5

Even so, the three of us ended up back together as we left the bookstore. And I really was trying to get away...

   "Hey, Shina. You skip class pretty often, right? What do you do in the meantime?"

           Ina, walking next to me, asked me this while holding a bag with the magazine she had bought inside. Lily's eyes also turned my way. Though they were both the kind of students who'd never skip class, it seemed that they were still sort of interested in it. Even so, there wasn't really anything for me to explain. Considering that the two were capable of combating drowsiness dur ing class, nothing about my hideout would be attractive enough to tempt them down the wrong path.

           Although, that did kinda make me ask why I went there either.

    "What do I do? Well, just kinda hang around. You know, sleep, lie around, do stuff on my phone."

           Playing table tennis wasn't one of the things I mentioned.

     "What freedom", Ina said. She didn't seem jealous.

     "We have a place like that in school? It feels like the teachers would find you wherever you went."

           Lily seemed puzzled. For an honours student like her who never wandered too far in the more deserted parts of school, it was probably inconceivable for there to be any places there suited for a classic game of hide and-seek.

      "Ah! I think I have a pretty good guess of where you do it."

      "Huh?"

            Ina suddenly proclaimed that. Though I didn't know if her guess was right or not, it still got me pretty flustered.

      "Should we go there and look for her the next time?" she then proposed to Lily, making it sound like it would be really fun.

      "Knock it off..." I latched back, my warning mixed with a wry smile. If they really did find me, that wouldn't be very good.

            If it had been just me, then whatever. But, Mai was around too now.

      "Speaking of which, I met a weird girl at the fish pond last Sunday."

            I rolled my eyes at Ina's sudden and inexplicably proud outburst. Just how many times had she boasted about something like that?

       "When aren't you running into weird people?"

            All the people who Ina introduced with a phrase like that really did end up being weirdos, and it never ceased to amaze me. Had she just been born under that sort of a star? Although, if that was the case, then I guess that would make me a weirdo too.

        "It's better than running into a pervert", Lily followed up. I couldn't argue with that. But, was that really good enough for you, Ina?

         "Let's see, who have I met lately... There was this one girl who was wearing something that looked like a space suit, and..." she continued talking in a gleeful tone of voice, which probably meant that it was. Well, as long as she was happy.

             Half-listening to Ina's story about the weird girl, we made our way back to the school area and began our usual journeys home. As Ina and Lily both came to school by bus, the bus stop would be as far as we went together. After that, it'd be me walking back home all by myself. Our family only had a single bicycle, and since Mom used it all the time, I rarely got to ride it. Mom had been the sports-type in her youth and still went to the gym, and so, the speed at which she pedalled was just out of this world. It was to the point that you could have used it for the source of an urban legend.

       "Hey, look!"

             As we passed by a gas station, Ina suddenly pointed at something in front of us. After making sure that we were looking, she quickly pulled her hand back. I strained my eyes to see what it was, and then―

       "Oh!"

It was Mai.

              Like a model delinquent, Mai sat on the fence that separated the road from the side walk. She was wearing her school uniform as casually as ever, with her jacket taken off and her shirt untucked. Something about the way her bangs sat seemed to bother her, judging from the way she was fiddling with them with a mirror in hand.

              Were she to fall backwards, she would naturally tumble onto the road. I was more worried about that than whether or not it was good manners to be sitting there.

              Next to Mai was parked a blue bicycle which seemed to belong to her.

              For the first time ever, I learned that she came to school by bike.

              Mai noticed us too. She glared at us, which caused Ina to jump a little. Come to think of it, Ina and Lily had never spoken to Mai. As such, they didn't know about us two being friends either. It wouldn't have been all that weird for them to interpret her stare as something more hostile. Now, considering those factors...

              I had never really put much thought into running across Mai outside of the gym. What was I supposed to do here? Seeing how she was looking at me but not moving, it was fair to assume that Mai was just as confused as I was.

              Either way, we couldn't just stand there staring at each other forever. I averted my gaze.

              In the end, we ended up pretending to not know one another.

              I walked past her like she wasn't even there. Mai also didn't greet me. Was she maybe mad that I was ignoring her? I looked over my shoulder and our eyes met, and a few seconds later we turned our faces away nearly at the same time.

      "..."

              What was this emotion I felt, this restlessness and embarrassment? I mean, it wasn't like we were a couple trying to keep the fact that they were going out a secret. Well, I suppose it might have shared some nuances.

       "Who was that girl? I think I've seen her in class. Like, in April", Lily asked me while tucking her dangly hair behind her ear. Seriously, again?

       "You ask who she is every time we see her", Ina pointed out.

       "Do I?" she replied back. Yeah, I guess she wasn't really the thinking type.

       "She's... Mai. From our class."

       "She's a real delinquent, one recognized by the teachers."

            Ina added on to my simple explanation. You had to be recognized by a teacher to be a delinquent?

        "A delinquent, huh? So, Shina's comrade?"

        "Who knows."

             From Lily's perspective, even I was a delinquent. The only difference between us was that I came to class every once in a while, while Mai never did. In other words, no such thing as a diligent delinquent.

             Well, there was a slight difference; Mai looked tough like she was going to beat you up, whereas I couldn't stop giving off the impression that I was con stantly spacing out, like: iguana passing the day the sun. Just sitting there, idling away instead of going to class.

             What might a bad girl like her have been doing in a place like this?

              I casually took one more look over my shoulder, only to find that Mai had already ridden off.

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