Her boyfriend Katsuya had left her at Nigawa to go to the racetrack, but there probably weren’t that many races left in the day, which meant that she didn’t have much time.
She needed to retrieve her things from Katsuya’s apartment before he got home.
Katsuya lived in Rokko, which was five stations away from Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi.
To start with, there’s my toiletry kit, the kitchenware I bought and some clothing. It won’t all fit in my bag so I’ll stop at a supermarket and buy a big reusable shopping bag.
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.
Wait a minute … Just as Misa was about to climb the stairs something else occurred to her. She turned around again to look for Et-chan and her friends.
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. Half price, huh? Good to know, Misa thought, but of course she’d be taking her chances if she stopped there today.
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.
I want that too.
At the top of the stairs, Misa watched as the girls turned towards the ticket gate and disappeared.
Next time, I want that for me too, to find a boyfriend I can be myself with. And it would be nice not to be scared about him snapping if I tell him something he doesn’t know.
Thanks, Et-chan.
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 – no, scrap that, Miho-chan – shook her head vigorously from side to side.
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.
‘Since your commuter pass allows you to get off here and get back on for Hanshin-Kokudo, how about it? If you have time, that is. I found something that’s kind of bizarre near this station.’
‘I have time!’
Did Miho-chan take the bait out of curiosity or did she also want to put off saying goodbye? Kei’ichi hoped it was the latter.
With any luck, we could end up at a café and hopefully I’ll get her phone number, he thought to himself, matching his stride to hers as they started walking down the platform.
‘Look, over there.’
Outside the ticket gate, there was a curved, covered passage connecting the station to the shopping arcade, which stood directly opposite. Midway along the passageway, Kei’ichi stopped beside the handrail and pointed at the roof of a plain white building that was visible from that spot. Miho-chan leaned over the railing to see what he was pointing at.
‘Wow!?’
‘Kind of unexpected, right?’
On the roof of what at first glance seemed like a nondescript building, there was a bright red torii gate, just like the ones that mark the entrance to a Shinto shrine.
‘Huh … what’s a torii doing up there? Do you think they built a garden or something on the roof?’
‘But even if there’s some sort of fence you still can’t see any plants or anything. If there was a garden, don’t you think there’d be some greenery visible?’
‘Well, maybe the owner of the building is a super religious person, or maybe the land it was on used to be a shrine so when they bought it they moved the torii to the roof …? Oh, I’d really like to know!’ Miho-chan was utterly intrigued. Then she gazed up at Kei’ichi with a serious look. ‘I’ve got an idea! Maybe one day we can go investigate that building? It’s super close!’
‘… you’re bolder than I thought, Miho-chan.’
Kei’ichi had been somewhat taken aback by her suggestion and when he blurted this out, Miho-chan dropped her eyes, seeming a little embarrassed.
‘I wouldn’t dare to do it if I were on my own but if you were there with me, Kosaka-kun, I think I’d have the nerve.’
‘Oh, you’re counting on me?’
Miho-chan bowed her head, as if to apologize. But she persisted: ‘Though if you were willing, maybe we could do that some time?’
Luckily, he found her persistence amusing.
‘I’m not very relaxed with people I don’t know and don’t have much courage, so the best I could offer is just to go along with you.’
‘Yeah, so long as someone is with me, I’d definitely be up for it. That’s all I’m asking, that you come along.’
‘OK, so, one day then.’ He wondered if, when that day came, she’d really have the nerve to go through with it. ‘So, then, what would you say is the most special thing for today?’
Miho-chan leaned against the handrail to ponder.