EXIT

“Can we please take a break?” Chinatsu said, panting. After Miyabi had pulled him through a secret passage in the mirrors, they’d been climbing the stairs on pure adrenaline. “I don’t think he’s chasing us anymore.”

“Fine,” Miyabi sighed, sitting down on the stairs.

Chinatsu looked out of one of the windows spiraling up the tower along the stairs. The sun was nearly just below the horizon outside. From where they were, he could finally see the far reaches of the labyrinth and the desert beyond the walls.

“This is taking forever. Do you think we’re nearly at the top?” he said, sitting down next to Miyabi.

“If we’re not, I’ll just carry you up the rest of the way if I have to.”

“I’d rather you didn’t do that,” Chinatsu murmured. He imagined being carried up bridal style. His pride would never recover from something like that.

Miyabi flicked him on the forehead.

“Ow! What was that for!?”

“For being so stubborn all the time,” she said, flicking him again. There was some force behind that one. Chinatsu snapped and pulled her into a headlock.

“You’re the stubborn one here,” he said, giving her a noogie. “I’m not nearly half as rigid as you are.”

With the difference in strength between them, she easily broke free. The two locked into a grappling hold as Miyabi pinned down Chinatsu on the stairs.

“You always do whatever you want!” Miyabi growled.

“Well, you always try to make me do whatever you want!” Chinatsu said, pushing back against her.

“And what’s wrong with that!?” she replied, pressing her forehead against his. “Have you ever considered that my way is better!?”

“Have you ever considered my feelings even once!?” Chinatsu shouted.

The two of them froze, looking into each other’s eyes. Their foreheads were pressed together, and the tips of their noses were nearly touching. Weren’t they a little too close?

Miyabi let go of Chinatsu and pulled away. She sat down a few steps below him, with her back facing him. Chinatsu’s heart pounded in his chest harder than ever.

“What happened to us?” she said, putting her face in her hands. “We used to be so close…”

Were they? It was true that she’d basically been a fixture in Chinatsu’s life since the day he was born, but he’d never given a second thought to any “closeness” in their relationship. Chinatsu sat on the steps and rested his chin in his hands while he racked his brain, trying to understand what she meant.

“I just wish you would rely on me more. Just like when we were kids,” Miyabi said softly. She looked over her shoulder at Chinatsu–her eyes were unmistakably red. Was she…crying?

Startled, Chinatsu slid down the stairs and sat next to her.

“H-hey! Don’t cry!” he said, rubbing her back. “I don’t know what to do if you’re crying because it feels weird seeing my own face cry.”

Miyabi shot him a glare, then looked away from him. “Did you forget that you were a massive crybaby in elementary school?”

Ugh… Why was she bringing that up now?

“T-that was only because the other kids p-picked on me,” he stammered.

“And who was always there for you when that happened?”

Oh… Now he got it. She was always the one swooping in to defend him when they were kids.

As a child, Chinatsu was on the smaller side and sensitive. He wasn’t a particularly rambunctious kid, being quiet and shy, so he often clung to Miyabi when they were together. Combined with his feminine name, it often made him a target of the other boys. Being defended by a girl only made it worse.

Chinatsu sighed and leaned back on the stairs. “Do you remember the first fight I ever got in?”

“No.” Her response was way too fast. She didn’t even think about it before answering.

Chinatsu cringed that he even broached the subject, but continued anyway. “Of course not. It happened after you went to middle school.”

“Then why mention it?” she asked, staring at Chinatsu.

“Geeze! Just let me finish,” he groaned. “Anyway… Some kids who always picked on me approached me because they knew you weren’t there to defend me. They kept needling at that point–that I always needed a girl to save me. I realized I couldn’t rely on you forever and just snapped.”

“So you became a delinquent because of me?” Miyabi had a deer-in-headlights look at the revelation.

“No! Listen!” Chinatsu said, grabbing her shoulders. Why was she being so dense? “I just realized I had to fight back on my own. That’s why I threw myself into sports in middle school–I wanted to get stronger no matter what!”

Chinatsu wasn’t without problems when he got into middle school, but as he tried out different team sports and martial arts clubs, the confidence he gained made any teasing feel so insignificant. Plus, after his first major growth spurt, no one would dare mess with him over something so silly as his name anymore.

Miyabi laughed. It made Chinatsu’s heart feel lighter. He wanted to make her laugh more.

“Hey…Did anyone ever tell you why my parents gave me a girly name?”

“No. Are you going to tell me?” Miyabi looked at Chinatsu expectantly.

“Well, when they went to a fortune teller, they thought they were pregnant with a girl. Since my mother’s due date was in July, Chinatsu was the name the fortune teller gave them,” Chinatsu explained. Miyabi had stopped sniffling or crying, instead giving him her full attention. “By the time I was born, they were already so committed to the name that they stuck with it.”

“But why did they think you were a girl?” Miyabi said, scratching her head.

“Um…on the ultrasound…” Chinatsu mumbled. He cleared his throat and held up his hand, pinching his fingers together.

