New quarter, new...resident?

As I sat at the front desk, customers passing by checked the bookshelves, my mind wandered along the aisles and tables, drifting aimlessly as thoughts about the upcoming semester entered my mind.

The new quarter finally started. Technically, the quarter started last week, a few days before the convention, but those classes felt like filler due to the exam schedule. For the most part, classes continue as usual–all the classes I started in April continued into the summer, so nothing really changed about my schedule. It does mean that the finals week will be more intense, so I'm not looking forward to that.

Now that the arm is complete, those hours at night have been returned to me…which has its benefits. As I had pondered before, I enjoyed the time spent in that meeting room….or rather…time spent with–

“Iwasaki-kun, customers!” I blinked as Tachibana breezed by me, and as my eyes refocused, I noticed the lengthening line waiting in front of me.

“Ah, sorry, Tachibana-senpai.” I turned to greet the customer in front of me. “Sorry for the delay. Did you find everything you were looking for today?”

As I tended to the line of customers, Tachibana flicked a thumbs up as she walked towards one of the bookshelves with some restocks.

Once the foot traffic in the store died down, I excused myself to the break room, reaching for the snacks in my bag. Tachibana was also taking her break there, noticing that I sat down.

“So, what’s on your mind?”

“Classes,” I exhaled, taking a sip from my can of green tea. “You?”

“A few things,” Tachibana mused. “Trying to figure out my senior division plans…by the end of the summer, I’ll have to submit my plan, and it’s a little stressful.”

“Well, there are subjects I’m good at, but they aren’t necessarily things I’m super interested in,” she sighed. “It’d be a lot easier if the things I like and the things I’m good at align, right?”

“What do you want to do, then?”

She looked away for a moment. “Don’t tease me about it, alright?”

“I feel like it’s always been the other way around…but fine.”

“I want to go into journalism–”

“I mean, I feel like you’d be pretty good at it–”

“Really?” Her eyes glittered. “This is why you’re my favorite junior. You know what Yuki-kun told me?” Her expression changed to a slightly annoyed one. “Journalism? You can hardly read presentation slides–” She took her fist and clenched it. "I remember that was a particularly fun evening.”

I felt slightly concerned for his physical safety.

“But he’s right….when it comes to professional-type presentations, I barely keep it together. I could take the easy route, going into something like sports sciences….” She paused for a moment, as if wondering if that choice was worth it.

“But I can’t see myself going into that as a career.” She looked at me, grinning. “If I’m going to struggle, it’s gotta be doing the things I have a passion for–”

Struggle for something she’s passionate about…a positive outlook on it, and she’s one to sprint towards her goal once she has her mind set on it.

On the other hand, I still have my wheels spinning on what sort of career I would look forward to…

“Anyways, thanks for listening to my rant.”

“Sure, how are you and Goto-senpai doing?”

“Great!” she rebounded with enthusiasm. “He’s set on his school choice, so he’s taking the initiative on our dates now…then there’s summer vacation, he said he would help plan it, but his ‘plans’ are just circling a city and saying we’ll have fun here!? Like, how about booking a place? Attractions? Food?”

I suppressed the urge to laugh; however, as one chuckle escaped, Tachibana picked up on it. “Something funny?”

“Just…you two go after each other quite a lot–” I won’t mention the last karaoke event specifically, though. “How’d you end up dating after meeting for the first time?”

“Ahh…” she smirked. “Interested in a romance story, eh?”

“Well, first off, I confessed to him.” She waved a finger. “Some girls want to be the one who confesses, and there’s some who want to be confessed to.” She laughed. “Then there’s the girls in the second category who end up falling in love with a guy who’s as dense as the bricks his brain is made of.”

I assume that the third description is where Tachibana ended up.

“Anyways, we started with just attending club events together, then with smaller groups of mutual friends, and then just the two of us going out on the weekends, and study sessions. I finally asked him out at the beach outing, when we were playing with the sparklers.” She looked off into the distance, as if she were brought back to that scene on the beach.

“I see…you realized you liked him after some time, then?”

“Yeah, though it can depend on different people, in my case, it was slowly getting to like him, then boom! Head over heels in love—“ she narrowed her eyes. “So, what’s with this interest all of a sudden… someone you like?”

“?!” The hell was she saying? She talks about Goto-senpai quite a bit, and I ask two questions—

“Actually, you don’t have to tell me, it’s obvious.” She burst out laughing. “And perhaps I have a good idea of who–”

She’s too perceptive at this! Wait, but also, she knows who?

“Ah, that reminds me, one of my good friends sent me a photo I want you to check out–” she handed me her phone, showing two girls taking a selfie at a restaurant.

“I see…”

“Check the background on the left–” My eyes traveled to the top left corner by the girl’s head, and there, in clear view, two people mid-laugh, eating skewers. I instantly recognized the place.

This was the izakaya Sato and I would visit. And those two…were us.

I couldn’t form any words as my brain started to overheat…how embarrassing that she found this out from us photobombing her friend’s photo?! I’m ready to evaporate from this world!

“Alright, enough teasing for today–” she giggled, taking her phone back. “We still have the rest of the shift.

***

Walking home from the bookstore, I took a detour to the convenience store. Past the sliding doors, I found myself roaming the aisles again, looking for a cold drink, maybe a snack for a movie night.

Waiting in line reminds me of that day I moved in, thinking about a calm and peaceful college life, until a girl with long blonde hair and an ahoge came in…or more like tried to pay at the register in a flustered manner.

A tiny smile had formed on the edges of my lips as I remembered–

Anyways…wait, why is this line also taking quite long?

“Wait a second!” a voice in front replied. “Uh….IC card…desu–”

I looked at the girl in front of the line, as her Japanese was….interesting. Brown hair, nicely dressed…though students by this time of year usually knew that this convenience store catered to foreign students and the staff usually can speak English, except that very first day, I suppose.

She looked around and made eye contact with me, like she was trying to determine why I was looking at her in the first place, before turning back to the register. Shoot, that was a bit awkward for me.

Also, why does this keep happening in this store?

Eventually, I paid for my stuff and walked out.

As I stepped outside, a sense of an unskippable cutscene waved across me as there the girl I saw earlier was, standing by the door.

“Hey!” she exclaimed, waving her hand. “Ah, do you understand English?”

I nodded. She sighed a bit in relief. “Sorry, I was looking at you earlier, but I think I recognize you…”

Recognize me? I was confused. Also, her accent was quite different from Sato’s, Watson’s, or Lafon’s. “Recognize…”

She looked at me for a moment, and her eyes sparkled. “Yes, you’re Elise’s boyfriend!”

What?

“What?” Okay, now I was deeply confused. Elise…she must mean Lafon then.

“Huh?” She also looked confused. “One minute.” Did she just switch back to Japanese? She pulled out her phone and swiped a couple of times. “Yeah, this is you in this picture!”

She showed me the photo of Lafon in her Azure outfit, the one I took in her dorm room. But I was nowhere in–

Suddenly, I saw in the background a small mirror, and in the reflection was me holding her phone to take the photo.

How the hell did I miss that??

If I remember correctly, Lafon sent that to her friend…Emilia….Wagyu? No… not that.

“Yes, that is me.” I realized I hadn’t introduced myself at all to her. “My name’s Ryuuto Iwasaki–”

“Well, nice to meet you, Iwasaki-kun!” She grinned. Huh, she knows honorifics pretty well. “I’m Emilia Wagner, Elise’s best friend from Germany and future floormate of hers!”

Future floormate….

So she’s also my floormate?!