It was late May, almost two months after starting high school, when Satomura Takahiro first had a proper conversation with Yoshinaga Akari.
Up until then, the only thing connecting them was being in the same class. Their relationship was so thin that all they had was a vague "I know that face and name" kind of impression.
Takahiro was the classic otaku type—his biggest hobbies were games, manga, and anime. His friends were all fellow enthusiasts, and he had zero interest in expanding his social circle.
Akari, because of her severe social anxiety, still couldn't join the girls' groups even after entering high school. During breaks, it had already become normal for her to sit quietly at her desk reading a book. To Takahiro, she just looked like a gloomy loner who couldn't fit in.
That's how things were—until one day, something finally connected them.
"Hm?"
On his way home after school, Takahiro picked up a student handbook lying on the ground.
Finding a handbook from his own school made it hard to just ignore, so—though it was a hassle—he flipped it open. It belonged to someone in his class.
At that moment he had two choices: go back to school and hand it in at the staff room, or deliver it directly to the owner's house.
Even though they were classmates, he didn't have the girl's email or phone number. The "correct" thing to do was obviously to take it back to school.
But when he saw the address written inside, he realized it was very close to the cheap apartment where he lived—practically on the way home. So he decided to deliver it himself.
There wasn't any deep reason. He'd already left school grounds a few minutes ago, and going back felt annoying. Plus, the owner might have noticed it was missing and come looking for it.
"This should be it."
For a smartphone generation, finding an address is easy. In the end, he didn't run into the owner on the way and arrived at what was probably his classmate's apartment building.
He checked the room number and name, then found the target door on the second floor with a nameplate that read "Yoshinaga."
Ding-dong. The standard intercom chime rang.
"..."
No answer, even after waiting a while.
Ding-dong. He rang again.
"..."
Still nothing. Maybe nobody's home? Just as he thought about dropping the handbook in the mailbox and leaving—
Click. The lock turned, and the door slowly opened.
"...U-um… e-excuse me… w-w-w-what is it…?"
The girl who appeared wasn't in uniform like Takahiro; she had already changed into loungewear and was even wearing an apron. She was fidgeting nervously, eyes darting everywhere—classic severe social anxiety.
"..."
Takahiro, being the age he was, instantly felt tense.
Part of it was the unfamiliar act of visiting a stranger's house, but mostly it was because the girl who appeared—Akari—made his heart skip a beat.
Akari was quite a bit shorter than Takahiro, who was almost 170 cm—probably in the mid-150s. Average height for a girl. At school, her bangs always hid her eyes, which combined with her quiet demeanor to give a gloomy impression.
But now her bangs were clipped back with a hair clip, fully revealing the eyes usually hidden by hair. That alone changed her look dramatically, but when he saw her properly from the front for the first time, her perfectly proportioned face was so cute that even Takahiro—who'd been poisoned by manga and had pretty high standards—could confidently call her a beautiful girl without any argument.
"...U-uh… I'm Satomura, from the same class as Yoshinaga-san…"
"Y-yeah…"
Akari was visibly nervous and stuttering badly, but Takahiro relaxed a little because at least she hadn't acted like she had no idea who he was.
"Um, I picked this up."
He showed her the student handbook.
"Eh…!? W-where did I… d-drop it…?"
"Near the shopping street, pretty far off to the side."
"Ah, r-right, when I took out my wallet…"
Her face turned bright red as she remembered secretly checking her wallet in a corner before shopping.
"I looked inside to see whose it was, but only at the photo page, so… anyway, your place seemed close to mine, so I brought it over."
"T-thank you… um…"
"Satomura."
"T-thank you, S-Satomura-kun…"
She took the handbook and gave a small, polite bow.
"Alright then."
Mission accomplished—he started to leave, feeling just a tiny bit regretful.
"W-wait! U-um, I-I have to… g-give you some kind of thank-you…!"
Takahiro was surprised at how serious she was about it. It was just a lost item with almost no value, and delivering it hadn't been much trouble. A verbal "thank you" was more than enough.
"No, no, really, it's fine."
"B-but…"
"More importantly, something smells really good—are you in the middle of cooking? Is the stove off?"
"I-it's okay, I already turned it off, and it's basically done…"
"Hmm."
