"Sooner or later you'll meet, why don't you go say hello to her?" Yuki asked with a smile. Takumi, you're going to get into Osaka High School No. 1, aren't you?
Takumi was surprised. "How do you know that?"
He hadn't told it yet. As far as he knew, only he and his mother knew that fact. Would Aiko have told Yuki? Improbable.
"My family and Shiori Jin's family are neighbors. His mother told me.
Yuki sat down next to him. A sweet fragrance floated in the air, and Shinji, on the other side, couldn't help but take a deep breath.
"What a disaster...", Takumi thought. But his attention soon returned to what was important. "Your mother?" And how did he know that he would go to that school?
Shiori was admitted as a special student. The school notified his family. They admitted only two from the district... Now several teachers know it too.
"I... I knew it too..." Shinji whispered, almost guiltily. My dad works in the Office of Education. He said your file has already been transferred.
Takumi massaged his temple. What I thought was a secret was no longer a secret. And then he understood why Yuki insisted: in new environments, it was useful to have a familiar face to lean on.
"Bah, forget it, I'm going to call her," Yuki said when he noticed that Takumi was not up for it.
At first I didn't think of crossing them. Takumi used to be so quiet that he doubted he could connect with someone as meticulous as Shiori. But now... I felt it differently. More confident. Safer. Almost warm.
A minute later, Yuki came back bringing a girl.
The room fell silent instantly.
She was very beautiful. With a calm but firm aura. Takumi thought, "What the hell? A youthful version of Liu Xfei in moe mode?"
Even Yuki, known as the flower of the class, looked like a secondary leaf next to her.
Was that Shiori Jin? Wasn't she supposed to be a brainiac with glasses and a dull haircut?
While everyone was trying to come to terms with the contrast between her fame and her face, the girl looked at Takumi, frowned... and he took a step back.
"Yuki... I'd better go.
His voice was soft. Drought. Recognizable.
"It's you!"
Takumi couldn't help but say it. That voice... It was the girl in the hat. The same one that had crossed paths with him so many times in the bookstore.
"It's me," she admitted with a resigned grimace. Mate, how is it possible that you are everywhere?
Shiori was used to avoiding people. His face attracted attention easily. He only went out with a hat to buy books. But he seemed to have stumbled upon his own magnet: that boy crossed his path everywhere.
"I was about to ask it!" Takumi said, putting his hand to his forehead. It turns out that it was you, the legend who always beats me in line at the bookstore.
"Do you know each other?" Yuki asked, amused. Then I don't need to introduce them.
He gently pulled Shiori to sit next to Takumi, and pulled Shinji away with a mischievous gesture.
"Takumi, have a little chat."
Shiori looked at him with her eyes wide open.
"Are you Takumi?" The second in the exam?
"And you're the first, aren't you?"
Takumi took a sip of his drink and smiled. "Now I understand why you always beat me in the bookstore. He never had a chance.
She laughed slightly. I knew he was joking, but Takumi's tone was so casual and relaxed that any tension immediately dissipated.
"It seems that fate insists on pushing us," she said.
And for the first time since they met — albeit in an eventful way — neither bothered to dodge the coincidence.
Shiori swept her gaze over Takumi and noticed a stack of magazines on the couch. Although the karaoke lights were dim, that didn't stop him from clearly identifying the covers.
"Weekly Shonen?" she asked in surprise. "How did you get one?"
Hadn't she bought the last one?
"It's not mine," Takumi replied, pointing his thumb at Shinji. It's the chubby guy over there. He added curiously, "I still wonder why a girl like you would buy Weekly Shonen.
Shiori looked at him as if he had just said something outrageous. "Don't you know Detective Conan?"
Disbelief crept across his face as if he had been asked if the sky was blue.
—It's the most popular manga among girls right now. At least half of the copies that arrive at the district bookstore are bought by girls. Didn't you know, Takumi? No wonder you can't beat me.
His eyes sparkled. "I'm a fan of Detective Conan. It would be a shame to lose to someone who doesn't even read it.
A cold sweat ran down Takumi's neck. "First Yuki, then Shinji... and now Shiori is also a fan? How famous has this manga become? And how can this academic nerd be more excited about a serialization than me, who wrote it...?"
Before I could process it, a voice emerged from across the room:
"Let Takumi sing, Takumi first!"
Takumi looked up and watched as Yuki cornered Shinji next to the song console. He ran away with his face red and the microphone in his hand.
"Takumi, you sing!"
Looking at the screen, he came across the title: Starry Wish.
Yuki approached with another microphone and a face of playful annoyance.
"Come on, fatty!" Why are you so shy?
Takumi frowned. That song had a symbolic air: sentimental, direct... had I really chosen it by chance? Or did he also have feelings for Shinji?
He looked at Yuki, confused. His expression looked annoyed, but in the back of his eyes there was something more shining...
A mocking smile.
"Yuki is joking again," Shiori murmured, her voice barely audible.
"Ahhh... so that was it," Takumi thought. Of course. She knew of Shinji's crush, and she was throwing him a sweet trap.
Then, something strange happened.
Takumi looked down at the microphone in his hand, and without understanding how, he felt an impulse run through his chest. A melody popped up in his head. Starry Wish. I had never sung it before... But I felt I could do it. That he had to do it.
An inspiration went through him as if a hidden spring were activated.
"Give it to me!" He whispered.
But a hand faster than his words stepped forward.
A cold hand grabbed the microphone just as he was about to pick it up.
The feeling in his chest was shattered into a thousand pieces.
Takumi blinked, his heart racing. And in front of him, standing with the microphone in his hand, was Shiori.
"What...?" he murmured. His forehead was wet. Had it been a... A flash of inspiration?
That ephemeral instant... Something in his mind activated like a transparent spring, as if an internal source had opened. But now all that remained was the echo.