“Hey, Murakami.”

“Hello? Who’s there?”

A woman stood a few feet in front of Katsumi. She was taller than him, older than him. She was dressed warmly; a long coat, a red scarf, shoulder-length black hair.

“...Arata?”

She spoke into his ear, “When are you going to wake up, Katsumi?”

A deafening alarm rang out through his head. Katsumi opened his eyes and shot up in bed.

His curtains ruffled in a breeze that came through his bedroom window. He looked to his left, and there was that black-haired girl. Leaning forward with an arm stretched out, like she was about to wake him up.

“A-Arata?” Katsumi shivered.

“The morning air is cold, isn’t it?” 

He drifted his gaze back to the open window. “...Yeah.”

Some hair fell in front of Mayumi’s eye and she pushed it back behind her ear.

She wore her usual sweater and skirt, but because of the oddly chilly weather, she wore stockings and the long coat she bought in Tokyo. 

Wrapped around her neck was a red scarf.

“Murakami, is something wrong? You’re staring.”

“…No, sorry, nothing’s wrong. I just… had a weird dream.”

Mayumi stood up straight and walked over to the bedroom door. “Well you should start getting ready, we have to leave soon.”

“…Hold on. What’re you doing in my apartment!?”

“I waited outside for almost ten minutes… then I tried the doorknob and it was unlocked.”

“So you just came in!?”

“Would you have woken up?”

“I had an alarm set.”

“That’s good.” Mayumi stepped out and slowly closed his bedroom door.

I might as well give her a spare key at this point… she acts like she owns the place.

A few minutes later Katsumi left his bedroom and joined Mayumi in the living room.

“Ready to go?”

Mayumi was sitting on his couch looking through a small stack of papers. “Murakami, is this all your homework from last week?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He walked past her and to the front door.

“I am looking at the dates on these. You’re lying.”

“It’s probably a misprint.” Katsumi slipped on his shoes.

Mayumi came to the front door, papers in hand. 

“You’re going to need to catch up with your classes.”

“I know, I know… It’ll happen eventually. Just not right now.”

“And why is that?”

“Because… I’ve got a lot more important things to do.”

“Like what?”

“...Lying on my couch.”

The two set off down the corridor towards the elevator. 

“Tonight we are doing all those assignments.”

“I don’t want to,” Katsumi responded curtly.

“It’s the right thing for you to do… You should not give up on yourself this easily.”

“...Why should I listen to you?”

“Because if you don’t, I’ll report you to the police.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“What?” Mayumi was caught completely off guard.

“It’ll just be about a few years in a correctional facility then I’ll be out. You’ll be off to your job and I won’t have to worry about you anymore.”

“Wh— you— You’re messing with me.”

Katsumi kept staring ahead as they were now walking on the sidewalk. 

“So you’ll catch up on your homework then, right?”

As Katsumi was again about to continue down his path of disagreeing with Mayumi, his eye caught a glimpse of her red scarf fluttering in the wind.

“Why do I purposely try and not understand?”

“Hm? Did you say something?” Mayumi asked.

“Ah, yeah. I’ll catch up on homework tonight.

“Really?”

“Yeah…”

“What made you change your mind?”

“It wouldn’t be the worst thing.”

“Hm~? What was that?”

Why did I say that! It just came out! “F-forget I said that, we’re gonna be late for class, come on.” 

Katsumi picked up his pace.

 

The two finished their respective first classes. Mayumi had Calculus where she diligently took notes and listened to the professor. While Katsumi nearly instantly dozed off in his creative writing class. 

Mayumi’s class ended thirty minutes before Katsumi’s, so she found her way to the café that she’s seen Katsumi sit at before. 

She pulled out her laptop and a notebook and began working on an assignment.

Ten minutes passed, then twenty minutes, then thirty. This is when Katsumi should’ve been off by now, but soon forty minutes passed.

Mayumi pulled out her phone and began searching for him in her contacts. 

After letting out a sigh, Mayumi rested her head on her hand and looked towards the entrance. 

“Arata?”

She quickly spun around to see Katsumi standing next to her.

“Did I startle you?”

“A little, yeah… How did you get in here? There is only one entrance.”

Katsumi turned towards the doorway he came through. It was a smaller one on the opposite side of the café.

“That door is closer to my class.”

“Oh… Why were you ten minutes late then?”

I have a feeling Arata already knows why… But I don’t want to admit it. 

Mayumi looked at him intently, expecting a response.

“I fell asleep.”

“That’s no good,” Mayumi shook her head. “Are you not getting enough sleep?”

