Episode 16 – At night, just saying “good night” doesn’t seem to be enough
Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16818093093152263860/episodes/16818622170980524876
After school, we went to the home improvement store and then returned to Asahina’s house.
“Here you go, Ryo.”
“…”
I casually accepted the spare key to Asahina’s house. Is it okay to accept this? I’m torn between wanting to accept Asahina’s kindness and knowing that it’s not appropriate to accept it.
“Should I buy a toothbrush and a special cup too?”
“If we do that, I’ll be able to stay here anytime!”
“I’m the only one here, so it’s fine.”
“It’s not fine because you’re the only one here!”
“Why?”
Asahina… She has no idea how powerful her words are.
“Oh, there’s no futon huh.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Asahina looked away from me, fidgeting.
“Listen! If a high school boy has a spare key to a high school girl’s house and even has his own toothbrush and cup ready, what would you think if you looked at it objectively?”
“They’re living together.”
She answered immediately. The tips of Asahina’s ears turned red. Perhaps to hide her embarrassment, she couldn’t stop playing with her hair.
“Ryo-kun, you come to my house almost every day, so isn’t it almost like living together?”
“Don’t say that!”
Ah! Another blow came flying at me. Asahina herself had tears in her eyes. If you’re going to be so embarrassed, don’t say it out loud!
“Well, let’s not go that far!”
“I see… That’s too bad.”
Asahina’s depressed voice made my heart ache. Don’t make that face…
“Lately, I’ve been feeling lonely more often.”
“Lonely?”
“Maybe it’s because I’ve been spending the daytime with Ryo-kun. At night, when the room is quiet, I feel kind of… I didn’t used to mind it so much before.”
“When you feel like that, you should…”
I almost said, “Just turn on the TV.” I haven’t asked her why there’s no TV in this room, but I kind of get it.
“Oh, right. I should just go to Ryo’s house.”
“Why would that happen? My parents are there!”
My words made Asahina look downcast again. She looked genuinely sad.
I wish there was something I could do to support her mentally…
“…I’ll call you.”
“Eh?”
“I don’t have the guts to stay at Asahina’s room, but I can call you. That’ll make you feel a little less lonely, right?”
“Really!?”
Asahina’s expression brightened up. Her eyes sparkled as she looked up at me. She looked so happy that I felt embarrassed.
“Can you call every night?”
“Sure.”
“Then I’ll try calling you starting today!”
“Try!?”
“Goodnight call!”
That’s weird, I thought I said I’d call her. But if Asahina is happy, then that’s fine too.
“This will make me feel less lonely.”
—Oh.
During this conversation, I came up with the second plan for Asahina’s development that I had been thinking about. If the first plan was to improve her surroundings, the second plan was to support her mental well-being…
[Don’t let Asahina Toka feel lonely.]
That’s it! Let’s make that the main goal! Let’s try to alleviate Asahina’s sense of loneliness. Let’s think about what we can do to achieve that. I don’t want to see Asahina looking sad. Once I thought that, ideas started popping into my head one after another.
“Alright!”
I hurriedly took out Asahina’s, or rather, Toka’s development notebook.
“What are you doing?”
“I’ve come up with a bunch of ideas, so I need to write them down in the development notebook so I don’t forget!”
Asahina watched me unfold the notebook intently.
Ways to prevent loneliness. Calling at night is one option, but there must be more things we can do. We could look for hobbies together, increase the things we can do during the day, or even join a club together at school.
If we do that, Asahina will smile more, and we can look back at everyone else! If we do that, Asahina’s heart will surely…
“Hey, Ryo-kun.”
Asahina sat down right next to me. She was so close that I thought she might rest her head on my shoulder.
“Isn’t that too close…?”
“Well, this room is small, you know.”
“I think it’s pretty spacious…”
“Shut up.”
She smiled, her fingertips gently tugging at my sleeve.
“You know, I thought it was okay to give you a spare key because it’s you, Ryo-kun.”
◇
That day, I returned home feeling a bit awkward and embarrassed.
Night—.
Usually, I would do my homework, take a bath, play a little game, and then go to bed. It should have been a normal, ordinary day, but tonight felt different. My heart was beating strangely fast.
“A phone call…”
I lay down on the futon, stared blankly at the ceiling, and placed my smartphone next to me. I had received a notification after taking a bath earlier.
Asahina Toka < Ryo-kun, I’ll call you before bed.
Just one sentence. Yet, for some reason, my heart skipped a beat. The time displayed on the screen was 10:32 PM.
“It’s about time.”
Just as I muttered that, the phone rang. I jumped up and grabbed the phone, hurriedly pressing the answer button.
“Hello?”
“Ryo-kun?”
“Ah, yeah. I’m ready too.”
“What do you mean, ready?”
“Well, you know, mentally prepared… or something…”
Suddenly, I felt embarrassed. It was just a voice, but it felt like she was right next to me.
“Are you nervous?”
“Shut up! This is my first time doing something like this!”
“Me too…”
Those words alone made my chest feel warm. Asahina’s voice seemed a little higher than usual over the phone.
There was a moment of silence. But it wasn’t awkward. The quiet of the night and her breathing mixed together, and strangely, it was soothing.
“Hey, Ryo-kun.”
“Hm?”
“What if I can’t sleep unless you say ‘goodnight’ every night?”
“You’re already calling almost every night, aren’t you?”
“Hehe, you caught me?”
Her soft laughter lingered in my ears over the phone.
“If we keep talking like this, ‘goodnight’ alone won’t be enough at night.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Soooo…sooo”
No matter how you look at it, it’s a fake sleep… Asahina fell asleep to hide her embarrassment. I think I’ll call it embarrassed sleep, damn it.
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