A few days later, I met with Himawari after school. Our usual meeting place, the small forest behind the club building, wasn’t really usable anymore since it was already winter, and what’s more, we were obviously prohibited from going outside. I mean, it was pretty easy to sneak out, but it was too cold anyway, so there was no point.

Surprisingly, she hadn’t changed at all. Her appearance, that is.

Despite what she told me back then, she hadn’t taken the eyepatch off. Therefore, she looked exactly the same as always.

“So, Himawari. You’re not going to take it off, after all?”

“Umm… , human…”

Sometimes, she attempted to call me by my name, Takao. Her small voice was really cute, but seeing her struggling wasn’t all that comfortable for me—that’s why I told her that she could call me Human like always and I wouldn’t be mad.

As for me, I started calling her Himawari. Recently, I managed to find some courage to do that, so I took advantage of it. I think we were close to each other already.

“I… want to take it off. But I can’t.”

“Huh…”

I had no idea what it had to be like to have one eye covered for over a year, so I couldn’t blame her for hesitating.

“By the way, can you tell me what you really think about covering that eye?”

We walked down a familiar street in our neighborhood. In fact, I took a detour just so I could walk together with her longer. I was even thinking about paying her a visit. According to her, her parents were never home at the time when she usually got back, so there should be no problem.

I still had enough time to spare. Well, I just had to study quite a bit because of exams.

The street wasn’t crowded, but there were people from our school there. We weren’t hiding or anything, so we could be spotted easily. It was just that we didn’t care about it.

“I’m not sure… It was difficult at first, but once I got used to it, it’s not that bad…” her voice was small, but I heard it clearly. “When I first put it on, I thought it was okay because there was nothing interesting to see in this world, so I wouldn’t lose much. And to be honest… I still think that now.”

“Oh?”

“Or it’s just that I like it. I feel better when I have it on my eye. I don’t have to act to wear it, right?”

“Yeah. But still, it’s the first thing that tells people that you are weird. So, I think you can’t wear it if you want to go back to normal…”

A while of silence followed. She was probably thinking about her response.

“But then, isn’t it okay until I graduate?”

“I suppose so…”

Our images in middle school were pretty much destroyed already. I was seen as a complete loner, and she was a weirdo. In high school, nobody would know about us because we would land in a class full of new people, so we could start anew.

“Sorry. Actually...” she suddenly stopped.

“Hmm?”

“I want to do it… one more time…” she was clearly embarrassed, but I had no idea what she was aiming for.

“Do… what?”

“I want to… dress up in those weird clothes and go on a… d-date” her stare was fixed on the ground.

“H-honestly… A Christmas date, right?”

I’d been thinking about it lately as well. In fact, I was planning to ask her out soon… but she was faster again.

“R-right.”

“No problem.”

“B-but… I want to ask you of something. I’m sorry for being so weird all the time, but… can we meet in some empty place?”

Empty place, huh? I wanted to know what her idea of a Christmas date was.

“Where for example…?”

“…” she stayed silent.

“Himawari?”

“S-sorry. It was too weird of a request. Sorry. It would be better if there was a snowfall or something… and nobody was out.”

That’s right, I remembered. She didn’t like it when there were people around. Unfortunately, I had no idea how I could help her.

“Err… If I may ask, will your parents be home then?”

“No.”

“So… maybe we can meet at your house? It probably wouldn’t be much of a date, but… you can act all weird without being embarrassed, or something…”

“Maybe it’s not a bad idea. But it’ll be boring.”

“I don’t mind. I mean, I don’t think coming to your house is boring.”

“No. It has to be outside. We can return to my base later, but… I mean, house…”

“Okay, okay. I understand. We can choose some less popular places, but we won’t avoid people on Christmas.”

“It can’t be helped…” she sighed.

“Yeah.”

“Well then, shall we part for now? I-I mean, …”

“Okay. See you later.”

And so, our Christmas date was finally confirmed. I couldn’t wait for it.

