Lying on the bed, I stared mindlessly at the ceiling. It was white. I guess it was normal for ceilings to be white. Through the window open slightly to provide some air flow, all I heard were voices of the occasional passersby talking. 

It wasn’t relaxing. In fact, it was stressing me out as hell. It would have been better if I started doing anything, even if without a point, but it wouldn’t change the fact that the day was already here. Today was that Saturday. 

I basically discarded the entire week because of that. All I’d been doing was lying on this bed with anxiety overflowing inside me. Even if I hadn’t had an appointment with that girl, it wouldn’t have looked much different—I never had anything interesting to do, but at least I wouldn’t have felt constantly nervous. 

I got bored of lazing in bed on the third day. I picked up some books and games, which made it more sufferable, but it wasn’t enough to forget about it for more than a short moment and relieve my stress. 

Earlier, I checked out the idol group we were about to see performing live. They were five girls in maybe high school age that danced and singed while dressed in sophisticated outfits. I guess most idols were like that. While I didn’t take a fancy to their music, it wasn’t bad either. Nevertheless, I didn’t mind going to their concert. 

We agreed to meet before the train station, but obviously, the concert wasn’t going to take place somewhere in our neighborhood. It was about four stations away, which was quite close. Still, we had to ride a train... together. 

I hadn’t taken the train for a long time. It was because I simply didn’t need to do it—I could go to school by bike or even on foot, and for shopping, I didn’t have to leave the neighborhood either. 

Trains in this region weren’t that crowded even on weekdays in the morning, so I didn’t have to worry about it, especially that we would take it on Saturday afternoon. 

It would be our second outing—a month had passed since the last one. Like last time, I felt simultaneously anxiety and excitement before meeting her. 

Since I had already done it before, I wasn’t that afraid of meeting her anymore, but what I was still afraid of was that concert. I didn’t really know what was waiting for me there. About the other people... that music seemed to be targeted for girls, but who knows who would actually come? 

Still, I guess that she was just as anxious as me. She asked me to accompany her because she was too afraid to go there on her own, even though she wanted to. We would be together, so I didn’t have to be scared of anything. I would still have a familiar person by my side. 

To avoid an unexpected situation, I checked the forecast beforehand this time. Luckily, it wasn’t going to rain today at all. 

Endlessly nervous, I rose from the bed and proceeded to leave the room. 

•

Before long, I arrived in front of the station. There weren’t a lot of people around. I recognized the person I was looking for instantly. 

A black hoodie with a pair of cat ears on top—a figure matching this description could be found standing next to a tree. Her face wasn’t turned to me, but I was sure that there was only one person that could be dressed like that. 

I didn’t feel anxious at all before approaching her. That was because a similar situation had already happened before, and I hadn’t ended up scarred like I feared back then. I walked through the plaza steadily with only one thought in my mind. 

I had asked her earlier not to put a mask on and she didn’t seem to have anything against it, but whether she truly had listened to me, I would learn soon. 

“...” 

The figure was turned with its back to me and she hadn’t noticed me approaching, but since there was a chance, although very small, of that figure being someone else than her, I tried to inconspicuously circle around her in order to confirm her face. 

“Human.” 

When I heard that voice, I stopped promptly. She had noticed me before I got a chance to see her face—however, I was now sure that it was no one else but Lumiya. 

“Hey”, I responded awkwardly. 

I took a peek at her face—thankfully, like she promised, she didn’t have a mask on. As for her outfit, she had a black hoodie on and a short black skirt could be seen peeking from below. 

Even though the color of her hoodie and the protruding cat ears was the same, it was a different thing than last time. Undoubtedly, it was a completely ordinary hoodie—and as such, its cloth was probably different, and compared to her previous outfit, it actually had sleeves. Her legs were covered in black thigh highs whose end could be seen, and her hands, although in most part hidden inside the sleeves, were bare as well. 

In order words, her outfit today was relatively normal, with the only unusual part being her eyepatch. 

“Fufu, do you want to see my perfect disguise, human?” 

