A path is required to advance. One cannot move without direction. Paths are many and taken for granted before a choice is even made. It can’t be made…

  Hints and leads point to the right track. Up or down? Left or right? Forwards or somewhere else? How could I know? Not until I find the next lead.

  But I don’t need it… Not a direction… not a path… Because for now, I’m just following Miyuki. “Are you sure this is going to help? We’re wasting our time…”

  “*Sigh…* You’re so impatient, Iroha…” Miyuki took us to a jungle gym… One set up in a park for children near our school. She took advantage of the fact that there was no one outside and climbed inside. Up and down, left and right, forwards, backwards, zig-zagging and I had no choice but to follow.

  Who’s the one making monsters? She said she would help, so… What are we doing here? Aren’t we just wasting time? Wait, I can almost see up her skirt…

  “Is waiting torture for you?” She reached the top and sat down. “Do you always want things to immediately go your way? That’s just like a child… In which case, I brought you to the right place, didn’t I?”

  “Fuck off…” I sat next to her and pushed her shoulder. “It’s not gonna work if I know. I get it… It’s better if you don’t explain, then.”

  “Ahahahaha! Yep, you got it! You’re just going to have to trust me and go along with whatever I say!”

  “And from the looks of it, you seem really happy about it… You’re gonna mess with me to your heart’s content and make excuses about it being part of the process, aren’t you? I can already see it.”

  “Huh? No…” She laughed. “Stopping here is actually important. Otherwise, you’re not getting your lead.”

  “Really? Why do I get the feeling you’re already doing it?” Why would she feel the need to play in the jungle gym otherwise? Couldn’t we just wait on a bench? “Either way, we’re not staying here, right? Where next? Let me guess, you can’t say.”

  “If it’s just where we’re going, I think it’d be fine, but…” She extended a hand to me. “I’d rather just show you.” I took her hand, and we jumped down.

  She kept her lips shut for a few minutes and took me to a nearby store, where she finally let go of my hand. “Well…” She took a few steps forward and posed next to a promotional poster. “This is it!”

  “Crepes?” Special discount… large… new flavor… exclusive for… “Huh? Exclusive for couples only?! What? Why?!”

  Miyuki returned to my side with a finger cutely raised to her cheek. “I’ve been wanting to try it for a long time, and you’re the closest thing to a lover I have. Let’s get one!”

  “I- I thought you weren’t ready for that… A- and… Aren’t we gonna get some weird looks? We- we’re both girls…”

  “Yep… We probably are…” She nodded with a semi-serious face. “But so what? We’ll be out the door in like two minutes, and we’ll never see anyone here ever again. Who cares?”

  Wow… As expected from the impulse shopper who switches styles on a whim… She’s much braver than me in social settings… Even though she’s such a scaredy-cat when it comes to going to the other world. “Fine… I’ll go with you…”

  If it’s for Miyuki, I’ll take the plunge. She grabbed my hand, we lined up, and eventually, we were face-to-face with the clerk.

  “We’d like one of your specials for couples.”

  She didn’t even hesitate. The eyes of the girl on the other side of the counter widened… “Yeah, we’re together. We’re eligible, right?” I can feel a lot of gazes on me… My face’s burning…

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  “Thank you, come again!”

  And just like that, we got out of there. It was done. “Ahahahahaha! You’re way too stiff, Iroha! You’re like a statue! That’s so funny!”

  “Stop teasing me!” What I wouldn’t give for the breeze from a few weeks ago… I can’t even cool down under the early summer sun. “I don’t like being the center of attention, okay? Everyone was looking at us.”

  “As we expected.” She shrugged and took the first bite while we walked. “Wasn’t that hard though, was it?”

  “Ask me again in like 30 minutes… My face is still burning, and my heart refuses to settle down.”

  Now Miyuki’s the one pushing my shoulder. “If you act like that, you’ll make me embarrassed too, Iroha…” Her cheeks got slightly red, and she hid her face behind her crepe. That’s cute!

  “Ahahahaha… Fine. I’m okay now. It went much better than I thought.

  “Right? I told you it’d be nothing.” Miyuki smiled. “Here. Take a bite. It’s a reward for helping me buy it.”

  “Really? Out here in public?” I hesitated while she snuggled closer.

  “Yeah? It’s as empty as always outside. No one’s gonna see.”

  “Fine… Ahh…” I leaned forward to take a bite when a set of sliding doors on the building next to us opened. “Nom…”

  A girl our age stepped out, and I froze mid-bite. It was the worst-possible scenario… Out of all the people who could have caught us like that, at that time, Ayumu was the one there…

  “Iroha…” She muttered.

  No way no way! Why is she here? This place is… karaoke? Is she alone…? No. I can see her groupies inside… Have they also seen us?

