She stood with a confused expression on her face, which was covered by a black hood with a pair of protruding cat ears. 

Standing sideways to her, I was rendered motionless by the anxiety and embarrassment inside me reaching their peak. Over the tranquil surroundings, the sound of the train that had long since left the station had become a mere background noise. 

Summer break had begun just a week ago. Every day was filled with excessive heat and lack of willpower, resulting in endless boredom. 

No matter how I looked at it, today was different. Not only had I left home for more than a short walk or a visit to the convenience store, but I had met up with a certain girl and went to a real concert together. 

We ended up in such immoderately awkward situation. From what I could see, she was just as helpless as me. Her hands were hanging loosely and her entire figure was slightly hunched. Was it my fault? Was it her fault? Or were we equally responsible? 

“...” 

Let’s rethink the situation entirely from the beginning. After the concert had come to an end, she had lost her earlier enthusiasm. She had told me something about her odd clothing and the eyepatch, and seemingly returned to being delightful again. 

We had reached the station without exchanging a word and the train had arrived. In the meantime, she had said those worrying words to me: “I’m sorry for causing you too much trouble. May this be the last time we meet.” 

Befuddled by the intensive noise, I hadn’t processed her words immediately. Before I knew it, she had disappeared from my sight. Luckily, I had regained awareness soon after that and spotted her about to enter the train. 

Without thinking, I had broken into a run and managed to reach her before the doors closed. Instinctively, I had grabbed her hand and pulled her outside. Everyone had already boarded the train, so the doors closed just after that and we were left alone on the platform. 

I know. It was one of those generic situations. It sometimes occurred in TV dramas or manga. The heroine got mad for no apparent reason and tried to run away from the protagonist, but he prevented her from doing so and made her realize that she had heavily misunderstood. I hadn’t thought that something like that would happen to me in real life. Still, it wasn’t like I knew how to deal with it. 

It was my chance. I could either take our relationship further, or destroy everything we had built so far. Remaining silent would lead to the latter. The correct choice was pretty obvious, right? 

At that moment, there was nobody on the platform. We were alone, but that wouldn’t last long. It was an odd feeling—it was stressful and relaxing at the same time. 

I couldn’t wait for her to say the first word. What I feared the most was that we would coincidentally speak at the same time, but it wasn’t like it was bad. I wonder, why had it always turned out like that? Had she felt the intent of me opening my mouth and proceeded to do the same as soon as possible? 

It would be a surge of embarrassment coming at me at once, but I had to endure it. There was no other way. Remaining in the same position, turned sideways to her, being able to see only a small part of her weakened figure, I opened my mouth. 

“Uhh—” “H-human—” 

I heard her voice at the same time a sound left my own mouth. While I was expecting it, I was still startled and made me retract promptly. 

Nevertheless, I made the second attempt a few seconds of awkward silence later. 

“I’m sorry...!” “I’m sorry...!” 

For the second time, we spoke up at the exact same moment. We certainly were in sync—it was something I would think looking back at the situation a few weeks or months later, but at the moment, it was nothing like something to laugh at. 

I went ahead and looked up. Instead of the dirty tiles of the platform, before my eyes was now a building standing behind the railway. It wasn’t enough—that girl wasn’t there. 

I looked to the side with conviction. The girl was there. I fixed my stare on her face, but obviously, I didn’t have enough courage to look her straight into the eye.  

“I-I have to tell—” 

“Could you stop talking at the same time as me...?” I said jokingly, although my voice was clearly hesitant. 

“Huh...? Uh.” 

With that, I managed to break out of the sync. 

“S-so, what did you want to tell me?” 

She raised her hand only to pull her hood forward as an attempt to prevent me from seeing her face, and turned sideways to me in a similar way as I had been turned to her earlier. 

“I don’t know...” her voice was quiet as if she was mumbling, but I was able to hear it thanks to the surroundings being silent. 

“And... why did you try to run away?” 

“I felt it... I saw it..., that you were forcing yourself to do that.” 

She started slowly walking forward, approaching the track. Her voice which was barely audible either way grew even muter, but I strained my ears so I could keep listening to her. 

