I sat at the stylish restaurant that Ayaka had booked for the event. Even though it was Christmas Day, there were hardly any couples here.
“How did you manage to find such a place? I thought trendy stores like this one are usually chock-full with couples at this time of the year.”
As I had expected, this restaurant was not as classy as the one yesterday. But I preferred this restaurant considering the lower, more reasonable prices.
I wasn’t sure if she knew what I was thinking, but Ayaka grinned and gave a thumbs up.
“Instead of searching on the internet, I decided to look around. I’m the organizer after all, so I need to check in person and make sure everything is alright.”
“You’re pretty good at this sort of thing.”
I had given her a straightforward compliment, but Ayaka seemed dissatisfied with what I said.
“I’m a very competent person! And reliable, hmph!”
“Oh, then do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“What is it?”
“Well, why isn’t anyone else here?”
Ayaka gave me a sharp glare at my question.
“Why, you! You just had to ask the wrong question!” she harrumphed. Even though she was rebuking me, she maintained a graceful tone and demeanor. My friends were right when they said she could’ve been an actress or a model.
But I was used to Ayaka’s beauty. The age of being excited by her appearances has passed in high school.
“Shut up. What do you mean? Isn’t anyone coming?”
I was pretty sure her invitation mentioned that this was a party.
“I got the…wrong..me…” Ayaka mumbled.
“What?”
“I gave you the wrong time!”
Ayaka abandoned her graceful demeanor and began to speak in her usual manner, “I mistakenly told you to come two hours earlier! And I’m sorry for that, but…you should’ve looked at your phone, too. I sent you a few messages beforehand, but you didn’t even read them.”
“Oh, really!?” I whipped out my phone to check and found unread messages received at noon.
Sorry, I told you the wrong time. We’ll meet at eight o’clock tonight.
Meet at 8pm!
Hey, if you don’t reply, I’ll have to come at that time too.
At least read my messages!! ÒAÓ
Oof! All right! I’ll see you there!
“It’s true…”
I didn’t notice the notifications because I basically spent all that time at home watching videos. That the phone was in silent mode didn’t help matters at all.
“I was wondering why you didn’t reply, but I guess you were just sitting and moping in your loneliness while listening to sad music,” she surmised. “I didn’t want to make you wait at the meeting place, so I came all the way here earlier than planned.”
“Hmm…”
I felt guilty, but Ayaka was the first to make a mistake. Besides, this place was clean and brightly decorated with colorful lights. What’s done is done and there’s no point in mulling over it. I might as well thank her later.
“Speaking of which, why are you here an hour before the appointment?”
“I happen to be free at this time, so I was able to make it.”
After that, we chatted about trivial matters for the next forty minutes or so, until all the attendees arrived.
I hated to admit it but, Ayaka was the only one among my friends I felt most comfortable being around. I wasn’t about to tell her this though, she’d tease me for it.
But I felt it would have been more fun to spend time together just by ourselves — like in those forty minutes — than at a party.
.
.
.
“Hey!”
“Hiya!”
“Heyyyy!”
“H’lo!”
The male members of the party arrived boisterously with all sorts of greetings. All the members of the party were present.
If they greeted each other simply, I would’ve understood it. I could understand “Hiya” and “Hey,” but what is “H’lo”? If it was short for “hello,” I didn’t think the abbreviation was useful at all.
Ayaka put on her most lively expression on her face.
“Good evening, everyone!” she greeted everyone with a smile.
I couldn’t help but grin inwardly when I saw that.
Since high school, Ayaka has had many friends. But as far as I could tell, no one knew about her real persona.
The reason why I thought this was because of her current demeanor —she acts as a ‘people pleaser.’
The more I got to know her, the more I could see that she had a tough wall built around her. But it looked like her adopting the stance of a bland, cheerful girl only attracted more men.
“Hey, Ayaka-chan! Thank you for inviting me here today.”
“No, thank you too for coming on such short notice! I’m happy to have Motosaka here.”
“No, no! I’ll go anywhere if you are the one inviting me.”
Ayaka was giggling coyly, but I knew Ayaka’s true personality and I almost snorted out a laugh.
As the party went on, the men and women attendees got into lively conversations. The guys were talkative, and the girls were all cute. There was no reason to not get excited even though there was no love in the air.
Even though I had been so apprehensive about this party, I found myself enjoying my time here, too.
The seats were arranged so that men sat across the women, facing each other. The girl in front of me had a hobby of reading manga, so our conversation developed naturally.
But the guy in front of Ayaka, Motosaka, seemed fixated on a goal to hit it off with her right away instead of engaging in casual chat.
“I really want a girlfriend like Ayaka-chan.”
“Motosaka-kun is a very cool guy, you’ll get one soon!”
“Well, Ayaka-chan would be good for me.”
“No, no…hehe”
“Aww!”
I knew what he was doing.
He was disguising a solemn confession as a joke.
I wasn’t very experienced in this area, but I have seen many guys try to seduce Ayaka this way.
For her part, Ayaka had always wanted a boyfriend. But she was repelled by these types of guys all the same.
And unfortunately, most of the guys who hit on Ayaka for her looks were of this type. It wasn’t very noticeable in high school, but it became even more apparent during our studies in university.
I once asked Ayaka why she even remain friends with everyone even though there were many guys she didn’t like.
Her answer was, “Because it’s not worth the trouble.”
I always wondered why things never got out of hand even though Ayaka kept up her easy-going attitude. I never understood it.
Anyway. Back to this guy, Motosaka.
Right from the start of the party, Motosaka drank heavily and progressively spoke louder and louder. Since this restaurant wasn’t an izakaya (a Japanese-style pub), our group started to stand out.
Soon, he began discussing vulgar topics with the girls, and I could see a nerve twitch in one of Ayaka’s temples.
“Motosaka-kun… I’m not sure how to say this, but could you please not talk about that kind of stuff with girls you have never met?”
“Why oh why?” Motosaka retorted as loud as ever, “I’m voicing the opinions of every guy here!”
At that, more guys began to join in the discussion. I didn’t want to attract any attention to myself, but I spoke up before I could stop myself,
“You’re troubling all the girls, you know.”
Motosaka scowled at me.
“What’s with that? Is everyone here in a bad mood?”
“No, it’s not about the mood.”
“You all stopped talking because of him, right?”
“Of course not.”
“Why are you so sure of yourself?”
Motosaka glared at me, making no effort to hide the anger in his tone,
“And besides, all the blind dates I’ve been to are all like this. So this is completely normal, right?”
Ayaka began to argue, “It’s true that there are some blind dates like that, but … ”
Her voice trailed off, imploring Motosaka to figure out the inappropriate part himself.
Her intent was lost on Motosaka, who failed to read the atmosphere in the room. He resumed his antics again.
The girls next to Ayaka, who had been laughing politely at Motosaka’s stories earlier, fell silent, their expressions turning darker.
Obviously, Ayaka has invited a friend she hadn’t had much contact with.
Seeing the situation going south, Ayaka raised her head with a firm determination to solve the problem.
She opened her mouth to speak —
“Oh my god, it’s you, senpai!!”
A voice that was a little too merry for the atmosphere called out as the cheerful figure of Shinohara, the ex-Santa college student, came into view.