Bishoujo Athos

The moment I opened the classroom door, something small came flying at me.

"Mitsukiii~!"

"...Hm?"

By the time I registered the voice, it was already too late. A small girl came sprinting from the back of the classroom and slammed straight into me, and I reflexively spread both arms to catch her.

Boof.

"Hinako."

I looked down at the light-brown bob pressed against my chest and chuckled. "Good morning."

"It is not a good morning!"

Hinako grumbled into my sleeve without letting go. "It's technically morning, though."

"That's not the point!"

This time she whipped her head up.

Sakurai Hinako. A bright-brown bob that fell in a soft rounded line along her jaw, big expressive eyes, and a petite frame — all of it added up to an overwhelmingly cute impression. Plenty of kids in class really did say "aww, she's so cute" before anything else when they saw her.

The problem was that she didn't exactly love that assessment.

To put it precisely:

"Do you know how early I got here today?"

"No idea."

"Twenty minutes!"

"Why so early?"

"To eat breakfast with you!"

Hinako shouted, looking thoroughly aggrieved. "Yesterday I clearly said, 'I'll bring bread tomorrow, let's eat together'!"

"Ah."

It came back to me. "...Right, you did."

"You just remembered now, didn't you?!"

"No."

"Your face is the total 'oh right, I did' face!"

I considered my options for a moment. Then I honestly nodded. "Yeah."

"Mitsuki!"

Hinako grabbed me around the waist and shook. Maybe because she was so small, no amount of glaring made her remotely threatening — if anything, the way her cheeks puffed out was adorable. In the end, I couldn't hold back a laugh.

"Why are you laughing!"

"No reason."

"Why!"

"Because you're cute when you're mad, Hinako."

"..."

Hinako froze on the spot. I lifted one hand and gently smoothed down her short hair. "Sorry."

"..."

"I'll remember next time."

A few more strokes, and the corners of Hinako's eyes — scrunched up in outrage just moments ago — melted fast.

Way too easy.

Just as I was thinking that, a cold voice sailed in from the back of the classroom.

"Hinako."

"Hm?"

"You gave in way too fast."

Hinako flinched. I turned toward the voice.

Sitting near my window-side seat was a girl with black hair. Kurokawa Aoi. Long, straight, immaculate black hair. A slender, willowy figure. A cold air about her that barely shifted expression. And a hobby of stabbing straight into the moment anyone said something even slightly off.

Aoi was watching us over an open book.

"Morning, Aoi."

At my greeting, Aoi gave the barest nod. "Morning."

Then she looked straight at Hinako. "Weren't you just saying, 'Today I'm absolutely not letting her off the hook right away'?"

"...I was."

"It's been less than thirty seconds."

Hinako averted her eyes. "Mitsuki apologized."

"So the head pat was the decisive factor."

"Th-that's not it!"

"Your eyes are already telling the whole story."

I looked back and forth between the two of them. "What are you two talking about?"

Aoi answered immediately. "You don't need to know, Mitsuki."

"Wha—... why not?"

"Because it's better for everyone around you if you don't."

"...That is a deeply unsettling thing to say."

"It's the truth."

I narrowed my eyes. "Aoi, you're cold as ever today."

"Call it being sane as ever today."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"Not at all."

Beside me, Hinako snickered. I was about to fire back one more remark at Aoi when a crucial fact suddenly surfaced in my mind.

"Oh."

Hinako tilted her head. "What?"

"The bread."

"..."

Hinako's expression hardened all over again. I said, completely serious, "You said we'd eat together."

"Mitsuki."

"Yeah?"

"It has not even been one minute since you apologized."

"The apology was over, though."

"...Aoi."

Hinako looked to Aoi like someone begging for backup. Aoi closed her eyes briefly. "Give it up. You know how she gets when food is involved."

"That's mean."

I protested, but both of them ignored me. Still, Hinako eventually scurried off to her own desk and came back holding a paper bag.

"Here."

"Ooh."

Inside the bag were two cream breads — visibly large and stuffed to bursting even at a glance. I pulled one out immediately. "This looks delicious."

"Hehe. It's amazing," Hinako said, puffed up with pride. "I was at the bakery the second they opened this morning."

"Really?"

"Yup."

As I peeled back the wrapper, I glanced at her. "Then I'll have to enjoy it extra."

And I took a big bite. Sweet cream flooded in between the soft bread.

"...This is good."

My eyes narrowed without my meaning them to. Hinako stared at me for a moment. "Is it that good?"

"Yeah."

I took a second bite right away. "There's so much cream."

"Right?"

"You should try some too, Hinako."

"I have my own."

"Oh, then we're fine."

