Adachi to Shimamura - Volume 2 - Chapter 3.1

Chapter 3 Strange Adachi

"Once Shima grows up, she'll be the biggest!" 
That was something I had said when I'd been little. It'd been my dream back then. 
All the other kids used to call me "Shima". I'd quite liked the name, and at some point, had begun using it myself. It was pretty embarrassing in retrospect. Had I seriously referred to myself in the third person? Ugh. 
Anyway, one day during the senior class of kindergarten, we'd been asked to describe our dreams for the future. That had been my answer to that question. I honestly couldn't remember why I had said it. Were there some tall kids I'd been looking up to? Not sure. 
How had I viewed those around me back then? 
The sky was high up, and adults were tall. I could run as far as I wanted without ever getting exhausted, and if there was ever something I was interested in, I would simply rush over to it. Eating candy didn't bring with it an equal amount of mental anguish, and there were no troublesome relationships to worry about, only friendships. 
It never ceased to amaze me how carefree my life had been back then, how far I had opened my shell. 

Adachi had been acting a little strange lately. 
Sure, she'd always tended to behave suspiciously at times, but this was different. First of all, there had been an increase in the numbers of times when I could feel her staring at me. I'd randomly notice it during class, turn my head, and nine times out of ten our eyes would meet. As they did, Adachi would immediately hang her head and open her textbook. At least have it open from the beginning, I always wanted to point out. Not that it mattered. Anyway, that was the strangeness number one. 
Number two: Her lips and shoulders quivered whenever we spoke. Her lower lip would tremble, and her shoulders would do the same, only scaled up. I couldn't help but feel that there was constantly something on her mind, something she wanted to spit out but couldn't. I guess whatever muscles control your lips don't get sore, huh? 
Number three: She'd gotten a better grade on the English final exam than I had. 
...If I were to ever travel overseas, I should definitely take Adachi with me. That was a joke, by the way. 
There was most likely something that she wanted to tell or ask me. On one hand, I thought it would be for the best to ease her into it by asking her if there was something that she wanted to ask me, but on the other, I wasn't sure what I would do if it turned out to be something really heavy. Seeing how much trouble she was having saying it, there was a real chance that might happen. 
For example, what if she wanted to borrow money? Or asked for a little sister? Though both of those examples were completely improbable, they still highlighted what I was afraid of: Her approaching me with something where my first reaction would be "Why are you asking me?". 
That was why I had decided to stay silent for now. Still, after three straight days of pretending not to notice, I was quickly reaching my limit. The lunch break was after this lesson, and I decided that I would bring it up while we were eating. At times like these, the thing you were worrying about tended not to be nearly as serious as it seemed to be in your head. 
Of course, that was just how it had been for me personally, and the actual statistics may have been far different. Regardless, I decided to trust my experience. It gave me hope, if nothing else. 

Japanese history class came to an end, and the atmosphere in the classroom instantly relaxed. We'd gotten back the last of our final exams, and regardless of how bad or well you'd done, they were now over. This meant that you could finally stop stressing about them and simply focus on waiting for both the end-of-term ceremony and the winter break. Despite it being quite cold, cheerful voices flew about the room, like small torches banding together on a stormy night. 
Some people were laughing at the horrible grades they'd gotten. There were also girls talking about all the things they were going to do with their boyfriends during Christmas. Christmas, huh? Just ten more days and a bearded old man would show up. Much like last year, my little sister would once again receive Christmas presents from Santa. It seemed that she still believed in him. As we slept in the same room, she could see that I didn't receive any, leading to her triumphally proclaiming "You've been a bad girl, Sis!" every single year. If anything, I felt like I was a good big sister for letting her get away with that without punishment, but I digress. 
Brushing that matter aside, I put my textbooks into the drawer of my desk and got up with my wallet in hand. I glanced at Hino and Nagafuji, opening their bento boxes, and then Adachi, propping her chin up with her hand and staring off into the distance. I stared at her for a while, yet she didn't notice me, leading me to assume that she was lost in thought. The fact that she hadn't put her books away yet further supported this theory. 
It felt like a waste to simply call out to her. Yes, such inattentiveness needed to be punished. I circled behind her and placed my chin on top of her head. As I did, Adachi instinctively jumped up, causing her skull to hit quite hard against my jaw. 
My surprise attack seemed to have utterly shocked Adachi, so much so that she quite literally fell off her chair. With her hands on the floor, she hurriedly turned to face me, staring up to me with frightened eyes as I rubbed my sore chin. I'd ended up biting my tongue, and as a result, my eyes were just a tiny bit moist with tears. 
