The station nearest to the school that I always use for commuting.
I stepped onto the platform, where sunlight streamed in through the glass ceiling.
On weekdays, including myself, many adults and students walk through for commuting, but today being a day off, there were few people in uniforms or suits, and relatively more young people in casual clothes going out for fun.
It’s not like I go to school on a day off, so it’s a place I would never normally visit.
However, here I am at the station.
So why am I showing up in such a place?
It was because of a promise I made with a certain girl at the sports festival.
I had promised someone who had helped me a lot with the request “to listen to one thing”, a common phrase in youth.
A few days after the sports festival, on a certain day after school.
The request was suddenly made.
「I want you to accompany me on my errands for a day.」
She said this and specified this day.
That’s why I appeared at the station on a holiday.
A mysterious dog statue that looks like Hachiko but not quite.
I was meeting a certain girl at this famous spot in the station.
「Oii! If we don’t hurry, we’ll miss the train~~!」
As I approached the meeting spot, I found someone waving at me.
Amidst the hustle and bustle, she doesn’t stand out, but a familiar girl is waving at the meeting spot.
Just this is enough to identify who she is.
「Sorry, Eri-san. Did you wait?」
The train is on time, and I’m not late for our meeting.
However, unable to shake off the feeling that I had kept her waiting, I naturally apologized.
「No, no!! I just arrived early, so don’t worry about it.」
Eri-san waves her hands as if to say it’s out of the question. She seemed so desperate not to have made me worry by arriving early that I couldn’t help but smile.
「W-What’s so funny…?」
She narrows her eyes in dissatisfaction and stares at me.
「No, no, it’s nothing.」
「That’s a lie. You definitely looked at me and laughed.」
「I said it’s nothing.」
「Uhhh… really…?」
Eri-san pouts, not convinced.
As I watched her, I felt how Eri-san was changing with each passing day.
At first, she wasn’t that friendly, but now she shows me expressions I would never have seen in the beginning.
Even today’s outfit. Even though July is just around the corner, the previous Eri-san would never have worn a miniskirt.
I could keenly feel these changes being close to her.
It seems to have become more pronounced since the sports festival…
It might be my imagination, but I think it was around this time that she started bringing up school topics outside of the Home Economics Club, like test score competitions and hobby discussions.
What made her change like this…
「Yamanaga-kun…?? Is something wrong…?」
As I was lost in thought, Eri-san peeks at me with concern.
「N-No! I-It’s nothing?」
「……」
「It’s nothing, really…」
「Yamanaga-kun…?」
「W-What?」
「Aren’t you worse at lying than when we first met?」
She hit a sore spot, and it’s tough, but I have my reasons.
It’s not that I’ve gotten worse, but that Eri-san’s ability to see through lies has improved?
I couldn’t help but think so.
〇
「W-We got on the train, but where are we going today?」
I was told the date and time, but not where we were going.
I had no idea what we were going to do.
Since Eri-san was the one I was going out with, I wasn’t worried, but with so little information, I started to feel a bit anxious.
What if it’s a really long trip?
I don’t have much balance left on my transportation IC card…
Am I the only one who can easily imagine being stranded at an unmanned station without the means to recharge, standing helplessly at the ticket gate?
「Please don’t make such a despairing face. Compared to usual, it will be a bit of a long trip, but we’re not leaving the prefecture.」
「I-Is that so?」
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「Yes.」
As if she could read my thoughts, Eri-san explains.
This means I can relax, right…?
「I won’t be frozen on the platform because of insufficient balance?」
「You won’t.」
「Really?」
「Assuming you have more than 2000 yen remaining, there won’t be any problem. Surely, you don’t have less than that, right?」
「Umm… I think I have that much.」
Since I use a commuter pass for school, I don’t check my card balance regularly.
I rarely use it for payments, and the last time I used it was half a year ago to buy a drink from a vending machine at the station.
I haven’t used it since then, so I think there’s still money left, but I’m not sure, so I was a bit vague in my response to Eri-san’s question.
「Let’s hope it’s enough. Our destination is an unmanned station, so if you can’t pass through the ticket gate, it’s a guaranteed U-turn.」
Am I the only one feeling pressure in the nuances of her matter-of-fact words?
What was supposed to be a fun outing could turn into an unexpected mishap.
As the train swayed, I pinned all my hopes on the remaining balance of my IC card.
〇
「Fuu~. We’ve finally arrived.」
「Yeah, we have…」
「Fufu, did you have a scare?」
「Yeah, you could say that.」
To conclude, I managed to pass through the ticket gate without any issues.
After being on the train for over an hour and a half, we arrived at a nature-rich unmanned station near the prefectural border.
The fare was about 1200 yen. My IC card balance was 1400 yen.
Iyaa… that was really close.
If it hadn’t been enough, we would have had to return to a manned station, so it was truly a narrow escape.
As I sighed in relief, Eri-san smiled beside me.
「Anyway, I’m glad we arrived on time. This line only has trains every hour and a half, so it would have been a disaster if we had to turn back.」
Even for Eri-san, who had planned the schedule, it must not have been a calm situation inside.
We were this close to being forced to make a major change in plans.
「…I should have checked more carefully.」
「I should have told you the destination from the start instead of being secretive.」
「By the way, why didn’t you tell me the destination?」
It’s not like there’s anything that needs to be kept secret.
「…It’s a surprise.」
「Eh?」
「I said! It’s a surprise!!」
Umm, was it some kind of anniversary for me?
Or am I forgetting something important?
「I-It’s not some kind of anniversary or anything, okay?」
Huh? Again, she could totally read my thoughts.
「Then, what kind of surprise is it…?」
A surprise that’s not for an anniversary??
What does that mean?
「Well… umm, I thought you’d be happy because you said you liked nature before…」
「I see, so it’s the sea.」
「Yes…」
She remembered something I casually said in the past.
Somehow, that makes me genuinely happy.
「Let’s recharge our spirits here today.」
「That sounds great!」
「I also had something I wanted to do at the sea, so it worked out perfectly.」
Heeh, Eri-san wanted to come to the sea too.
I was feeling a bit guilty because it was supposed to be an outing for Eri-san, but she brought me to a place I like, so I’m glad to hear her say that.
「By the way, what was it that Eri-san wanted to do?」
It’s before summer and the sea opening, so we can’t go into the water.
I wonder what she’s planning to do.
「That’s, you see! To be precise, collecting seashells!!」
I see.
Her motive was far from what I expected.