[The Girl Who Forgot Her Glasses]
Kayama Akari remembers. When she was picking out scripts, most of them were related to romance. Kayama Akari has courage. The courage to say, if Yamada thought it was strange, that it just happened to turn out that way while she was browsing.
“Are you okay?”
Even though she was asking her flushed self that question, the reason she couldn't answer wasn't a lack of courage. It was a lack of knowledge. Kayama Akari didn't know.
“………”
That it would feel this good to have her efforts praised. That acting in front of someone else would be this embarrassing. How grateful she would be for someone else affirming her existence. That Yamada Jun’s hands would be that large.
……… Kayama Akari didn't know.
Because she didn't know, her mind tried to make sense of it. And then, she was seized by a feeling she felt she understood, if only a little. That emotion that shone for a brief moment, just because she immersed herself in the act of liking someone. Even though it was a false emotion for the sake of a single scene.
‘Heart, please beat slower…….’
That it was dangerous enough to make her tremble this much…….
Liking someone and having a crush are worlds apart. If there is a stage that anyone steps onto lightly at least once, that is a crush. A shy stage where you find yourself caring for no reason, and when they are in your line of sight, you watch them for a moment before your eyes meet. The catalyst is simple. Because you’re grateful they helped with an assignment, because you’re grateful they kept your secret, because their consideration was so warm…….
A stage one step before liking. Perhaps, two steps before. One spring day, when she stepped onto the shallow staircase of a crush, Kayama Akari noticed it, just a little. Along with the small thought that she wanted to look a little better for him. The fact that the crush she felt now, however faint, had been planted as a seed deep within her heart───
To break the suddenly stiff atmosphere, I opened my mouth.
“… Uh, I found this. I understand why they’re all related to romance. Um… um.”
I showed the back of the paper to Akari, who had frozen solid and turned bright red. Her eyes landed on the sticky note she had written herself. Akari, who had been staring intently at the memo she wrote, opened her mouth. Perhaps her tongue was tied.
“Y-yeah! That’s r-right, that’s it. That’s right…… that’s it.”
She had used the word “that” three times.
“Yeah, since this is Yamada’s first time acting, I… brought something… that you could get immersed in as much as possible.”
Kayama Akari nodded quickly and began pouring out words like an excuse. I added a note about Akari to the memo in my mind.
- When she gets embarrassed, she talks faster.
She usually spoke slowly and hesitantly, but she was different at times like this. She seemed like a person who was easy to understand, yet difficult at the same time.
“……”
“……”
For a moment, the romance script commotion subsided. Plain sunlight poured into the empty classroom where only the two of us remained. While the sounds of club activities could be heard from outside every now and then, and only our rhythmic, sensual breathing echoed in the room.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
I spoke up suddenly. She hadn't spoken for so long that I thought I had made another mistake. I might have stepped on a landmine without knowing it. Fortunately, Akari nodded and returned to her usual timid self.
“Y-yeah, I’m… I’m okay.”
“Hmm…….”
I’m not a doctor, but if I knew a little about these symptoms. It was that among actors, those who do method acting find it difficult to break out of their emotions. Since the higher the immersion, the more sincere they become to the role, and it is said that it actually becomes difficult to return to their original daily life. I could immediately guess that Akari was experiencing similar symptoms.
“Do you want to continue? Or…….”
It was fine if she wanted to do more, and fine if she didn't. I asked the question to check on Akari’s condition.
“T-today… let’s just… do this much… for now.”
And, as expected. Seeing her ears were red, she must have been immersed in the role. Her surrounding aura was also shining in various colors; I guess that’s it for today. Looking at the time, it had only been 30 minutes.
… Wait, it had only been 30 minutes?
‘If we did this for over an hour, it would be a disaster.’
Already, on my end, Akari’s breathing felt hot. Damp and hot, breathing that felt like it would touch my skin…….
‘Get a grip…….’
I pinched my thigh to shake off the puberty in my head. I don't know if it was because it hurt like hell, but I felt like my worldly desires had vanished a little.
“……”
I packed my bag and looked at Akari. She was preparing to go home just like me. When I handed her the script she had been holding, Akari opened her bag and tucked it away carefully. But wouldn't the paper get all crumpled if she just put it in like that without anything else? I pondered for a moment, then opened the bag I had just closed.
Thwack.
“Take this.”
The paper script that looked like a product of hard work. If it was something she cherished, wouldn't it be better to carry it in a file folder? It might get crumpled or torn, and she just carries it in her bag like that?
“Aaaaah! No, it’s fine… I just, I forgot… for a second.”
If she forgot, that just gave me more of a reason to give it to her.
“It shouldn’t get crumpled, so use it.”
“… Y-yeah.”
It seems she left it behind while packing in a hurry yesterday. Why, there are cases where people leave their passports behind before a trip while preparing things on a day-trip, aren't there?
……… It’s not like I’m mentioning this because Ishikawa has a track record of that.
“Thank you…”
“Don’t mention it, give it back tomorrow?”
“Okay…!”
It’s not like I’m giving it away; if I’m lending it, I can lend it whenever. Naturally, I intend to get it back. I’m not a pushover, and I’m not the type to just give things away.
