Two outcasts who look down on each other share an innocent first kiss. - Chapter 5

Humans are creatures of habit.

“…Morning.”

“Good morning.”

As soon as the curtain on the opposite side of the window opened, a sleepy, bed-headed Sumino peeked out.

I walked over to my window and greeted her.

“You’re up late today.”

“Mmh… overslept.”

“School starts again tomorrow. You gonna be okay?”

“…Don’t remind me.”

Sumino squinted, mumbling her words.

Golden Week was coming to an end.

Over the past week, talking like this—through our windows—had become almost routine.

We didn’t do it every morning.

But whenever we noticed each other, we’d naturally head to our windows.

Maybe we had been starved for conversation.

For all our talk about being fine on our own, maybe, at a base level, we needed this.

And now that we had someone to talk to, the words just came naturally.

“I made it to Platinum 4 yesterday.”

“If you practiced your combos more, you could probably hit Diamond.”

“No way. I hate practicing.”

“At this rate, you’ll never beat me.”

“Ughhh… since when did gaming become so hardcore?”

I had learned a lot about Sumino in the past week.

For example, she actually prefers team-based games like FPS and MOBAs over fighting games.

Why?

Because when she loses, she can blame her teammates.

Fighting games, on the other hand, leave zero room for excuses.

If she loses, it’s entirely her fault.

And apparently, that kind of pressure stressed her out.

Honestly, I kind of understood.

So why did she spend all of Golden Week grinding a fighting game?

Simple.

Because I beat her.

The night we first greeted each other, she had suddenly appeared at her window, holding up a notebook with the words “JOIN MY LOBBY” scrawled across the page.

So I did.

And then—

I utterly destroyed her.

I don’t believe in going easy on people.

Not even on girls.

Not even on socially awkward loners like us.

Since we were playing online, I couldn’t see her reactions.

But I could see how fast she spammed the rematch button.

It was instantaneous.

Like she was possessed.

No doubt, she was seething.

She refuses to practice.

She refuses to learn from her mistakes.

And yet, she hates losing.

Honestly, her personality is comically inefficient.

So, ever since that night, she had been grinding.

Trying to get back at me.

Trying to win, just once.

“Maybe you’re struggling because you’re trying to play serious characters like the pros.”

“What’s your point?”

“I think you’d do better with a more gimmicky, unpredictable character.”

“Don’t get cocky. You’re just a Diamond player, not a god.”

“Well, if I hit Master, the gap between us will only get bigger.”

“Shut up. Go spam Sonic Boom and die.”

Another fact about Sumino: she has the foulest mouth imaginable.

“Gross.” “Die.”

That’s just her baseline vocabulary.

On bad days, she casually throws out things like “I’ll kill you,” as if she were a middle school boy.

At first, it shocked me.

But after hearing it so much, I got used to it.

It was clear that she didn’t mean most of what she said.

She had just developed a habit of mumbling rage-fueled commentary while gaming.

It had probably just… stuck.

“Ahchoo!”

Because she was still in pajamas, the chilly morning air had finally gotten to her.

For some reason, her sneeze was oddly cute.

A teasing remark came to mind, but—

No.

I wasn’t bold enough for that yet.

Saying something like that would make it sound like I was flirting.

And that would be mortifying.

“It’s cold. Let’s close up.”

“…Yeah.”

She reached for her window.

But instead of closing it right away—

She glanced at me.

“Hey, Harrison…”

“Yeah?”

I turned to her.

But the moment I did—

She averted her eyes, turning away sharply.

“N-never mind.”

And just like that—

Clack. Thud.

She shut her window.

Pulled the curtain closed.

Disappeared.

…What was that about?

I closed my window, still puzzled.

Usually, I could read her pretty well.

But this time?

No idea.

◆◆◆

As I unbuttoned my pajamas, I thought about what I almost said.

Our only conversations happened through the window.

That was just how things worked.

Since we had both spent all of Golden Week holed up in our rooms, this was our default method of communication.

It felt a little like a classic romance manga.

And I won’t lie—it was kind of exciting.

But…

There were problems.

If I ever wanted to talk to him, I had to stand by the window and wait for him to notice me.

And whenever we did talk, we had to open our windows.

And right now?

It was cold as hell.

And as I stood there, thinking “Damn, it’s freezing”, another thought crept in.

What the hell are we doing?

I have a phone.

And so does he.

He’s mentioned mobile games before, so I know he has one.

If we just exchanged numbers, we wouldn’t have to play this stupid game of standing around, waiting to be noticed.

We wouldn’t have to freeze our asses off just to talk.

So why hadn’t we?

Because…

Because…

Asking for his number would be WEIRD.

Right now, we were just accidentally running into each other.

It was casual.

But if I asked for his number—

That would mean I was deliberately trying to talk to him.

That would mean I actually wanted to.

And if he got the wrong idea—

If he thought I wanted to text him all night or something—

I might just die from humiliation.

I don’t want him to get the wrong idea.

It’s not like I like him or anything.

We just happened to end up as neighbors.

We just happened to like the same games.

We just happened to both be awkward loners.

And we just happened to have the same rhythm when talking.

That’s all.

I don’t like him.

I just have no other options.

And if he thought otherwise?

That would lower my value as a person.