"It was you, huh, Shimamura? Haa, haa... You almost gave me a heart attack", Adachi said while clenching at her chest through her clothes. Even so, I could see the tension on her face relaxing. She might have been scared really badly, but it seemed that knowing who the other person was had helped her calm down. Or so you'd think, at least; her eyes were darting around way faster than they had been mere seconds ago. 
"So, what are you doing?" 
"Just having some fun. Ouch..." 
It hadn't been all that long since my little sister had headbutted my jaw, and here I was, making the same mistake again. Did I not learn? Either way, I took Adachi's hand and helped her up. The way she'd fallen had been quite flashy, and as such, the heads of all the students in the classroom were now turned towards us. Adachi was visibly uncomfortable. It seemed that she had noticed it as well. First things first, I should take her outside. This was at least partly my fault, after all. Conveniently, as I'd helped her onto her feet, we were holding hands. Pulling her along, I exited to the hallway. 
"Wh-What? Huh? What?" 
Adachi's eyes were spinning, and her cheeks were somewhat red. Perhaps her heart still hadn't calmed down from earlier? I let go of her hand and patted her shoulder, telling her to take a deep breath. Doing as she was told, Adachi leaned against the wall. I could see her chest swelling as she first inhaled, then exhaled. It didn't seem to be too effective, though, at least judging by the fact that her eyes just kept spinning. 
I decided to leave her to breathe for a while. Though her cheeks did seem to grow redder with each breath she took, it was still possible to come up with an explanation for it that didn't make her look like a total loser. Perhaps her breaths were so powerful that their sheer energy was causing her cheeks to grow hot? Cool, right? 
Regardless, as I stood there in front of her, my hand on her shoulder, I realised just how much taller than me she really was. I'd known that she was, but this much? Don't get me wrong, I didn't feel annoyed by it or anything. This wasn't a competition, after all. Still, thinking about a classmate taller than me calling me "big sis" and asking me to pat her head, there was something about it that didn't feel right. Just what on earth was the relationship between us? 
As the deep breaths didn't seem to be having much effect, I lifted my hand off her shoulder. I started thinking of other ways to help her, but before I could come up with any, Adachi managed to calm down on her own. Her eyes were no longer darting around, and the redness of her cheeks had begun pulling back as well. Perhaps the effects of the breathing were only now starting to kick in? Either way, it seemed that she was finally in a state in which we could have a conversation. 
Not that any of this would have been necessary if I hadn't done what I had. 
"Yo, Ada Chi-Chi", I called out to her, imitating Hino as a joke. There was another meaning to it as well; I wanted to start back from square one. 
"I want you to say my name normally", she muttered. I felt like this wasn't the first time she'd asked me that. At the same time, I also felt like it was. 
"Relax, it's just a one-off nickname. Now then... Never mind." 
I'd thought about suggesting that we go have lunch, but considering the state my tongue was in after what had just happened, I came to the conclusion that it might have been better to skip it for today. I was reminded of all those times my parents had scolded me for doing stupid things for no reason. 
I could still taste blood on my tongue. It really wouldn't make for good flavouring. 
"Lately, I've been thinking that there's something up with you." 
"Hmm? Really?" 
"Yep. I feel like you are staring at me quite often." 
As going around in circles seemed like a huge pain, I decided to simply ask her directly. Adachi immediately averted her gaze. 
Though there was no change in her expression, her eyes were unable to hide the truth. 
"Oh, am I?" 
"Yep, you are", I stated conclusively. Adachi's eyes were trying to escape me, but I quickly circled around her and placed myself back in front of them. As I did, she immediately changed direction. I changed direction as well. After about three laps around her, I got bored of it and moved on to the next question. 
"Do you have something that you want to say to me?" 
Adachi's tightly pursed lips trembled. 
"I'm not going to say that I... don't have." 
"I see, I see. Well then, go ahead, let's hear it", I urged her. Though it wasn't like me at all, I was honestly kinda curious to hear what she had to say. Was it a complaint of some kind, perhaps? Seeing how hard of a time she was having saying it, that seemed like the safest guess. Although, if that's what it was, then urging her to say it was kinda weird. 
With her mouth closed, Adachi began mumbling something. I couldn't hear what she was saying. 
"Well, umm... The winter... Err... How about, next week... No, I mean, in about ten days... Umm..." she continued mumbling incoherently while fidgeting around. It seemed that the majority of her words were getting stuck in her throat. She smacked her chest, as if to force the clog down. It didn't help her calm down, though. No, she was still fidgeting all over the place. I was reminded of a chicken, running around, trying to build up the speed necessary to start flying. Not that chickens could fly. Anyway, was she really okay? 
