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July 7th. A rain that makes you want to shout “serves you right.” Tanabata, the day the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl are supposed to meet. It’s still the rainy season, so of course it’s pouring again this year. Those two must be crying up in the heavens. My heart feels the same. …No, that’s not true. It’s not just my heart. What’s sliding down my cheeks isn’t raindrops, it’s—

1

The day Sensei went on a date with his ex, Sagara Miyu.

After we finished giving statements at the police box, we walked to the station together. After parting with Sensei, I started toward the ticket gate to go home when,

“Wait.”

The woman who hadn’t even said goodbye to me, the one I didn’t want to talk to, called out from behind. Of course it was Sensei’s ex.

“What?”

I turned, glaring like I was telling her I had zero interest in conversation.

Sagara Miyu stared straight at me and asked,

“What do you think of Shuu-kun? Are you just playing with him?”

“Hah?”

What is this woman’s problem? Is she trying to provoke me?

I glare back harder.

“Isn’t the one playing around you?”

“Why would you say that?”

“Because I looked into you. Meeting old men through matching apps, having meals with young guys. I’d say getting stalked is your own damn fault.”

“Oh? Did you tell Shuu-kun that? The fact you know all that makes you a stalker too, doesn’t it?”

“T-That’s…”

“And besides,”

Sagara Miyu gave a self-mocking smile.

“What if I’m serious?”

“…Huh?”

“About Shuu-kun.”

That was an answer I never expected.

I freeze, unable to reply.

“Fufu ♡ So cute.”

“Don’t—!”

Suddenly treated like a child, I bristle.

Sagara Miyu looked down at me with a soft, condescending smile.

Seriously, what the hell is wrong with this woman?

“Don’t mock me. Someone as… as beautiful as you could have anyone she wanted. So why Sensei of all people—?!”

“You got mad at Shuu-kun for saying almost the exact same thing, remember? That I don’t need dating apps, that I’m way out of his league… But you’re the same, aren’t you?”

“Wha—! What are you—!”

“Why’s your face so red? Relationships are different for everyone. Even a kid like you should understand that.”

“I told you to stop treating me like a child!”

“I’m not treating you like one. I’m telling you that’s exactly how Shuu-kun sees you.” She gave a self-mocking smile—somehow sad at the same time.

“And you already knew I’m his ex, didn’t you?”

Then she added, almost too softly to hear,

“We never broke up because I stopped liking him. I never even thought we broke up—”

“…Eh?”

“Bye.”

“Wait—!”

I couldn’t catch the last part, and I had no idea what she really meant.

I called after her to ask, but Miyu Sagara never stopped. She melted into the crowd and vanished.

“We never broke up because I stopped liking him.”

Those words have been stuck in my head ever since.

That tiny murmur at the end—did she mean she never considered us broken up?

But the story I heard from Sensei was that it just naturally faded out.

Of course, I have zero intention of telling him about this conversation.

Because I don’t want to.

▼ ▼ ▼

July 7th finally arrived.

Tanabata. My birthday. And the day of Sensei and Sagara Miyu’s date.

Outside, it’s pouring pretty hard.

Terrible weather for a date—serves them right.

By the way, I still haven’t gotten a single birthday message from Sensei.

He’s my homeroom teacher; if he bothered to check the class list he’d know.

He definitely didn’t check, and he definitely hasn’t realized today’s the day.

Tomorrow I’m absolutely chewing him out.

“Remember the birthdays of the girls you’re close with, idiot.”

A while back in the library he’d said,

“Thanks to your coaching, the last date actually went really well. I think the next one will be fine too.”

Hearing him say it was thanks to me made me happy.

But there’s no way he’ll ever get a girlfriend like this—I just know it.

(…What the heck am I even thinking?)

I feel like an idiot.

Staying home just makes me keep thinking about Sensei.

How’s their date going? What are they doing right now?

I know there’s no point worrying, but I can’t help it.

So even though it’s raining cats and dogs, I change clothes, leave the house, and head downtown.

Not to look for Sensei, obviously.

Just to hang out and take my mind off things.

I don’t even know where they’re having their date anyway.

He should handle his ex by himself, right?

I told him I didn’t need to know the details because he knows her better than I do.

He was probably planning to do it without me anyway.

There’s no way I’d run into them.

That’s what I kept telling myself while climbing the pedestrian overpass stairs toward the station.

(—Ow…!)

A sharp pain shot through my left ankle.

It’s the one I used as a pivot when I roundhouse-kicked that stalker the other day—I must’ve twisted it a little.

The pain threw off my balance.

“Ah—!”

This is bad.

The moment I realized it, all I saw was gray sky.

My body was in midair.