Chapter 5: A Voice by Her Side

Evening had fallen over the station district.

As Sayo watched Eita’s back disappear into the crowd, the uneasiness in her chest still had not faded.

Haruki, standing beside her, quietly spoke.

“I’ll walk you home. It still gets cold at night.”

“But… Koyama, you just got back from a business trip. You must be tired.”

“It’s fine. Actually, I wanted to talk with you for a little while.”

At those words, warmth naturally rose to Sayo’s cheeks.

The two left the station and walked along a quieter street.

Silence stretched between them, but it did not feel heavy. If anything, Sayo felt herself gradually calming down.

Eventually, Haruki spoke.

“…You looked uncomfortable back there. You’ve always been the type who has trouble saying no, haven’t you, Matsubara?”

“Ugh… You might have hit the mark.”

Sayo gave a wry smile and lowered her gaze.

“You were like that back in school too. Whenever someone asked you for something, you couldn’t refuse, and you always ended up taking on the hardest role.”

“You remember that…?”

Haruki nodded gently.

“Of course I do. That’s probably why I feel like I want to protect you even more.”

Those words spread a soft warmth through Sayo’s chest.

She did not have to force herself.

She felt that Haruki would accept her as she was.

There was that kind of reassurance whenever she was beside him.

Before she knew it, they were sitting on a bench near the station.

Haruki bought two cans of coffee and handed one to her.

“You take yours with sugar, right? You’ve always had a sweet tooth.”

“…Why do you remember so much?”

“Probably because I was paying attention to you.”

Their eyes suddenly met.

Flustered, Sayo quickly opened her can.

Her heart began beating faster.

But strangely, she did not dislike the feeling.

“…Thank you, Koyama.”

“Hm?”

“For stepping in earlier. I probably wouldn’t have been able to say anything on my own.”

“Of course I stepped in. There’s no way I could just stand by and watch when you were clearly uncomfortable.”

Haruki’s voice was low and calm, sinking gently into her heart.

That night, as Sayo lay beneath her blankets, what stayed in her mind was not the discomfort she had felt at Eita’s forcefulness—

It was the peaceful time she had spent with Haruki.

(…Maybe the place where I can really feel at ease is beside Koyama.)

The moment she thought that, she felt something soft and warm fill her chest.

It was a weekday morning.

The pharmacy was closed, and for the first time in a while, Sayo had a day off with no plans.

She sat leisurely at a café near the station with a book open in front of her.

But almost none of the words entered her mind.

Her thoughts kept returning to that night.

(Koyama… He really was paying attention to me.)

The sense of being protected.

His words and the way he had looked at her kept resurfacing in her heart again and again.

Before she knew it, a smile had appeared on her face, and she hurriedly hid it behind her cup.

“…Am I getting a little too carried away?”

She laughed quietly to herself.

And then—

A crowd passed by outside the café window.

Among them, Sayo spotted a familiar tall silhouette and instinctively stood up.

“…Koyama?”

There was no mistake.

Haruki was walking in his suit, holding a phone in one hand.

And beside him was a woman.

She was slender and elegant, with a composed air about her. Her long hair was tied back, and an intelligent smile rested on her face.

Walking next to Haruki, the two looked perfectly suited to each other from any angle.

They spoke while smiling, occasionally exchanging glances and nodding to one another.

They looked almost like partners who trusted each other completely.

Sayo’s chest tightened painfully.

“…Maybe she’s a coworker…”

She tried to tell herself that.

But she could not look away.

Haruki suddenly smiled.

It looked like the same smile he had given Sayo that night.

But now, that smile was directed at the woman beside him.

Her heart sank heavily.

Compared to herself, the woman looked sophisticated, mature, and self-assured.

(Someone like me… could never measure up.)

Sayo noticed that the hand holding her book was trembling.

She quickly stood up, paid her bill, and left the café with her head lowered.

The two disappeared into the crowd almost immediately.

Even so, the image she had seen remained burned into her mind.

Sayo could clearly feel the small confidence that had begun to grow inside her crumbling away.

At the beginning of the following week.

Sayo stood at the pharmacy counter dealing with customers, but her mind was somewhere else entirely.

The scene from that day—

Haruki walking beside that beautiful woman—

kept replaying in her mind.

(…What was I getting so carried away about?)

There was no reason someone like her would be special to him.

Every time she thought that, her chest ached.

During lunch break, she picked up her phone.

Several unread messages from Haruki were waiting.

《I’ve had one business trip after another, but things should calm down this week. Want to grab something to eat again?》

《How’ve you been?》

His messages were as kind as ever.

But Sayo could not bring herself to reply.

Her fingers froze above the screen before she finally turned the phone face down.

That evening after work.

By pure coincidence, she ran into Haruki near the station.

“Matsubara?”

Haruki smiled happily when he saw her.

That natural expression made her chest stir uneasily.

“You haven’t replied, so I was starting to worry.”

Sayo immediately looked away and gave him a vague smile.

“…I’ve just been a little busy.”

“I see. Then maybe next time—”

“Sorry, I’m in a hurry.”

She cut him off and quickly started walking away.

She sensed that Haruki was about to say something behind her, but she could not bring herself to turn around.

When she got home, the pain in her chest was almost unbearable.

(It’s not that I want to avoid him… But I’ll just end up comparing myself to that woman again.)

Clutching her phone, she stared at the screen.

The kind words from Haruki lined up there.

And yet, right now, they somehow felt very far away.

Haruki sat holding his phone and let out a sigh.

Several messages were still marked unread, with no reply beneath them.

(What’s going on, Matsubara…?)

Recently, she had stopped contacting him.

Even when they had run into each other at the station, she had hurried away.

He could have blamed it on her being busy—

But something about it still bothered him.

Between tasks at work, he found himself nearly collapsing over his desk as he thought about Sayo.

Her awkward but kind personality, unchanged since high school.

The relieved expression she had shown that night—

He was certain he had not imagined it.

(…Then why is she suddenly keeping her distance?)

Questions and anxiety swirled inside him.

Had he done something to make her dislike him?

Or—

Was there another man?

The moment that thought crossed his mind, the face of Eita Saito appeared.

The reunion night, when he had seen Eita exchanging contact information with Sayo.

Eita was a gym instructor, bright and sociable.

If anyone had an easier time creating more opportunities to see her than Haruki did, it might actually be Eita.

Uneasiness stirred deep inside his chest.

Haruki tightened his grip on his phone.

Again and again, he opened the message screen, only to close it without typing anything.

“…I need to meet her and talk.”

His quiet voice faded into the night office.

Was it all a misunderstanding?

Or was there really something going on?

Either way, Haruki knew he had to find out.