Adachi turned to face me, although it was more of a token gesture considering that her eyes were looking somewhere else entirely. She then spoke. 
"Can you give me just a little bit more time to build courage? I'll tell you then, I promise." 
"...Sure, okay." 
She'd smacked her chest, and it seemed that her heart had replied that it wasn't ready yet. Well, nothing I could do about that. Or was there? 
At this point, even I was starting to get worried. What would I do if she were to say something heart-breaking? Wait, was my heart really fragile enough to get broken? Regardless. 
Adachi's feet scuffed against the floor. It seemed that she was planning to escape. I gave way, and she actually ran back to the classroom. Or rather, jogged. It was around that time that I noticed how much colder the air in the hallway had gotten. My body shivered slightly. Come to think of it, hadn't I had a friend who once fell over from shivering too hard back when I was little? 
I peered back into my memories, those hazy memories of old. 

A story from a time when I'd been defenceless. I'd had a friend in kindergarten who I got along with especially well. 
The quickest way to describe her was to say that she'd been kinda like Adachi. And no, the punch line wasn't going to be that she'd actually been Adachi. Her name was different. Adachi and I, we weren't bound by destiny or anything. 
Anyway, I'd been a hyperactive and completely incautious child back then. The only way I'd known was forward. Right behind me, there'd been her. She was like my shadow, inseparable. Thinking about it now, I wonder why she'd been behind me and not next to me. Had she been hiding? Made sense, I supposed; she was awfully afraid of people, after all. I remember seeing her by the gate on the day kindergarten started, clinging to her mother's arm while bawling her eyes out. 
To this day, I wasn't sure what had motivated me to grab her hand and walk with her to the shoe rack. Either way, that was the moment our friendship began. It was strange to think about how, had it been the current me, I likely would've ignored her and missed that chance. 
I told her my name, leading to her becoming the first person to call me "Shima". I vividly remembered the displeased look on her face as the nickname spread and the other girls began using it as well. I could feel a bit of Adachi in that. Though it was definitely the wrong way around chronologically speaking, as I thought about the past, I found myself substituting that girl with Adachi more and more. 
Back then, having someone clinging to my back had made me really happy. "We're like an exploration party", I'd shouted. How stupid. Naturally, I'd been pretentious enough to call myself the leader. Though it might not have seemed like it to others, for me, the kindergarten and the surrounding neighbourhood had been an unexplored land filled with traps. It had been my mission to explore it, chart the uncharted. Small details, such as how could there be traps if the land was unexplored, didn't matter to me. Anyway, I really liked walking around with her. 
As for the girl, she didn't particularly care for it. No, putting it that way was selling it short. There were times when her behaviour practically screamed that she hated it. I decided to ignore it, however, prioritizing my own convenience instead. In retrospect, I was being quite selfish. Still, while ignoring what worked best for other people and doing everything your own way might have been a weird approach to take, I had to admit, I acted pretty similarly these days as well. It wasn't really something that had changed over time. 
Girls might not have been assertive by nature, but they were quick to display their interests. What she liked were marbles, wind chimes, and pretty much everything else shiny. It was only when she spotted one of those things that she would come out from behind me and sprint towards them, making me the one chasing after her. 
It didn't really make a lot of sense in retrospect, but I remembered always getting mad that she didn't find me shiny. 
Why had I felt that way? At this point, I could no longer tell. It was the same as trying to figure out what went on inside the head of another person. That was to say, extremely difficult. 
Anyway, we eventually entered elementary school, and after being placed in different classes, stopped seeing each other altogether. It wasn't like we'd had a fight or anything. No, we'd just felt like the distance between us had grown too great to maintain our friendship. Or rather, I'd felt. It'd been mainly me. 
Rumours say that she turned into a delinquent after entering middle school. And not a fake one like me and Adachi, but a real delinquent. I couldn't help but wonder, what sort of a shiny thing had she spotted that had caused her to veer off the right path? 

"Hmm..." 
Lying collapsed over the kitchen table, I did my best to fight against the urge to fall asleep. 
"What part of that do you call fighting?" Mom said as she forced me awake by smacking me on the head. Falling asleep and waking up were both things that I always had trouble with during the winter season. Maybe it was my body's way of telling me that it was time to hibernate, I thought as I shivered with cold. Though the kitchen was relatively warm thanks to the heater, every now and then, a gust of chilly air managed to make its way inside my pyjamas. 