I thought that her current outfit was normal enough—what she meant by disguise this time was most likely inconspicuousness. Was she going to pull the hood down? Or perhaps take off the eyepatch? 

“Huh? Okay...” 

Still, I was curious to see what she thought was perfect. 

“I shall show you only for a short moment. Do not let out any sounds.” 

“Okay.” 

What she proceeded to take off was her hoodie. I couldn’t see her face for a moment, but soon after, I caught sight of a blue t-shirt. When her face returned from behind the hoodie, she uneasily directed her gaze aside and asked me in a low voice: 

“What do you think...?” 

Revealed to me was a blue, loose t-shirt with the idol group’s name written with white letters. Apparently, it was part of their official merch—I guess it was only normal to wear it on their concert. It had to be the reason for she thought it was a perfect disguise. 

It looked good on her. It was the lightest piece of cloth I had ever seen her in, and it accompanied the warm, breezy weather perfectly. It was just as if that t-shirt shouted “summer”. In spite of her troubled expression emphasized by reddened cheeks and her hand fidgeting, she looked quite relaxed. Still, it seemed that she was more than a casual fan of that idol group. 

“Yeah, perfect.” 

Having heard my reply, she didn’t hesitate before putting the hoodie back on. 

“T-that’s obvious.” 

The sun was shining high on the sky that didn’t display the slightest sign of the weather about to get worse. Embracing my body was incessant, aggressive heat, but the current situation caused me to take a liking to it. There were so many fun things one could do in summer—what was about to happen soon would probably be the most, if not the only, memorable experience this summer for me. I had to overcome my anxiety first, though. 

It was my first meeting with her during summer break. It had just begun, but I already wanted for the next to come. Still, that most likely wouldn’t happen, unless I asked her personally. The sole thought of that gave me a chill down the spine... but I guess I had enough time to worry about it. 

“Shall we go, then?” I proposed. 

“Y-yes. I’m ready”, she timidly responded. 

With that, she was the one to follow me as I set off towards the station entrance. There were few people walking around, but nobody really did pay attention to us. Why would they? 

A girl was walking behind me. It was clear that we weren’t strangers that happened to have the same destination. I couldn’t help but feel constantly awkward due to that. Even though I seemingly didn’t care about anyone, I hoped that no one who was able to recognize me would see us. 

•

Since we didn’t ride on the train regularly, we had to buy single tickets on the spot. Having entered the station, I immediately spotted the ticket office and headed there. 

A few moments later, I felt touch on my back. There was no doubt that it was the girl’s hand, but nevertheless I was startled. After all, why would she touch me all of a sudden without saying anything? 

I slowed down and turned my head around to peek at her. At that moment, I involuntarily twitched as I realized that she was closer to me than she should. Her head, sheathed in a black hood with cat ears on top of it, was looking to the side with her cheek painted mildly in red. 

“W-what?” I asked her timidly. 

Inside the station building, there was more people than outside. Moreover, watching us were numerous cameras. Due to the tension rushing through my body, I couldn’t confirm whether someone was paying attention to us, but I doubted that we were doing anything conspicuous. What I knew though was that in case someone unwittingly glanced at us, we would appear like a self-conscious couple. 

“I did not bring my gloves, so I would rather avoid using my hands to touch anything that has already been tainted by a human. T-that's why, I request that you buy the ticket in my stead. If you don’t mind...” 

She asked me blushingly. That made enough sense—I didn’t have the slightest reason to refuse. 

“Okay.” 

Leaving her behind, I approached the ticket office and bought two tickets. I paid no attention to the fact that I used my own money. Holding them in my hand, I skipped as I quickly returned to her figure clad in black and reached out my hand to hand one of them to her. 

“Tha— good job”, she said as she held out her hand half hidden in the sleeve, but before she could take the ticket from me, she unexpectedly retracted it. 

“I must entrust you with the task of managing this ticket in my stead, human”, she continued without placing her gaze on me. 

“Huh.” 

That surprised me, but I could see where she was coming from. With both tickets in my hand, I walked towards the gates, and she followed suit. 

“...” 

