xxddmm

Chapter 1 - Nothing all day, nothing between us.

Today's a completely ordinary day.
An afternoon with nothing going on except the beautiful sunset.

Hikari: "Ah. Ta~kun, welcome home."
Yuu: "Hikari, why don't you turn on the lights."
Hikari: "Hmm, what time is it?"
Yuu: "It's 4:30... I wanna change my clothes."
Hikari: "Oh, don't mind me~."
Yuu: "But I do mind...... whatever, just don't peek."
Hikari: "Why would I do that? If I was gonna look, I would've done it back in middle school."

The easygoing conversation between the two is something you wouldn't normally expect from opposite gender high schoolers.

This was the high school boy's room.
The high school girl was laying down, reading manga.
The boy casually takes off his uniform.
And the girl doesn't blush, nor gets angry, she doesn't react to it.

Well, being childhood friends for more than a decade really matures the relationship, it's no wonder we feel like a married couple stuck in a rut. I guess that's just how it goes.

Hikari: "Hey, I can't find the volumes past 5 of this manga."
Yuu: "I switched to digital after that one, I don't have the rest in the physical version."
Hikari: "Ugh, that sucks. Think a little about the other people who want to read it too!"
Yuu: "Don't care, go buy your own."
Hikari: "You collected them all the way into this huge scene and just stopped? Come on, Ta~kun!"

Ah! I forgot to introduce myself.
My name is Shirasaka Hikari.

I'm a plain-looking high school girl that barges into a boy's room, and lays around his floor still wearing her uniform while reading his manga.

Yuu: "I can't even remember how many times I've told you this, but my name isn't Ta-kun, it's Yuu. Can you stop calling me that?"
Hikari: "I could~, but you know what? I've been saying it for 10 years already, I just can't stop it now."

And this boy, that just undressed in front of a girl without a care in the world, is Takamura Ta~... I mean, Takamura Yuu.

As I said before, we've been childhood friends for 10 years now, since elementary school.

In elementary school, we learned the katakana for Ta(タ) before we learned the kanji for Yuu(夕), so the nickname stuck and that's what I call him.

He goes to a different high school, a little farther away, so he takes longer to get home, and this is what he usually finds, his room already occupied by me.

Why we share the room without even pay attention to each other is because of our... no, it's because of my family's situation. That's all.

Both my parents work, and, if anything, my mom's more successful than my dad. I've hardly had dinner at home more than three days a week since I was a kid.

Because of that, my neighbour Ms. Takamura... Ta~kun's mom, took pity on me and started inviting me for dinner almost every day since elementary school.

So, instead of going back home after school, I laze around on my childhood friend's room and only leave after dinner. And I do it regardless if he's around or not.

Hikari: "Hey Ta~kun, which anime are you watching this season?"
Yuu: "Do you even care about anime, Hikari?"
Hikari: "I never said I didn't. I just don't wanna waste time with crap, I only watch what people recommend me."
Yuu: "Hmm... How about The Seven Villainesses?"
Hikari: "Villainess? That's new for you."
Yuu: "Yeah, well, as I get older, I prefer shows that are chill and easygoing."
Hikari: "Why're you acting like some old dude watching anime...?"

When we talk, there's no eye contact or anything like that.

I'm lying on the floor reading manga, and he's just sitting there, glued to his phone.
We're barely listening to each other, but somehow, we still keep this aimless chat going without even looking up.

Hikari: "Agh, there's nothing to do~, I hate this~, I'm scared! You got anything interesting?"
Yuu: "Dinner's almost ready, just wait a little. And there's nothing scary about that."

I mean, even the manga I'm reading I've already reread about ten times now. I have completely exhausted everything to pass time in this room.

And that's why I change up my time-wasting ways, ever so slightly.
I close the book I was reading, I change position to sitting and with my back turned to him, I jab him lightly.

Hikari: "There's gotta be something, no? Nothing fun happened in school today? Maybe a classmate confessed her love to you but you turned her down with I already have someone I like."
Yuu: "Sorry, but if someone did confess their love to me, I'd never use that rejection."

Well, it's only because we are childhood friends with no romantic feelings for eachother that we can talk about more risqué topics.

In middle school, people would tease us all the time, like, You're totally dating, aren't you? And because we kept denying it so hard, we ended up with this unspoken bond.

So, I'm trying to get in sync with that vibe and move in a bit closer.
Since this guy is turned away from me, I turn away too and press my back right against his.

Hikari: "Boooring! Why aren't you popular, Ta~kun? You're in your second year of high school, you gotta have some romantic gossip already!"
Yuu: "Well, what about you, Hikari? You were pretty popular in middle school."
Hikari: "Oh, funny story. I've got this 4-girl group and we do everything together, so the boys just don't have the courage to approach me."
Yuu: "So basically, you don't have any right to complain about other people's love lives. Yep, got it, totally understood."

I feel his broad, flat back... and his body heat, just the right temperature for today's weather, gently spreading over my slightly hunched back.

Hikari: "Honestly, people have no clue, do they? I mean, I'm pretty confident I've leveled up a lot since middle school, you know?"
Yuu: "Maybe you should work on not coming straight to my place every day without detours."
Hikari: "But don't you think guys could be a bit braver and just come at me, even if it means crashing and burning?"
Yuu: "The fact that you're already saying they'll crash and burn..."

This is just our nothing-special, everyday routine.
Just innocent, meaningless skinship between childhood friends that don't pay attention to each other.

Yuu: "Hikari, you're kinda heavy."
Hikari: "Nuh-uh, I lost two kilos this last month!"

This is just one of those nothing-happening, who-cares kind of days.
Our feelings are so in sync, we're so close that it's impossible to mistake our connection, always side by side. But somehow, we never cross any lines. It's a perfectly balanced just childhood friends relationship.

............
............

...Yeah riiight! As if that's really trueeee!!

Why don't you see it?
Why won't you realize how I feel!?

I'm trying so hard to approach him like this!
It may not seem like it at all, but I'm seriously flirting here~!

Seriously, sitting with our backs touching? That's like, totally flirting!
And barging into a guy's room like this? It's like we're an official couple or something!

Why did we even start doing this in elementary school, when we weren't even dating...
Because of that, he's totally desensitized to it now.
No matter what I do, he just won't notice me.

I mean, is it normal to change clothes in front of a girl?
It takes quite a bit of skill to pretend to not be looking while staring at him!

A boring day, my ass!
For me, it's been a constant struggle with no reward, but I can also stay close to him. It's like being in hell and heaven at the same time -- or maybe it's neither.

But, oh well...
Earlier, he said no one's confessed to him yet.

That's like he's telling me there's still hope, right?

So, I guess that's good enough for today.

............
............

I'm Shirasaka Hikari, sixteen years old......

......and it's a little late, but I've fallen in love with my childhood friend.