Inoue Mio’s Perspective

On the first day of our second year of high school, I stepped out the front door just as my childhood friend from next door did.

His name was Mogami Natsuki.

We were in the same grade.

He had an ordinary face and wasn’t very athletic, but we had been close as children and often played together.

Around middle school, though, we gradually stopped talking.

By the time we reached our first year of high school, we didn’t speak at all anymore.

Well, I figured we probably wouldn’t exchange greetings today either.

“Good morning, Inoue.”

I was completely caught off guard.

We hadn’t spoken in over a year.

Why was he greeting me now?

When I turned around, he spoke to me so naturally that it was as if he’d completely forgotten how distant we’d become.

‘How are you doing?’

Honestly, that’s what I wanted to ask him.

Why now?

At first, I was so surprised by the greeting that I didn’t notice.

But compared to the last time I had seen him, he felt completely different.

For one thing, his physique had become much more muscular.

He even looked athletic.

If I remembered correctly, Natsuki was in the cooking club because sports weren’t really his thing.

He said he’d gone through some special training during spring break, but wasn’t this change a little too dramatic?

His face was still plain, but somehow it looked much sharper than before.

“Let’s go to school together.”

Huh?

Was he inviting me?

Natsuki?

For a moment, I wondered if he was really the same person.

He even suggested we go to school together from tomorrow onward.

What happened to him?

Even so, we were talking so naturally that it felt as though we’d never drifted apart.

It made me unexpectedly happy.

It almost felt like we’d gone back to the way we used to be.

“Well then, Inoue.”

“I’m going on ahead.”

After we passed through the ticket gates and I met up with my friend Aika, Natsuki went on ahead.

I was glad we could finally talk again.

Still, being called by my family name instead of my first name left me feeling strangely dissatisfied.

I wanted him to call me by my first name, just like he used to.

Well, that’s fine.

I’ll keep calling him by his first name.

“Hey, Mio.”

“Who was that guy just now?”

“Don’t tell me he’s your boyfriend?”

“No.”

“He’s my childhood friend who lives next door.”

“Huh?”

“The childhood friend you told me about before?”

“I thought you said he was plain and totally unremarkable.”

“Did I?”

“I mean, sure, he’s not exactly handsome.”

“But he’s not bad at all.”

“And he looks like he’s in amazing shape.”

“Introduce me to him.”

“No way.”

“You’d better stay away from him.”

“Aww, you’re so stingy.”

“Aika, someone much cooler would suit you.”

“You think so?”

For some reason, I didn’t want to introduce Natsuki to Aika.

Still…

Could someone’s physique really change that much in just one spring break?

More than that, there was something different about the atmosphere around him.

He seemed so calm…

Almost as if he’d suddenly become much more mature.