It was the first time Momoi had ever seen such an excited expression on Ringo’s face. She couldn’t help asking curiously, “Your boyfriend just called you. Does that really make you this happy?”
Ringo grabbed Momoi’s hand, her eyes sparkling.
“Because it’s the first time he’s ever called me on his own!”
Even her voice was full of excitement.
After all, it was a call from her boyfriend!
Momoi, however, felt conflicted.
She couldn’t help asking, “You two have been together for two months already, right? And this is the first time he’s ever called you first?”
“Mhm.” Ringo nodded. “Haru-kun is usually really busy. Sometimes even when I call him, he doesn’t answer. Let me get the phone first!”
Momoi munched on potato chips as she watched Ringo—who normally trembled like a frightened little hamster whenever the phone rang—eagerly prepare to answer the call.
But just before Ringo could tap the answer button…
The call was disconnected.
“Huh?” Ringo froze. “He hung up…”
“What’s that about?” Momoi tilted her head.
“Um…” Ringo guessed uncertainly, “Maybe I took too long to answer, so he thought I didn’t hear it and hung up?”
Momoi blinked.
“It only rang three times. Your boyfriend is so impatient.”
“I’ll call him back,” Ringo said with a cheerful smile. “I was planning to message him anyway.”
She was about to call Osamu Dazai back when she suddenly remembered Momoi was still there.
Holding her phone in both hands, she looked at Momoi with pleading eyes.
After a moment’s thought, Momoi understood immediately. She leaned closer with a mischievous grin.
“What? Afraid I’ll overhear your lovey-dovey conversation with your boyfriend?”
Although Momoi didn’t have a very good impression of Ringo’s boyfriend, Ringo clearly liked him a lot, so she wasn’t about to spoil her mood. Instead, she teased her a little.
Ringo’s face turned bright red.
“It’s not going to be some lovey-dovey conversation…”
“Hmm…” Momoi tapped her chin with a finger. “Depends on how you plan to bribe me.”
Ringo immediately stood up, found a paper bag from the storage cabinet, and stuffed it full of all the snacks her mother had brought her.
“Here! These are for you!”
Momoi was startled.
“That’s way too much!”
“It’s okay. I can’t finish all of it anyway.”
“Then I’ll gladly accept.”
The two girls were close friends. Momoi often shared snacks she’d bought with Ringo as well, so neither of them felt the need to stand on ceremony.
Carrying the bag Ringo had packed for her, Momoi left the apartment and waved from the doorway.
“Good night.”
“Good night!”
After seeing Momoi off, Ringo flopped onto her bed with her phone, ready to call Dazai.
Only then did she notice that while she’d been walking Momoi to the door, Dazai had sent her a message.
Haru-kun: Cookies. I like them.
Huh?
Was that what he wanted to tell her?
Pressing her lips together slightly, Ringo called him.
This time, he answered quickly.
Osamu Dazai’s voice came through the speaker. Compared to when he spoke face-to-face, it was softened by the faint static of the call, carrying his usual light, drifting tone tinged with mild curiosity.
“Little Ringo?”
“It’s me!” Ringo’s heart beat a little faster. “Um… Haru-kun, you sounded like you weren’t sure it was me?”
“Hmm…” Once he confirmed it really was her, Dazai’s voice became lazier. “Aren’t you afraid of phone calls? I already hung up.”
“I wanted to hear your voice,” Ringo replied without thinking. “If it’s you, I won’t get nervous because I’ll just be too happy.”
“I see—”
He deliberately drew out the words before asking casually,
“So… what should we talk about?”
“Um, let me think…”
Absentmindedly twirling a lock of hair around her finger, Ringo thought for a moment before asking with concern,
“Did work go smoothly today?”
“It was fine. I just had to go back and listen to the boss ramble on and on.” Dazai instantly sounded bored. “What a dull topic. You’re still a student, Little Ringo, so you probably don’t understand how people like us—overworked office drones—don’t want to talk about work after we’re off the clock.”
Ringo immediately tensed up.
“Really? I’m sorry!”
“Eh, whatever.” Dazai didn’t seem to care. “You’re not very good at coming up with conversation topics anyway. I’m used to it.”
Ringo cautiously suggested, “Then… why don’t you pick one instead, Haru-kun?”
When they’d first started dating, it had been like this too.
Back then, she and Dazai hadn’t known each other very well. She often made things awkward, and Dazai laughed at her every time.
But Ringo believed that if they were dating, she should take the relationship seriously.
So every time, she’d tried her hardest to find something to talk about, and little by little, they’d gotten to know each other.
“Hmm, you want me to pick?” Dazai sounded perfectly relaxed. “Got one.”
“Little Ringo… you’re pretty unhappy with me right now, aren’t you?”
“Huh? Why would you ask that?”
Ringo’s heart leaped into her throat.
“No! I’m not!”
“You weren’t upset that I couldn’t watch the movie with you?”
“Mmm… I was a tiny little bit disappointed, but I wasn’t angry,” Ringo answered seriously. “After all, it was because of work. You couldn’t help it… Ah! Sorry, I brought up work again!”
Dazai dismissed it.
“That much is fine. So what did you do with your movie tickets? Did you refund them?”
“No,” Ringo answered honestly. “The older brother next door from my hometown happened to come to Yokohama for work. My mom asked him to bring me some things, and he happened to have free time, so I invited him to watch the movie with me.”
“I see?”
There was something unreadable in Dazai’s tone.
“So while I was working, my girlfriend, Little Ringo, went on a movie date with another man?”
“It wasn’t a date!”
Ringo hurriedly explained,
“We just watched a movie together. That doesn’t count as a date, does it? Don’t make it sound so serious.”
“I think it does count as a date. It’s exactly that serious.”
“Th-Then… what should I do?”
Ah…
Little Ringo sounded like she was about to cry.
Her careful, tentative question made Dazai fall silent for a moment before he returned to his usual easygoing, carefree tone.
“I was joking.”
“Huh?” Ringo blinked. “You were joking?”
“Yeah.” Dazai sounded as though it were perfectly obvious. “It’s not a big deal. I don’t mind.”
“I see…”
Ringo pressed her lips together.
She couldn’t quite describe how she felt.
She had gone to see a movie with another man, and her boyfriend didn’t mind at all.
Did that mean…
…he didn’t really care about her, either?
“Um… Haru-kun…”
“What is it?”
“Do you like me?”
TL Note:
“Haru-kun” is Ringo’s nickname for her boyfriend, Osamu Dazai