Her thoughts were distracted by a commotion.
‘Hey!’
‘What’re you doing, buddy?!’
Misa looked over her shoulder to catch sight of a glum salaryman ploughing his way through the crowd, without any regard for the people he was barging into on both sides as he raced past.
It was only because she saw him first that she managed to safely avoid him.
Misa felt a lingering attachment to those girls, thanks to whose giddy girl-talk she was ditching her good-for-nothing boyfriend (as the old lady on the train had called him), and she didn’t want them to just disappear into the crowd.
The sound of boisterous squeals came up from behind her. And just like that, they had overtaken Misa and were gaily bounding up the stairs.
‘How many scoops are you gonna get?’
‘Definitely a triple scoop while it’s half price! I’m getting Caramel Ribbon!’
‘What about your diet?’
‘I’ll start tomorrow!’
Presumably they were talking about the ice cream shop that was located in the shopping arcade outside the station.
It would be a disaster if she were to run into Katsuya on his way home from the racetrack.
‘Et-chan, what are you gonna do for your boyfriend’s birthday present?’
‘I’ll stop by Muji after we get our ice cream.’
‘What’s your budget, then?’
‘Three thousand yen!’
Three times what she spent on her father – and from the previously ruled-out Muji, no less.
Misa had recently seen a report on TV about statistics for how much allowance high-school students received, and the most common amount was five thousand yen. Whatever Et-chan said about her clueless boyfriend, and whether she used that big a chunk of her allowance or had steadily saved up for his present, clearly she loved him.
At the top of the stairs, Misa watched as the girls turned towards the ticket gate and disappeared.
Misa headed down the stairs towards the platform for the trains bound for Kobe.
On trains arriving at Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi, the doors on the right side (relative to the direction the train has been travelling) open first, followed by the doors opposite. The door on the left serves as the boarding point for passengers, so a line will have already formed.
Kei’ichi and Gon-chan were waiting for the left-side door to open, with the pressure of other passengers building behind them. It hadn’t been their intention but, simply because they’d been standing by the door, by default they were now at the front of the line.
The doors opened and the passengers disembarked en masse. Jostled by the crowd, Kei’ichi found himself standing in a protective stance over Gon-chan.
‘You said Hanshin-Kokudo is your stop, right?’
‘Yes. And you get off here, don’t you?’
Even as he nodded, it seemed a shame to say goodbye to her here. Kei’ichi had enjoyed talking with Gon-chan on the train – she was funny, and cute.
Though they went to the same university, their campus was vast and his chances of running into her again were slim. At this point, all he knew was that they were taking the same compulsory first-year lecture course, but he was also aware that, realistically, if he were to see her out with her friends, he wouldn’t have the nerve to speak to her. He had to seize the moment.
‘Miho-chan.’ Going for broke, he called out to her using the name she’d said she preferred. Sure enough, Gon-chan looked up, eyes wide with surprise. ‘Uh, it’s just that’s what you said you hoped everyone at university would call you by. Does that bother you?’
Gon-chan –
Then she said, ‘Just that you caught me off guard. But I like it – even if it makes me feel a bit self-conscious. I wasn’t expecting it, that’s all.’
It appeared complicated for her, but in any case, it didn’t bother her. It had been worth gathering up his courage.