said it all, pausing in between a bunch of times. 

When there was no response for more than one second, I started worrying that I said something wrong. Was it proper to call her ‘master’? The opposite of a servant was master, wasn’t it? Or maybe it was about the contact part? 

Her head again turned in a direction that prevented me from grasping her expression. Her steady pace was also thrown off balance. 

“Kuku, I’m glad that you realized it... but I ask you to refrain from calling me master so forthrightly...” she said slowly and quietly as her hand landed on her lowered head. 

It was wrong to call her ‘master’ in the end? What a bummer, I wouldn’t mind betting my head on it, but it turned out that I would have been beheaded. 

Subsequently, she proceeded to do something that, no matter how ambiguous it sounds, had already earned an unforgettable place in my head. She pulled out something from within her skirt. Despite having her bag with her, she still stored something in there... I think that she just used it like a pocket. This time, the item she had brought out was her phone. I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw it – it meant that she understood my message and intended to give me her contact info. 

I didn’t look at her phone this time as she was fiddling with it. Soon after, she showed me the screen without saying anything. On it, her username in a messaging app was written in large letters, and on top of it was her profile picture depicting an anime character I didn’t recognize. 

It were some likely English words I couldn’t understand ended with a sequence of numbers 0606. Speaking of which, I heard that the numbers on the end of one’s username were usually one’s birthday or year of birth. Since they definitely didn’t translate to a year, they could mean that her birthday was on June 6. 

I had my own phone hidden in my pocket, so I pulled it out and opened the app, which welcomed me with my contact list which was enormous having only one entry in it. Last message: December. Having entered her username, I added her to my contact list, which was now 2 entries long. New friend acquired. 

I succeeded? Was it confirmed now that we became... friends? 

Before turning the phone off once again, I peeked at the current time and date. It was half past four, which meant that I spent over an additional hour outside. For today’s date, it was June 6. Having learned that basically useless information, I shoved the phone into my pocket back. 

At the last moment, I retracted my hand. I pulled out the phone again and turned on the screen. The date showed June 6. The numbers in her username were 0606. Could it be... 

I took a glance at her. Her face was looking down with a dejected expression, and the hand with her phone already withdrawn. 

A really huge problem appeared. I wasn’t sure if those numbers really meant her birthday. If they didn’t, then I would humiliate myself wishing her happy birthday when it was not. If I asked her beforehand, then it would destroy the mood. If I decided not to say it and it turned out to be her birthday today, the next chance would appear a year from now – we would already be in high school, so we were likely not to talk to each other... so maybe it was better to risk a humiliation that would pass after a few minutes in order to make the rest of her day even a little better? 

“Um...” 

When I said that, she looked up with a forlorn expression and said quietly: 

“What?” 

“Uh... happy birthday.” 

I tried to say it as calmly as possible, but a grain of nervousness surely could be heard in my speech. As expected, a moment of silence followed, after which a judgment would come whether I had made her day or humiliated myself. My heartrate rose a bit, and cold sweat dripped down my brow in addition to the one caused by heat which had given up a little. 

Having heard that, she raised her head a little and looked mindlessly forwards. 

“Birthday?” 

When I heard her quiet, indifferent voice, my heart throbbed. So in the end, I was dumb for believing that those numbers meant her birthday. Of course, it was just a random sequence of numbers she chose on a whim... Well, too bad... but the embarrassment wasn’t that bad, especially compared with what happened earlier that day. 

All of a sudden, she continued with the same dejected and barely audible voice: 

“Ah, birthday... I forgot it’s today...” 

Hearing that eased my mind. I wasn’t wrong in the end with the meaning of those numbers. Her mood at the moment was quite unsettling to me, though. I was sure it meant that no one had said that to her today yet. Not at school, not even her family in the morning... maybe they were waiting with a party until she came back home? 

“Thank you...” 

“I-I’m sorry that I don’t have a present for you. I couldn’t prepare myself, b-but I can bring you something tomorro–” 

“No, you don’t have to...” 

“Ah... alright.” 

“You can leave me here now, I’ll go rest of the way myself”, she continued in a voice that gave off a lonely feeling. 

“Ah, I see... I’ll text you later then. See you after.” 

“Later...” 

Come to think of it, it was the first time when she responded me when we were parting. As I drove off on my bike, I didn’t think about anything much. Somehow, the embarrassment just vanished and was replaced by a light satisfaction. I was slightly worried about that girl because of the way she behaved at the end of our meeting, and that she didn’t remember about her birthday. On the other hand, I didn't think I had ever experienced more of her ‘human’ side before. 

That said, I couldn’t bring myself to text her in the end...