I decided to kill some time by using my fingers to erase the fog stain my cheek had left on the table. As I was doing that, my breakfast arrived. Chopped fish with bell peppers and cod roe on top of noodles, plus some sprinkled rice on the side. Leftovers from yesterday's dinner. Dad wanted to keep the circumference of his waist in check as we headed towards the New Year's holidays, meaning that we were going to be eating lighter meals from now on. 
Everyone was more or less fine with that, except for my little sister who had no concept of being on a diet. Speaking of her, she'd already finished eating breakfast and had even brushed her teeth, meaning that she was just about ready to leave for school. They were having a "morning marathon", whatever that meant. Just hearing those words made me gag a little. It was honestly pretty incredible of her to be able to leave the house with her head held high even though she knew that was what awaited her. 
"Her attitude is stellar, and she's early. Got nothing but good things to say about that." 
"You could learn something from her. Stop chewing your food and swallow already. I want to get these dishes done", Mom hurried me along while giving the dishwasher a smack. She'd always taught me to chew well when I was little, and now she was telling me the opposite. You really needed to take what your parents told you with a pinch of salt. 
Meanwhile, my little sister poked her head through the doorway, wearing the yellow hat kids her age wore on their way to school. 
"I'll be going now!" 
"Take care." 
After saying bye to Mom, she turned towards me and grinned triumphantly. 
"You should head to school soon too, Big Sis." 
"Shut up. Once you're a high schooler, you can wait till the sun has risen completely to go to school." 
"Who taught you that? It's obviously not true. You're three years early." 
Mom once again smacked me. What was meant to be a hard rebuttal only made my sister giggle. 
She then left. I could hear Mom groaning as she stared at an empty piece of paper. She was writing a shopping list to tell her what to buy from the supermarket later this evening, but seemed to be having a hard time from the looks of it. She placed the pen she'd been holding onto the table and sighed. 
"It's such a pain to have to come up with dinner every day." 
"I can imagine. Good luck." 
"You have anything you'd like to eat?" 
Mom often asked me for suggestions, but hardly ever went with them. Most of them time, she came out from the supermarket with something completely other than what she'd had in mind going in. That made it really hard for me to put any sort of serious thought into my suggestions. 
"Curry would be fine, I guess." 
"Hmm... What about something from the deli counter at the meat shop? Would you like that?" 
"Do as you please." 
What a pointless exchange. I wonder if she meant the store that Nagafuji's family owned. 
I'd heard that they'd started putting her behind the counter from time to time. I wonder, did she do a good job? 
"Big Sis, Big Sis!" 
Suddenly, my sister rushed back inside. My first guess had been that she'd forgotten her lunch bag or something, though that theory was quickly debunked by her addressing me instead of Mom. She entered the kitchen and looked at me. Though she hadn't been outside for all that long, the touch of cold air had already turned the tip of her nose red. 
"Your friend came." 
"Huh?" 
That really wasn't something that I had been expecting her to say, not in this day and age. It took me a second to even process her words. 
Little by little, I was able to digest them, and their meaning became clear to me. 
"Umm, a friend?" 
While asking "who" would have sounded less weird, I was too shocked to think of that in the moment. 
"Where?" 
"Outside", she pointed towards the entrance. Very helpful. I now knew that they weren't inside. Anyway, she probably meant in front of our house, right? 
"Do you know who it is?" 
"Yep. The girl who came by the other day." 
"The other day... Wait, Adachi?" 
Why had Adachi walked past the school and come here? Could it be that she'd accidentally gone the wrong way? I didn't really see her as someone who would do that. Regardless, knowing Adachi, she was likely waiting for me. I decided to go see what was up. I placed my chopsticks and bowl on the table and left the kitchen. 
My sister was hiding behind my back. Having forgotten my slippers in the kitchen, I stepped on the cold hallway floor with my bare feet. I could practically hear the sound of vapour forming as the warm air that had surrounded me just moments earlier cooled down in mere seconds. The way it clung to my skin felt really cold and gross. 
Hunched up, I opened the door and stepped outside. Just like my sister had said, Adachi was there. 
She sat on her blue bike, looking like she'd come to pick me up. She was dressed in her school uniform, and her bag was also placed inside the bike's basket. It didn't take long for her to notice me. Awkwardly, she approached me, still on her bike. 
You could see groups of elementary school students walking to school passing in front of our house. As we lived along a school road, it was always super crowded at this time of day—annoyingly so according to my parents who both had to walk past them each morning. Anyway, Adachi was still trying to make her way towards me. With her head hung, she gave me multiple glances. There was clearly something on her mind. 
