Out of all the people I could have run into, she was the last on the list.

I had worked so hard these past few days to improve the version of myself from the past, and in a way, even if in small steps, I was actually succeeding. But she managed to throw all my progress in the trash in an instant.

Our eyes met and I began to feel a kind of discomfort inside me that took me back in time.

Her gaze wasn't serene either. She, like me, hadn't expected such an encounter after so long.

She hadn't changed much. She was just taller and, physically, more grown-up.

I immediately recognized her delicate face framed by long black hair, dominated by two eyes that reminded me of the blue of the night. Her features, the slender nose and lips neither too thin nor too full, left no room for doubt. It was her.

Of course, her way of dressing had changed too; her faded shorts and shirts with little patches had been replaced by fashionable clothes. She wore a light blue shirt with a small neckline, a blue jacket matching her eyes, and shorts in a darker shade of blue with long stockings underneath.

Chika-san and Yuto-kun, who had meanwhile approached the door, looked at each other in confusion. They didn't understand the reason for our reaction. What the girl did next ended up throwing me off too.

"Hi. I'm Harada Euiko."

She said with a calm and annoyed air at the same time. Why had she introduced herself as if we didn't know each other? I almost voiced the question out loud. She certainly didn't want them to know that we actually knew each other, but the reason was unknown to me.

Maybe she didn't want them to know about our past, or that she was shocked to have found me in that house. Maybe she had preferred to pretend she'd never had anything to do with me to avoid awkward questions. I had to admit that, unlike me, she knew how to hide it well.

One thing I was sure of: she was really annoyed by my presence. It comforted me to know the feeling was mutual. Actually, between the two of us, I was almost certainly the more annoyed one. It came naturally to me to call her by her real name, but it would have been strange since she had introduced herself to me as a stranger. So, even though I was panicking, I decided to play along with the act she had put on.

The only thing that managed to give me courage was Yuto-kun's presence nearby.

"C...c...hi, I'm Maeda Ayame."

My voice trembled like the previous evening, but for a very different and much more serious reason. In front of me stood the person because of whom I had started distrusting others. She was the friend who had turned her back on me back in middle school.

"Hey Euiko, what are you doing here?"

Yuto-kun asked, turning to the girl. That sentence confused me even more. He had called her by her first name so naturally, so they must have known each other for a while or, at the very least, had a good relationship.

"I couldn't come to the hospital these days, so since Chika was heading back, I asked if I could come with her. But I didn't think you'd be hanging out with a girl at home... alone..."

I saw Yuto-kun hastily run a hand through his hair. Maybe, before someone pointed it out explicitly, he hadn't noticed. Or maybe he had paid attention, and the mere fact that someone had described the situation out loud embarrassed him. Somehow, seeing him embarrassed made me agitated too, even though nothing remarkable had happened.

"Don't talk nonsense. She's a friend of mine. We were celebrating my discharge from the hospital. That's all." he blurted out, almost as if apologizing for something he didn't need to explain. Even though we weren't anything more than that, the word 'friend' made me feel guilty for even thinking that the evening could have been a pretext for something else.

"I see." she said, slightly furrowing her eyebrows and letting her gaze wander from Yuto-kun to me.

"Sorry, you said you came here to see me, but how do you plan to get back home?"

"I'm obviously sleeping here," she said curtly.

"We don't have an extra bed," Yuto-kun hurried to add.

"We'll share the futon," she said undeterred, not giving up her air of superiority.

"What? I'll sleep comfortably in my bed. Just because we're cousins doesn't mean you can treat me however you want."

Cousins? I wondered, hoping I'd heard wrong. Alas, I hadn't. Yuto-kun had really called her his cousin. The girl who had stabbed me in the back was related to my current and only friend. I told myself it couldn't get any worse.

"Well guys, why don't we come inside instead of standing on the doorstep?" said Chika-san to everyone present, even though I wanted to get as far away as possible. It was one thing to commit myself to trying to improve the character I'd always had; it was another to have to deal with a living part of my past again. I was definitely not ready or strong enough to face this last situation. Trying to keep my distance, I decided to say goodbye and head to my house, next door:

"Sorry guys... I have things to do at home before my aunt gets back." I said. It was a blatantly false statement. Even if I had chores to do, since I literally lived a few steps away, I could have started them a little later. Euiko, seeing me walk away, cleared her throat.