Katsumi sat down at the table across from her. “I think I—” A large yawn escaped his mouth, “—am.”

“Clearly not.”

Katsumi reached into his backpack and got his laptop and a few papers. “I go to bed around… two… am.”

“You have to change that. You won’t pass your courses if you keep sleeping through them.”

“...”

“Tonight try going to bed earlier, we have an early class tomorrow.”

“...I don’t get how you act so responsible all the time. I mean, we’re still kids, sorta, right? Don’t you ever do something you're not supposed to, or even stay up late?”

“I guess in junior high I used to be a lot more carefree.” Mayumi put a finger to her chin.

“Well what happened?”

Mayumi hesitated. As Katsumi was about to ask why, she spoke up.

“My dad always wanted me to go far in education. It’s what he always valued most… So once high school started, I guess I really internalized it.”

Can’t diss her, there’s nothing wrong with that… I mean my parents feel the same way, I just never internalized it. “That’s a good thing Arata.”

She looked up, with a slight amount of surprise in her expression. “Thank you.” 

“What’s your dad like? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Even though Mayumi was looking directly at Katsumi, it was as if her gaze went right through him. Off somewhere that he couldn’t understand.

“Arata?”

“S-sorry. He’s uhm— He’s really kind. He’s adamant about what he thinks is right and is a little strong-headed. And works way too much.” She smiled softly.

Katsumi tried to picture the man she was describing.

He would always be working and very vocal about his opinions? I can see where Arata gets it from… That’s nothing like my dad though.

Katsumi went on a short tangent in his head, thinking about all the times his dad acted like a child or annoyed his mom.

“Is your mom serious like that too?” Katsumi asked.

After having such a distant expression for so long, Mayumi began to smile. This smile soon broke out into a light laughter.

“What?” Was that a weird question to ask?

“My mom is nothing like that.” Her laughing calmed down. “She’s nearly the complete opposite.”

“Really?”

Mayumi nodded. “She’s way too carefree and is always trying to find a way out of work.”

I can’t see that at all.

“For a while she had a plan of ‘becoming a famous author’ so she wouldn’t have to work anymore.”

“And how’d that go?”

“She wanted to write high school romance, but because she was popular in school all the stories she wrote weren’t relatable for the readers.”

“I could see that.”

“She is a very… interesting person.” While saying that, Mayumi shut her laptop and reached into her backpack—taking out her wallet. “I’m going to get a drink, do you want something?”

“It’s alright, you don’t have to. I’ll come with you.”

Katsumi stood up along with Mayumi and the two walked to the service counter.

“Do you know what you’re going to get?” Mayumi asked.

“Mmm… I think just something simple. Maybe a caramel macchiato. How about you?”

Mayumi spent a few seconds studying the menu, looking over each item. She stepped forward to the cashier and ordered. “Could I please get the Strawberry-cream Frappuccino with Almond milk and whipped cream.”

As she spoke the man at the register marked a few things on a cup. 

Does she like those kinds of drinks? I always took her more as a black coffee drinker. I mean, it’s kinda cute though…

“And for you sir?”

“I’ll just have the caramel macchiato, please.”

“Alright, I’ll call you when those are ready.” The barista said with a smile.

“Murakami, I meant to ask you earlier.”

“Hm?”

“We never exchanged contact information, I think it’d be useful if we did,” Mayumi said, while pulling out her phone.

Katsumi laughed nervously.

“Is something wrong?”

“I don’t really have a phone right now…”

“What? Why?”

“Because ...I b—”

“Hm? I couldn’t hear you.”

“Because I broke it…”

“Why would you do that?”

“I got angry.”

Mayumi sighed. “You shouldn’t take out your anger on stuff like that. What if there’s an emergency and you need to contact someone?”

Katsumi grumbled.

“You’ll need to get a new one.”

“I know.”

“Arata-san, Murakami-san,” The barista called their names.

The two grabbed the drinks and found their way back to the table.

I was gonna get one at the mall but I never got a chance to… because of what happened. 

Katsumi glanced at Mayumi. 

She picked up her drink and took a sip through the straw. Some of the whipped-cream from it got on her upper lip. However, she didn’t notice.

“Hey, Arata.”

“Hm?”

“You got something here.” Katsumi put a finger to his face. “I think it’s whipped-cream.”

Mayumi stuck out her tongue just a little and licked the spot on her upper-lip. “Thank you.”

Katsumi averted his gaze. 

I feel like that was too cute for me to be allowed to watch.