“You know, human... only despair is awaiting you if you get too close to me. It’s not worth it.” 

She stopped as she reached the yellow lane which was supposed to mark the safe distance from the track. Without turning around to me, she let go of her hood and seemed to raise her head to look at the building across from her. 

I felt that the distance between us was a bit too large, so I started walking towards her at a similarly light pace. 

“I’m sorry for being so selfish all this time. Just forget about me. You won’t lose much.” 

Her words made me stop. She certainly was mad, but not necessarily at me, but herself. Why? The cowardly side of myself wanted to listen to her, but I knew that I would make a grave mistake by that. After all, I knew that those weren’t her true feelings. Then, what was the true meaning of those self-deprecating words? 

“Once we return to school in September, we don’t have anything to do with each other. Don’t come to the forest... no, I can leave it to you.” 

Without the slightest bit of movement, she said in a voice that grew gradually smaller as she continued, even though I had reduced the distance between us. I stopped behind her and helplessly stared at her figure that was colored mainly in black. Unable to see her face, hair or hands and only voice coming out of her, she appeared distant. 

I hated it, but I was intimidated by her. If she ran away at this moment, I wouldn’t be able to go after her. After that, we naturally wouldn’t ever talk to each other again. 

That said, I wouldn’t forget about her. It would be just impossible. We hadn’t known each other for long, we hadn’t done many things, but it alone was enough to have a great impact on my life. It might have been because my life had always been boring, and she was the person who brought some colors to it, even if neither of us realized that. 

About her being weird, I had never considered that. She always behaved strange, but I just disregarded and accepted that. I didn’t see her as a weirdo, I saw her as a girl. Perhaps it was because I wasn’t completely normal as well? 

That’s why I couldn’t let go of her. I had to set her straight. I lowered my head, closed my eyes, clenched my fist and uttered just barely: 

“I don’t think I have to tell you... that it’s not like that...!” 

“...” 

I opened my eyes. She hadn’t turned around. 

“Why are you saying such things? It’s not like that, Lumiya-san. I’m not forcing myself to do anything. You asked me earlier, and I said that I had nothing against it, didn’t I? That’s because I truly have nothing against it.” 

I heard a reaction from her. It was so indistinct that it could have as well been my imagination, but it was enough to keep me going. We weren’t facing each other, but my words reached her. In fact, it made it easier to talk. 

“I know that these aren’t your real feelings. You’re just trying to make say something, aren’t you?” I said in a mocking manner. To be honest, I felt like I exaggerated that a little and additionally pressured her, but when I realized that, it was too late to retract my words. 

“N... no”, on the other hand, those words made her finally utter a response. There was no doubt now—she was listening to me. I continued my attempt to change her mind. 

“I don’t really mind. Even though it was stressful, I don’t regret anything I’ve done today. It may not look like it, but today... I had so much fun, and it was possible only because you were here.” 

I liked her. Those words might not have had much meaning since she was the sole person I ever hung out with, but I had always been having a great time by her side. If I said that this was the best day of my life... the day hadn’t ended yet, so I couldn’t tell that, but depending on how our conversation went, this could easily turn into either the worst or the best day of my life so far. 

She hadn’t turned around. The platform was still empty, and no train had passed by yet. 

“I’m glad that I met you. If I hadn’t had to stay longer after school and hadn’t stumbled across you on that staircase... I wouldn’t have had anything exciting to look forward to.” 

“...” 

“And, to be honest... I don’t want to go back to that. That’s why... I’d be sad if you disappeared. In fact, I don’t really have any friends other than you.” 

Wasn’t I taking my words too far? Didn’t it seem like I had some ulterior motive? Was I making an idiot out of myself? Still, I managed to say what I wanted before I started overthinking that. There was no undoing it now. If I hadn’t managed to change her mind by that, then well... I guess I failed. 

It was time for her to respond. She hadn’t turned around yet. All I saw was someone in a black hoodie with unusual cat ears on top. I had been watching this figure closely all this time, so I had no doubts that it was Lumiya. 

And then, I finally heard it. 

“Me neither.” 

“...” 

I saw her raising her covered by a completely black sleeve hand to her head. 

