● April 4th (Monday) – Ayase Saki

It’s strange, how much his simple words can affect me.

The suit I’d bought for the entrance ceremony felt a bit too safe, a little proper. In my own assessment, my style felt somewhat underpowered. Even so, the moment Asamura-kun saw me at breakfast, he said, “It looks good on you,” and a wave of happiness washed over me. It was almost embarrassing how much that one little comment made my heart soar. Thanks to him, I had to spend the entire train ride to the ceremony fighting to keep a goofy grin off my face.

Beneath a shower of scattering cherry blossom petals, I mingled with a crowd of girls—all first-years, I assumed—and made my way into the auditorium on the university campus.

A strange feeling came over me after I took my seat. It took me a moment to place it, but then it hit me: there were only girls around. Well, of course there were. This is an all-girls university, after all. I’d never been particularly conscious of the presence of boys, but after twelve years in co-ed schools, I realized I’d come to see that as the norm. In front of me, behind me, to my right and to my left—nothing but girls.

A little later, another sense of unease settled in.

Within the otherwise orderly assembly, I spotted a few girls whispering happily to the person next to them. There weren’t many, but it’s a common enough sight at a boring ceremony. Or so I thought at first.

Wait a minute, I reconsidered. We’re all new first-years, and this is a university. That must mean the girls talking so comfortably with each other have only just met.

Huh? How is that even possible? How did they manage to strike up a conversation when university students come from all over, and are all different ages? After watching Maaya and Maru-kun on our graduation trip, I’d just been thinking that I needed to be more proactive with my communication, and now I’m already falling behind? My future is looking rough. Could it be that Maaya and Maru-kun aren’t some kind of socializing prodigies, but that I’m just bad at it? Is my future so doomed that I’m basically shipwrecked before I’ve even set sail? Mmmph.

The department’s entrance ceremony itself was brief, lasting only thirty minutes from 10:30 to 11:00. It felt much shorter than the one at Suisei High.

Classes wouldn’t start for another three days, so we had a bit of time. After a quick explanation of the initial enrollment procedures, we were dismissed.

With the ceremony over, my part-time job was next on the agenda, so I headed back to Shibuya. My shift didn’t start until the evening, which gave me enough time to go home first. Should I head back, or maybe browse a few shops in Shibuya before going in? I had brought my work uniform just in case, so I didn’t strictly need to return home.

I only started this bookstore job out of a selfish desire to spend more time with Asamura-kun, but now that I’m quitting at the end of the month, I feel a little sad… The new experiences were valuable, too.

But I’ve already made my choice.

My internship at Ruka-san’s design company is scheduled to begin in May. I have no idea how long I’ll be there or how often I’ll get to work, but with each passing day, I feel a growing excitement for the new challenge ahead.

In the end, I decided to wander around the Shibuya station area.

I window-shopped at the small stores in Center Gai and had lunch at a fast-food place that caught my eye. Before I knew it, it was time for my shift.

It had been five months since I’d last worked at the bookstore, and I’d forgotten some of what I’d learned, but I fumbled my way through the shift without any major trouble. Asamura-kun helped me out, of course. Oh, right—late in the evening, Yomiuri Shiori-san stopped by to say hello for the first time in a while. The manager told her she could take a break, so she was resting in the office. He probably still wishes she’d come back as a full-time employee.

Asamura-kun and I were on our break at the same time, so we joined her in the office for a chat.

Asamura-kun seemed curious about her new job. “So, where did you end up working, Shiori-san?” he asked.

The company name she mentioned was one I didn’t recognize, but Asamura-kun seemed to know it.

“A company you know, Asamura-kun?”

“Well, you don’t really read books on your phone, do you, Ayase-san?” he replied. “It’s probably a major player in the e-book platform industry, right?”

An e-book… platform? Ah, um, I get the English meaning. A platform is a base—like a foundation or groundwork.

“So, does that mean it’s a publishing company?”

When I asked, both Asamura-kun and Shiori-san shook their heads. Apparently not. And Shiori-san was offering a wry smile.

Asamura-kun explained it to me. “E-books and manga are really popular these days, you know. Besides traditional publishers, a lot of companies from other industries are getting into the market. To be precise, her company provides the app for reading e-books and distributes the digital versions.”

“Right, right,” Shiori-san chimed in. “You see, the place I joined is a company that originally got big by making money off adult-oriented distribution.”

Adult?

“Um…?”

“You see, Saki-chan, the bigger a company gets, the more it becomes like a public utility. In other words, to be accepted by the masses, they start to care about their public image and what people think.”

“I won’t deny that aspect exists, but Yomiuri-senpai, you’re putting it way too bluntly,” Asamura-kun countered.

“But it’s truuue~” she insisted. “While they continue their old business under a different brand, the main company starts wanting to be seen by the world as a clean, respectable service provider. It really grinds my gears how our primal, instinctual desires, passed down since antiquity, get treated like some kind of stain, y’know?”

“I can’t tell if your brain is grand in scale or just plain crude, senpai…”

“It’s pointlessly grand and crude-y’know.”

“She just called it pointless herself,” Asamura-kun muttered under his breath. Listening to this kind of exchange reminded me of Maaya and Maru-kun’s banter, and I felt a little left out. I’m envious of their ability to trade witty remarks so effortlessly.

“So, my understanding is that it’s a similar company, though not a bookstore or a publisher. Is that correct?” I asked, trying to keep up.

“You could say that, or you could say it’s not,” Shiori-san said evasively. “I’ve decided to make reading my hobby! I’m feeling the limits of physical books. The publishing recession is terrifying, y’know! Erotica is where the money’s at!”

“I think we could enter an age where physical books sell well simultaneously, like the relationship between video streaming and movies,” Asamura-kun offered.

“I wonder about that. Books are physically bulky, after all. If your pile of unread books collapses, you might get buried alive and reincarnated in another world.”

Is she serious or joking? Or is she seriously joking? I couldn’t quite tell. Piling up enough books for them to collapse? Is that even possible?

“Well, the department I was assigned to isn’t the erotica one, though!” she added cheerfully.

“My condolences.”

“My junior is so cold…”

“You looked like you wanted me to say that.”

“Sob, sob. Saki-chan, my junior is picking on meeee~” she whined, turning to me. “You need to discipline your husband a little better.”

“Ethics, when you get down to it, are in the heart, so I can’t interfere with another person’s ethics.”

It’s not like he’s doing anything illegal, either.

“Saki-chan, you just enrolled and you’re already talking like Kudō-sensei.”

“Guh.”

N-No, that’s absolutely not… Or have I really been influenced that much?

“Heh… I’m so glad my junior seems to be safely taking over after me,” she said with a dramatic sigh. “Please, continue on the path I’ve paved.”

I must have made a very disgusted face, because this time, Shiori-san turned to Asamura-kun for support. I see, so if I brush her off, she goes to him. That makes sense. This is difficult.

“Yes, yes. I’ve received the message loud and clear as your junior,” Asamura-kun said flatly. “So could you please act a little more like a senior, Shiori-san?”

“I am, I am! Well then, I’d love for you to join our company in four years. I want my junior to stay my junior forever. I’ll even put in a good word with HR for you!”

“Putting in a word with HR? But you just joined the company yourself, Shiori-san.”

Then again, the scary part is that I could totally see her having already befriended someone in the HR department.

“I’ll think about it,” I replied.

When I did, for some reason, Asamura-kun just gave a wry smile.