The next morning, before dawn and dark outside the window, the rain that seemed to wash the whole town over from start to finish had been going on since last night. The TV that had been forgotten to turn off was shifting from the morning news to the broadcast of sporting events.

It seems that I forgot to close it last night, but I am still working diligently until now.

I reached under my pillow and fumbled under my pillow, and after a while I finally ran into the remote control, and it took me some more time to find the power button. So, it was finally closed. In an instant, the room fell silent.

Then I slowly opened my eyes, blinked a few times with some reluctance, and after adjusting to the dim light around me, stared at the ceiling in a daze. "I seem to have made an appointment with Izumi a few days ago to go to the square to watch the fireworks—"

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but sit up from the bed with my hands propped up and rubbed my eyes. Then, look at the calendar hanging on the wall. At that moment, the phone rang—and I had just brought it close to my ear when I heard a somewhat cold but gentle voice.

"Are you up?"

"Just woke up. Now, I'm preparing! After saying that, I couldn't help but yawn. So, is it necessary to make a special call? Then I pressed the speakerphone and threw my phone on the bed. Then, put a sweatshirt over the shirt. Next, bend down to pick up the socks that have fallen on the floor......

At this time, I happened to see myself in the mirror - my hair was messy, and my bangs were unconsciously lengthened, vaguely covering my left eye. I can't help but narrow the field of vision a lot, but having said that, it's okay to leave it alone for the time being.

"Where are you now?"

I listened to Izumi's chatter as I put on my other sock as well. At this point, she seemed to be finally finished, so I asked. "On your doorstep." The moment I got this answer, I was stunned for a moment—"Huh? ”

"So, hurry up and open the door."

On the phone, Izumi seemed to laugh, but it was possible that I just misheard. "Wait a minute—" Suddenly, I smiled wryly and sighed deeply. "It'll be right away." Izumi didn't say anything, just hung up after a while.

I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. At the same time, this is also where she is considerate. I put on my sandals and straightened my shirt collar as I walked down the hallway to the hallway. After removing the chain, he hesitated for a moment before opening the door.

The first thing that catches my eye is the long tan hair, and then I see Izumi's face. "Early." - She reached out and gently pressed her hair before she greeted me. "Early." I hurriedly replied. The expression couldn't help but be a little embarrassed......

"Hair, better comb."

At this time, Izumi stretched out his hand and pointed a finger at me. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to tell my acquaintances that you were my friend." Her expression seemed to be a little dissatisfied, but she wasn't angry. "Is it that serious!"

Suddenly, I couldn't help but widen my eyes and asked in a voice that was instantly depressed. "No, but don't you usually care about these details?" After saying that, Izumi sighed deeply. The expression was helpless......

"Because I live alone."

At this time, I said unconvinced. As a result, this time she didn't even bother to pay attention to it, and looked away directly. "Got it, got it! I'll tidy it up now, you wait a minute—" With that, I closed the door, and while calming down a little fiery emotion, I carefully sorted it out with a comb in front of the mirror......

He also took out the conditioner from the second drawer of the cabinet, poured it a little on his hand, and then covered them over the knotted edges...... When I was finally done, I looked in the mirror and examined it again.

After confirming that there was no problem, I walked to the entrance again and opened the door.

"Isn't that more energetic?"

Izumi said with a serious expression after staring at my face for a while. "I thought you'd be picky again?" Suddenly, I was a little surprised that she could praise her so crisply, and I couldn't help but widen my eyes. His expression was also a little stiff......

At the same time, in order not to let her notice my unnaturalness, I desperately maintained a similar tone as usual. "Honestly, there's a lot of things that need to be adjusted, but that's by my standards." To be honest, it hit me hard. "Oh?"

As a result, even the voice couldn't help but become quieter.

"It's just, as you can see, we don't have that much time right now. Besides, that's not my business, is it? As she spoke, she suddenly stared at me with a thief's smile on her face. You're right? At this time, not only the expression, but even the voice was inexplicably a little nervous.

"What—?"

So, I could only laugh a few times as if I was stupid. Then, quickly twist your face to the side.

"Where's Lola?"

"Wait downstairs."

"Let's go, then!"

