Matchmaker

Chapter 13

Hana had never asked me to hang out with her alone before, not to say that we weren't close. She was just the kind of person who invited everyone at every opportunity, who thrived when she was enveloped in friends. So, I was rather stunned but pleased when Hana asked me to walk with her after school several days after our jaunt to the karaoke parlor. "Just you and me," she said with glowing red cheeks.

I recommended the café to which Ai took me the night we met. Out of sentimentality, I even led us to the same booth. In daylight, I could see the sakura tree through the window and the bench across the street.

Hana and I ordered our tea, and I shook off my memories of Ai to properly assess the girl in front of me. Shoulders scrunched, she fiddled with her napkin and mumbled to herself for a little while, evidently mustering up the courage to speak. I decided to lay back for a bit, but when our drinks had arrived with no progress to be had, I ventured, "Is this about Taiki?"

The name elicited a small squeak. She trembled. I disliked agreeing with Misami when she was being obtrusive, but it was painful to watch. "Yes," Hana replied at last.

"It's alright. Take a moment to calm down. Drink your tea," I said.

She nodded, pressing the cup to her lips. The redness of her face trickled out like the drainage of a swamp. I had wondered why she was especially quiet all throughout the day, but now I could only marvel at how she had kept such intense emotion pent up for so long.

"It's about what Misami pulled, isn't it?" I continued. "You shouldn't worry about all that. I actually wanted to apologize for not stepping in."

"No—I mean, it's not your fault, but don't—don't you think she's right? I'm not very—I'm not good at... you know..."

"Dating?"

"Yeah. Dating. Taiki's dated girls before, but I get so—so flustered!" I hadn't known Hana's voice could soar so high. "I don't like... I don't want him to touch me. That sounds so bad, doesn't it?"

No one had ever come to me for romantic advice before. Not to my face, that is. I felt vindicated, like what Katsu said the night previous ("not the kind of person concerned with romance") had been disproven. At the same time, the pressure had been added to my increasingly hefty load. I didn't want to give her bad advice. Not again. What would Ai say? The thought repelled me, and I didn't know why. I wouldn't want her to give Hana advice. Stop thinking about Ai.

"If that's how you feel, it can't be bad," I said. "He didn't want to date anyone but you. You can't possibly disappoint him. I mean, he's probably been fantasizing about dating you for almost a year. It's not like he'd get tired of you in a week."

"But you said" She stopped, fists balled in her lap, gaze averted.

"I said...?"

"That I should, you know, be assertive and..." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Seduce him."

"When did I ever tell you that?" I asked, half-laughing, half-horrified.

"In your letter," Hana replied quietly.

In my letter. In my letter? Letter. Only one letter came to mind. Matchmaker. My thoughts pinged around like a pinball in a machine. Letter. Matchmaker. Hana.

Mortification cracked me open like an egg on the pavement. The heat my face was producing could keep the entire city of Sapporo warm through a long winter. "You knewYou knew?" It was my turn to be a sputtering mess.