A Popular Girl Confessed to Me, the Loner—Thinking It Was a Prank, I Tried to Scare Her Off... But She Was Actually Serious. - Chapter 8: Calling Her by Name

It was the morning walk to school.

Because I left the house just a little later than usual, the usual route was a bit more crowded today.

I took a quieter back road to avoid the crowd, keeping to myself like always.

Just as I turned a corner—

—I nearly bumped into someone.

“Ah, sorry—oh! Masato-kun!”

A bright voice rang out, and a dazzling smile filled my vision.

It was Hiyori Amano.

Her usual bright and cheerful self. But today, over her uniform, she had a hoodie on, giving her a softer, cozier vibe.

“Morning!”

“Ah… yeah. Good morning.”

I responded instinctively. Hiyori smiled and started walking beside me, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

No “Can I walk with you?”—none of that.

It just felt like this was normal now, and honestly, that tickled me in a weird way.

“I almost overslept today! But thanks to that, I ran into you—so lucky!”

She spoke casually, lightly kicking a pebble by her foot.

As that small sound echoed around us, I found myself at a loss for words.

(…Why is it so easy for her to walk next to me like this?)

It doesn’t make sense.

The queen of the extroverts is happy to run into a loner like me on her way to school?

That’s not normal.

So, I chose silence.

If I talked, I might start to believe this was all real again.

So, I said nothing—and just walked.

—And yet, despite that.

Hiyori still smiled.

Even though I didn’t talk, even though I didn’t meet her gaze, she still smiled.

And then she spoke.

“It’s okay if you don’t say anything. I’m just happy to walk beside you, Masato-kun.”

With that one sentence, my heart squeezed tight.

Why—

Why does she say things like that, so openly, without expecting anything in return?

What could possibly make her happy about me?

What’s so good about a gloomy loner like me…?

I thought that. I really did.

But even so—even so, for just this moment, maybe it was okay to believe her.

That feeling quietly began to swell in my chest.

Before I knew it, the words slipped from my mouth.

“…Hiyori.”

For a moment, the footsteps beside me stopped.

Hiyori turned to look at me.

She stood there, eyes wide, frozen mid-step.

“Did you just… call me?”

“…”

“You did! You called me by my name, didn’t you!?”

Her face lit up with a beaming smile.

I turned away from her, keeping my eyes straight ahead as I answered.

“…Don’t read too much into it. It was just a… moment of weakness.”

“Hehe…”

Hiyori—no, Hiyori—laughed.

At first it was a shy laugh, but it quickly melted into one full of joy.

Clutching her hands to her chest, she bounced slightly on her toes, excited like a little kid.

“Thank you for calling me that!”

Her voice was a little higher than usual, a little more buoyant—

—and it reached me. Deep in my chest, it landed.

“Say it again?”

“…No way. That was a one-time thing.”

“Ehh? Come on, just one more time!”

Hiyori moved in front of me a little, peeking up at my face with those eyes.

I looked away and sped up my pace.

That look she gave me—totally cheating.

“Idiot. Like I could say it over and over. It’s embarrassing.”

“Then just once a day is fine! One ‘Hiyori’ a day, that’s the new quota!”

There’s no way I can keep up with her energy.

But as we walked, a thought crossed my mind.

(…It’s just three syllables, so why does it feel so heavy?)

Just calling her name—

I never imagined it would make my chest feel so warm.

Extrovert or introvert, those kinds of labels couldn’t explain this feeling.

Something real, something that couldn’t be measured by categories—

—I was starting to think it might actually be here.