“What’s with that... You’re weird. Do you realize what you are saying...? To someone like me... I don’t understand you”, her low voice utterly lacked spirit. 

Being called weird by her, who was exceptionally weird, was weird. She might have been right, though. We weren’t normal. She acted in an odd way, pretending to be some higher being, even though she wasn’t. She wore strange things for no reason whatsoever, such as the gas mask from earlier or the eyepatch she always had on her left eye. What was weird about me? I wasn’t sure, but certainly I was different from most people, mostly in that I was exceptionally cowardly and detached, but that was for worse, wasn’t it? 

All of a sudden, I noticed her falling to the ground, starting with her knees. Her hands touched the tiled surface of the platform. Worried, I promptly approached her, but she spoke before I had a chance to take any action: 

“That’s funny... I don’t understand.” 

I was confused. I didn’t know what she was talking about. I wanted to see her face, but I couldn’t. Did I fail? Or was it a success? 

She was kneeling on the tiled platform with her bare hands touching the dirty ground. She was quite close to the track, so a feeling of uneasiness arose within me, even though there weren’t any trains approaching the station in sight. 

“...” 

I heard a sound. Undoubtedly, it came from her. It was quiet, but before long, I heard it one more time, but louder. That process repeated a few times before I realized what was going on. She was sobbing. 

On the platform, there was only me and her. I didn’t know what time it was, but the sky was orange, so I guess it had to be evening already. Due to the current situation, I completely lost track of time. 

I had been standing motionless behind her crouching, silent figure that uttered only sounds of dejection, but I had enough of that. I took a step forward and approached her. 

“...” 

Kneeling with her head down, tears slowly flowed down her face and fell on the ground. Even though I was standing right by her side, I still couldn’t see her face because she was effectively hiding it from me with her black hood. 

Is everything okay? Asking that had no point, because obviously something wasn’t alright. 

That’s why, without a word, I just held out my hand. 

She noticed it, brushed her tears away using her arm and grabbed it. Before that though, she said in a low voice through tears: 

“Sorry... I may act strong, but I’m actually a crybaby.” 

“...!” 

When her hand touched mine, I felt my heart skipping a beat. I had already done it a few times, but it was the first time I felt it entirely. She grabbed onto it strongly and pulled on it with my help in order to stand up. I could already describe it thoroughly without using my eyes. It was a bit smaller than mine, but not much. The hand itself was unusually cold, but also warm, because in spite of that, I could feel that it belonged to another living, human body. 

I held her hand, and before long, her body rose from the ground and was now standing right in front of me. The black hood no longer posed an obstacle before seeing her face, unusually brimming with emotion. 

Her both cheeks were flushed and moistened by the tears that were still flowing gently from her right, squinted blue eye that was peering at me. 

Her mouth formed an honest expression that I hadn’t seen on her before. It was so slight that I barely noticed, but it was a smile. A genuine smile on Lumiya’s face—I didn’t know why, but seeing it filled me with joy I had never felt previously in my life. Shortly afterwards, she opened it so slightly that it didn’t even affect its immaculate form. 

“Do you really mean it...?” 

“Yes...!” 

As I replied her, I looked into her eye. It was embarrassing, but I endured it. I did it so I could prove to her that I was extremely honest in body and soul, so I wouldn’t have to see her dejected anymore. She returned my gaze and it lasted for a few seconds before she lowered her head. I felt like during this time, we exchanged a lot of information between us, even though doing that paralyzed both my body and my mind. 

“It’s embarrassing. Please don’t do it anymore...” 

She raised her hand and pulled at her hood, making her face unable to be seen clearly anymore. I involuntarily turned my head to the right as well. 

“R-right.” 

“A-am I really all right to you? Just so you know, I won’t stop talking like that. And I’ll wear odd clothes...” 

“Yeah...” 

She now confirmed that she realized she was odd. It seemed that she had been doing it consciously, so everything was most likely okay with her head, if anyone had any doubts. 

“I’ll keep calling you human, even if it turns out that you’re not human. Is that really okay?” 

“Of course. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t like it.” 

“...” 