"Why don't you stay too? I'm curious to learn more about my cousin's friend."

Sure... right. Since we knew each other, I didn't understand the reason for her request. Maybe she wanted to know what kind of relationship there was between us. After all, she was his cousin, I was his neighbor and friend of his sister, so it would have been normal if she wanted to know more about me.

"Sorry, but I really can't. Maybe another time."

"Fine... next time, then."

I moved toward my front door, pulled out the keys from my bag, inserted them into the lock, and entered, closing the door behind me.

Once inside, I let out all the stress I had accumulated. My legs couldn't hold the weight of my body anymore, and slowly, sliding my back down the door, I sat on the floor. I began to lose myself in my thoughts.

What will she tell Yuto-kun?

Why of all people, her?

And now what will I do?

For an instant, my trust in Yuto-kun began to waver. I couldn't stop thinking about what his cousin might tell him. Given her family bond with Yuto-kun, she would surely manage to persuade him somehow and make him believe things that weren't true, just as she had done in the past...

Like a flash, the day at the park came back to my mind. "You won't be alone anymore." His words had been simple and clear. He was different from other people; he knew the weight I carried, and I knew his. Thinking back to that was enough to calm me down and bring me back to earth.

"Come on, let's start preparing something for dinner."

-From Yuto-kun-

After Ayame-san left, the three of us went inside to talk more calmly. The scene from earlier had left me quite confused. When my cousin and Ayame-san had seen each other, they had assumed a strange expression. It was the first time they'd met, but I could sense a kind of tension in the air. While Chika was preparing tea, Euiko and I sat at the kitchen table to talk about her real plans:

"So, do you really intend to sleep here tonight?"

"Yes."

"And what about school?"

"Don't worry about that. With my grades, I can afford it. Besides, I've decided to change schools."

Meanwhile, my big sister had poured tea into our cups and sat down at the table with us to join the conversation.

"Oh, I didn't know that."

"I decided recently."

"And which school are you thinking of going to? Have you looked around yet? Found any you like?" I asked while drinking my cup of tea.

"Yours, obviously." she said with a perfect smile. The tea went down the wrong pipe.

"What? Why?" I said, coughing.

"What do you mean why? You just got out of the hospital. What if something happened to you while you were alone and no one could help you?"

"There are teachers."

"I'm talking about less educational situations. Knowing you, I know you keep everyone at a distance to avoid getting attached to anyone. I doubt you have many friends."

"Well, there's Ayame-san," said Chika-san, butting into the conversation.

Euiko's expression darkened a bit after hearing that. "The girl from earlier?"

"Yes. They're in the same class."

"And does she know about your situation?" she said, turning to me.

"Yes. I was with her when I felt unwell. She was the one who called for help. I didn't want to tell her, but in the end I had to."

"So... you're very close?" Her face darkened even more. I couldn't understand the reason for that sudden change in expression. A doubt came to me. What if they already knew each other and were pretending otherwise? I started thinking about possible connections, and only one came to mind: what if they had gone to middle school together?

That would explain the reactions the two girls had had in front of the house door. Maybe Euiko was one of the people who bullied her. It was an unkind thought toward Euiko, but the more I thought about it, the less far-fetched the idea seemed. I decided to ask:

"Hey, do you and Ayame-san know each other?"

I read surprise in Euiko's eyes, but she answered my question promptly, without hesitation.

"No. It was the first time. We even introduced ourselves." she said, slightly averting her gaze suspiciously.

More or less, I could tell when she was lying, but I decided to pretend I hadn't noticed. It could also be that I was wrong and that really was their first meeting.

It would be better that way. I didn't want my cousin and my friend to be enemies, nor did I want to take sides. Anyway, I decided I would ask Ayame the same questions.

"Well, since you have to stay here, go take a bath," said Chika to our cousin, unaware that, on her way to the bathroom, she would stop in my room and take my cell phone without permission to get Ayame-san's contact.