My Memories Came Back, But I'm Not Telling My Childhood Friends - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Three days had passed since the promise, and finally the day of the date arrived.

I changed trains and waited for her in the unfamiliar square in front of the station.

At this distance, there was no way any acquaintances would spot me. Plus, I had done a light disguise just in case.

I was wearing an unusually fresh and clean outfit, hair neatly set, and a mask on. Even I barely recognized myself, so nobody else should notice.

By the way, during those three days, the distance between me and Maya hadn’t gotten any smaller. If anything, things had gotten even more awkward. At school, whenever our eyes met we both quickly looked away, and we ended up coming to the meeting place without exchanging a single word.

Is a date even going to work like this? We’ll probably stay silent the whole time.

Just as that uneasy feeling crossed my mind—

“Sorry for making you wait…”

Maya had arrived. Even though I had picked the spot, she spotted my disguised self right away. Guess that’s what you’d expect from a childhood friend.

Looking closer, it seemed Maya had also put together a proper disguise.

She wore a black knee-length skirt paired with a pastel pink frilled blouse, a black mask, and a slightly flashy ribbon at her chest. Her usual loose hair was tied up at the side, making her cuteness stand out even more.

It was what you’d call landmine-style fashion.

Since she was usually seen as the neat and proper type at school, the disguise seemed fine. Even I thought for a second that some stranger was talking to me. Unless something really big happened, we probably wouldn’t get found out.

Still… she looked cute. Really cute.

I hadn’t really looked at my childhood friends that way before, but maybe because of the date atmosphere, Maya felt incredibly attractive right now.

Well, she actually is attractive. My senses were just numb because I’d known her for so long. She was one of the top two most beautiful girls in our year, so of course she looked cute.

“H-how do I look…?”

I was wondering whether I should give my opinion, but since she asked, I had to answer.

“…I think it looks good.”

“Ehehe, thanks.”

It was a pretty ordinary reply, but Maya’s cheeks flushed pink and she looked really happy.

Somehow, it finally felt like a proper date atmosphere.

Now that I thought about it, did she really invite me out just because she wanted a normal date? I still didn’t really understand that part, but she wasn’t going to suddenly confess or anything… right?

If she did, I’d honestly be in trouble. At least right now, I absolutely couldn’t give her an answer. Dating in this half-hearted state was just impossible.

I had said I would accept Maya, but there were still limits.

Well, she hadn’t actually confessed yet, so I decided not to overthink it for now.

“…Shall we go, then?”

“Y-yeah.”

With a bit of awkwardness still hanging in the air, we started walking side by side.

Today’s date was a sweets tour. Maya always looked happiest when she was eating something sweet, so I had suggested it, thinking it couldn’t go wrong.

She had been a big eater of sweets since we were kids, and I remembered her always sharing some with me. When we were in the same class, I could only ever finish half of the school lunch dessert because she would eat the rest. That was how much she loved sweet things.

Still, I was a little worried about letting her eat even more. If she put on any more weight—

…Whoa, stop right there. Even in my head, I shouldn’t forget basic decency. I had to slowly fix this twisted personality of mine. I reflected on that silently.

“……”

“……”

One minute after we started walking, neither of us had opened our mouths.

I had kind of expected this, but not this badly. I wanted to say something, but what on earth should I talk about…?

Even though we were childhood friends, right now we were just hanging on to old memories. Basically like casual acquaintances. With the gap between us, maybe even less than that. No wonder a sudden date turned out like this.

“U-um…”

The one who broke the silence first was Maya.

“Sorry for suddenly inviting you on a date like this. It must be boring with someone like me…”

She seemed completely down, unable to handle the heavy atmosphere anymore.

This was bad…

If things kept going like this, I might end up making Maya cry. I wanted to avoid that no matter what.

It wasn’t really like me, but I had no choice.

“…That’s not true at all. I was happy you invited me, Maya.”

I used her first name, something I hadn’t done in a while, along with words that didn’t really suit me. It was the best I could do with my clumsy self.

“……! Reita-kun…!”

I thought those half-hearted words might not work, but the cloudy look on her face cleared up in an instant.

“Fufu… You really are still the same Reita-kun, huh.”

And as if returning the favor, Maya gave me a big, bright smile. That innocent smile looked exactly like the ones she used to give me back then.

Just seeing that face made the whole trip worth it.

◇ ◇ ◇

“So? Why exactly are we doing something like this?”

I watched the shadows of Maya and Reita while standing next to Rin, who was hiding behind a utility pole and peeking out sneakily. I couldn’t help feeling exasperated.

“It can’t be helped. Maya might get attacked or something.”

“Even Reita wouldn’t go that far…”

“No way, that guy right now might actually do it.”

This was probably what you’d call tailing someone. As someone who talked about justice, this wasn’t something I really wanted to do, but Rin insisted, so I ended up tagging along.

“Aaah, Maya is seriously too careless. Guys are all beasts, so she should keep more distance…”

Rin looked frustrated as she watched the two walking close together.

“Hey Rin. I get that you’re worried, but isn’t tailing them going a bit too far…?”

I tried to gently persuade her.

“What if something happens? I’m the one who pushed Maya into this, so I have a responsibility.”

“Well… I guess that’s true…?”

Looking at it objectively, what Rin said made sense. Leaving a delinquent like Reita alone with the prettiest girl in class was like giving premium meat to a starving beast. If anything actually happened, Rin would regret it forever.

But from my point of view, I didn’t think it would. I couldn’t say it was completely impossible, but I just couldn’t imagine Reita doing something like that to Maya. If he still had no memories, maybe, but the current him probably—

“Ah, look Shizuno, they’re moving.”

Seeing the two enter a shop, Rin quickly started moving.

“Do I really have to come along for the tailing…?”

“Of course. If something happens, I can’t hold him back by myself.”

“Well, you could call for help or do all sorts of other things…”

Still, leaving Rin alone would be dangerous in its own way, so maybe it was better to stick with her.

Besides, I kind of wanted a change of pace right now.

Lately I had been a little too tense. If I didn’t relax once in a while, I might end up mentally exhausted.

I was personally curious about Maya and the others too, and tailing wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It would be a waste to turn back after coming this far, so maybe it was okay to let loose a little today.

Making excuses like that in my head, I followed behind Rin.