  “Is this why you two are always sneaking around on your own?” Her purple eyes were fixed on us. I could see a hint of disdain in her expression, but she was calm… Or at least sounded calm… “What’s the relationship between you two?”

  “I… Uhmm… This is not what it looks like! We’re just friends!”

  “While acting like that? In public, no less?” She brought a hand to her hip. She sounded almost offended now. The kind of fake outrage that made her look like the victim. “You said you didn’t look at girls that way when we asked. Did you lie to everyone?”

  I did… I lied… They started picking on me without any evidence… If I had admitted to it, I would have been getting picked on to this day… I had no other choice… I had to…

  “Ayumu, I…”

  I raised my head and looked her straight in the eyes.

  “Fuck off!”

  My reasons for lying… I had no one back then… I could stand living by myself, but if everyone started bullying me, that would have been too much. I lied… I distanced myself from them… I distanced myself from danger… And I made it through. I just had to keep my head down.

  But none of that matters anymore…

  I have people on my side now… People that won’t abandon… People who love me… Who cares if they start to bully me? Go ahead! Summer vacation starts at the end of this week… What are you gonna do?

  “You’re right… Miyuki is my girlfriend, and that’s none of your business!”

  I clenched Miyuki’s hand. “Let’s go!”

  It was impossible under this weather, but a refreshing feeling washed over me. The more we ran, the more refreshing it got. *Sigh…* Why did I do that? And why didn’t I do it sooner?

  “Ahahahahaha… Ahahahahahahaha!”

  “Iroha…?” By the time I noticed, Miyuki was looking at me weird. I dragged her with me until we were out of sight, a couple turns away from where Ayumu found us.

  “Sorry…” I let out a sigh. “I made you go through that because of me… Must seem weird, but I feel so much better now.”

  “It’s okay.” She shook her head with an unbothered smile. “Was it fine to tell her that?”

  “It’s all good… I was worried about what could happen, but it’s not something I need to hide anymore… At least not from her… Now, if Carol were to find out that you and I are… Ughh… I don’t wanna think about it.”

  Miyuki giggled. “If you say so… What was that, though? What’s the deal between you and Ayumu?”

  “Ahahaha… I guess I never told you, did I? It’s a bit embarrassing, though…” I never told anyone, but at this point, maybe it’s fine if I say something. “It’s nothing special really… I’ve liked girls for a long time. Somehow, Ayumu and her friends noticed I looked at her differently, and then they started picking on me.”

  “You were looking at her differently?” Miyuki listened attentively. Made it easier for me to talk. “Do you like her?”

  “No… I mean… Not anymore, but… I think I found her attractive back then. She was the prettiest girl I had met… Until I met you…”

  If only it ended there… “And you know what’s the funniest part? She was the most attractive until I met you, and then I started meeting cute girl after cute girl! How does that make any sense?”

  A teasing grin flashed on her face. “Does that mean you weren’t always a pervert obsessed with harems, Iroha?”

  “I mean… I always liked the idea…” I forgot to get offended. “But it was only after meeting you and the others and getting to know you better that I felt it was what I really wanted.”

  “I see… Makes sense…”

  “Does it…? I just now realized I ended up exposing you as well… Worst-case scenario, they might start bullying you too…” Since she transferred not that long ago, she hasn’t had the time to make a lot of friends, so she’s probably an easy target… What have I done? “If they do anything, tell me, okay? I’ll fight them! For real!” I jabbed the air. “With these.”

  “…” She was stunned, eyes wide open. “Ahahahahaha! Don’t do that… You’ll actually kill them.” She started laughing so hard she grabbed her belly. “It’s cute that you want to protect me, but don’t worry. They can’t do anything to me.”

  “They can’t…?” She looked absolutely confident of that. How? “What do you mean?”

  “I’m not the kind of person people like them can pick on.” She tapped her chest, almost like she was bragging. “It’s a matter of personality.”

  “I- if you say so… That’s good… I guess…” How can she be that confident about it…? “Regardless, if you need to, you can count on me.” I squeezed her hand. “Now, where do you wanna go next? That was such a relief that I don’t even care about the lead anymore. Let’s just have fun!”

  “Hmm? Really?”

  “No… Sorry, I got carried away. I do care.” I switched up so quickly that she couldn’t help but giggle.

  “We’re actually not too far away from our next stop…” She tugged my hand. “Come.”

  A few more twists and turns and we arrived at a small alleyway. We stepped inside, but Miyuki stopped after some steps.

  “I- is this our stop?” The sun was still far from settling down, but the alley was dark and covered by shadows. Most buildings here had third and fourth floors, and we were surrounded by them. By their darkness…

  With a serious face, Miyuki nodded. “Yeah…” She pushed my hand forward and let go, sending me off. “But…”

  “You have to go by yourself now…”