Oregairu: Reappearance

Chapter 19: The sweet, the cheerful, the spicy and the dreadful

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In the midst of the scorching summer sun, the heat irritated our skin. Especially in my case, wearing a long sleeve shirt in summer of all seasons. Fortunately, it didn't make too much of an impact as we were veiled by the umbrella. I'd never let Komachi be hurt by the sun.

The pacing of our footsteps complemented each other as we walked. We continued like this, the many cars surrounding us proved that we were near until finally, the sight of a large building came into view. It seemed to only increase in size as we approached.

At the entrance, I saw two women idly standing still, both on their phones, they seemed completely uncaring of the surroundings. Both were dressed reasonably modestly, whilst being comfortable clothing.

One of them wore a lemon beige dress with a white belt. While the other wore a white t-shirt, with lemons embedded on its front, wearing a white and blue striped bag, and a striking pink mask on her face.

Then, one of them lifted her head and coincidentally shot a glimpse in my direction. After that, she seemed to have looked at me with her full attention. She poked the other one and then looked back at us, waving her hand while doing so. She then removed her mask to reveal a bright smile.

"Hikki!"

We walked closer, the distance between us shortening when they walked to us as well.

"Yahallo Yui-san, thanks for waiting"

"Yahallo, Komachi-chan"

The three of them exchanged greetings with the same term. "Yahallo", what does it even mean? To this day, I still pondered how it was created. Could I perhaps have Atago whisper this in my ear?

"Yahallo, Hikki"

"Uh, yeah, you too"

Unable to properly say it in the way she expected, she could've given me a sulky reaction, but no, she stayed the same.

(As someone who's tolerated me this far, I guess she's the same as Komachi now...)

They continued to excitedly chat with each other. The trendy clothes that they planned to wear and the cafés they wished to go to. Even with barely any distance between us, their conversation entered my ear and escaped out the other.

I slowly looked at our surroundings. Under those conditions, no one would stay out here for too long, so the only ones in view either entered the building or exited it.

I kept looking around blankly with no real purpose, I wasn't sure myself why I kept doing it. Wrong, I'll retract that statement. I wasn't clueless at all as the answer was surely at the back of my mind, waiting to be dug out. I just couldn't put my finger on it. My eyes squinted and the words in my mind slowly formed a question.

(Are we short of one?)

Then it hit me. I looked around, once again, just to confirm it. No, I've fully confirmed, no one matched the descriptions...she wasn't here. I wasn't sure of what to do, should I have pointed it out? Was it something that didn't need to be said?

I finally focused on the three of them, I was looking up and down, side to side. I couldn't look them dead in the eye and ask. My lips occasionally parted, to form the question, but, they would close again. I may have started making faint noises. I looked at Yuigahama, in spite of that, I was still hesitating...why?

I was about to make another noise and to get her notice, until Komachi raised her finger to eye level and asked Yuigahama:

"Umm, Yui-san, where's Yukino-san?"