"Yamamoto, I want to get a hold of some friends. Do you have their contact info?"
Despite the old tablet I’d lent her, Hayashi had been inseparable from her brand-new smartphone ever since she’d bought it. I’m sure there were plenty of settings to fiddle with and things to set up, but I couldn't help this nagging sense of... alienation.
While I was wrestling with that mysterious, probably-better-left-unexamined emotion, Hayashi called out to me, completely oblivious to my inner turmoil.
"A foolish question, Hayashi."
"Is it?"
"Yeah."
I smirked.
"I don't know a single soul!"
"That’s not something to be proud of."
Hayashi gave me a light thwack on the head. It didn't hurt. Honestly, I should be thanking her for the straight-man routine.
"Anyway, here’s my phone. Knock yourself out."
"I can’t believe you’re just handing it over like it's nothing. A smartphone is a vault of personal information."
"My conscience is clear."
"Only because you scrubbed it first, right?"
"Gah!"
"Like I said, that’s not something to be proud of."
She gave me another light thwack on the head.
"Well, I’ll borrow it for a bit, then."
With a brief word of thanks, Hayashi started scrolling through my phone.
I didn't pay much attention to what she was doing, simply letting out a yawn while I watched TV.
"Wait a second."
A moment later, Hayashi let out a startled sound. It seemed she’d stumbled upon something quite unexpected.
"What is it?"
"Why on earth do you have Akari’s contact info?"
There it was. The one thing on that phone I still hadn't wanted Hayashi to find.
Hayashi stared at me, eyes wide with shock. As for why she was making that face...
Akari... as in Akari Kasahara. She was the girl who had been Hayashi’s best friend back in high school. They had met during their second year and remained in the same class through their third, studying side-by-side the whole time.
How did I know that? Creepy, I know. But I’m innocent. It’s just that Akari Kasahara and I had also been in the same class during those same two years.
"Is it really that surprising?"
"Of course it is."
Whether intentional or not, Hayashi didn’t elaborate on why it was so shocking.
Well, I understood her perspective. Being the girl who hung out with Hayashi, Akari Kasahara was a beauty who rivaled her within their grade. But unlike a certain someone, she was easy to talk to, and I had the feeling she might have been even more popular with the boys than Hayashi was.
Hayashi was probably wondering why I—a total shadow person back then—had the contact information for someone as popular as Akari Kasahara.
Of course, I had no intention of telling her the reason.
"Anyway... is it okay if I take her number?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, right. I’ll put my own info in while I’m at it."
"Oh, right... sure."
I stammered slightly. Back in high school, I’d assumed I would go to my grave without ever having her number. Life really is full of surprises.
After saving her own contact information to my phone and copying Akari Kasahara's number to hers, Hayashi handed the device back to me.
"Thanks."
"Was there anyone else you recognized?"
"No. But as long as I have Akari’s info, I think I can manage the rest."
"True. That’s definitely more reliable than getting it from me. Also... why don't you start by apologizing to her?"
"Apologizing?"
"Knowing her, she’s probably been worried sick since you dropped off the map."
"Ah, I see. You’re being pretty thoughtful for someone like you."
The "for someone like you" part was unnecessary.
I kept a sour expression and looked away.
Even though she seemed like a sensitive person in that regard, Hayashi must have been too preoccupied with her own situation to cast any suspicious glances my way. I’d expected her to press me further—about the relationship between Akari Kasahara and me. Of course, if she wasn't going to ask, I wasn't going to tell.
"Yeah. I’ll do that."
"Right."
Without waiting for another word from me, Hayashi turned back to her phone and began messaging Akari. A few minutes later, her phone started ringing loudly.
"A call. It's Akari."
As Hayashi answered, I turned down the volume on the TV.
"Yeah... It's been a while. Uh-huh. Yeah... Ah, sorry. I'm really, really sorry..."
From there, Hayashi got lost in her conversation with Akari. At first, I felt a bit of awkward tension, but as the call turned into the kind of marathon session only girls can pull off, that tension snapped. Before I knew it, I was dozing off.
"Wake up, Yamamoto."
"Ngh..."
It seemed quite a bit of time had passed before Hayashi finally woke me up.
"Honestly, sleeping without even putting out your futon. What would you do if you caught a cold?"
"Thanks, Okan."
"Don't call me Okan. Sorry for the long call."
"It's fine. How was the chat with your old friend?"
"Good," Hayashi replied with a wry smile. "She was incredibly worried about me."
"Make sure you don't put her through that again."
"Yeah. I won't."
"By the way... how much did you tell her?"
"Pretty much everything. About the domestic violence from my boyfriend, and about how you're sheltering me."
"Did she... say anything about me?"
"Hmm? Well... she was mostly just surprised."
"I see."
"Yeah."
Silence hung in the room for a while. Now that my drowsiness had cleared, I stood up to brush my teeth before heading back to bed.
"Are you going to sleep now?"
"Yeah. I've got my late-night shift tomorrow, remember?"
"In that case, you need to get some proper rest today."
"Stop making it sound like I don't usually get proper rest."
"Sorry, sorry."
I caught Hayashi laughing in exasperation and offered a small smile of my own before walking over to the sink.