Right then, I was sitting in a daze in the living room. Adjusting the chair to maximum lean, I put my hands on my stomach, and closed my eyes.
“Yumizuki, are you free?”
Saeki’s clear voice, the one sharing the flat with me, resounded.
Her illness yesterday was completely gone, there were no signs of someone just recovering. It seemed she completely forgot having a cold yesterday.
After having lunch and tidying up the table, she returned to her room, and came back.
“Like you can see, I’m relaxing”
I replied, not opening my eyes.
“That’s the definition of being free.”
“Not”
“Eh?”
She let out a suspicious noise. I bet she’s tilting her head questioningly.
“I’m not doing this because I’m free, but rather, spending time to do this. I usually set out a specific amount of time to waste like this.”
“Sometimes, you look like a philosopher or something like that.”
“I’m not so great.”
Finally, I opened my closed eyes.
Saeki was standing in front of me with completely different clothes that she was wearing at lunch.
She wore a knee-long skirt, with a woolen coat and a short-sleeved shirt inside. Her skirt was black, and even the shirt and the coat had black as their main colour, with some white dots here and there. Overall, a steam punk style outfit.
“Black from head to toe.”
“That’s right, I chose black-topic clothes.”
Hearing my thoughts, Saeki replied. After that, her expression changed, her smile looking more shady.
“You want to see how ‘black’ I’m wearing?”
“So, what do you need from me?”
“…Ignoring me aren’t you? That’s lame!”
She looked at me hinting anger, then passed through my stretched out legs. She sat on my knees, facing me.
“Don’t sit there.”
“What~~?”
“It’s heavy.”
“You jerk”
Saeki shook her body. Actually, she wasn’t as heavy as I claimed it to be, so I didn’t feel hurt.
“Do you know about the cell phone coverage within high school girls?”
“About more than 90%, if I’m not mistaken.”
Did she intend to keep talking in this position? Indeed, she ignored my struggle, and continued.
“Yeah. And I belong to the remaining 10%”
“Oh, yeah you don’t have a phone.”
She just returned to Japan, so she had to delay getting one. Besides, there was a home phone here registered under Saeki’s name, and she used that to contact her parents regularly.
“I’m planning to buy one, Yumizuki, go with me.”
“That’s too sudden.”
“Since Kyou also has a phone.”
“What does Sakurai have to do with this?”
Even so, someone with a phone wouldn’t understand the troubles of people without one. The fact that among everyone else, you were the only one without a phone would make you feel lonely and sad
“Because, if she claims it first, then there would be no place for me? Just like last time..”
Saeki’s voice was gradually smaller and smaller.
“What the hell are you saying?”
“Forget it. I’m leaving now, so you have to go with me, Yumizuki”
Her tone indicated no room for refusal, and if I did try to refuse, she would probably keep sitting on my knees.
“I give up. Let’s go.”
“Really!? Thanks ~~!”
Saeki innocently cheered. I was quite easy to give in, but, no clue why, whenever I see her like that, I selfishly wanted to humour her.
__________
We decided to go to Academy City’s train station. There was a phone store in front of the station, which sold all types of phones from all sorts of brands.
We walked on the pavement.
Even though we were travelling along the main road, there were only a few vehicles coming and going, and not many people either. This was the case for every weekend. Even though there were schools everywhere, and the public places were built to fit the theme, there were surprisingly few residents.
Skipping along next to me was Saeki. She was wearing short boots, also black.
“Ah, that’s right, Yumizuki. Did you bring your phone along?”
“Yes. I always bring it with me when leaving the house.”
“Great.”
Saeki smiled, looking pretty happy.
After some light chat, we reached the station and the mall. The closer we got, the more people and vehicles started appearing. To sum up, Academy City was designed with this Train station as its center.
The phone store was inside the shopping mall, situated in the most bustling area. Since it was a weekend, there were quite a lot of people here.
“Saeki, did you choose your Carrier?”