Then, I walked briskly to the end of the hallway, a little ahead of the corner. I didn't wait for her, I didn't even look back—because I knew she must have followed. Sure enough, a few minutes later, by the time I turned my face to look to the side again, she was already there.

At this time, she smiled in my direction when she saw me turn around.

Suddenly, I felt a little inexplicably shy, and I looked at each other, and the moment they slowly coincided, I immediately moved away. On the way, there are occasional non-nutritious topics to lighten the mood, but it will be overshadowed by the sound of footsteps in turn.

Downstairs, we saw Lola's back at the entrance of the apartment. "There—" Izumi reminded me. "Ahh

"How far is the plaza from here?"

On the way, I couldn't help but ask Izumi. "Probably two blocks away, right?" She told me as she crossed the intersection in front of me and turned left. Continue walking a little further. Then, as he passed the second signal light at the second intersection, he pointed ahead.

"I can see it!"

It was still hidden by several houses, but it was visible. "It's closer—" he said, leading us down the alley next to us. Originally, Lola and I were a little hesitant, suspecting that Izumi didn't know the way at all, or that she wanted to visit more places. After all, there are many shops around......

Although the number of shops in the alleys is not as large as that on the street, there are more than one at intervals.

But—"Even if so, what does it matter?" "At this point, I felt the sleeve of my dress being grabbed. Lola shortened the distance between her and me and handed me the notebook with a serious expression.

When she looked up again, we both looked at each other.

She was slightly raising the corners of her mouth, squinting her eyes, and smiling at me. That smile, very soft. "That's right—" I then wrote my thoughts under that sentence as well. "Let's keep up......"

Lola nodded, and then naturally grabbed my hand.

Suddenly, I was stunned for a moment, but I didn't want to withdraw my hand. As a result, she held my hand until I reached the square. And with every step, I raised my feet high and seemed to be in a good mood......

Then, we found a place at the entrance of the plaza where there were no people, and rested on the back of our chairs. The bench was overgrown with weeds, and the lower half of the chair was flooded with luxuriance. There are not many people next to it, and it looks like a rusty swing.

At this time, Izumi took out three hamburgers from the shopping bag he had thrown next to him and placed them neatly on the side. "Do you want to eat?" Then, turn your face and ask me. "Yes." So, I didn't refuse. "It's best to eat this with a drink—"

Izumi took one of them and handed it to me, then continued.

"Lola, can I ask you to buy it? You can ...... any drink" At this time, her eyes fell on Lola's face, and her expression suddenly became very serious. Lola nodded, and immediately got up from her chair and walked to the vending machine in the shade of a tree not far away.

After making sure she was far away, Izumi shortened the distance between him and me.

"Chihiro—"

Then, as our arms were about to touch, they called my name in a very serious voice that didn't make people nervous. "What's wrong?" So, I decided to continue to play stupid and ask her in a normal manner. "You're—"

As she spoke, she hesitated a little and lowered her gaze slightly. Took a bite of the burger...... Then he looked at my face while chewing. "You just came back from that side of the world not long ago. Did I guess wrong? ”

Suddenly, my eyes widened in surprise and surprise and stared at her. Even, forgot to blink.

"Sure enough......"

In an instant, she saw through my expression. "How's Lola over there?" As soon as I finished speaking, I lowered my head. After a while, even his shoulders fell together. "She's gone......"

It took a lot of time, but in the end I told her this fact in a voice that didn't look like I was broken at all. "She's gone!" Then, my shoulders shook so badly and my breathing was messy!

Then, the expression completely fell off his face and became like an inorganic thing. "Because of my bad!" However, there is no intention of stopping when he criticizes himself. "If only I could have found out sooner......!"

In this way, I startled Lola, who came back with a drink in both hands, and unknowingly fell to the ground with the drink...... As a result, because of the loud noise, it attracted the attention of the people around him.

"I'll leave it to you."

Izumi sighed deeply, got up from his chair, and bent down to pick up the drink bottles that had fallen to the ground one by one and rolled around a few times before stopping...... At the same time, I didn't bother to count how many times I sighed today. And because you know that you can't appease me now, you said something like that, right?

She took the drink she had picked up from the ground in her arms, left us two cans, and then turned and walked to the seesaw across from her and sat down. Neatly unscrewed the lid of one of the bottles with his hands...... Then, as if venting, he lifted the bottle and took a big sip......