*Sigh…* I’m feeling anxious. Today is going to be hard. I haven’t even gotten to school yet, and I’m already scared. I can’t be skipping school all the time, and since I skipped yesterday, that means I should go today. Maybe it will be fine. They’ve had a day to calm down, and as long as both Ayumu and Miyuki don’t spend too much time on me, no one’s gonna pay much attention to me.

School is not even what’s worrying me the most. The biggest issue is that I told Hecate I’d come back today, and I already know Katja is going to put me through another round of hellish training. Is she gonna make me run again? I’m still sore from yesterday. Why did I say I’d go back? I should have just gone to Shinji and told him I had no interest in joining them.

Well, in hindsight, yesterday wasn’t that bad. I didn’t like being forced to run, but I got to meet Hecate and Carol. I have no clue how I’m going to handle Carol, but Hecate seemed nice. Narumi was also very welcoming, and she’s friendly too, even though she’s almost always on her phone. Maybe I should have followed her example, and I should have done the same when they were talking about me amongst themselves like I wasn’t even there. The best part about yesterday is that the whole visit didn’t even take that long. I think the whole thing took less than two hours since Katja found me until I got back home. I’m not too happy about wasting two of my precious gaming and anime hours like that, but I was still net positive for the day after skipping school.

The same cannot be said for today. I’m not skipping school, so I’m not gonna have a lot of time for myself.

“Iroha, there you are.”

“Huh?” I was on my way to school, and when I got close to the front gate, a voice called out to me.

“Miyuki…” I looked up and saw the silver-haired girl walking my way.

“Hi, Iroha. How are you?” Miyuki walked as confidently as ever. Her hair fluttered with the morning breeze, and her light blue eyes were so captivating that I fell in love with her all over again.

“H- hi, Miyuki. I- I’m alright…”

“Are you really, Iroha? You looked troubled.” I wish she hadn’t seen that. Why is she here so early?

“It’s nothing serious… It’s just… life.” I let out a little laugh.

“Ahh… I get that. There’s always one thing that is wrong at all times. Good luck, Iroha. You can talk to me if you ever need any help.” Miyuki… She’s so nice! I can’t believe I actually suspected her of pushing me into the portal. I need help, Miyuki! I really do! But it’s not exactly something you can help with. I appreciate the sentiment, though.

But why is she here? You normally wouldn’t stay near the front gate in the morning. Was she waiting for me? No way… But what other reason would there be? She arrived later than me the other day, so did she really come earlier just for me?

“W- w- were you waiting for me?” I was excited by the prospect that she came to school earlier just to see me, and the question escaped my lips.

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“Hmm… Kinda.” Miyuki crossed her arms and tilted her head slightly. Kinda is not a very good answer to my question. “I didn’t feel like staying in class, so I went outside to get some air, and since you weren’t around, I just decided I’d wait for you for a while.”

Oh, it was just one of her whims… Even so, I’m happy she remembered me. The two of us passed through the front gate, but we didn’t go to the classroom just yet. It was still early, so we had some time to talk.

“So tell me, Iroha, where were you yesterday? Did you get sick again?” Miyuki’s tone was somewhere between worry and scolding. I wanted to make some kind of excuse, but I ended up folding, and just confessed I felt like skipping.

“So you were actually skipping. I knew it. You’re a bad girl, Iroha. What did I tell you to do when you wanted to skip?” I could see anger in Miyuki’s face, but it was obvious it wasn’t genuine. Is this girl really serious? She asked me to tell her when I felt like skipping so we could skip together, but I still can’t believe she actually meant it.

“S- sorry, I usually only skip because I have something I want to do, so it’s hard sometimes…” Although yesterday was not one such cases.

“Aww… I guess I understand. I do the same sometimes. I always end up skipping when there’s a game I want to play.” Miyuki’s expression softened for a moment. “But I would still like to hang out with you again! I want to go somewhere and do something!”

I don’t understand why she wants to hang out with me so much. I’m all for it, of course! Even if it makes me impossibly nervous, she’s so out of my league that I could never bring myself to ask her, so I’m glad she’s taking the initiative.

“The weekend starts tomorrow…” I didn’t even say anything meaningful, yet just saying that was enough to make my face go bright red. Now that I’m thinking about it again, making any plans for this weekend is a terrible decision. Who knows what Katja and the others are going to ask of me today… I hope they don’t ruin my weekend.

“Are you up for hanging out? That’s too bad. I don’t think this weekend works for me.” Miyuki sounded disappointed but quickly bounced back. “What about next weekend? Does that work for you?”

I nodded in response. Her proposal is even better than what I suggested. I don’t even know if I’m going to be free this weekend, but I’m sure I can make some time for the next one. Even if Katja wants me to train with her over the next weekend, she’ll have no choice but to accept my absence if I tell her in advance.

“What do you want to do?” I don’t really care as long as I’m with Miyuki, so I wanted to know what she was thinking.

“Hmm… How about we try to find something wild for you to wear? We talked about it the other day, so this is a good opportunity.” Miyuki looked at me while grinning. “That would be seriously fun!”

My face immediately goes red at the thought of Miyuki giving me some kind of bold outfit to wear. “No way!” Maybe I’m not fine with anything! “I- I don’t think I’m ready for that just yet…”

“Ahahaha! What about going to the arcade for now?”

“The arcade is fine.” I have better games at home, though. The games in arcades are not really my kind of games. They’re fun for a while, but they start feeling repetitive too quickly for my tastes. Maybe it’s a little better if I’m with someone else.

“What’s with that face? You don’t like the arcade?”

“T- that’s not it! I- I was just thinking I have games I’d like to play together at home…”

“Should I come over to play some games then? I wouldn’t mind that.”

Huh? Miyuki wants to come over? Miyuki in my apartment? Isn’t that basically being married? No way no way no way! Aren't we moving a little too fast? Wait! That’s dumb. What am I thinking? Calm down, Iroha. I have too many things about my waifus at home, and there’s no way in hell I want Miyuki to see that. I would never be able to face her again. I would love to have her come over, but I have to be rational here.

“I- I don’t think that’s a good idea… My room is too big of a mess.”

“I would hope so, that’s part of the fun when visiting someone.” Why is she insisting? Is she having fun teasing me?

“I can’t… I don’t want you to see it…” I would like for us to remain friends for a while longer. I don’t think you’d want to talk to me anymore if you came over.

“That’s surprising, I didn’t expect you to be the type to have a messy room, Iroha. Or maybe I did.” Miyuki laughed as she toyed with my heart. “Well, it’s decided then, the arcade it is.”

I agreed with her, and we started making our way to the classroom since class was about to start. Miyuki asked me for my number, and we ended up exchanging contacts. Is she gonna message me? I’m only in the class group chat, but I basically never talk there. I hope I don’t end up saying anything weird to her.

This was a surprisingly good start for what I expected was gonna be a terrible day. I guess the moral of the story is that I shouldn’t be so negative. I’m going to the House after class, and maybe Katja is going to force me to run, but that’s not the end of the world. Maybe something nice will happen while I’m there. But even if it ends up being terrible, at least I have my plans with Miyuki! There’s no reason to get depressed!