"I wonder what brings her here. Some emergency? No, probably not." 
Trying to come up with an explanation for Adachi's sudden appearance, I looked over my shoulder at my little sister—staring at me from quite a distance away—and waved at her to go to school. She turned around a couple of times, but ultimately waved me goodbye before merging into the stream of elementary schoolers. Now that that was done, I pulled back my hand, but not before waving at my second little sister—this one only temporary. Adachi had finally managed to make her way to me, and was now standing before me. Her hand was ever so slightly raised. It seemed that she'd been waving at my sister with me. How Adachi-like. 
"Yo, Adachi." 
"H-Hello. I mean, good morning." 
"Hm? Why are you speaking like that?" 
There was something strange about the way she had spoken those words. Like, she was emphasizing the latter halves way too much. 
I'd never met with Adachi this early in the morning, and as such, seeing her in the light of the morning sun felt fresh in a way. 
Whereas Adachi's hair was combed and straight, mine was all messy like I'd just gotten out of bed, and while she was dressed in her uniform, I was still wearing my pyjamas. Well, whatever, I thought to myself as I rubbed my eyes. A thought did cross my mind to make her wait outside for ten minutes while I got myself ready, but considering the season, it seemed a little too harsh. Regardless, I did get the feeling that if Adachi were in my shoes, she would definitely have made me wait. 
"So, what is it? Aren't you a little early? What time did you arrive?" I showered her with questions. White vapour came out from Adachi's mouth as she tried desperately not to look me in the eyes. 
"I have something I want to talk to you about, I thought the morning would be a good time to do it, and I just got here." 
She answered all of my questions one by one. She'd done so with the whole sit-up thing as well. Deep down, she was a pretty conscientious person, huh? 
I did find myself questioning that last bit, though. Was she really speaking the truth? Well, not that it mattered to me if she wasn't. 
"Hmm..." 
I placed my hand on her cheek to test it out. I was a little taken aback by how much her eyes jolted as my hand came into contact with her, but regardless, I was able to check the temperature of her skin. It was colder than mine. Way colder. Not that that proved anything; her house was quite a distance away from ours, and I could easily imagine her getting this cold while biking here. I checked her nose and cheeks as well. They were bright red, as if she was hiding red gingers inside them. No matter how much extra clothing you wore, the cold would always get to you. More importantly, I was getting cold as well. Far too cold to stay outside. I grabbed Adachi by the wrist. 
"It's cold out here. Let's go talk inside." 
"H-Hey!" 
I pulled her off her bike and, after letting her park it in the garage, dragged her inside. She'd grown far less resistant and confused than she'd been initially, and took off her shoes without much trouble. We entered the hallway, and for a second I wondered where we should go before remembering that I'd been in the middle of eating breakfast, and that I should probably go finish it. 
"S-Sorry to intrude." 
"Welcome in", I replied to Adachi's whimper as I entered the kitchen. "I'm back!" 
"Good morning, agai—Oh my, a friend?" 
Mom had been sitting lazily with her feet pointed towards the ceiling, but the moment she noticed that I was with someone, she sprung up. 
"Sorry to intrude", Adachi repeated and bowed slightly. 
"No, it's nothing. Welcome in", Mom replied to her, using the exact same words I had just moments earlier. It really wasn't funny. I closed the door and sat down on my usual chair. Adachi was looking a little lost standing in the doorway, and so I urged her to sit down on the chair my sister always used. 
She put her bag aside and did just that. There I was, sitting in our kitchen with Adachi. ...Yeah, nothing about this felt right. Adachi seemed to feel that way too. She was all bunched up, as if she had physically grown smaller. The only person who looked like they were enjoying this was Mom. 
"Adachi, could you help her eat her breakfast? My daughter is so awfully slow." 
"You don't need to talk, Mom." 
I shoved my mouth full of bell pepper and rice, trying to finish my bowl as fast as possible so that I could go to my room. 
"No, sorry, I already ate before I left." 
There wasn't a need to reply honestly, but being herself, Adachi did so anyway. 
"I see, I see. What did you eat? Something delicious?" 
Why was Mom giving her such a hard time? While I recognized it as just another one of her stupid jokes, Adachi didn't. She was clearly being put off by her behaviour. 
"A slice of bread", she answered while taking off her muffler. I usually preferred my bread in roll form, but it seemed that Adachi was more of a slice type of person. Still, just a single slice? That wasn't a lot. What else did she have, a single glass of water? With those sorts of eating habits, she might eventually turn into a plant. Then again, being able to turn sunlight into nutrition would save you some serious money since you'd never have to buy lunch. That reminded me, now that I'd started attending class regularly, wouldn't it be better for me to bring my own lunch? There were some empty lunch boxes on the shelf. 
