“It was fine. Sorry I left early.”

“Yeah right. I got up early too. You were so odd yesterday, I was worried that something had happened. I looked around for you and when I was filling the bath up I was so distracted, I accidentally let it overflow.”

Imagining the situation, Kanae giggled.

“I know you don’t like getting up early. That’s why I left you a note.”

“…normal.”

“What is it?” Kanae cocked his head.

“No, it’s just that you’re being normal today.”

“Oh? Aren’t I normally this way?” He knew that Yuichi was talking about yesterday, but Kanae pretended to ignore it. He only had one day left to spend with Yuichi, so he wanted to have a happy lunchtime with him. “I’ve got class for fifth period. So I’ll leave about 6:30, is that ok?”

“Oh, okay. Today. Well what would you like me to cook for you?”

“We haven’t eaten out much recently.” He wasn’t going to eat dinner at Yuichi’s today. He would have felt bad if Yuichi took the time to cook something for him. “There’s a new restaurant near the station. I heard about it and I was thinking it’d be nice if we went and gave it a try.”

“Yeah, it’s nice to eat out once in a while. We’ve always been eating in. I don’t like washing up anyway, so out it is. Shall I meet you somewhere after class? I could come here at six?”

“I want to take a shower first, so I’ll go home.”

The campus building Kanae’s class was in was old and the air conditioning didn’t work properly. Yuichi smiled knowingly.

“In that building today?”

“Yep, so I need to go back.”

“All right. I’ll see you there.”

When lunch break was finished, they left the cafeteria together, chatting all the while.

This is the last time, Kanae thought.

This is the last time we’ll spend time together.

“So hot!”

Kanae turned the key and went in. Without saying hello to Yuichi he jumped into the bathroom. He had made the excuse that he wanted to shower so that he could talk in the house with Yuichi, but the classroom had actually been hot and he had felt like he was going to die halfway through his class. He had thought that it would be cooler in the evening, and even though it was cooler outside, inside the classroom it was boiling. He heard that after the new buildings were completed next year, the old building was going to be torn down, but this year they had to suffer.

The water washed over his body and he was just about to leave the bathroom in his bath towel, when he suddenly remembered to put on the T-shirt and shorts he had made ready. If he went out naked, he didn’t know what might happen. Today he couldn’t lose himself in the flow.

Smoothing down his hair, he walked towards the living room. Yuichi was watching TV. He looked up at Kanae and appeared to be a little disappointed.