I sat on the swing, pulling myself back and forth. The park lights illuminated gently in the cool night around me. I had this brilliant idea to sneak up on her and say “Boo!” to see her fall on the ground and tremble but once I got here my nerves gave in and I couldn’t follow through with it.

Making that letter took way more courage than I could have imagined. When I placed it on her favorite table my hands were trembling. I don’t envy the girls in school who ask boys to meet them in secluded areas to pour out their hearts to them. They have the courage and just doing this I pray that all their love is recuperated.

“Hm?”

The crunch of grass echoed in the distance. As I lift my head, I saw the slender figure of…her. With her hands in her pockets, she stepped closer and passed me, sitting on the swing next to me.

“Quite the letter you made there.”

Koda-san smiled. Nothing could break that ghostly grin of hers. It’s like porcelain, pristine, flawless…but ever so fake.

“How could I just leave you out here in the night alone. Ayumi would kill me if she found out that I didn’t show up. You…twisted my arm there, Madoka-san.”

“S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.”

Koda-san giggled.

“No, I think you did. You put me in a place where I had to follow your whims this time. Interesting.”

She gazed at me, but I couldn’t do the same. My body grew warm just thinking about meeting eyes with her.

“At least I have another treasure from you. ♥ ”

That was it, the last straw that had to be broken for my courage to pour out. I stood up and turned to her. The swing pushed away violently as I shouted.

“Stop it!”

“Hm?”

“Koda Mari-san, you…make me…uncomfortable.”

Koda-san’s face didn’t’ beam that perfect smile of hers. No, the opposite. She frowned, more than I’ve ever seen on her face. A ping of guilt wailed up in my stomach. I almost caved but I mustered up my courage and continued.

“B-But the reason why you make me feel this way is...because I don’t know how you see me, Koda-san.”

That was all I could say as I gasped for air.

“…And I sincerely believe you wouldn’t do anything to hurt my mom.”

Koda-san mumbled softly then looked up at me. It was a strange sensation because usually, it’s the other way around.

“Madoka-san…”

“As you know, I can’t remember when we first met. I can’t understand the level of our relationship with one another.”

My voice began to shake as I pressured on.

“All I know so far is that you use to call me Madoka-san and that you talked about me a lot to Hana-san.”

The fox put her head down and didn’t speak for a moment.

“I see…So, I really have come off as…creepy this entire time to you…”

She bit her lip and bitterly whispered to herself.

“Smooth move…dumbass…”

Koda-san nodded as she looked back up.

“So, what do you want to know then?”

“How…close were we, Koda-san?”

Koda-san’s smile didn’t return as she took a deep breath.

“You and I weren’t friends or anything. You were my coworker’s daughter and I was your mother’s friend.”

She adjusted her dress and turned back to me.

“I would take your mom home and chat with you until I was sure if she were okay. Then you’d let me out. Sometimes you made me snacks with how often I’d come home stringing your mom on my back.”

She gazed up into the night sky still without a smile to her face.

“Small talk was enough for you to open up to me and eventually I started calling you Madoka-san. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Was that really all there was to it? There was something…off about what she was saying. Only then did I remember what my mom said earlier in the afternoon.

But…why would Koda-san be lying to me? Why wouldn’t she want to tell me the truth?

I felt that if I explored this question, I might arrive at an answer I don’t want to come to. But my lips started moving on their own. It seemed that even though my mind didn’t want to bring it up…my heart did instead.

“But Koda-san…Mom told me that you said...

 “Madoka-san is special to me...”