Arata should be knocking any second now. She said she’d be over at six and it’s six-o-three…

Katsumi sat at his kitchen counter drinking sweet-tea from a can. He stared down at it as he ran his finger around the rim.

I really need to go out and get that new phone— 

Knocking came from the front door, and Katsumi stood up. 

Would I consider this a waste of my evening…? No, I guess not. I needed to get this homework done eventually. What’s the point of paying for university if I’m not gonna do the work.

Katsumi opened the door and was greeted by his neighbor. She wore a massively oversized hoodie and sweatpants.

“Hello.”

“Yo.”

“Did you start on your assignments at all?” Mayumi stepped into his apartment.

“Nah. I was doing my really important stuff.”

Mayumi looked up after taking off her shoes. The first thing that caught her eye was the spun-around kitchen seat with a can of sweet-tea at it. 

“Looks like some pretty important stuff.” She walked off to the living room

Katsumi sighed and followed behind her.

“So what do you want to start with?” Mayumi sat down in front of the coffee-table.

“Math I guess?” He sat down opposite of her.

“Have you been to any of the lectures this semester?”

“I’ve been to… two… of them.”

“It’s alright. We haven’t gotten into anything too advanced.”

I was pretty good at math in high school… This might not actually be too bad.

Mayumi began explaining the first assignment, showing him examples on the paper. It was like her words were going in one ear and out the other. 

I’m not getting this at all. 

“Do you still not get it, Murakami?”

Katsumi slowly shook his head no.

Mayumi patted the floor next to her.

Hm? What’s she doing?

“Here, I can show you better.”

She wants me to sit by her…?

Katsumi turned his head. “I think we can work just fine like this.”

Mayumi kept patting the floor next to her.

“...Fine.” He stood up and slank over to Mayumi, he sat down cross-legged next to her.

“Is something wrong?”

“N-no. Let’s just start.”

Mayumi glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, her lips forming a little smile.

A little over an hour passed of Katsumi struggling through the course-work. While he would get frustrated, Mayumi kept calm. She didn’t show any signs of getting tired of him failing, or not understanding—helping him whenever he needed it.

Katsumi stood up and stretched, “I’m gonna get a drink. You want something?” 

Mayumi set down her pencil. “Tea please.”

Arata is surprisingly a good teacher… She hasn’t shown any signs of getting tired… I would’ve given up on me already. Seriously, it’s pathetic how hard this is for me. I had such good grades in high school… What happened?

Katsumi poured tea into two cups. As he did, he looked back at Mayumi.

Despite what I’ve said all day, I’m kinda glad. I probably wouldn’t have done any of this work by myself.

He walked back to the living room. “Here.”

“Thank you.” She set down the cup and picked up a piece of paper. “I think I found a way to make these problems a lot easier. Take a look—”

She’s really into this… I don’t get it. 

Mayumi pushed some hair behind her ear as she continued to explain.

Is Arata wearing perfume? It smells really nice.

After a second of silence Mayumi turned towards him. “Murakami, did you just sniff me?”

“W-what? Ah, n-no… I think— I think I’ve been getting a bit sick. I was sniffling.”

“Are you feeling light-headed?”

“A little.” Thank god she bought that… 

“Let me see—” 

“H-huh? What?”

Mayumi lifted up Katsumi’s bangs and pressed her forehead against his.  

“You do feel a bit hot.” She backed up. “Do you want to stop for tonight? You should probably get some rest.”

“W-was that necessary?” 

“I wanted to make sure.”

Katsumi grumbled.

“You look pretty red. I think we should stop for tonight.”

It’s not because I’m sick. Are you being dense on purpose?

Mayumi stood up. “We made a lot of good progress tonight. We’ll have to continue later this week, but you should get some rest.” 

She gathered her things from the table.

Tonight wasn’t so bad… She seemed to really care. “...We have that history quiz later this week. We should probably… work on that tomorrow.”

Mayumi turned back around as she was halfway to the door. “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

“And Arata—” The words lingered at the tip of Katsumi’s tongue for a moment. “Thanks… for the help tonight. I really appreciate it.”

“Mm, no problem. I’m glad I got to.”

Soon after, Mayumi was out of his apartment. Once again leaving Katsumi by himself. The smell of Mayumi’s perfume had been masking the faint tobacco scent—but now that she was gone, it slowly began to return.

I guess I can try to finish that sheet at least.

 

I think that history quiz went really well… It’s surprising, I haven’t felt like that about a quiz in a long time.

A large yawn escaped Katsumi’s mouth.

I wish I didn’t have to stay up so late. When we did math until midnight… Then studied until what? Two? Three-o’clock? She was barely awake for the last two hours. 

Katsumi looked over the classroom. It was about ten minutes before the first morning class began and the room was already filling up.

How can people be this energetic? What is there to even talk about this early? He set his head on his desk and tried to tune out all the chatter.

“Has anyone seen Yui today?” Saki asked.

“I don’t think so…” Brad responded.

The few other people sitting around them joined in and agreed, saying they haven’t seen her.

“That's weird. She’s usually one of the first ones here.”

“Maybe she’s sick,” One of Saki’s friends, Mai, suggested.

“Yumi, she walks to class with you some days, have you seen her?”

“No, sorry. I haven’t.”

As Mayumi finished her sentence the classroom door began to open.

“Hey look,” Brad said. “I think a highschooler got lost.”

“What?” Saki turned towards the door. “Oh my gosh… Yui!?” She began softly laughing, “Why’re you wearing that?”
Some of the other people around them broke out in light laughter.

Yui wore a plaid skirt with a tan sweater vest. Her cheeks turned a shade of bright red. “I couldn’t help it… I had absolutely nothing else to wear…”

“Huh? Why?”

“Well to start… Before beginning university I got rid of a lot of my clothes. So when I was doing laundry it was pretty much all of them… And I don’t know what happened… but when I took my clothes out they were all green!”

“Green?”

“Mhm, I think somethin’ got mixed in with my clothes. I have no idea what.”

“Maybe it was a pack of coloring-markers from your little sister?” Saki sighed. “But you still live with your parents, right? Why didn’t you borrow some clothes from your mother?”

“That’s because… they don’t fit.”

Saki’s expression soured. “Aren’t you lucky to have that problem.”

Yui went to sit down in her usual spot. “After classes are done today do you wanna go shopping with me? I need all new clothes…”

“I guess I have no choice…” Saki said with a sigh.

Yui turned towards Mayumi. “Wanna come with us?”

“I can’t, sorry. I already have plans tonight.”

Yui stole a glance at Katsumi—who was pretending to sleep. When she turned back Mayumi was averting her gaze.

“Ah… I see, I see. Maybe some other time.”