{Content Sent by Satou-san}

I started keeping in touch with Satou-san.

Messages always arrive after 8 PM. This is because Satou-san’s family has dinner at 6:30 PM and bath time at 7 PM, and she messages me after that.

I feel restless around that time. I sit at my study desk in my room, resting my chin on my hand as I wait, with my textbook open in front of me. The moment I hear the notification sound, I check my phone immediately.

Her messages are always long.

“Yamaguchi-kun, thank you. I completely forgot about the Earth Science homework, so I appreciate you reminding me. I think I can still make it if I start now, so I’ll do my best. I’d be happy if you could help me go over the answers tomorrow. Also, I started watching the drama you recommended this week. It was interesting, thank you. It’s a bit tough to stay awake and not forget since it’s late at night, but it’s so good that I’ll try my best to keep up. Yamaguchi-kun, you’re okay with staying up late, right? I’m jealous. I get sleepy after 9 PM, so I couldn’t watch many late-night shows before. I guess I was missing out. I’ll try to pay more attention to late-night shows from now on. I’ll message you again. From Satou.”

She sends tightly packed messages without any line breaks. It’s hard to read. Since she’s replying to all the short messages I’ve sent her, I guess it’s understandable that her messages are long. But I wish she could do something about it. It’s so like Satou-san not to use any emojis or emoticons, but I wonder why she doesn’t use commas either.

Well, at least she’s able to type out words. I was worried she might send everything in hiragana, but it’s not that bad. For Satou-san, she seems to have gotten pretty used to texting—though it’s frustrating to think that it’s probably because of that person from Hokkaido.

Anyway, we’ve gained a new way to connect. We chat during school breaks and exchange messages at night. Even just that allowed me to learn a lot about Satou-san.

Satou-san is part of a four-person family, and she’s an only child. She lives with her mother, grandfather, and grandmother, and because her grandparents go to bed early, Sato-san can’t stay up late either.

She also told me that until middle school, she lived in a different town with just her mother. She moved here when she entered high school. She confided in me that she was worried about making friends, but now she enjoys going to school every day.

She hasn’t made up her mind about what to do after graduation yet, but she said she’s planning to look for a job. But I have to graduate first, she said with a wry smile that I could almost picture. I doubt she’ll fail to graduate, no matter how much of a scatterbrain Satou-san can be.

She rarely talks about her crush. Sometimes, she shares that she received a message or talked on the phone, but for the most part, their interactions seem to be superficial. When she talks about it, her tone seems somewhat muted.

And I feel relieved. I think I’m a terrible person for feeling this way.

She doesn’t know my true feelings. I have no intention of telling her yet. It’s sneaky of me to keep this secret, but if I confess, it’ll be over. Satou-san wouldn’t accept affection from someone in “another world.” I need to close this distance between us first.

Sometimes, I wonder. Could I make her happier than her crush, who makes her anxious?

I have nothing to offer. The words Satou-san has said to me don’t seem to have enough power to draw her in. But still, I believe in what she said to me, because it’s all I have to hold on to.

And besides, I’m deceiving her. No, if I think about it, I’ve been deceiving her all along. Pretending to be just a friend while secretly planning to reject her feelings is probably unforgivable behavior. I can’t even imagine what kind of expression Satou-san would make if she found out.

But no matter how much I worry and circle around the same thoughts, I always end up with the same conclusion.

I like Satou-san.

I wouldn’t make her anxious. I’m not sure if that would lead to her happiness, but at the very least, I feel like I could do anything to ease her worries.

Our exchange of messages doesn’t last long. Satou-san is really slow at replying. So, when she messages me, I reply, and when she sends a response, that’s the end of it. Unless it’s something urgent, I usually save my reply for the next day.

For me, it’s a convenient excuse to message her again the next day.

I don’t know how long this will continue. If our seats get shuffled, and we end up far apart, it’ll be harder to talk in class. If we message each other too often, she might start to find it annoying.

That’s why I value this time more than anything.

Waiting for Satou-san’s messages, sending my reply, and waiting for her response all have a special significance to me.

“Yamaguchi-kun, thank you for letting me know. I had no idea that drama was based on a manga. I’m happy you want to lend it to me, but wouldn’t it be hard to bring it to school? Please bring it when you don’t have too much to carry. Thank you so much. Even though you have good grades, you also know so much about dramas and manga—it’s amazing. I really enjoy talking to you. I’d love it if you could teach me more. See you at school tomorrow. I’ll message you again. From Satou.”

After reading her second message a few times, I put my phone down on the desk.

That’s it for today. It’s sad, but I’m happy we got to talk. I’ll see her at school tomorrow, so I should be satisfied with that.

Resting my chin on my hand, I turn my attention back to my textbook. Lately, I haven’t been in the mood to study, but I can’t slack off, especially as a high school senior.

Just then, my phone rang.

I had set a different ringtone just for Satou-san, so I immediately knew it was her. Getting a third message from her in one night was unusual. This hadn’t happened before. And I hadn’t even replied to her last message yet.

“Yamaguchi-kun, are you still awake? If you’re free, could I call you?”

Satou-san was asking me that.

Even though she had given me her number, I’d never called her. But tonight, something must have happened.

I quickly typed my reply.

“Sure. Should I call you?”

After about five minutes, Satou-san replied.

“Thank you, Yamaguchi-kun. I’ll call you, so please wait a bit.”

Soon after, I received my first phone call from Satou-san.