Mayuzumi Amami finally received the phone call she had been waiting for.
She had been looking forward to the agreed upon date, but now that it was here, she was so nervous that she was trembling and unsure of herself.
Should she contact him of her own volition or wait for him to contact her?
Just this question gave her over an entire hour’s worth of frustration. She called her cousin Rika Amami, but the only response she received from her cousin was "Just do whatever you like!"
"Are you a middle school girl that’s going out to have fun with a boy for the first time to get frustrated over such a small matter!?" scolded her older cousin when she heard of her "dilemma." "By the way, even among middle school girls nowadays, it’s really rare to find one as shy as you."
"Seiji Haruta is a good kid—just relax and be casual with him."
Rika told Mayuzumi and went on saying similar stuff before she hung up.
Mayuzumi could only collapse listlessly on her bed.
She honestly didn’t have to courage to voluntarily call him first, so she chose to wait.
At noon, she received a call from his number.
"H-Haruta-kun..." she answered the call by speaking in a weak voice.
"Peach-sensei, it’s me. Long time no see." A hearty male voice spoke up from the other end of the call. "Sorry that I took so long to contact you. I had to help out my cla.s.s with their store earlier this morning, which is why I didn’t have any free time until now."
"So how about you, Sensei? Do you have time to come over and have some fun?"
His words were so open and direct.
Just like the way he remained in her memories... this was only natural though, as only a few weeks had pa.s.sed by.
Mayuzumi no longer felt as nervous when she recalled her previous meeting with him.
Just like Rika said, he was a trustworthy boy.
"I should just relax and be casual with him."
"I-I’m free."
"That"s great. Shall I wait for you at school or come by to pick you up?"
"Er..." Mayuzumi was unable to respond immediately.
‘When was the last time I went outside by myself?’
Going outside by herself to an unfamiliar place? Just imagining it seemed really scary.
Let him come and pick her up? This also seemed a little...
A period of silence fell between them.
"I got it." The voice on her cell phone spoke up again. "I’ll come over and pick you up, Sensei. What’s your address?"
"Er... this... troublesome..."
"It’s not troublesome at all—just tell me your address," he said in a steady tone.
In Mayuzumi"s mind, Seiji"s image instantly felt more reliable.
Mayuzumi blinked.
"Then... Sorry to trouble you." She told him her address.
"Okay, got it. I’ll be there as soon as I can."
Just like that, he hung up the phone call.
Mayuzumi stared at her cell phone for a long time as she rubbed her chest and released her breath that she had been holding.
It was great that their conversation proceeded smoothly.
She didn’t leave him with a bad impression of her... probably.
Mayuzumi put down her cell phone and curled up on her bed while hugging her pillow.
There was no logic to her androphobia. Even if she didn’t want to, she would still feel insecure and nervous when dealing with anyone male.
‘Can I do a good job? Can I face Haruta-kun? What if he hates me... No, no! I can’t think such thoughts.’
All she could do now was continue to wait.
Seiji rang the doorbell to Mayuzumi Amami’s apartment.
He recalled the way she appeared from their last meeting.
She was probably dressed like that again? That seemed probable, or else she’d probably be wearing something like a full outfit of sportswear.
She was a manga author, after all; she didn’t need to care about her personal appearance.
Honestly speaking, Seiji felt that it was a bit of a waste. With Peach-sensei’s innate beauty, if she took better care of herself, she’d definitely be a great beauty.
But Seiji also believed that people were free to dress however they liked. Besides, Sensei had androphobia, so looking more beautiful would probably increase the risk for her.
Thoughts like these ran through Seiji"s mind as he waited for the door to open.
A few moments later, the door opened.
"Haruta-kun..."
"Sensei..."
Seiji was on the verge of greeting her, but he paused in surprise when he saw her appearance.