I kept eating. One bite. Another. It was bigger than I'd expected, but not heavy at all — if anything, the sweetness put me in a good mood first thing in the morning.

That was when I noticed Hinako next to me, holding her own bread and staring at me point-blank.

"What?"

"Mitsuki."

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure you should be eating like that?"

I swallowed the bread in my mouth. "Like what?"

"The calories."

"It's breakfast, though."

"...That's not an answer."

Hinako looked back and forth between her cream bread and mine. Then she said, with a face of pure injustice, "I was actually sitting here worrying that if I ate this whole one, I'd have to cut back on lunch today."

"Why?"

"Why? Because I'll gain weight."

"One bread isn't going to make you gain weight."

"You don't get to say that, Mitsuki."

I blinked. "Why?"

Hinako suddenly looked me up and down. "Because your eating habits are what's abnormal here."

"I eat a lot?"

"You eat a lot!"

The answer was instant. Beside her, Aoi quietly nodded too. "Undeniably. You can't argue that one."

I felt a little wronged. "It's a normal amount, though."

"Normal where!"

Hinako counted off on her fingers, one by one. "You eat lunch, then hit the school store, then if we go to a café after school there's dessert, and on the way home whenever Ren buys something to eat you steal a bite of that too."

"It's just a bite."

"Those bites add up!"

"Huh. Do they?"

It didn't really land, so I took another bite of cream bread. Hinako watched me do it and let out a deep sigh.

"I'm seriously jealous."

"Of what?"

"Of not having to think about what you eat."

"I'd gain weight too if I ate too much."

"But it only goes to the places that make you look better!"

Hinako's voice rose a little. I glanced around the room — a few of the boys were watching us with reddened faces. Hinako paid them no mind and kept going.

"I eat a little bit and my face puffs up first, my stomach instantly becomes a problem, and I catch myself checking my waist in a skirt for no reason — so how come you stuff your face with bread and cake every single day and stay perfectly fine?"

I looked down at my own waist. "Huh. Guess so."

"Don't just 'guess so' me!"

Hinako said, aggrieved, "The world is honestly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so unfair."

Aoi cut in calmly. "Hinako."

"What."

"There's differences in metabolism and differences in height, so you can't compare it that simply."

"I know."

Hinako stuck her lips out in a pout. "Knowing doesn't make me less jealous."

Then she looked at me again. "Besides, your figure is just unfair in general, Mitsuki."

I tilted my head mid-bite. "My figure?"

"Yes."

Hinako looked over my uniform, then sighed. "You're tall, your arms and legs are long, your waistline is pretty, and your chest! Your hips! You could just throw on the uniform and the whole silhouette balances perfectly."

"You're cute too, Hinako."

"Not that again!"

Hinako made a face like she was about to cry. "I want to hear 'pretty' sometimes, not just 'cute'!"

"You're pretty too."

"..."

Hinako stopped. I said it like it was nothing at all. "Hinako's pretty."

Her face went red instantly. I blinked. "What?"

"Mitsuki, you really..."

"What."

"Don't just say stuff like that so casually."

"It's true, though."

"That's exactly what makes it a problem!"

Not understanding in the slightest, I finished my bread. Aoi still had her book open, but she hadn't turned a page in a while. I looked her way.

"Want some, Aoi?"

"I ate before I came."

"No bread?"

"I'm fine."

"Want a bite?"

I held up what was left of my cream bread. Aoi's eyes flicked to it — just for an instant.

"...That's the one you've been eating."

"Yeah."

"Why are you offering it to me, then."

"Want it?"

"No."

The answer was firm. I shrugged. "Then I'll finish it."

"..."

Aoi went back to her book in silence. But her ears seemed, somehow, a little red. I tilted my head. "Aoi."

"What."

"Are you hot?"

"No."

"Your ears are red, though."

"The lighting."

I looked up at the ceiling. The classroom fluorescents were perfectly ordinary. "...That lighting?"

"Mitsuki."

"Yeah?"

"Just eat your bread."

"Why are you mad?"

"I'm not mad."

Beside us, Hinako covered her mouth with her hand and giggled. Aoi's gaze snapped to her.

"Hinako."

"Hm?"

"Don't laugh."

"I'm not laughing."

"The corners of your mouth moved."

"Aoi, you're weak to Mitsuki too—"

"Hinako."

"...Nothing, I said nothing."

I looked back and forth between the two of them. Once again, some conversation was happening that didn't include me.

"You two share stuff without me sometimes, don't you."

"We don't."

"We don't."

That was fast. I gave them both a suspicious look, then gave up.