•

Finally, the day was here. Instead of the train station, we met at a park. We couldn’t really go to a family restaurant, a movie theater or even a shopping mall because they were simply too crowded. There were lots of couples and families everywhere.

Yeah, we were a couple now, and I wasn’t really embarrassed about it anymore, but I didn’t like crowded places, and she neither.

“Hey.”

She was sitting on a swing. Even though I was approaching her from behind, I recognized her easily. Her back was entirely covered by black clothes, but there were cat ears sticking out of her hood.

“H-human…” she turned around to look at me.

At that moment, I saw her face. Surprisingly, there was nothing on it. I was expecting her to wear a mask of sorts, like she used to, but the eyepatch was the only unusual thing I could see there.

She wore the same black coat as ever. Her hands were covered by gloves, so basically the only exposed part of her body was her neck and face.

Those clothes looked pretty much the same as those she wore back in summer, but it was winter now.

“Aren’t you too cold?”

“No… not really.”

“Okay. That’s good…”

So, what were we supposed to do now? Neither of us had any plans. We couldn’t really go to any store since they were packed with people now. I could come over to her house, but…

“Is there something you want to do, Himawari?”

“I don’t know…” she responded in a small, bored voice.

We could just stay there and talk for a while, I thought. That small park was one of the very few places that were devoid of people today.

Winter didn’t necessarily mean snowfall. Unfortunately, there was no snow today—it sure would have been climatic. Actually, it could still start snowing soon.

“So… is there something you want to tell me?” I asked her.

“N-no… not really”, she responded me, embarrassed.

“Hmm… Okay, why don’t you start acting like an alien for today?” I suggested.

“Is it… is it okay?“ after a moment of silence, she asked me in a low voice.

“Sure, I don’t mind. I mean, you’ve already come dressed in those clothes, so why not?”

“…” she turned around and took something from her infinite coat. I wondered, how many items was she keeping there right now?

After fiddling with something around her face, she turned around to me again. At that moment, I was caught off guard a little.

“Fufufu…”

It’d sure been a while since I saw it last time. I couldn’t see her face anymore since she put a gas mask on. The one that covered her face entirely. Why did she have it in her coat? Was she planning on putting it on from the start?

Of course, the fact that she wore a gas mask just because she liked it was ridiculous enough, but that was the peculiar Himawari for you.

“What do you think?” her voice became muffled, but at the same moment, clearer. I guess it was because she was talking louder on purpose so that I could still understand her.

“What do I think, you ask…? I’m not really sure, but it’s been a while since you last wore it…”

Actually, I felt somewhat nostalgic because of it. For some unknown reason, she used to cover her face whenever we went out after school… ah, I actually had a chance to ask her now.

“Come to think of it, why did you always wear a mask when we met after school?”

“Huh… it was so that no one could recognize me. And… I felt a bit more confident when you couldn’t see my face”, Himawari responded with her muffled voice.

“Oh, I see…” it turned out that I was right. Back then, she told me that air was contaminated or something… “Okay, so why did you put it on now? Or rather, why do you have it with you?”

“…” it was a weird feeling when she stood right in front of me in silence, the mask rendering me unable to see her expression, which made her look like a doll or something. In fact, it was quite unsettling. Was she looking at me right now? I had no way of knowing, her eyes were directed straight in my direction, but I couldn’t see them.

I found looking at her mask easier than her face, but when she stayed silent like that, I couldn’t resist uneasily looking away.

“I have everything I need under that coat, but I cannot show you, human.”

Her response wasn’t exactly on spot, was it? But well, I didn’t mind.

“Oh, that’s unfortunate.”

“Right.”

“…”

“…”

Silence fell between us, and I felt quite awkward. Himawari was standing right there in front of me, but now that she had a mask on, I didn’t feel like she was really there—but at the same moment, her presence was overwhelming me. I could bear with it now, but it was quite bad back in the day. It didn’t make sense even to me.

But… I wouldn’t really see that mask on her anymore, would I? As ridiculous as it truly was, it was a symbol of sorts. After all, she had it on when we hung out for the first time.

