Chapter 7: Her name... is Kato Megumi!
Although the short-haired girl's words included the interjection "Eh?", Aragaki Takiya didn't see a look of surprise on her face. Or rather, since he first saw her, the expression on her face hadn't changed much.
"We meet again..."
Aragaki Takiya repeated the words the short-haired girl had just said in his mind. As expected, his feeling was correct; he and she had indeed met before, but when exactly was it?
"Do you not remember me?"
Seeing the boy in front of her staring blankly without answering, the short-haired girl seemed a bit disappointed, yet her face didn't show anything like disappointment. That faint expression was like some unknown flower.
"Flower? Hat! You are..."
"You're the girl whose hat accidentally blew off at the slope that day..."
A flash of inspiration in his mind brought out several pieces of information. Aragaki Takiya shouted out what he thought of like a reflex, but this voice drew the dissatisfaction of many classmates in the room.
After noticing the dissatisfied looks of the other students, Aragaki Takiya hurriedly stood up and apologized. Fortunately, it was just a sudden commotion, and since everyone was meeting for the first time today, the others didn't take it to heart.
"Your reaction was quite big; there was actually no need for that..."
The short-haired girl beside him seemed a bit startled as well, but she didn't show dissatisfaction like the other students. Instead, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly—was she smiling?
"Whew~ I didn't mean to, either. I just suddenly remembered and shouted it out involuntarily."
Thinking of his actions just now, Aragaki Takiya couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed. Usually, he was like a transparent character in class, and his activities rarely attracted the attention of others. He just didn't expect that he wouldn't even be able to maintain that state for a minute in front of this short-haired girl.
"By the way, I still don't know your name. Since we'll be sitting in front and behind each other from now on, we should get to know each other."
There was no expression on the short-haired girl's face, but Aragaki Takiya felt that she said those words in a very light tone.
"That's true. My name is Aragaki Takiya. What about you?"
"As expected..."
Hearing the boy's answer, although the short-haired girl already knew his name, the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up as she then said her own name.
"My name is Kato Megumi. Please take care of me from now on."
"Kato? Then please take care of me too..."
Seeing that faint smile on Kato Megumi's face, Aragaki Takiya was finally certain that she could make expressions. Furthermore, an illusion arose in his heart—regarding the girl in front of him, he seemed to have seen her even before that day on the slope... "Ding-ling-ling~"
The afternoon school bell rang. Teachers in Japan didn't have the habit of extending class, so the teacher simply left the classroom after saying class was dismissed. It was currently after 3 PM, and the remaining time was for students to participate in club activities. However, so-called club activities had nothing to do with Aragaki Takiya; his next task was to go to a cafe for his part-time job.
"Time seems a bit tight, I'd better hurry..."
Glancing at the time on his phone and calculating the location of the shop where he worked part-time, Aragaki Takiya decisively chose to hurry. After all, it was his first day on the job, so it was better to go early.
"Aragaki-san... Eh?"
Kato Megumi, sitting in front, had just turned around to say something, only to find that the seat behind her was already empty.
"Has he already left? But he didn't even say goodbye..."
Looking at the empty seat, the girl's cheeks puffed out slightly, but no one noticed this cute scene... "Aragaki, this is for the guests at Table 23, go quickly!"
"Okay..."
Inside a cafe on a certain street, Aragaki Takiya was working his part-time job in a staff uniform. Right now was the time when students were getting out of school, so there were quite a few students in the cafe having afternoon tea. Fortunately, he had previous work experience, so he handled these things quite skillfully.
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
"Hmm? What's that noise?"
"Stop it, stop it!"
"Aragaki, what's going on over there? Go check it out..."
"Okay..."
Hearing the Manager's instructions, Aragaki Takiya quickly set aside the tray in his hand. After an hour of work, he was slightly tired, but at the same time, he was also curious. In a place meant for quietly having afternoon tea, who would be making such a loud commotion?
"Excuse me, please keep quiet in the shop. Making a loud commotion might disturb others..."
"Ah! I'm very sorry! Eh?! It's you!"
Aki Tomoya, who was originally apologizing, became instantly excited after seeing Aragaki Takiya's face.
"Please stay calm first..."
Seeing the bespectacled man in front of him talking incessantly, Aragaki Takiya felt a bit of a headache. In the past, he would have stayed far away from such people, but because of work, he could only try to settle the other party down first.
"Eh? It's Aragaki-san."
Hearing a familiar voice, Kato Megumi turned around to look, and sure enough, the first person she saw was Aragaki Takiya in a work uniform.
"Ah? Kano-san, you know him?"
Seeing Kato Megumi greet the nearby Aragaki Takiya, Aki Tomoya was confused. He remembered that on the slope that day, the two of them shouldn't have known each other.
"Uh, if I remember correctly, it should be Kato..."
Looking at the man with somewhat exaggerated behavior, a faint impression formed in Aragaki Takiya's mind. If he remembered correctly, this fellow in front of him should be named Aki Tomoya, but the man didn't have striking features like Eriri, making his memory of him a bit blurry.
"Eh? It's not Kano..."
"It's Kato. Aki-san, you remembered it wrong."
Kato Megumi said indifferently from the side. Their conversation drew the attention of the two girls nearby—specifically, Eriri and Kasumigaoka Utaha, who had been brought along by Aki Tomoya.
"What's this? Tomoya, do you know this person?"
Eriri, sitting on the other side, noticed the commotion across from her. She looked up, only to see a face she didn't recognize.
"If Rinri-kun knew this student, he would have said his name directly just now. Does Sawamura-san not even understand such a simple logic?"
"Shut up, that has nothing to do with Kasumigaoka Utaha."
Realizing she was being mocked again, Eriri's attention was immediately pulled back. She stared fiercely at the girl with long black hair across from her, her leather shoes under the table ready to move.