Just then, laughter rang out from the back of the classroom. I turned my head — Ren was hanging out with a few of the guys. Someone was showing off their phone screen, and Ren was laughing along with the rest of them. Nothing out of the ordinary.

And yet.

Our eyes met.

Ren's gaze was pointed exactly this way. The moment I turned my head, he shifted his eyes to the friend beside him with perfect, practiced naturalness.

What was that.

I narrowed my eyes.

A little later, I was chatting with Hinako between bites of cream bread when I absently glanced back. Our eyes met again. This time, Ren laughed first and mouthed something at me.

What.

I raised an eyebrow. Ren shook his head, then went back to talking with his friends.

Weird guy.

"Mitsuki."

At Hinako's voice, I turned back around. "Yeah?"

"What are you looking at?"

"Ren."

"Ren?"

Hinako twisted around to look behind us without a shred of hesitation. Just then Ren happened to be gripping one of his friends by the shoulder, laughing. "Looks like he's having fun."

"Yeah."

"Why were you staring?"

"He keeps looking over here."

Hinako's eyes narrowed. "...Hmm."

That expression of hers bothered me. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Everyone's saying that today."

Aoi spoke without lifting her eyes from her book. "Probably because there's one specific person who doesn't get it."

"Me?"

"I never said a name."

"It's me, though."

"If you say so yourself."

I laughed in disbelief. "You're genuinely infuriating."

"Thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment."

"I know."

Hinako's gaze drifted back to my cream bread. It was nearly gone. "Wait, you're really finishing the whole thing?"

"Yeah."

"And you'll eat lunch like always?"

"Yeah."

"And you're still going to the school store?"

I thought about it for a second. "If they have something good."

Hinako clutched her head with both hands. "I am so jealous!"

"What now?"

"I eat one bread and I'm going to be thinking about it all day for no reason, and you genuinely don't give it a single thought!"

"Then just eat it and don't think about it either."

"You think I could do that and still be like this?!"

"Tricky, huh."

I took my last bite. A bit of cream got on my finger, and as I opened my bag to hunt for a tissue, Hinako already had one held out to me. I laughed. "That's my Hinako."

"What's that supposed to mean."

"You look after people."

"If I didn't keep an eye on you, you'd be dripping something everywhere every single day."

"It's not that bad."

Aoi said immediately, "It is."

"Even you?"

"Last week you walked around for an entire class period with chocolate on your face."

"...Nobody told me about that."

Hinako sighed. "You're supposed to notice before we have to tell you."

I wiped my finger with the tissue. "Well, at least I've got you two, right?"

Both of them went quiet at the same time. I kept going without giving it any thought.

"Hinako takes care of stuff like this right away, and Aoi calls me out the second I do something weird."

I smiled. "It's easy when the three of us are together."

Hinako's face turned a little red. Aoi lowered her gaze to her book.

"..."

I blinked. "Why did it suddenly go quiet?"

Hinako shook her head first. "It's nothing."

"Again."

Aoi let out a small sigh. "Mitsuki."

"Yeah?"

"Stop saying nice things so casually and then asking why the other person went quiet."

"If it's a nice thing, aren't they allowed to like it?"

"That's exactly the problem."

"How?"

"Forget it."

I gave up on understanding in the end.

Just then, laughter came from the back of the room again. Ren, this time. His friends were apparently messing with him about something, because he was laughing pretty loudly. But even mid-laugh, his gaze ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠flicked this way — just for a beat.

This time, the moment our eyes met, he didn't look away. Instead, he curled the corner of his mouth up and raised one eyebrow at me. I had no idea what it meant, so I tilted my head right back at him. Ren snorted a laugh and turned back to his friends.

It was genuinely strange.

"What's with him today?"

As I muttered it, Hinako looked behind us again. "Ren?"

"Yeah."

"Beats me."

Hinako grinned like something about this amused her. "He must be bothered by it, I guess."

"By what?"

"The three of us hanging out."

"Why would he be?"

"How would I know that?"

Hinako laughed. Aoi's mouth curved up, just barely.

Seeing both their expressions, I thought, strange, yet again. But I didn't dwell on it. Ren would wander over to us like nothing happened once lunch rolled around anyway. Hinako, right up until then, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would no doubt keep wailing about how jealous she was of my snack intake, how unfair the world was. And Aoi would keep telling her to be quiet, only to stick around with us to the very end anyway.

Everything was exactly like always.

So I folded up the empty wrapper, tucked it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into the paper bag, and smiled, easy and unhurried.

"Ah."

Hinako looked at me with sudden wariness. "What."

"I want another one."

"..."

Every trace of expression drained from Hinako's face. Aoi quietly pressed a hand to her forehead.

"This is why they get so big. That breast monster..."