“Taki?”

When I turn toward the voice, Okudera-senpai is standing beside me. For a second, I forgot she existed.

“You know, Taki,” she says with an even smile, “you seem like a different person today.”

She executes a beautiful turn, like a model, and strides away, leaving me behind.

I blew it.

All I did today was trudge through the date Mitsuha planned like the whole thing had been a chore. I just kept coming up with excuses and didn’t even consider what Okudera-senpai, who was right there with me, might be feeling. Even though I (well, Mitsuha) was the one who’d invited her. Even though I should’ve been ecstatic just to get to spend time with her. Even though I’ve spent my whole life hoping for a miraculous day exactly like this.

From the pedestrian bridge, I have a clear view of the cluster of Roppongi buildings we just left. Hundreds of windows shine golden in the evening sun. My eyes go back to Okudera-senpai ahead of me. She’s not saying a word.

Her hair gleams, and her hat and clothes look brand new. Today, at least, she might have gone to all that trouble just for me. The thought makes my throat tighten. I feel like the oxygen’s suddenly thinned, and it’s hard to breathe. I grope for words as if desperately flailing for the surface of the ocean.

“Um, Okudera-senpai?”

She doesn’t turn.

“…Are you hungry? We could go get dinner somewhere—”

“Why don’t we call it a day instead?” she suggests with the tone of a patient teacher.

“Okay.”

On the spur of the moment, I say something really boneheaded. Okudera-senpai has finally turned around, but her expression, fading into the evening sun—I can’t see it clearly.

“Taki… Forgive me if I’m wrong, all right?”

“Sure.”

“A long time ago, you liked me a little bit, didn’t you?”

“Huh?!” She knew?! How?!

“And now there’s someone else you like, isn’t there?”

“Huuuuuuuh?!” I gush sweat as if I’ve suddenly teleported into a tropical rain forest. “N-no, there isn’t!”

“Really?”

“Th-there isn’t! There’s absolutely nobody like that!”

“I wonder…”

Okudera-senpai examines my face skeptically. Somebody else I like? No, there’s nobody like that. I’m pretty sure there isn’t. Just for a moment, her long hair and the softness of her breasts flicker through my mind but vanish almost immediately.

“Well, never mind.”

Her tone is bright and clear, and her face recedes.

“Huh?”

“Thank you for today. I’ll see you at work.”

Okudera-senpai flutters a hand at me, then simply walks away, leaving me behind. Mechanically, I open my mouth. Close it. Open it again. Even so, no words come out, and while I’m doing that, Okudera-senpai’s back descends from the pedestrian bridge and disappears into the crowd in front of the station.

I gaze at the evening sun, feeling as if I’ve been abandoned on the edge of summer. There are no breaks in the cars streaming under the pedestrian bridge, and after I’ve been listening to them for a while, I start feeling as though I’m on a real bridge, over a river. The late sun is as weak as a flashlight, and it’s disappearing behind the water tank on top of a mixed-use building. I focus on it the entire time, intently, as if trying to reclaim something.