Chapter 4 – A Place with No One Else

It started with a coincidence.

Or maybe not, Haruki wasn’t sure anymore.

The back courtyard behind the gym was quiet, as usual. There were a few benches under the trees, some patches of grass, and the soft hum of the building’s heaters somewhere above.

He’d gone there to eat.

Not because he was avoiding anyone, Not exactly.

He just… didn’t feel like being around people.

He unwrapped his bento slowly, sitting on the far bench with his bag next to him and the poetry book Reina had lent him resting on his lap.

A soft breeze passed through, Dry leaves rustled nearby.

Then he heard footsteps.

Light ones.

He didn’t look up right away. But he could sense it someone approaching, slowing down.

When he finally glanced over, he saw her.

Reina.

She stood a few meters away, a small thermos cradled in her hands. Her eyes were on him, but not directly. More like… near him.

She looked like she was about to turn around.

But then Haruki shifted on the bench and moved his bag aside.

There was space now.

She noticed.

There was a pause.

Then, quietly, she stepped forward and sat down next to him.

Not too close. But not far.

No words.

Just… two people sitting side by side.

They didn’t talk that first time.

They just ate.

She had her own small bento, and her thermos probably tea or soup. He didn’t ask. She didn’t offer.

But at one point, he noticed her glance toward his lap.

The poetry book.

He followed her gaze and held it up slightly. “I liked the second poem.”

Reina nodded, eyes softening. “Me too.”

That was it.

Then they returned to eating.

And when lunch ended, they stood up at the same time.

She didn’t walk with him. But their steps echoed together on the stone path as they returned to class.

The next day, it happened again.

Same time.

Same spot.

No invitation.

She just showed up and Haruki shifted his bag again.

That was all it took.

They ate quietly, the way people do when they don’t need to impress anyone. Reina took small bites. Haruki noticed she always drank from her thermos last, like it was a finishing ritual.

He didn’t say much.

But near the end, he pulled something from his bag wrapped in a small square of parchment paper.

A single matcha muffin, with a slightly uneven dome and a faint crack across the top.

He held it out.

“…Trade?”

Reina blinked.

Then accepted it with both hands, like it was something fragile.

“…Okay,” she said.

She didn’t eat it right away. She just placed it carefully beside her bento and looked at it for a while, almost like she wasn’t sure how to react.

That was fine.

Haruki didn’t expect anything.

On the third day, Reina came holding something else.

A small bento box. Wrapped in clean white cloth, with a subtle stitch of dark red thread along one corner.

She sat down, then quietly pushed it toward him.

Haruki looked at it, then at her.

“You didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to,” she said. Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was steady.

He unwrapped it slowly.

Two neatly shaped rice balls. A perfectly folded tamagoyaki. A side of sautéed spinach with sesame seeds, and slices of sweet simmered pumpkin arranged like little crescents. A cherry tomato sat in the corner for color. Even the pickles were wrapped in their own divider.

Nothing flashy. But everything was balanced, warm, and familiar.

Haruki picked up a piece of tamagoyaki and took a bite.

Sweet, Just the right texture.

“…Thank you,” he said.

Reina lowered her gaze, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“It’s not much,” she said. “But I thought… it’d be nicer if we both brought something.”

Haruki nodded.

It was the first time he felt something shared between them not just food, but space.

That afternoon, Akari stopped him in the hallway between classes.

“You’re smiling weirdly,” he said.

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

Haruki didn’t answer.

Akari tilted his head. “You ate lunch with her again?”

“…Yeah.”

“That’s new.”

Haruki paused. “It didn’t feel that strange.”

Akari grinned. “That’s exactly what makes it strange.”

After school, the literature club room was quiet. Faint light from the windows reflected off the wood floors. Aoi was at a desk scribbling something in her notebook, one hand holding a cup of tea.

Haruki sat near the window again, flipping through the poetry book Reina had lent him.

The door opened softly. Reina stepped in a moment later, her steps as quiet as always.

She gave a small nod when she saw him.

Then walked to the shelves and picked out another book.

When she passed by him, she paused.

“…I liked the muffin,” she said quietly.

Then she kept walking.

Haruki didn’t move.

But the words stayed with him, tucked in his heart.