He couldn't help sniffing the air. It wasn't a sweet dessert smell—it was soy sauce and miso. Dinner, judging by the time.
"So Yoshinaga-san cooks for herself. That's kinda unexpected."
Depending on the person, that comment could have earned him a "What do you mean by unexpected!?" Fortunately, Akari didn't take it badly.
"Y-yeah… I live alone, so I tried really hard to learn…"
"…This might be none of my business, but girls living alone can be dangerous, so you probably shouldn't tell people that so easily."
"Eek!? T-thank you, I'll be more careful…"
"Still, that's impressive—cooking properly every day. I live alone too now, but I mostly just buy prepared food. Cooking for one feels like a lot of effort, doesn't it?"
"I… I like cooking…"
"Nice."
"..."
"..."
The conversation died. Akari was obviously flustered the whole time, and Takahiro himself got nervous talking to a girl—he usually only ever talked to his otaku friends.
Chatting casually about hobbies was one thing, but with the opposite sex he had no idea what to say.
He briefly considered bringing up manga, but once the conversation stopped, forcing it to continue felt too obvious and awkward.
"Well, I should—"
"W-wait! J-just a second…!"
"Eh?"
Just as he tried to leave again, Akari stopped him and scurried deeper into the apartment. It would be rude to leave when she said to wait, and the front door was still wide open—pretty careless. While waiting, Takahiro glanced around as much as he could without being too obvious.
From the entrance, a hallway stretched straight ahead with two doors on each side. The room Akari ran into was probably the living room/kitchen.
He'd imagined a girl's place would be all decorated with flowers in vases and pictures on the walls, but it was surprisingly bare and tidy.
Two of the four doors were probably toilet and bath, so the other two were private rooms. Which one's Yoshinaga-san's? he wondered idly, even though he knew he shouldn't stare.
Eventually Akari came running back.
"U-um, Satomura-kun… i-if you'd like… p-please take this…"
She held out a square plastic container. He could faintly see through it—some kind of food inside.
"Um… y-you said you live alone too, so…"
"Whoa, no, I couldn't possibly—"
She must have thought he'd be happy to receive homemade food since he'd mentioned finding cooking troublesome.
Part of him was secretly thrilled—this felt just like a rom-com manga—but out of politeness he declined. It was more ritual than actual refusal.
"S-sorry, I'm so sorry…! Y-you don't want to eat something I made, of course… I made you uncomfortable, I'm really sorry…!"
"Whoa, no, wait, calm down! It's not that I don't want it or that it's unpleasant—nothing like that! I was really happy, seriously! I just felt bad accepting something this nice when I didn't do anything special!"
"…R-really…?"
"Yeah, totally! I'm super happy—thank you so much, Yoshinaga-san."
Seeing how shocked she looked, Takahiro hurriedly reassured her, put on a big smile, and firmly accepted the container.
"E-hehe… w-well then… thank you so much for bringing my handbook…"
"No, thank you. I'll enjoy this for dinner."
They thanked each other again, and with that, their first real conversation came to an end.
◇
"Yoshinaga-san was that cute, huh…"
Back in the cheap apartment he'd moved into this spring, Takahiro grinned like an idiot as he replayed the encounter.
What had started as an annoying lost-item errand now felt like the luckiest event ever.
Even an otaku obsessed with games, manga, and anime was still a teenage boy—of course he was interested in girls. (He definitely wasn't supposed to admit he also consumed plenty of 18+ games, manga, and videos.) Just talking to a cute girl was enough to make him want to jump for joy. And when that girl was a classmate he could keep running into, it was only natural to start daydreaming about future interactions.
In that sense, receiving food in a reusable container was perfect. Unlike a disposable one, he'd obviously have to wash and return it—giving him a solid excuse for the next contact.
"But man, she was super nervous yet pretty pushy about the thank-you. Could Yoshinaga-san… maybe like me?"
Typical teenage boy—he'd completely forgotten that she barely seemed to remember his name and was riding a wave of excitement.
If she were one of the popular girls, some untouchable flower, Takahiro would have known his place. But luckily, Akari was an outcast in class, and probably no one else had realized yet what a stunning beauty she was—just like he hadn't until today. That was a clear advantage.
He wasn't head over heels from one conversation, but the possibility of getting close to a cute girl was enough to make his heart race.