"Doesn't your mother tell you that you need to eat more? No, what am I asking, of course she does. That's what mothers are like, always worried that their daughters will get too self-conscious about their waists and start eating less and less. Only when you're slightly fat will they feel relaxed", Mom said before glancing at me, for some reason. Whether she was looking at me with the "diet" or "slightly fat" part in mind vastly changed the meaning behind her stare. I wanted to say something, but the massive bite I'd taken earlier had filled my mouth with so much food that my voice wouldn't come out. Thankfully I didn't have to as Adachi opened her mouth after glancing quickly down at her stomach. 
"She doesn't. She's pretty much never home, so she hardly says anything to me", she spoke, completely dispassionately. 
"Oh, I see", Mom stated before leaning back, having perhaps read past her words. 
It didn't seem like Adachi's relationship with her mother had changed in any meaningful way. It would have been quite the dramatic turn of events if our earlier exchange had managed to change her as a person, but as it turned out, our daily lives were far too ordinary for something like that to happen. My grades also hadn't gotten better overnight. If you weren't able to climb onto the back of something far greater than yourself and be carried to the distance, then your only choice was to walk there with your own two feet. That applied even if you had started later than other people and had already missed the boat. 
All three of us remained silent as I ate. 
Once I was done, I quickly left the kitchen. Adachi practically jumped off her chair as well and followed after me. The way she returned the chair back to its place after standing up reminded me of my sister, and caused me to feel emotions I wasn't quite sure how to interpret. 
"Make sure to go to school, okay? No skipping class." 
"Yeah, yeah. I'll go. You don't need to say it so many times." 
Paying barely any attention to my reply to her, I headed deeper inside the house towards my room. I took a look behind me, and saw Adachi grinning to herself. 
"What's so funny?" I asked her. I could pretty much guess the answer already, but decided to ask anyway just to be mean. 
"No, nothing", she replied, still smiling. 
I entered my room. I'd left the curtains open, but it was still quite cold in there. The temperature didn't match the overbearing amount of sunlight shining in through the window at all. After a few seconds of thinking about, I decided to turn the heater on. I wouldn't get to take that long of a break anyway, and though there was a chance that it might cause me to hesitate when it came time to head out, the fact that I had a guest meant that it would've been a little rude not to. 
I sat down on my folded futon and tossed Adachi a yellow cushion. Though the sunlight coming through the window did warm up my back slightly, my front side was still freezing, causing my body to shiver uncontrollably. Adachi had begun rewrapping the muffler around her neck. I could see her eyes looking all over the room. 
Not that the room had changed since the last time she'd been here. Still as boring as ever. 
"So, you wanted to talk about something? Wait, is this the thing from yesterday?" 
Right, she'd had something that she wanted to talk to me about yesterday, but had backed off saying that she needed more time. Had she managed to get her thoughts in order overnight? Fiddling with her hair, Adachi lifted her head, clearly doing so only because I had urged her to speak. Her eyes—staring fixedly at me—were slightly red, and her face looked quite pale as well. 
It didn't seem like she'd gotten a lot of sleep last night. Could it be, had she spent the entire night anguishing over this? I was starting to feel more and more guilty. 
"Shimamura." 
"Y-Yeah?" 
"Would you like to... go out somewhere? Or something..." 
That was as far as she got before averting her eyes. 
"Hm? Sure..." I nodded. In my heart, however, I found myself puzzled: Was that really it? 
Was that what she'd spent days anguishing over? It didn't seem to me like something that needed all that much thought, or any at all. In the end, no insults had been hurled my way, no dissatisfactions. How anticlimactic. 
Also, if this was all she wanted to ask, couldn't she have done so in school, or just texted me or something? Was it really necessary to come all the way to my house? I could make neither make head nor tail of Adachi. Not that I ever understood her all that well. 
"Sure, I don't mind. You mean like, after school? Or wait, are you saying we should skip school entirely?" 
"Oh, no, not today." 
"I see." 
Adachi straightened her back and sat on her soles. I found myself compelled to pull in my own legs that had been lying on the floor loosely. 
She squirmed around restlessly as she placed her hands on her knees. How could saying when she wanted to go out with me possibly be that difficult? I waited there patiently, scratching my feet. With her head hung, Adachi at last opened her mouth. 
"I was thinking around... the 25th of this month..." she said, her face bright red.. 
"The 25th, huh? Umm..." 

