We stepped into an independently owned cafe.
Miko didn't seem like the type to frequent places like this; she had apparently just looked up nearby shops on her phone and picked one at random.
Soft classical music drifted through the interior.
Sitting across from each other, we listened to the music in silence.
She kept looking away awkwardly, her complexion pale, her entire body practically radiating a desperate urge to flee the scene right then and there.
"Have you been doing well?"
"...Yeah."
"You've gotten a little taller."
"...Yeah."
No matter what I asked, Miko merely nodded.
This wasn't even a conversation.
Then, finally looking up at me with dark, sullen eyes, Miko opened her heavy lips.
"Why did you come to see me?"
"I don't really know myself. I just felt like I wanted to see you once."
"..."
"Can I ask you something too?"
"What?"
"Do you feel bad about what you did to me?"
"...!"
Miko's expression contorted in pain.
"Of course I do. I did something that can never be undone."
"Do you regret it?"
"I do. I felt like I couldn't even look you in the face anymore, which is why I went so far as to move away."
"Then why haven't you apologized, even after we've reunited like this?"
"That's..."
If she was reflecting on it that deeply, normally she would have bowed her head and apologized.
Carrying that guilt around forever had to be agonizing for her too.
"Because I don't want you to forgive me. If I apologize, you'll just forgive me, Subaru. I hurt you so much and made you so sad—I don't have the right to be forgiven."
"I wasn't particularly hurt or sad."
"That's a lie. I can tell that much. We're childhood friends... This guilt is the punishment I have to bear."
I sipped my coffee.
On the table, steam rose from Miko's untouched cup.
A reunion after several years.
And yet, her attitude was just the same as back then.
Come to think of it, hadn't Shinonome said something similar?
Unlike her, however, the troublesome part was that Miko genuinely did not want to be forgiven.
With Shinonome, there was an underlying sense that, deep down, she wished to be forgiven if possible.
Miko, on the other hand, was utterly obstinate.
Her moping attitude irritated me a little.
Yet, this was somewhat different from resentment or anger toward her.
Right—this feeling was similar to what I had experienced several times recently.
How had our relationship become so tangled?
Watching her sit in silence with her head hanging, I let my thoughts wander back through the past.
◇
Miko's house and mine were only a few doors apart.
Our families were close, and taking care of Miko had been part of my daily routine since we were kids.
In the second semester of our first year of middle school, I left home early in the morning and headed straight to Miko's room.
"Come on, wake up, Miko. You're going to be late."
"Mmmph... just five more minutes..."
I shook her as she lay in bed, clearly still stuck in a summer vacation daze.
Opening her eyes groggily, she looked back and forth between my face and the clock before her eyes shot wide open.
"It's already that late?!"
"Hurry up and get ready."
"Okay!"
She scrambled over to the washroom, only to come rushing back into the room nibbling on a piece of toast, letting out a shriek.
"Oh no, Subaru! I didn't pack my textbooks yesterday!"
"I figured, so I already did it for you. Come on, let's get going."
"Uuugh, thank you, Subaru. Ehehe, a childhood friend really is the best thing to have!"
"I'm not your errand boy, you know."
Normally, spending so much time with someone that high-maintenance might have grown tiresome.
For me, though, looking after Miko was simply a part of my life—it even gave me a sense of fulfillment.
Being needed by her made me happy.
Then came a certain day.
"Hey Miko, aren't you kind of childish?"
"Huh?"
In the noisy classroom.
While a close-knit circle of friends was huddled together chatting, a male classmate named Ayano threw that out at Miko.
"M-Me?"
"Yeah, I mean, you walked to school with Hatsukade today too, and he came to wake you up, right?"
"Well, yeah, but..."
"Isn't that kind of babyish for a middle schooler?"
I was listening to their exchange from my desk a short distance away.
Unlike me, Miko was sociable, and people naturally gravitated toward her.
"Well, they're childhood friends, so isn't that pretty normal?"
"No way, that's definitely weird however you look at it. It's like Miko's the only elementary school kid in our class. At this rate, you're never gonna get a boyfriend, you know?"
"Ugh..."
"Nobody falls for a kid, after all."
From Miko's profile as she fell silent, I could tell she was flustered.