“...”

“B-but it’s normal now!” he hastily added.

Miyabi howled with laughter loud enough for it to echo off the stone walls and staircase. Chinatsu didn’t think it was that funny. In fact, it was really embarrassing to admit that! But seeing her lighten up made it all worthwhile.

“Anyway, let’s get going,” she said, wiping a tear from her eye. Miyabi stood up and put out her hand for Chinatsu. She pulled him to his feet effortlessly as he took her hand. He felt like he was starting to see Miyabi in a different light. Just the simple act of touching her hand felt different from before.

She liked someone back in their world. Chinatsu couldn’t help but wonder who it was. He just didn’t understand why that thought kept popping into his head ever since she mentioned it, though. It just really bothered him for some reason.

As Miyabi walked up the stairs past Chinatsu, he couldn’t stop himself from blurting it out.

“Who is it that you like back home?” Chinatsu asked, his voice cracking a bit. Miyabi stopped on the stairs but didn’t turn around to look at him. He looked at his feet as the words spilled out of his mouth like vomit. “It’s someone I know, isn’t it? That’s why you won’t say! Is it Yamada? Is it Honda-senpai? Is it a third year? Is it–”

“It’s you.”

Chinatsu felt himself snap back to reality. He glanced up to see Miyabi looking at him with a vulnerable expression that seemed so alien on his own face. “Huh?”

“I like you, Chinatsu.” Miyabi started descending the stairs towards Chinatsu. Flustered, he tried to back away when his heel lost footing on the stair below.

As he felt himself falling backward, Miyabi rushed forward and caught him by the waist. The two of them looked at each other in shock, their faces beet red. Miyabi quickly let go of Chinatsu as he regained his footing.

“Damn it!” she said, pounding the wall with her fist. “It wasn’t supposed to go like this.”

Chinatsu could imagine how, to a romantic like her, this role reversal was the complete opposite of her fantasies. Miyabi leaned against the wall, hiding her face from him. He scratched his head, wondering what he could possibly say that would not make the situation any worse.

“Um…”

“I want a do-over,” Miyabi groaned. The way she looked at Chinatsu almost made him feel threatened. “When we go home, I want to confess to you properly.”

“...Okay…” Chinatsu wasn’t going to argue against her logic, but wasn’t the damage already done? “Do what you want, I guess.”

“You…don’t have to give me your answer until then,” she said before turning and walking up the stairs.

Wouldn’t that just make things more awkward? Chinatsu sighed. He knew he shouldn’t have brought it up, but he at least had time to sort out his own feelings.

Chinatsu took two steps up before feeling a sharp pain at the back of his heel. Another damn blister. He’d been blister-free thanks to Peony this whole time, but now…

“What’s wrong?” Miyabi said, stopping.

“It’s these damn shoes!” Chinatsu yelled, kicking them off his feet. He picked them up and chucked them down the stairs. The sound of them rolling and bouncing down the stairs echoed off the walls.

“Don’t just throw them!” Miyabi futilely tried to chase them down the stairs.

“I’ll just go barefoot! I’m sick of this place!” Chinatsu yelled, stomping up the stairs. Miyabi grabbed him by the arm to stop him.

“Just…get on my back and I’ll carry you,” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers. She couldn’t even look him in the eye.

Chinatsu felt better knowing that the role reversal was embarrassing for her too as he climbed on her back. As she gave him a piggyback ride up the stairs, something about it made him feel…happy? Like insanely happy?

They never would have had to do this if they still had Peony by their side. Chinatsu realized that they probably wouldn’t have even had their heart-to-heart if Peony were still with them as well. A pang of guilt reverberated through his chest. He shouldn’t be feeling happy right now.

“I wish we could have buried Peony,” Chinatsu murmured into Miyabi’s back.

“Me too,” she replied.

It was dark by the time they reached the top of the stairs. Rather than a door, they were met with a solid wall.

Miyabi let Chinatsu off her back. The two of them just stared at the wall. They were so tired. Chinatsu felt like the hope was draining out of his body the longer he looked at the wall.

“This can’t be it…” he said, staggering backwards into the window to their right. Miyabi gripped his shirt as he leaned against the windowsill.

Chinatsu caught a glimpse out of the window before she pulled him away from it. They were hundreds of meters up. This tower was like a sky scraper–falling out of that window would have meant he’d probably die before he even hit the ground. Chinatsu got chills thinking about it.

“You’re right,” Miyabi said, still clutching Chinatsu’s shirt.

“I’m right?” He didn’t understand what she was getting at.

“Can I try something stupid?” Miyabi asked.

“Huh? Why are you asking me?”

“Because I want to make sure we’re on the same page first,” she said with an almost maniacal grin on her face.

She backed up a few paces. Before Chinatsu could even ask what she was going to do, Miyabi ran straight at the wall.

Chinatsu grabbed her by the waist to try to stop her, but was pulled with her as they went right through what they thought was a solid, stone wall.