After Akari put the thick script into the file folder, she smiled bashfully. I don't know what she’s smiling about, but since her aura was one of bright joy, I let it slide.
“Shall we go now?”
“A-are we… walking home together?”
“Right?”
I decided to set a way to treat Akari in my mind. She’s too timid, she’s grateful for even the most obvious things… and especially, she seems to take the fact that she’s a yakuza’s daughter quite heavily.
“Let’s go.”
“Y-yeah!”
Let’s just treat her like a normal person. … Well, nothing has changed, but deciding to do so and not deciding to do so are worlds apart. A female friend with a slightly scary background. I decided to think of Akari that way, and we walked down the stairs in step. The first floor was noisy with club activities as expected, and we moved slowly on the second and third floors, and faster than that on the first, leaving the school behind.
Even on the playground, the soccer team and various other clubs were mixed together, making it noisy and boisterous. We couldn't cross the center of the playground, so we went around the edge where the tree shade was cast and arrived at the main gate. Once we crossed the main gate, it felt like the warm air of the high school had ended. Past the asphalt with a little sand piled up, to the road where the dandelion field spread out again.
‘The senior won’t be here this time, right?’
I checked all around just in case. Since the senior wasn't visible this time, I relaxed a little and kept walking.
“……”
I kept walking.
“………”
… I’m walking, but.
‘… Why do you keep, looking at me?’
Akari kept bowing her head, as if she wanted to look at the dandelions. Her green hair fluttered, and the place where her eyes grazed every now and then was… strangely, my hand.
“… Yamada-kun, c-can I… ask you something?”
“What is it?”
“W-what is your… relationship with Mitsurugi Suo senior?”
Asking about Suo senior all of a sudden? Ah, perhaps Akari, like me, looked at the dandelions and thought of Suo senior. Yes, that senior is indeed insanely pretty. If I had to choose, she is my ideal type, after all.
“Just a senior I know from next door?”
“…… Is it… just a senior you know?”
“……”
To say she’s just a senior I know, I do have a crush on her. To be honest, since such a pretty senior contacts me every day, my mind is gradually becoming a mess. That video call from before. Mitsurugi Suo’s snow-white neck and collarbone. Honestly, there are times when they still appear in my dreams occasionally…….
Akari, who had nodded for a moment, opened her mouth.
“… Yamada-kun, you know.”
It was only for a split second, but a black color grazed by, and Akari’s aura wavered. It was the same with Suo senior, but what kind of emotion is this black color that it blocks me from checking the aura properly?
“Yeah, what is it?”
I decided to worry about the ability when I got home, and when I answered.
“Can you help me with one more piece of acting?”
…… At the slowed pace, Akari slowly matched my pace. Akari stuck to my side, which had slowed down to the point of almost stopping. The color around her changed, blurring.
…… I don't know what it is, but it seems she has started to control her emotions. In other words.
“… Did you start?”
“A little.”
She had started acting. Just like that, while receiving the yellow light of the dandelions. I was a bit anxious wondering what kind of acting it was, but I nodded for now.
Then.
“Lend me your glasses.”
“…… All of a sudden?”
“I-it’s the role of a gloomy kid.”
The role of a gloomy kid… involves wearing glasses? Then I’m a gloomy kid too… Since she said she was acting, I took off my glasses and gave them to her. Even the sunset light tapped at my eyes a little painfully.
“Here.”
As I took off my glasses, the surroundings became completely blurry. It was a familiar, yet different landscape from just a moment ago. My left side was completely dyed in a blurry dandelion field of yellow and green. And, on my right, a green color and a human figure were cast. From the white and green appearance of Akari.
Suddenly, a fist-sized red color began to bloom.
“……”
“Did you start acting?”
“… A-ah, yeah… yes, y-yes.”
Is she going for a polite-speech concept? I knew well enough that a gloomy kid would use polite speech. Anyway, Akari took a moment of silence as if to start acting.
“……”
“……”
However, through the blurry world, something. I felt something strange. Akari’s footsteps were getting slower and slower. The green and red colors were getting strangely close. ‘… Did she start? Is it facial acting?’ I waited just in case, but her steps slowed down as much as they could, and the green and red colors got closer and closer.
And.
Past a certain point. The steps that seemed stuck to the ground stopped. My eyesight is bad. But no matter how bad my eyes are, at a certain distance. I can see clearly. Unless I’m blind, like this.
Swoosh… swoosh…
When she sticks so close to me that her nose touches my shoulder.
“……”
The face I’m looking at, is bound to be seen.
…… Until just a moment ago, I couldn't even see her pupils properly. But the reason I can see even her eyebrows now is because she stood on her tiptoes without me knowing. Into the center of the blurry-colored background, a clear face enters. A red, surprised, and sticky face.
‘You, why aren't you wearing your glasses.’
The gloomy kid, who said she would wear glasses, isn't wearing them. She just stands on her tiptoes and looks at me. Without wearing glasses, with a red face, she stares intently at my face.
Is she acting? Or am I starting to misunderstand again?
…… Whatever it was, I had to pretend not to notice her. Whether her ears were red, or her breath was so hot that my shoulder was getting damp. This must definitely be acting, I thought, and waited for a long time. I was even a little expectant. Because I couldn't imagine at all what her first line would be.