I gathered my courage to turn my head and glance at her one more time. What I saw was her standing there helplessly, with her hand still pulling at her black hood. 

Some people had already gathered at the station, but it wasn’t enough to disturb us. 

“So, human... I’m keeping a lot from you. I... I promise that I’ll tell you everything soon, but... if you happen to realize sooner, please don’t be mad at me...” 

I didn’t really understand what she meant by that, but I doubted that she was hiding something from me that would make me angry. 

“Okay.” 

“And, actually... I had a lot of fun today too. I was nervous too, but... today, I felt something I don’t normally feel.” 

“I’m glad.” 

“And... I’m actually free every day until September... so you can ask me of anything anytime.” 

I was sure now—it was a success. Did I break through that annoying barrier of anxiety? Probably. There still was a distance between us, but we managed to reduce it greatly today. 

I turned around to face her. She let go of her hood, and even though her head was still lowered, I could see that her cheeks were slightly red and expressed a lot of genuine joy. It made me glad too—I think it would be proper to call it the best day of my life, but if things went like that, I was sure that many better days would come soon. 

I noticed the train approaching. Its sound couldn’t be heard yet, so we had a minute or so before it arrived. 

When I looked at her unique, immaculate and genuine smile, I came up with an idea to make it last forever. 

“Lumiya-san, err... maybe we should take a commemorative photo?” 

“Photo?” she raised her head slightly and glanced at me, surprised. 

“Yes. We can use a phone... is mine okay? Or do you want to use yours?” 

“N-no. It’s okay. I don’t need it.” 

Clearly embarrassed, she responded in a voice that was quiet, but unlike earlier, didn’t have the slightest bit of sadness. 

With that, I pulled out my phone and approached her. Come to think of it, I hadn’t ever used the front camera since I had gotten this phone... no, I don’t think I had ever used it even on any of my previous phones. For that reason, I quite didn’t know how to make a good photo... but it didn’t really matter that much. 

I set myself next to her and extended the hand holding the phone. It was my first time doing something like that, so I felt slightly embarrassed... especially since I had to stand closer to her than I thought, such that our shoulders nearly touched. 

I glanced at her and noticed that her head was turned slightly sideways, so the camera couldn’t entirely grasp it. 

“Err... could you look straight at the phone?” 

“Y-yes...” 

When I prompted her, she turned to face the camera, although her head still was slightly lowered. I had seen other people making various gestures with their hands when taking a photo, but I didn’t since I thought it was a little bit too embarrassing for me at this moment. 

“Alright... here I go.” 

“...” 

And so, I took the photo. I retracted the hand and checked the result, showing it to her at the same moment. 

“...” 

Well, it could be easily said that we looked like a pair of idiots. My face was extraordinarily stiff and I could hardly bear to look at it, while hers looked way better, but her head was still unusually lowered and her uncovered eye seemed to be fixed on something entirely else, which made it look strange. 

I didn’t think that I could take a better photo if I tried again, so I decided to accept it like that. 

“Okay. I’ll send it to you later.” 

“N-no. Don’t”, she responded immediately as if to hush me. 

“Okay...” 

It seemed that she didn’t like having photos of her taken. Well, I couldn’t say that I liked it too—especially that I looked bad on each, just like now. Still, I had decided to save this moment, because I was sure that if I looked at the photo in a few months, it would bring me a lot of good memories, even if I thought it looked horrible now. 

Before long, the train arrived at the station. Filled with satisfaction and joy, I boarded it together with the girl and returned home before it got dark. 

That day could be called some sort of a turning point of my life. I didn’t know how I could think of her as a mere acquaintance earlier. She was clearly something more. She was a way more important figure than I thought, even more than a friend. I had been thinking about her more or less every day, but it was only natural since she had been my only friend and I had been meeting with her relatively often, even if we hadn’t talked much. 

That day, I realized something. I had been mostly alone and never had many friends, so my perception of human relationships was crooked. She wasn’t that different from me—like I said earlier, we were both somewhat different from the majority of people. That might have been why we had always been on our own, but thanks to a chance meeting, the two lonely weirdos found their way to each other, and naturally, something happened. She was my savior, and I was her savior.