(Shut up. I have value. I think.)

Edward isn’t handsome.

He isn’t my type.

He’s short.

His personality sucks.

As a love interest, he’s a hard pass.

So—

If he asks for my number, I’ll give it to him.

But me?

I’m not gonna ask.

Not me.

Not first.

◆◆◆

Golden Week was over.

“Take care, sweetheart!”

Mom saw me off as I stepped outside.

It’s not like I never left the house during Golden Week.

But this was the first time I’d stepped out in my school uniform.

I turned back for a moment, looking at the house from the outside.

It still felt new.

Something about it made me feel… different.

That said, I couldn’t stand around getting sentimental.

As usual, I was cutting it close.

One missed train, and I’d be late.

But today, I’d given myself a bit of extra time.

This was my first time commuting from here.

I needed to figure out exactly what time I had to leave to make the train.

With that in mind, I started walking.

I barely made it a few steps before passing by the house next door.

A nameplate at the entrance read “Sumino.”

I wondered if she had already left for school.

Last night, when I got into bed, I think I saw her light still on.

It felt weird—

Knowing exactly when her room light turned off.

Knowing exactly when she went to bed.

Even with the curtains closed, I could imagine it.

Sumino in her pajamas, curling up under the blankets.

And if I was in bed while her light was still on, it almost felt like—

She was still awake, right next to me.

It was bizarre.

We lived in separate houses.

And yet, it felt like we were living together.

I never said anything, but surely, our parents had noticed how our bedroom windows faced each other?

Didn’t they think that was a little strange?

Probably not.

The same people who named their introverted son “Harrison” without an ounce of irony probably wouldn’t think twice about window placement.

And just as I was about to walk past—

Click.

The door to the Sumino household opened.

“Yaaaaaawn…—huh?”

Sumino stepped outside, mid-yawn.

Then she saw me.

And froze.

Behind her, the door clicked shut.

I also stopped in my tracks, caught off guard.

A coincidence?

Not really.

If she always left late, just barely catching the train—

It made sense that our departure times would overlap.

“M-morning.”

I greeted her, feeling a little tense.

Talking to her through a window felt natural now, but this was different.

Still in her school uniform, she quickly averted her gaze.

She took a sharp step forward, walking slightly past me and looking off to the side.

Then, in a slightly irritated tone, she muttered—

“…Were you waiting for me?”

She sounded annoyed.

But maybe that was just her default tone.

Or maybe she genuinely thought I was some kind of creep.

I needed to clear that up.

“N-no, I just wanted to test how long it takes to get to the station from here.”

“Oh… I-I see.”

She looked down, flustered.

She must have misunderstood—

Thought I was waiting for her.

And now, she was embarrassed about it.

That, in turn, made me feel awkward too.

But unlike our first window conversation—

We didn’t have the luxury of standing around in silence.

“Uh… let’s just go.”

“…Okay.”

I started walking.

And, naturally, so did she.

Just like that, we had fallen into step.

We were walking to school together.

It wasn’t planned.

It wasn’t intentional.

But considering we lived next door, left at the same time, and took the same train—

This was probably inevitable.

Even though she was walking just behind me, barely a meter away—

It felt strange.

I hadn’t walked to school with someone since elementary school.

Back then, we had to do group walks for safety.

But that was so long ago I barely remembered it.

Had I talked to anyone back then?

Or had I just trailed behind everyone, silent?

Kind of like how Sumino was walking now.

Should I say something?

Would it be weird if I did?

Talking to her through a window was easier.

Because if we were at the window, it meant we were already in the mood to talk.

But now…?

“…H-hey.”

Surprisingly, she spoke first.

I turned to look at her.

She was staring down at the drainage grate on the side of the road.

“T-this is your first time commuting from here, right?”

“Huh? Well, yeah. Since there was no break before Golden Week, I never had the chance to before.”

Silence.

That familiar, awkward silence.

But I knew this routine.

She was just gathering her thoughts.

So I waited.

After about twenty seconds, she spoke again.

“Do… you know how long it takes to get to the station?”

I blinked.

I was literally wondering that earlier.

“No, I don’t. Google said ten minutes, so I just went with that.”

“If you rush, you can make it in six.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. The train leaves at twenty-eight past, so as long as you’re out the door by twenty-two, you’ll make it.”

Whoa.

She had already calculated the exact departure time.

She must have optimized her routine to spend as little time at school as humanly possible.

“So, a fast walk takes about eight minutes?”

“Yeah, about that.”

“Oh. Uh… thanks.”

I stumbled over the words.

I wasn’t used to thanking people.

“That helps. I always cut it close.”

“…Yeah.”

She gave a small nod.

And then, silence.

We just kept walking.

Step by step.

Side by side.

And as we did—

I started thinking.

We both always left at the last possible minute.

Which meant we’d probably be seeing each other every morning.

Unless one of us was late,

We’d always run into each other.

Which meant…

Were we going to be walking to school together every day?

From now on?

“……………………”

“……………………”

It wasn’t embarrassment.

It wasn’t awkwardness.

It was just—

Something I couldn’t put into words.

I could hear her footsteps.

The fabric of her uniform brushing together.

The soft, almost imperceptible sound of her breathing.

For some reason—

It all felt like a dream.