Episode 15: Come to Think of It, I Still Haven’t Asked for Her Contact Info
“Ahh! Hiyori-chan really was a good girl, wasn’t she~! I wish we had at least one girl in our family~!”
“Mom, how many times have you told that story? How many times is that story?”
One night, after I came out of the bath and returned to the living room, I saw my mother speaking in high spirits and Masato looking utterly fed up listening to her, and I gave a wry smile.
While I was telling Taiga, who was ignoring their conversation and doing strength training, that the bath was free, Mom called out to me.
“Yusuke! When is Hiyori-chan coming over next?”
“I don’t know, something like that. Last time, it was decided suddenly on the fly, and she probably can’t just casually say she wants to come over, right?”
“Then you should just invite her from our side! We’re going to have a yakiniku party soon, so invite her, ask if she’d like to come over!!”
“”A yakiniku party!?””
My younger brothers, hearing the declaration of a yakiniku party—something we rarely do at home because the smell lingers—reacted hypersensitively.
Watching the two of them who immediately started a dance of joy at the prospect of eating yakiniku, I sighed and said to Mom.
“Alright. Then, I’ll ask her at school tomorrow.”
“Eh…? Why tomorrow?”
“Well, that’s obvious, isn’t it? Tomorrow is when I can talk to her.”
“You can just ask her now! There are plenty of ways, like phone or LINE, right!?”
“That’s impossible. Because I don’t have Hiyori-san’s contact info.”
“Whaaat!? Yusuke, are you serious about that!?”
The moment I said that, Masato, who had been dancing his joyful jig, shouted with a serious expression.
Masato, who I thought was a busy guy—getting fed up, then joyful, then surprised—approached me at incredible speed and threw questions at me as if he couldn’t believe it.
“Why don’t you know it!? Nowadays, everyone exchanges LINE contacts, don’t they!?”
“It can’t be helped, can it? I only became friends with Hiyori-san just a few days ago. And before that, we didn’t really have any chances to talk, you know.”
“Eeeh…!? You got that close in just a few days? That’s what’s more surprising, though…?”
Well, certainly, inviting her over the day after becoming friends, or being on a first-name basis… if I think about it, the progress might be excessively fast.
I haven’t told my family, but she even hugged me… Thinking about it that way, my brothers’ surprised reaction to me not knowing her contact info started to seem normal.
“By the way, has that kind of conversation never come up? Like, ‘Can I have your phone number?’ or something,” Taiga asked.
“…No, I guess not. We haven’t really talked about that kind of thing.”
I answered Taiga’s question that way after thinking for a bit.
In the first place, my family doesn’t know that the reason we became friends was because I happened to be there when Hiyori-san was cheated on and her boyfriend said horrible things to her.
It was a rather special trigger, or rather, it’s precisely because it was a development that normally wouldn’t happen… that they’re probably curious about the strangeness of my relationship with Hiyori-san.
Mom, who had been listening to our conversation silently up to this point, nodded in agreement and then opened her mouth, saying to me.
“Yusuke… That, isn’t Hiyori-chan waiting for you to ask for her contact info?”
“Eh…?”
“If you think about it, she was the one who started calling you by your first name, and Hiyori-chan was the one who said she wanted to come over to our house, right? In other words, you’re always in a passive state. From Hiyori-chan’s perspective, she probably doesn’t know if you really want to get along with her, right?”
“So, it’s that, huh. If Yusuke is serious about it, then he should be the one to ask for her contact info! That’s what it is,” Masato chimed in.
“I… see…”
Hearing Mom’s advice, I thought that what she said might be on point.
It sounds bad to say Hiyori-san is testing me, but it’s not strange at all for her to act that way.
Hiyori-san was cheated on and cruelly betrayed by Ema, who was her childhood friend and also her boyfriend.
The exchange during their breakup, what was revealed afterwards, and Hiyori-san reflecting on how they had dated up until then—she must have realized that Ema only thought of her as someone convenient.
Even though they had finally become lovers, he cheated on her with another girl right after. She was instructed not to show any signs to those around them that they were dating in order to hide their relationship. And when she did as told, the cheating couple used all of that against her… and she was easily discarded.
No, that’s wrong. She wasn’t just easily discarded; she received humiliating treatment, like him saying he’d reconsider their relationship if she let him grope her breasts. And she continued to be betrayed.
For Ema, the one he should prioritize was his affair partner, and the thought that it would be nice if he could have a purely physical relationship with Hiyori-san where he could conveniently enjoy himself was transparent from his words and actions.
Towards me, who became her friend right after that, it’s only natural for her to be wary, superimposing what Ema did to her… and it’s also perfectly normal for her to want, at the very least, some action, or rather, an approach from the other person.
I want to get along with Hiyori-san, and I want to see her smile more. If these feelings are real, then I can’t stay passive forever.
Of course, it’s possible that this entire line of thinking is wrong, and there’s a chance she’ll be creeped out and reject me when I ask for her contact info… but if I’m afraid of getting hurt, nothing will change. I should act, knowing the risks.
I don’t need to think about how our relationship will develop from there right now.
For now, I’ll just focus on putting my feelings into action and showing them to Hiyori-san.
“…Alright. I’ll ask her tomorrow. Both for a convenient day for the yakiniku party, and for her contact info, you know.”
“”Oooh…!?””
Perhaps surprised by me, who rarely declared things so decisively, my brothers’ eyes widened as they let out a sound.
Mom, while gazing at me like that, smiled… and quietly cheered me on.
“Go for it, Yusuke. It’ll be alright. You’re my son, after all!”