From this point onwards, I would be a second year high school student, and would be living alone.
I was admitted to a famous private school, Mizunomori High, but since it’s in the suburban area of the city, it takes 2 hours to reach by train. Because it was too time consuming, and I had to travel a lot, I convinced my parents to live near the school.
Though I had to spend a lot of time convincing my parents, the result was worth it.
Academy city.
That’s the name of this place.
Built around the train station, there were schools, middle to high, and universities everywhere. Moreover, the city is designed greatly for ease of access, so there were lots of big streets, easy to navigate pavements, and trees lining the way. It may look a bit rural, but it’s fine.
I arrived at the city with my motorcycle.
Of course, since the distance was large, the journey took a while. But, I figured it’s better to use my favourite bike than leave it to dust at home.
The apartment I’m renting from is a 2-storey flat, painted elegantly white. I rented the second floor.
When I arrived, the delivery service had already been there.
If I carefully looked at it, there was another vehicle that didn’t belong to the delivery service that I ordered. It seemed there’s another person moving in today.
“I want to thank you all for your help today.”
I stopped my bike, removed the helmet and greeted the workers.
“Ah, no, there’s no need, it’s just…”
A man who looked like the manager hesitantly replied to me.
“It seems, there’s another person moving here.”
“Apparently so, yeah.”
I glanced at the other delivery truck.
“It’s not that, but there’s another person in the room you rented.”
“Hah?”
I raised my head to look at the place that I’m renting. The employees of the other company were bringing stuff into my room.
“Wa-wait!”
I immediately ran into the apartment.
I climbed the stairs, passing people wearing clothes with the logo of the other delivery company.
After reaching the second floor, I moved to the room with the opened door. The moving service was moving stuff into the room that was supposed to be mine from today onwards.
“Please make way.”
I apologized to other people around me and stepped inside.
And met a beautiful lady inside.
Actually, just “beautiful” alone wouldn’t describe her. She seemed to be my age. She wore a dress that radiated youth liveliness, with long, brown hair. If you looked closely, you would find that her hair actually had several shades of brown, creating a harmonic palette.
She stood in the living room, signalling the delivery people to place the appliances at her desired locations, then she turned around, as if just noticing me.
Her round, black eyes stared at me.
“What’s that?”
Using a clear voice.
She tilted her head and asked me.
“Erm, sorry, but who are you?”
Though I was in a daze looking at her appearance, I still managed to ask.
“I’m Saeki Kirika, having just moved here. Are you my neighbour, perhaps?”
“No, I also just moved here.”
“Here?”
“Yes, here. This room, specifically.”
We silently stared at each other for a bit. Haiz, I had a feeling things will get annoying from now on.
After a while, Saeki said.
“It’s impossible, I remember clearly that I picked this room.”
“Me too.”
This is the exact room that I agreed with and chose.
“Understood, let me just call the landlady.”
I took my phone out of my pocket.
_______________________________
10 minutes later, we were sitting in the room, hugging our heads.
When I asked the landlady, there apparently was an error in my and Saeki’s contract, making our room overlap. What the hell…? Well, there’s no use questioning it now.
That’s the reason why we’re holding a discussion inside this room right now.
I held the instant coffee bought from the nearby vending machine. Though I didn’t particularly like canned coffees, better have some than none in this situation, it helped me calm down.
The two delivery companies are waiting outside temporarily.
The living room is now mostly empty. The fridge and microwave were placed into the kitchen, but the rests’ deliveries were paused. I leaned onto the wall next to the window, while Saeki sat on a box.
“Hey, what’s your name?”
Asked Saeki, Thinking back, I didn’t introduce myself.
“My name is Yumizuki Yukitsugu”
“2 ‘yu’ and 2 ‘ki’, and there’s both ‘zu’ and ‘su’. Your name is quite interesting.”
“Your name also contains 2 ‘ki’s.”
“That’s true, which is why people call me Kiki in America.”
America? This girl used to live in America?
According to Saeki’s introduction, she’ll be attending high school as a first year freshman this spring.
I’m a year older than her.
“What should we do…”
The topic of discussion here is who would stay in here. The landlady wanted to let us decide between ourselves. Of course, since this was their mistake, they would be responsible to find lodging for the other.
“Saeki, can you stay back at your place?”
“That is impossible.”
She started to talk about herself.
She’s an abroad student, spending a few years in America before coming back. Her father’s job in the US had ended and was about to return to Japan – but they had to wait until the end of summer. So her parents decided to let Saeki return first. It was a reasonable decision, letting her return when classes were just starting, rather than in the middle of the term.
Of course, they had a home in japan, and when her father’s job officially ended, they would move back to that place. But I couldn’t leave a girl alone in a house like that.
“How about Yumizuki-kun?”
“I…”
Truthfully speaking, I don’t want to let go of a chance to live independently like this.
Moreover, I didn’t have high hopes that the landlady would find me another room. This is Academy city, there’s a lot of students who rent places for themselves in spring, so I wouldn’t cross my fingers for a decent room. I found this out when I searched for a place a while back.
Moreover –
(Being far away is just an excuse, I just couldn’t stand staying back at that place any longer…)
After analyzing my own thoughts, I gazed into the distance.
“Haiz, my situation is more or less like yours.”
Right then, I found that Saeki was staring at me.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing, nothing… OH, I just had the best idea ever!”
She exclaimed suddenly with sparkling eyes.
“Flat share!” (she said this in English)
“What?”
“In Japan you call it something like “sharing the place together”.”
I finally understood what she wanted to say.
“Wait, hold up!”
“No, I won’t hold back. I’m not wrong. Both I and Yumizuki don’t want to give this flat up. So, there’s only one choice left/”
Saeki stood up, or one could say she leapt up.
“There are two rooms, one for each. The living room and kitchen can be considered as the common room. There, don’t you find this idea amazing?”
“…”
I also thought this was the most reasonable solution to our problem right now… only if you ignore all moral and ethical issues first.
However…
“It sounds interesting doesn’t it?”
It seemed she didn’t share my concerns.
Easy going.
This was too easy going. Were all Americans like this, since they live in a much bigger country?
This was how we started sharing the flat together.