I didn't get at first why she had specified a date instead of a day of the week. I was so confused that I couldn't help but count forward to see what day it was. Regardless, there was something about her sentence that caught my attention: She'd specifically said "of this month". What was special about the 25th of December? Seconds later, it hit me, and I found myself staring at her with my eyes open wide. 
"The 25th, that's..." 
"Yep", Adachi nodded while drawing her neck in. The lower half of her face had disappeared completely behind the muffler. 
"Christmas, huh?" 
"It is", she nodded again. Her body was stiff, giving off the vibe that she was super nervous. 
That confirmed it; there really was a meaning behind her specifying a date. 
Huh? A meaning? 
She was inviting me out on Christmas. The implications here were deep, as deep as the shade of red on Adachi's face. It couldn't be that she wanted to go on a Christmas date with me or something, right? That'd be really out there. 
Then again, in an assortment such as ours, it was pretty strange for any reason to go out on Christmas to arise. 
"Hmm..." 
I closed my eyes. I needed to choose my words carefully here. 
My first instinct was to ask her "why?", but as I thought about it more, I got the feeling that it would bend the spinal cord of our relationship in half, resulting in an injury that would need a lot of time and effort to heal. It really was a cold thing to say, wasn't it? I had to pick something else. Something else... 
A pair of girls going out on Christmas seemed like quite the uncommon occurrence. Not that I could say for sure; I'd barely gone outside the previous years, much less downtown. Regardless of the facts, I could now see why it had been so difficult for Adachi to say it, and why she had needed multiple days to mentally prepare herself. Whatever her intentions were didn't change the fact that it was an extremely bold proposition to make. What was she thinking? 
A hazy mass I was unable to shake off weighed down on my shoulders. It was different from what I'd been anticipating, but just as heavy if not heavier. Adachi remained motionless with her head hung, almost like she was reflecting on what she'd just said, offering me no further explanation. She'd asked me a question, and was now waiting for a reply? I admit, it did make sense, but still. 
If "why" was out of question, then what should I ask her? Thinking about it that way, it didn't take long for me to arrive at the next matter. 
What would we do on Christmas? 
"Where do you want to go?" 
"No, I haven't thought about that yet", she spoke quickly. 
"What do you want to do?" 
"Again, I haven't thought about that yet", she spoke even faster this time. The increase was so drastic that I felt like if we kept going, we'd eventually break the speed of sound. This was hopeless. "I was just... wondering what you think..." 
Her head still hung, I could see Adachi taking quick peeps at me to check how I was reacting. The heater had at last come on, though it wasn't really needed anymore. There was no room in my head to be thinking about feeling cold, and I could only assume that it was the same for Adachi. 
The sunlight roasting my back grew stronger, then weaker as the sun disappeared and came out from behind clouds. This confirmed that time was flowing as smoothly as ever, even though judging by this room alone, you could have sworn that it had stopped. 
There was a chance that Adachi... I was having a hard time finding the words to complete my thoughts. It was the first time ever I had struggled in this way. There was a chance that Adachi wanted to know what Christmas was like because she had never experienced it with her family. With that in mind, she'd asked me, her only friend (probably), to go somewhere with her. 
Was that an interpretation I could be satisfied with? I admit, it was strange to simply make up what was going on in the head of another person, but at the same time, I couldn't risk facing the truth in case it turned out to be something that I was unable of coming to terms with. 
You didn't have to look any further than Adachi's behaviour, the shade of red covering her entire face, to see why I was worried—worried that there might be something more to this. 
Really, if there was ever a situation fit for a confession of love, this was it. 
I love you. Something like that. 
If that happened, I'd panic pretty hard, wouldn't I? Yeah, no doubt about it. 
"Hm, hmm..." 
A forced smile appeared on my face. In retrospect, it might not have been the greatest of ideas to force her to talk. I really should've waited until after the 25th, but then again, it wasn't like I could see the future. Regardless, I'd now painted myself in a corner. I knew I had to say something, but no words would come out of my mouth. 
Adachi had begun lifting her legs, giving off the impression that she was getting ready to run away. Not on my watch. You reap what you sow. She looked me in the eyes and—perhaps influenced by my stare—began explaining, sounding almost apologetic. 
"I-It's not a big deal or anything. It's not. I just wanted to go out with someone on Christmas... on a busy day and, umm... see what it was like." 
"Hmm..." 
That was it? She wanted to be with "someone"? It seemed that I'd been surprisingly close to the bullseye with my assumption. Of course, that was only if Adachi was speaking the truth. 
No, it wasn't good to doubt your friends. Especially at times when it was more convenient to believe them. 