Mayuzumi Amami’s brownish-grey hair was tied up in a ponytail, and her bangs were tied back neatly with a barrette to reveal her white and beautiful face. She was wearing a pair of black-rimmed gla.s.ses together with a woolen s.h.i.+rt and a small jacket on top, and a flower-patterned long skirt below. Although the overall style was plain, it was elegant in nature, and her protruding b.r.e.a.s.t.s gave her a womanly charismatic appeal.
While she wasn’t astonis.h.i.+ngly beautiful, she still seemed like a nice cla.s.sical beauty!
At least that was what Seiji believed.
This plain and normal style that displayed her mature, womanly appeal was right in the middle of Seiji’s strike zone and caused him to be stunned for several seconds.
"...h.e.l.lo."
"h.e.l.lo..."
A period of silence fell between them.
"Er... Sensei, I feel that your current appearance... is quite nice." Seiji gave her his honest praise.
It was definitely much better than last time!
"Thank you..." Mayuzumi lowered her head and clenched her hands.
Seiji didn’t know if she was being shy or anxious.
‘She’s probably nervous and anxious, since she has androphobia and I’m a male,’ Seiji thought to himself. ‘I need to be as considerate as I can.’
"If you’re ready, let’s go."
"Okay..."
Seiji walked in front of Mayuzumi.
When he reached the elevator, Seiji turned around and instantly felt rather helpless.
She was literally walking four meters behind him!
This distance made it seem like they were perfect strangers.
"Sensei, could you walk a little closer? At this distance... we wouldn’t even be able to get on the same elevator."
"S-Sorry..." Mayuzumi slowly walked closer.
She stopped at a distance of approximately one meter from him.
Was this the limit for her? Okay, this seemed fine.
The elevator arrived quickly.
When the elevator arrived, there was a jacket-wearing middle-aged man already inside.
Even one meter apart from her, Seiji noticed that Mayuzumi stiffened.
"Sensei... is it alright?"
‘Should we wait for the next elevator?’ He asked that question using his eyes.
"I-It’s fine." Mayuzumi forced herself to say that even though her muscles were stiff and tensed.
‘Is everything really fine?’ Seiji was rather worried.
But since she herself said it was fine, they at least had to try.
He walked into the elevator.
Mayuzumi also slowly entered.
The jacket-wearing middle-aged man felt that something was a little strange and shot an inquisitive look towards her.
Mayuzumi instantly froze over completely!
‘So scary, so scary, so scary!’
She was about to tremble when she saw a tall figure block the middle-aged man’s line of sight.
It was Haruta-kun.
"Sensei, it’s fine—just relax."
Seiji figured out that this wasn’t good for her and instantly moved to block the middle-aged man’s line of sight as he talked as gently to her as possible.
"Mmm... Mmm."
Mayuzumi nodded as she retreated into the elevator’s corner and did her best to loosen her tension.
The tall Haruta-kun not only blocked the other man’s line of sight, he even completely blocked out the other man’s body from her own line of vision.
This indeed helped her to relax.
Even though Haruta-kun was a boy as well... he was special!
Mayuzumi believed in this and made an effort to increase her belief in this point.
Otherwise, she would be unable to accept even his help.
The elevator stopped.
The jacket-wearing man exited rather quickly. Perhaps he was in a hurry to begin with, or maybe he felt that the boy and woman riding together in the same elevator were rather strange.
"Sensei, are you alright?"
"I-I’m fine."
"That’s good, then." Seiji flashed a gentle smile. "Sensei, you’re working hard. There"s no need to rush—we can take things slowly."
There was no helping it; after all, it was a legitimate phobia.
It was good that she wanted to conquer her fear, but there was no need to challenge herself too much either. Slow steps were fine.
As long as she made steady progress, it was certain that she would eventually overcome her phobia.
Seiji smiled in an attempt to transmit such a message.
Mayuzumi seemed to feel something from his smile as she also smiled back at him.
"Okay..."
The two of them exited the elevator and walked out of her apartment. It was a nice and sunny day.
Their date had begun.