On the Topic of Romance

Yuta found himself in Shiori’s room the following day. He had prepared a mock exam to check the progress she had made. While she filled it out, he waited patiently, kneeling next to the coffee table.

The clock ticked, and Shiori handed the test back to Yuta an hour after he had given it to her.

He reviewed her answers, scoring them with red ink. Afterward, he set it in front of Shiori. “You’re improving. This test shows that you’ve gone from seventh grade level to early ninth in the time that I’ve taught you.”

“It’s only because you’re a great teacher…”

Yuta waved the comment away. “You should give yourself some credit. If you didn’t try as hard as you have, you wouldn’t have progressed this quickly. With your disability, this level of progress is remarkable.”

At the mention of her brain damage, Shiori’s growing smile was replaced by a grim expression.

“Sorry for… mentioning that…” Yuta sighed, internally slapping himself in the face. ‘Of course she’d get upset by the mention of her disability. It took everything away from her. Her dreams, her friends… and it is a constant reminder of how she lost her father…’

“It’s okay… I shouldn’t be so sensitive about it anymore… It’s a part of me now, isn’t it? I should just come to terms with it…”

“No, I understand why it upsets you. Luckily, it doesn’t seem to be affecting your learning ability too much.” He bit his tongue to stop himself from adding anything about her lack of social skills. “Speaking of, how are you faring in class?”

“Not well… I don’t understand what the teachers are talking about… especially in math…”

“Are there any classes that you do well in?”

“A few… Japanese isn’t hard, but I get so nervous whenever the teacher calls on me…”

Yuta nodded, remembering how much she stuttered when she read a passage aloud to the class. The books on her shelf caught his attention, and the question that had been floating in his mind resurfaces. “Shiori, can I ask why you love romance novels so much?”

She relaxed a little. “Well, there are a few reasons for it…” Her eyes darted around as she suddenly became shy.

“Which are…?”

“Well, I… like them because…”

“If you don’t want to share, that’s fine.”

“N-No–I-I’ll tell you… I like them because… well… they leave me with… a-a warm feeling… And even though I… l-likely won’t experience my own romance… g-getting lost in someone else’s feels nice…”

“So essentially, you long for your own romance, so you escape to fiction to fulfill your desires?”

“I-In a way…”

‘So, she is interested in romance… I don’t see her being in a relationship, though. She’s too shy. She would never engage, and she’d probably be too nervous to say yes…’ Yuta cleared his throat. “Is that it? I think that’s pretty normal.”

“Y-You do?”

“Yes. A lot of people want to be in a relationship but are afraid of chasing one. Reading about it in manga and novels are, they feel, the only romance they can get.”

Shiori didn’t respond. Instead, she grabbed a fluffy pink pillow to hug. She stared blankly at the coffee table, deep in thought.

“I’m quite the opposite. I don’t desire a relationship, and that’s why I never spend time with anyone outside of work. Until you came along, that is.”

Her cheeks turned a bright red, and she hid her face behind the pillow.

Realizing what he said to trigger that reaction from her, he waved his hands in front of him to deny what she thought he meant. “I didn’t mean anything by that! It’s just that I’ve been dragged into doing something with you several times already, and I’ve never been dragged into something before, and…”

Shiori peaked out from behind her pillow. “You’re only dragged into doing things with me…?”

The sadness in her eyes caused him to be even more panicked. “N-No! I mean… kind of, but… I enjoy spending time with you! W-We’re friends, right?”

Her head rested on top of the pillow. “Y-yes, we are…”

He took a deep breath to calm himself. “Recently I’ve been choosing to spend time with you, which is new for me… I’ve never spent any of my free time with anyone other than family… I mean, most of the time I spend with you, other than when I’m teaching you of course, is time that I don’t spend studying, like walking home from school. That’s why it doesn’t really bother me that I’m spending a lot of time with you, away from my studies.”

Yuta cleared his throat and changed the subject before Shiori could give a response. “Anyway, we should start the lesson. I don’t want your mother barging in here and threatening my life because we aren’t talking about math or science.”

“I s-suppose you’re right…” She put the pillow to the side and leaned forward, ready to listen to the lesson Yuta had prepared for her.

…

The culture festival was drawing near, and the student council president managed to convince two of the other student council members to join their after-school preparation for the festival. Shiori had finished several posters, but her help was still needed.

Yuta arrived at school with several bags of ingredients. Since he always came early, he didn’t have to leave his home any earlier than he usually did.

To his surprise, Shiori was already inside. Hanging off her arm was a bag, full of the ingredients she had brought to make her sugar cookies. She stood in front of her open locker. Noticing Yuta, she turned toward him.

The smile he greeted her with quickly faded as he noticed a tear roll down her cheek. “Shiori, what’s wrong?”

She reached into her locker and held up a sticky note.

He took the note from her and read it. Immediately he pulled Shiori to him and hugged her, taking her by surprise. “I promise I will find the person responsible and make them regret hurting you.”