Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/2912051603068864073
With less than two weeks to go until the cultural festival, more and more students were staying behind in the classroom after school.
Shiori and I pushed two desks together by the window and were going over the decoration team’s schedule. Writing on the signs, decorations to hang at the entrance, and the information boards to be used on the day of the event. Unlike last year, when we just took on whatever tasks came to mind, this year we’re deciding in advance who will do what and when.
“I’m on the library committee on Thursday, so I’ll be about thirty minutes late. You’re not allowed to plan on Minato-kun finishing everything by himself in the meantime.”
“I haven’t said anything yet.”
“You had that look on your face before you even said it. Please leave the work for us. We’ll finish it together.”
Shiori opened her navy-blue planner and jotted down the schedule with a thin mechanical pencil. Her handwriting was small but neat, not a single stroke extending beyond the date’s borders. It was a world of difference from my notebook.
Just as I peered in, impressed, Shiori’s hand stopped.
The page open was this month’s schedule. Mixed in with school events and committee meetings were a series of familiar entries.
“Movie with Minato-kun, Western-style restaurant”
“Bookstore. Metal bookmark”
“Taiyaki. The day I spoiled Minato-kun”
Only the last line wasn’t part of the original schedule; it looked like she’d added it later. It even had a little star next to it.
Shiori tried to close her planner, but in her haste, her finger slipped, and she missed the edge of the page several times. It was an unusual move for her.
“Did you see that?”
“I saw it. It’s written down pretty clearly, isn’t it?”
“It’s a planner to help me remember my schedule, so of course I write things down. But you didn’t need to read all the way to the very last line.”
Her voice feigned calm, but her ears were red.
I held back a laugh. If I teased her, Shiori would only get more stiff. But it seemed a shame not to say anything.
“So you take our plans together that seriously, huh?”
Shiori set the planner, which she’d almost closed, back down on the desk. Though she looked down shyly, she didn’t shy away from the words themselves.
“It’s important. My plans with you, Minato-kun, aren’t just things I squeeze into my free time. We set aside time together that day and decided what to do. Even after it’s over, I want to keep the memories of fun days like that.”
A warmth slowly spread through my chest.
My plans with Rino and the others always seemed to come out of the blue. “Come over early tomorrow morning.” “Buy some bread at lunchtime.” “Help me out after school.” They rarely asked if I was free; it was just assumed I wouldn’t say no.
Shiori is different.
She doesn’t just take my time—she tries to create time for the two of us.
“Can I write down our next plan, too?”
When I asked, Shiori looked up. After a moment of surprise, she held out her planner and a mechanical pencil toward me.
“Please write it down, Minato-kun. Since it’ll be next to my handwriting, please write as neatly as possible.”
“Don’t suddenly give me such a tough condition.”
“It’s an important section.”
Pressured by the way she said it, I slowly wrote the words in the slot for next Saturday.
“Shiori and the Aquarium”
Even though I’d written my own name, I felt strangely embarrassed. Shiori took the planner and stared intently at my writing. It made me feel uneasy, as if she were grading the shape of my letters.
“What do you think?”
“Can you read it?”
“That’s not a problem. It’s just… a little incomplete.”
Shiori added a small note beneath my writing.
“Hold hands”
“Are you adding that to the plan, too?”
“Yes. I decided on it in advance because I’d be worried if Minato-kun got lost once we’re there. Do you mind?”
Even though her face was flushed, her eyes remained steady.
“I don’t mind. Actually, I’m looking forward to it.”
“Then it’s set.”
Shiori circled Saturday’s slot with two circles. She seemed satisfied; the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.
Just then, the classroom door opened.
Rino was standing there holding the revised work schedule. She approached our desks and, just as she was about to hand us the paper, her eyes fell on the open planner.
“…You write down all your plans, don’t you?”
Shiori didn’t hide her planner.
“I write down the plans I don’t want to forget. Minato-kun checks them too, and we decide together.”
“I see.”
Rino didn’t say anything else. She placed the schedule not on my desk but in the center of the desk, and smoothed out the slightly crumpled corners of the paper with her finger.
“The meeting time for the decorations has changed to 4:00 p.m. on Friday only. That’s all.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
Rino gave a brief nod and left the classroom. She paused once at the door, but without looking back, she disappeared down the hallway.
I checked the schedule and wrote the updated time in Shiori’s planner. This time, Shiori peered over at my hand.
“Your handwriting’s a little crooked.”
“The space is smaller than before, so what can I do?”
“Then, I’ll bring a ruler next time.”
“You’re being strict even when we’re just writing down our plans.”
“Since it’s a plan with Minato-kun, I just want to keep it looking neat.”
Shiori said that, closed her planner, and tucked it into her bag as if it were a treasure.
We already have plans for next Saturday. Before anyone at school calls us over, the time we set aside just for the two of us is waiting for us.
Once we were ready to leave, Shiori quietly reached out her hand from under the desk.
“It’s a rehearsal for the aquarium.”
I took her hand and intertwined my fingers with hers.
Shiori squeezed my hand back with a slightly bashful expression, then picked up her bag with her free hand. We left the classroom—where work was still going on—together, chatting about the fish we’d see next week.
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