“Err… human”, her muffled voice called out to me. She sounded embarrassed again.

“Yes?”

“I want you to go to my base. I have something… prepared for you.”

She prepared something for me? I wondered what that was. It was Christmas, so we were supposed to exchange presents… and I hadn’t forgotten about it! I did buy her a small gift.

“O-okay…”

Her house was only a short walk away from the park. As she told me earlier, her parents should be working today, so they wouldn’t be there. Was I going to meet them at some point? She was my girlfriend now, but I had no idea as to how long it would last.

I had been forgetting about it a lot, but we were going to graduate soon, and I assumed that we would go to different high schools. We lived close to each other, so maintaining our relationship wouldn’t be that much of an issue as I thought earlier, but still… I had my doubts.

But… I liked her genuinely. That’s why I wasn’t going to give up on her that easily.

And so, we arrived at her house.

“Wait here a moment, I shall make sure it’s safe inside“, she said to me from behind her mask (she still hadn’t taken it off).

“Sure.”

All lights in her house were out, so I doubted anyone was inside. But if she really wasn’t sure if they were going to return today… what if they returned when I was inside?

Maybe I was better off not thinking about it.

After a moment, she came back and showed me that it was okay to enter. She still had the mask on her face.

“Sorry for intruding…”

“We shall head to my base.”

“Okay”, having taken off my shoes, I followed her up the stairs to her room (dubbed as base).

Surprisingly, she turned the lights on for me. How thoughtful of her! I took a peek inside her room. It hadn’t really changed since I was there last time… well, it’d been only a few weeks.

I sat on her chair and waited as she fiddled inside her wardrobe. What’s interesting, she still hadn’t changed her clothes, which meant that she was still wearing the mask. I didn’t know why I was paying so much attention to it.

“…” I was patiently waiting in silence for the surprise she supposedly prepared for me.

“Here”, she approached me and handed me a small pink bag.

“Thanks. Also…” I took a box out of my pocket and gave it to her.

I peeked inside the bag and saw a few books. Having taken one out to take a closer look, it appeared to be a light novel I didn’t know. Come to think of it, she gave me recommendations quite often, but I usually forgot about them. She finally got mad and bought them for me, huh? But seriously, it was a pretty good gift, since her recommendations were often on spot.

I took a look at her to see her reaction… but I instantly realized that I couldn’t, because she didn’t take the mask off. How funny.

“H-human. Thank you…” her muffled voice reached my ears as she looked at the item.

It wasn’t anything huge. In fact, I had no idea what I could buy her. A few months ago, I thought about buying her something that resembled a seal, like a bandage (which was ridiculous, but I was pretty sure she would be happy) or even a new eyepatch, but now that she was done with it, it wasn’t a good idea anymore. Hence, I just went to a store and chose something small and universal on random.

It was a small strap depicting an anime character from the movie we went to. She could pin it to her bag or something.

“…” I just smiled as I looked at her… mask. “Himawari, are you going to take it off?”

“…” she might have looked at me, but she said nothing. “I forgot about it…”

Okay. How was it possible to forget that you had a mask on your face? Your vision was obstructed, breathing became more difficult…

Nevertheless, she proceeded to take it off just as I reminded her, and after a moment, I saw her flushed face.

“I’m sorry if it bothered you…” she looked aside.

“No, no. I don’t mind.”

“That’s good.”

“Well… I’m going to read these. I’m pretty sure I don’t recognize any.”

“Fufu. I choose some obscure ones, so I was sure you don’t know them. But don’t worry, they’re good. I’ve read them myself.”

How thoughtful of her… She was a big fan of those, wasn’t she?

“Okay. Thanks again.”

And so went our unusual Christmas date. Could it be even called a date? We just talked a little in the park and went to her house. It didn’t differ at all from what we’d been doing normally. The only extra part was gift exchange. Well, I guess it wasn’t going to be a date from the start, since we weren’t going to visit any store as they were extraordinarily crowded. We could do that any other day, and I was sure that we were going to do that soon.

After all, she wasn’t going anywhere.