The truth was, she was insecure about being seen as childish.
Her petite frame and baby face.
Combined with her personality, she really could pass for an elementary schooler if she weren't wearing her uniform.
Lately, talk about romance had become frequent in class, with people constantly discussing who was going out with whom.
She was probably feeling self-conscious about the gap between herself and our increasingly mature peers.
"Th-That's not true! Th-That's just... Subaru always comes to pick me up on his own, so we're just walking together..."
—Huh?
Faced with those sudden words, I was probably wearing a completely dumbfounded expression.
Our eyes met for a fleeting second.
She immediately averted her gaze.
"Well, they live close by and their parents are friends, so isn't walking to and from school together just natural?"
"Heeh~ maybe, but check this out: I've got a childhood friend who lives nearby and goes to the same high school, and we don't do that at all."
"That's..."
"See? You're just a kid who can't even get to school on her own."
"I am not!"
"Then why don't you try coming to school by yourself starting tomorrow?"
"Ngh!"
The group egged Miko on, playfully mocking her.
That was when Miko marched straight over to my desk.
"Hey, Subaru."
"...What?"
"Y-You don't need to come pick me up starting tomorrow. I can at least walk to school on my own."
"But—"
"Just drop it! I don't need you meddling anymore!"
Leaving only that behind, she turned on her heel and hurried back to her friends.
The group cheered excitedly at the little scene that had just unfolded.
No, I understood.
Those were just words blurted out in the heat of the moment, spoken entirely on impulse.
There was no reason to dwell on it—or so I told myself.
Yet that night...
"You really don't have to come pick me up tomorrow, okay!"
A message like that arrived from Miko.
It felt as though a hollow void had opened right in the middle of my chest.
Over the days that followed, she never once asked me to walk with her.
We still talked at school.
We still walked home together sometimes.
Those things continued, but the frequency had noticeably plummeted.
Even while telling myself that couldn't be the case...
The thought that Miko might no longer need me began creeping into my mind.
It caught me completely off guard.
We had been together ever since we were small children.
So, even without saying it aloud, I had simply taken it for granted that our relationship would stay this way forever.
Before I knew it, I was losing my grasp on how to treat her.
That was when it happened.
When that incident took place.
"Subaru, could you come up to the rooftop alone after school?"
A rush of heat flooded my head.
My heart thudded against my ribs.
I knew it—it had all just been a misunderstanding.
There was no way Miko, who had been close to me for so long, could actually hate me.
Trying to rein in my soaring anticipation, the stairs felt agonizingly long as I climbed them.
The evening sun cast long shadows, and a cool breeze swept across the open rooftop.
Miko arrived shortly after.
Her cheeks flushed crimson with embarrassment, she hesitated time and time again before finally speaking.
"I like you, Subaru. Please go out with me."
Hearing those words brought me pure, unadulterated joy.
It was as if the dark clouds of anxiety hanging over my heart had been wiped away in a single breath.
I had spent all class thinking about how I would answer, so the words spilled out effortlessly.
"I like you too, Miko. Let's do it."
It happened right then.
The rooftop door was violently thrown open.
The boys and girls Miko always hung out with came pouring out like an avalanche.
"Prank successful!"
People were laughing.
Others were pointing their smartphone cameras at us.
For a second, my mind went completely blank.
Then, just as quickly, a cold calm settled over me.
I didn't care. Not about the rest of them.
If they wanted to pull a pathetic prank and laugh about it, they could laugh all they wanted.
I didn't give a damn about them.
The only one I cared about was...
Prompted by Ayano and the others, Miko let out a laugh alongside them.
That was something I could never forgive.
People were throwing words at me left and right.
I didn't have the slightest interest in hearing what they had to say.
"S-Sorry, Subaru. It was a penalty game, and I had to confess to someone."
"...I see."
So to her, confessing to me was just some meaningless task fit for a party punishment.
The icy calm vanished in a flash, and my mind was consumed by a rage so blinding it narrowed my vision.
"What's wrong? You're making a scary face. It's you, Subaru—you'll forgive me like you always do, right?"
Without offering a single word in reply, I walked away.
I heard Miko's faint gasp behind me, but I didn't look back.
And that was how my revenge began.