Anyway, while it did seem like the kind of thing you were meant to ask your family for help with, I could understand why someone my age wouldn't want to do that. Doubly so when considering Adachi's family situation. 
With no other friends to speak of, she'd come to me. 
It was simply a process of elimination. 
I felt relieved. 
Relieved that Adachi didn't yearn for me, but for another person. 
As long as that was her reason, I had no problem accepting her proposal. 
"I do need to be home before dinner, but if that's okay, then sure." 
Adachi's back straightened in an instant as she heard my reply. Her eyes turned to face me. 
"For real?" 
"Yep. As long as you take care of coming up with where we're going and all that stuff." 
Our family always ate dinner together, and I had a feeling that my sister would miss me if I wasn't there. Of course, that was all going to change in just two or three years. She'd be fine with her big sister not being present, and even Christmas itself wouldn't excite her anymore. Regardless, it felt kinda comfortable to interpret this situation as Adachi feeling the same way about Christmas as my little sister did currently, having the same thirst for it. Yeah, that was probably it. 
Adachi, on the other hand, was shaking left to right. She seemed beside herself with joy. It was like she was a dog wagging its tail, or rather, like her entire body had turned into a tail. It flapped around, rocked from side to side. She'd been motionless for a while, but had again started moving, as if weights holding her down had been taken off. Her expression seemed much brighter as well, and her face practically shone, almost like there'd been a layer of snow covering it that had melted off. 
I wouldn't have been surprised to see a tear flowing down her cheek had she not decided to wipe her wet eyes. 
Seeing her so incredibly delighted once again caused me to grow suspicious. No, stop. I shook those thoughts away. 
Sitting on top of the futon and staring down at Adachi as she wagged her tail, she did kinda seem like a faithful dog. 
"Adachi Inu"... Somehow, it felt like a dog breed that could really exist. With those sorts of worthless thoughts filling my mind, I glanced at the clock. I'd soon have to leave for school. Assuming Adachi was willing to give me a ride on her bicycle, that would give me a bit more time, but it also left me with another thing to worry about; with the way she was today, would it really be safe to let Adachi drive? It was obvious on glance that she was on cloud nine, and I was genuinely worried that she might forget to check the traffic lights. 
Her body had begun trembling. Her lips had turned soft and spongy. 
While I had in the past felt like pulling her cheeks, playing with her lips, that wasn't something I felt a desire to do often. 
"Oh?" 
Suddenly, Adachi sprang up. It was as if a volcano had erupted, a mental image fitting the colour of her face. 
"I gotta go to school!" she exclaimed while her eyes and tongue flicked restlessly. It really sounded like something a straight-A student would say. Her right arm was extended, as if pointing towards the clock, and while that was fine and all, all that lay in front of it was my sister's writing desk. 
"Huh? Yeah. Let's go." 
"H-Hurry! I-I need to hurry! Hurry, hurry!" 
She was stuttering like crazy, yet no such hesitation was seen in her limbs. If anything, they were moving a little too steadily, almost as if they were sticks. Walking without bending her knees like a giant doll, Adachi headed towards the front door. I could first hear the sound of her putting her shoes on in a rush, and then the sound of the door being slammed open. Was she ever going to not burst out of this room? Wait for me, I muttered silently in my heart. 
"Let me ride on the back!" 
And to think that I'd actually thought that I'd get to relax this morning. I looked over my shoulder and out through the window, only to catch a glimpse of Adachi already pedalling. She was going as fast as she possibly could, almost like she was escaping a crime scene or something. She'd even stood up off the seat to squeeze out that extra bit of speed. I wouldn't blame anyone for thinking that she was suspicious and assuming that she'd done something wrong. Heck, if I'd been a police officer, I would probably have ordered her to stop myself. 
I was reminded of all those other times when she'd run off and left by herself. 
I hadn't really committed any mistakes this time. ...Or that's what I would've liked to say, at least. Yet, as Adachi hadn't done anything either, the only conclusion I could come to was that the problem lay with me. I'd gotten my room all nice and warm, but as Adachi had left the door open, it was now getting colder by the second. 
It was as if the temperature was pushing me to leave my room and go to school. 
"Hmm..." 
I closed my eyes and groaned one last time. Well, whatever, I thought to myself, brushing aside all of my problems. 
Adachi and I. 
It might not have been fate, but something had been piling up ever since we'd met. 
And so, I decided to go out with Adachi on Christmas this year. 
Well, whatever. It wasn't like anything special was going to happen if I stayed at home. No visits from Santa Claus or anything.