Pulling up a chair, I sat down, while Noah turned his head and asked, “Is your arm all right now?”
“Of course, it’s completely fine.”
I showed him my un-bandaged arm. Since I’d had my cast for over a month, my arm felt a little bare.
“It healed faster than expected. And it wasn’t even a big injury to begin with.”
“That’s a relief.”
Noah gave me a polite, picturesque smile. “Come to think of it, this is the first time I’ve seen you since the opening ceremony.”
“I-Is that right?” I fiddled with my hair in a way that couldn’t be more awkward.
“It felt like I haven’t seen you these past couple of days.” In a quiet voice, Noah raised the question gently. “Why have you been avoiding me recently?”
“…!”
My heart dropped with a thud.
Blinking his golden eyes in melancholy a few times, he asked, “Is it because… you don’t like me?”
“N-No?”
Don’t like you? It’s the exact opposite.
I shook my head so violently that my hair flew up in all directions.
“Then that’s a relief.”
After hemming and hawing for a bit, I opened my mouth. “C-Can I ask why you keep coming to pick me up?”
Noah replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world. “Because I want to see you.”
With a shallow inhale, I bit my lips.
Excuse me, aren’t you coming at me too fast, too suddenly?
Noting that expression of mine, Noah asked quietly, “If that makes you uncomfortable…”
“Mm, just a little.” I continued speaking, slowly avoiding his eyes. “You have your own daily schedule, too, so to be honest I feel apologetic and uncomfortable.”
When I raised my eyes to look at Noah’s face, at first glance he seemed the same as usual. But as someone who had been watching Noah for two years now, I knew that he was bothered.
From the minuscule wrinkling of his eyebrows, I could tell: that was an expression of displeasure.
D-Did I overstep my bounds?
After a long beat of silence, Noah nodded slightly. “I understand.”
“Thank you.”
I did it—I’d gotten rid of one aspect now.
I pressed down on my chest, feeling relieved.
“If it made you uncomfortable, you could’ve spoken up earlier.” With the sudden murmur, Noah fiddled with his glasses in apparent embarrassment.
“… Oh.” I let out a barely audible sound, my mouth slightly open.
Oh, Noah was feeling sorry. And now I was feeling sorry, too.
With a slightly ashamed expression, I was fiddling with the collar of my shirt when I heard a clear voice from the doorway.
“Hey, both of you are here early, huh?”
Her arm linked with someone else’s, Flora came into the classroom with a sunny smile.