I felt too awkward to talk to her as we walked through the station. To be fair, it pained me. She was the only person I could possibly hold an interesting conversation with, yet I lacked courage to do it. 

Before long, we found ourselves on the platform. Waiting for the train that arrived at the station every about ten minutes weren’t many people aside from us, which gave me hope that the train wouldn’t be crowded and have a few vacant seats left. 

Standing there, I felt slightly nostalgic, but the reason for that was clear—it was a place familiar to me that I hadn’t been to for a long time. There was nowhere to stare at. Wherever I looked, there were buildings that covered everything behind them on either side of the railway. 

When I looked to the side, I saw the peculiar blonde girl cloaked in the black hoodie. Where was she looking with that one blue eye of hers? It was hidden under the hood, so I had no way of knowing other that certainly not at me. Seeing her like that, I couldn’t believe that I had been accompanying her at the moment. She looked like an ordinary girl who certainly had better things to do than hang out with someone like me.  

In fact, she was a mysterious girl that pretended to be an alien. She talked funny, but she remained silent most of the time. 

I didn’t know why, but I kept staring at her. People around were definitely thinking, “what a cute couple”, but they didn’t know how wrong they were. Still, I wanted to say something, but I didn’t know what. If I said something with no sense, we would quickly return to silence. I didn’t know what I could talk about. 

That was when she, out of the blue, turned her head my way and revealed her eyepatch-covered face. 

“This is the metropolitan transport system. Quite impressive.” 

“...!” 

She took me by surprise—I didn’t expect her to talk, let alone that she would slowly approach me. 

“Are you nervous?” lifting her chin, she inquired me in a low voice. 

“Ah... yes...” 

There were a few things making me anxious at the moment. Firstly, there was the concert we were on our way to. It was a new experience to me, so I was afraid of what was awaiting me there. I didn’t know who was going to be there besides us—what if we looked out of place for some reason? That was, in fact, only one of the numerous factors, most of them I couldn’t grasp. 

Secondly, there was the girl. In fact, it was only because of her that I could gather the courage inside me to try something new, but at the same time, I felt awkward when she was next to me. It was annoying, but I couldn’t overcome it for now. 

“Me too”, she uttered silently as she returned to her initial position, with her head lowered and impossible to be seen by me because of the hood. 

At that moment, a certain sound reached my ears. Soon, I recognized it—a train was approaching the station. Moreover, behind her I could notice its lights slowly growing closer. It was our train. When I realized that, I grew stiff and the stress inside me was doubled. I could hear my heart beating inside me, but that wasn’t necessarily because it became louder—I just suddenly started paying attention to it. I wasn’t afraid of the act of boarding a train itself, but of that I would arrive at our destination soon. The destination—while it wasn’t something normal person should be scared of, to me it looked similarly to the day of an exam or a surgery. 

“D-don’t worry... I guess”, I said without a reason. Technically, those words were meant to reassure her, but in fact, she could have said the exact same thing to me and it wouldn’t have been any less correct. 

If she hadn’t been tagging along, I would have already panicked and run away. It might have been the case for her as well. There was a part of me that was looking forward to experiencing something new, especially since that would make me feel like I wasn’t wasting the summer days. 

“K-kaka, you may rest assured, human.” 

Before long, the train had arrived at the station and stopped. Its doors opened, and the sparse crowd of people that had been waiting for it exchanged with those who were leaving the train. 

“After all, you’re not alone”, she continued silently as she moved her body forward to enter the train. Confused, I followed her. 

Fortunately, there were plenty of free seats inside the wagon. Nevertheless, she did not sit down. Taking a short look around, I noticed that people were either busy with their smartphones or indifferently looking at nothing in particular. 

I would feel bad if I sat down now, so I ended up standing across from her. Her figure clad in black was facing the window, so I didn’t know how her face looked at the moment. 

Soon after, the doors closed with a sound and the train started moving. It wouldn’t take us long to reach our destination—after all, it was only four stations away. 

With the scenery behind the window becoming less familiar, I grew both anxious and excited. For the first time in a few months, I left my neighborhood... and a girl was accompanying me.