Even so, we are living in the present

Chapter 34 – A Letter

Before 6:00 p.m.

After being given a quick rundown of the equipment in the broadcast room, Yuu grabbed his bag and left the broadcast room.

The remaining three members of the broadcast committee were discussing the schedule for tomorrow.

However, why were there only second-year students there?

That was because the second-year students had assumed the role of teaching Yuu regarding the broadcast room.

They were not imposed upon to do so; Ayana and the others voluntarily obtained permission to engage in this task.

I am worn out…

In the past, at this hour, he would have taken lessons at the dance school. Never did he imagine that he would be in the broadcast room being briefed on the equipment. Maybe the difference between what he liked and what he didn’t might account for his feeling of exhaustion from using his head decently more than he did from dancing.

“…”

With the sound of his shoes reverberating off the walls, he headed down the stairs to the first floor and made his way to the elevator entrance. Yet, nobody was in sight.

Looks like Kyosuke is not done yet…

The figure he was searching for was nowhere to be found, and a sigh escaped his lips with slight loneliness as his shoulders slumped from the anticipation of it. Although he considered going to the dojo to meet him, he decided to wait, leaning against the wall, since he didn’t want to cross paths with the other students.

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Thirty minutes of waiting at the elevator entrance.

Before long, Yuu had fallen asleep, sitting against the wall, with his bag in his arms.

“Yuu, wake up…”

When Kyosuke, attired in his school uniform, shook his shoulder gently as he called out to him, Yuu awoke and looked up, staring at him sleepily.

“… Ngh… Kyosuke, are you done with your club activities?”

His gesture of rubbing his right eye with his thin fingers and blinking a few times was very cute. While gazing at such a partner, Kyosuke nodded and offered his hand to the other person to rise up.

“Sorry, it took so long.”

“Ngh.”

He stood up, grasping the proffered hand with his usual aizuchi.

“I never would have expected you to fall asleep, though…”

With that said, he checked on Yuu’s condition. He let out a breath of relief when he found no signs that anything had been touched or stolen. Not to mention the fact that no one woke up Yuu, who had been asleep for nearly 30 minutes here.

“… I am fine.”

Realizing that he was concerned for his safety, Yuu told him in a low voice.

“Thank you for waiting for me.”

Upon expressing his thanks, Yuu turned his head away in a bashful fashion. With a smile on their faces, they changed into their shoes and walked out of the entrance side by side. Even though it was early summer, the sun was beginning to set and it was getting dim outside as if to signal that it was evening. With the students who had finished their club activities heading home, the two left the school building.

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Once arriving at their shared apartment, they washed their hands and gargled together, and then snuggled down in the living room facing each other on the kotatsu.

“Let’s open the letter, Yuu.”

The words were uttered so abruptly that Yuu tilted his head once, but soon remembered what he was talking about and went through his school bag.

“…”

The white envelope he retrieved was placed silently on the table and they viewed it together for a while until Kyosuke reached out and grabbed it in the midst of the silence, deciding to open it himself. Yuu simply gazed at it without saying a word. He stared at Kyosuke’s hand as if appealing to him that he would rather not open it himself.

“…”

Within the silent space, the sound of a seal being broken and opened resounded. Contained inside the white envelope was a half-folded piece of equally white paper. Taking out the paper, Kyosuke unfolded it and checked the contents.

“It is a letter…”

“Read it.”

Not astonished to discover that this was within the scope of his expectations, Yuu urged him onward to find out what it was all about.

“Let’s see… ‘Dear Sonohara. Please come to the broadcast room tomorrow after school. You can borrow the key from the staff room. Rindo Ayana.’… That’s all.”

“… Eh, that’s it?”

Watching Kyosuke for a while as he finished reading, a quiet doubt spouted out of Yuu’s mouth.

“That’s it.”

He checked the interior of the envelope again, but there was nothing else in it that would lead him to anything else.

“Why would she let Yuu borrow the key?”

“… What a hassle.”

For having his time restricted to after-school for two consecutive days, it caused Yuu to sigh. At this behavior, Kyosuke voiced a half-hearted amazement.

“That’s not the point, is it? Don’t you think this letter is odd?”

“Because if she needed something, she could have just said so earlier.”

“…”

Kyosuke was speechless. Indeed, Yuu was right. They were in the broadcast room together earlier, so if there was something she wanted to address, she should have told him on the spot.

“Right? What a hassle, isn’t it?”

As his cheekbones rest on the table and Yuu complained sulkily, Kyosuke was unable to deny it as he read the letter again wordlessly.

“. ..Well, I guess so…”

After answering in a murmured voice, he folded the letter and put it back into the white envelope again.

So the sender is not Rindo Ayana…

In that case, there can only be one culprit that Kyosuke can conceive of.

Okino Yuka huh?

Under the circumstances, Yuka, who passed by near the elevator entrance during club activities, seemed to be the most suspicious. However, the possibility of someone else having put it there before that made it impossible to be certain.

“Even though I figured I would be able to watch Kyosuke’s club activities tomorrow.”

Yuu’s words, which could be deemed as carefree, showed no concern for the sender of the letter. While he glanced at him and responded with a bitter smile as if to say, “Too bad,” Kyosuke’s brain was whirling with speculation about the sender of the suspicious letter.