“Carrier?”
She tilted her head questioningly.
“Asymptomatic carrier?”
“Not that type of Carrier.”
She didn’t confuse it with something like Career, surprising, she had quite a depth of knowledge.
“I mean phone providers.”
“Oh, that… what is Yumizuki using?”
“I’m using–”
I said the name of the company was the most popular. When I graduated from middle school, I didn’t know which criteria I should focus on for my phone, so I simply chose whichever had the most people using it.
“So I’ll also choose that.”
“Oi oi, Saeki? Shouldn’t you consider it for a bit?”
“I don’t know about these brands, so no idea.”
It’s true that to people who never used a phone before, they wouldn’t know which aspect to focus on. This year was also the transition from normal cellphones to smartphones, both of these were displayed in front of the shop. For people who don’t know the difference, they would just be confused looking at these two types of different phones. Even I chose my phone randomly because of the above reasons, so I didn’t have the right to talk about others.
Saeki immediately went inside, went to the section with phones of the same brand as mine.
“Wow~~, there’s a lot~~, Which one is Yumizuki’s phone?”
“This is mine, black.”
When I bought this, it was the newest generation, but now, there were others more advanced than this, so this is now considered as an old-generation phone. Despite this, there weren’t many breakthrough functionalities in the newer phones, and I still enjoy using the old phone, so I won’t upgrade it yet.
“Black~~…Ah, I almost forgot, but I’m also wearing black.”
“…”
More unnecessary information…
“I’ll buy this one as well. Excuse me~~”
“Wait, Saeki”
I stopped her.
“You are not making your own decision.”
“So what? The only difference I see is the appearance, and this one was cheap, so there’s nothing wrong.”
“Erm, well…”
It’s true that even I couldn’t state the difference between the different models, and it was also cheaper than when I bought it.
“But you could at least choose the colour. There were also red and pink here, more suited for girls.”
“Muu. You are being too sexist. So girls were only allowed to choose pink, not black?”
“Uhm, you are right…”
“You should’ve said ‘you should wear black everyday’”
Oi, where were you taking the conversation?
“Understand, I won’t comment on anything else, suit yourself.”
“That’s right~~”
After I gave up, she looked more enthusiastic, and immediately called an employee over.
Finally, Saeki bought a phone that is identical in both the model and the colour. I didn’t like questioning other people’s choice, so if she was adamant in hers, I had no say.
By the way, since Saeki was still underaged, she needed consent from her guardian to sign the contract. Thankfully, the employee resolved this by contacting her parents directly, in other words, an international call. It’s way too much work for just an employee, but I pitied her mother more, for getting woken up at midnight.
___________
After finishing the contract without any hiccups, we returned home together. Saeki’s steps were lighter compared to when we were going from the house.
Twilight.
While I was in my room, I heard a knock. After getting permitted in by me, Saeki peeked inside.
“Yumizuki, let me borrow your phone.”
“Oi oi oi. What do you need it for?”
“Some work~~~”
Saeki took the phone that I threw on the bed. I turned around and observed her actions.
“Ohh~~ So this is Yumizuki’s phone~~”
Her phone model is identical to mine, so she was probably interested in what’s inside it, not the outside.
“Don’t look into my messages.”
“I know, I’m just registering my contact.”
Saeki said while typing, and bought the two phones together. She must be scanning. How the hell was she so used to using phones?
“Done, first phone contact, Yumizuki!”
“What an honour.”
Saeki showed her screen off to me. Her smile looked exactly like a child wanting to show off his new toy.
“The only one who knows my phone number is Yumizuki, so if my phone rings, it means Yumizuki is the caller.”
“Must be so.”
Just that, unless the two rooms were disconnected due to a fire, I would never call her.
“If there’s anything, don’t hesitate to call me.”
She happily left the phone.
On this day, Saeki used the phone strap to tie it around her until she slept. Even when there obviously wouldn’t be anyone calling.