“Seven hundred… Eight hundred… Nine… Another thousand…”
Stacking the coins together in a messy pile, Mel slid the coins towards the other end of her desk, beyond the glow of her lamp, joining the other similarly sized piles. There were just a few coins left in front of her.
“Mel?”
She jumped upon hearing the voice, fumbling the coin under her fingers and lightly clattering it on the desk. Reluctantly, she turned her head to see her mother. Somehow, she didn’t hear her slide open her door.
“Oh? You’re counting money.” She wore a disappointed look on her face, but also looked genuinely curious as she tilted her chin up to look over Mel’s shoulders.
Mel hunched over her desk in response. “M— M— Mom!”
“I thought you were doing math homework. I was going to be so proud.”
“Wh— Why would I count my homework out loud?! I’m not a child! You know this!”
Mother crossed her arms and leaned on the door frame. She continued to look over Mel’s shoulder from where she stood at the doorway. Her expression was unusually tame. Neither troubled nor enraged. Which bothered Mel.
“Wh— What is it?”
“Mel… What are you trying to buy?”
“Na— Nothing!”
“If you need something for school, Mother can go out and buy it with you.”
“I said it’s nothing…! Why can’t I just count how much I have?!”
Mother continued to stare a little longer, eventually uncrossing her arms and reaching for the sliding door.
“Don’t spend all of your money, okay?”
“I’m— not… going to!”
As Mother slid the door shut, she briefly paused and ducked her head back in. “And do your homework,” she added before finally sliding it shut.
Mel stared at the doorway some time longer, silent with nothing but the buzzing of her lamp and the crickets of the night.
……
“You’re late.”
With her arms crossed over her textbook, head resting mouth deep behind her forearms, she stared up at Kai as he sat down at his desk in front of her.
He smiled. “Missed the train.”
“You know, for someone who’s such a bookworm, you’re surprisingly bad at getting to school in time.”
“For someone who doesn’t do their homework, you’re surprisingly sharp on time,” he echoed.
“Tanaka,” the teacher spoke up, interrupting his lesson. “I hope you’re not here to distract my students.”
“Yes, teacher.”
There were a few giggles from the other girls in the classroom.
More gruffly this time, he added, “Ishida, you too. Get your head off your textbook.”
Mel did not move, but eventually lifted her head without haste as the teacher stood still and silently stared at her, indicating he would not move on until she followed instructions. She rolled her eyes towards the hallway windows, resting her cheek on the palm of her hand instead. Her head continued to teeter over as the teacher resumed his droning, eventually bumping the cold window pane.
……
“What?”
Her friend was giving her a sly look. Mel knew she was up to no good.
“What was Tanaka saying to you in class?”
“When he was late today? Nothing funny.”
“Is that so…?”
“I told him he was late. And he just repeated what I said, like he always does, you know?”
The girl squatted down to retrieve her shoes, saying nothing else.
“Hey, Maeda, you have a walkman, right?”
She looked up from her cupboard. “Yeah, don’t you?”
“Yeah, but it’s a cheap one, you know? I wanted to compare them.”
“Ah, I don’t have it with me, sorry. Mother doesn’t let me bring it to school.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Sorry,” the girl apologised again, putting on her shoes.
“No, it’s okay. You’re coming to our game tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Great,” Mel chimed, moving towards the schoolyard. “See you then.”
“I can bring the walkman with me to the game!” Maeda called out after her.
“Uh… No, you don’t need to…! If it’s any trouble!”
“It’s no trouble!”
“Alright… If you say so!”
……
“What a lousy day.”
Resting the shaft of her umbrella on her shoulder, she kicked her shoe through a puddle.
“Aren’t you making it worse for yourself by doing that?” Kai jested in response.
“Doing what?”
“Playing with the puddles.”
“I’m already cold and wet all over. The puddles won’t change that.”
“It doesn’t help either.”
“Shut up.”
He simply shrugged. “Do you want to stop by Cafe Blue then?”
“I thought you wanted to look around at the shops.”
“The mall has some shops as well.”
Mel eyed him suspiciously. “I thought you preferred the street shops over the mall.”
“I do. But I can settle with those if you aren’t happy out in this rain.”
“This rain is fine.”
“You’re lying.”
“Hu— I’m not!”
“What were you saying?” he prodded. “About this lousy weather?”
“Lousy weather doesn’t mean I won’t stop complaining about it!”
“Yeah, yeah, for sure. I agree, you’re a complainer.”
Mel started to pout. “The only thing lousy is this loudmouth next to me!”
“Well, now, let’s go to Cafe Blue. I’ve convinced myself, just thinking about it.”
“Whatever you say.”
Turning the corner, they veered off the main street, diving into a sea of umbrellas.
“What shops are at the mall, anyway?” she asked. “I never really compared them.”
“Not too different, I don’t think. It’d just be nothing but window shopping, because everything at the mall is expensive.”
“Good. Then maybe you’ll stop spending so much money.”
He gave a good chuckle. “I don’t actually spend that much money.”
Reaching a crossroad, Kai pointed them in the right direction, taking a right turn through another pedestrian street that slowly ramped downhill.
“Are you working at the store tomorrow?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Are you?”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“Well, I mean, I can always call off.”
“Then you’re not earning any money that day.”
“Sometimes just gotta spend the day to yourself, you know?”
Kai rubbed the back of his head. “Geez, it’s not just about you. Now the other staff have to work twice as hard.”
“Hey! If they want to do the same and take off, I get it.” Mel protested. “What’s her name…? Hirano? Hirano does that all the time—”
“Oh, Hirano does that for sure,” he vividly concurred. “But Hirano is a bad example.”
“At least I don’t take off as often as Hirano, okay? It could be worse.”
“That’s a low bar to hold yourself to.”
Mel puffed up. “Well, it’s good enough for me, you know?”
“Right, right,” he said dismissively. “I’ll make up while you’re gone.”
“Well, if you’re going to be there tomorrow, then I’ll go in.”
“Huh? Just because I’m there?”
“No, you’re just a casual supervisor. I’d rather have that. Better you than that old hag.”
“Who?”
“Mrs. Nakano.”
“Hey now. Mrs. Nakano is nice.”
“No, she’s mean,” she insisted. “And bossy. Always telling me how a girl should behave.”
“Oh. Well… That, I can’t speak for.”
Reaching the subway station, they shook off their umbrellas and went down the stairs. As they stood by the tracks, waiting for the train, Kai hummed to himself.
“Hey, do you have your walkman?” he eventually asked.
Twisting her shoulder to bring her bag in front of her, she unzipped it. “Yeah.”
Kai started to fish for something in his pockets. “Great. I’ll show you the cassette I bought the other day.”
She stopped and eyed him. “Are you still buying more?”
He chuckled. “No, no. This is the one I wasn’t able to show you the other day.”
Pulling out her bright red, rounded walkman, she accepted the tape and slipped it in carefully. Putting on her headphones, she listened to it for some time, while Kai stood nearby, continuing to hum to himself.
“Not bad,” she said eventually, moving her headphones to her neck and pressing the pause button. “Just a bit too slow for me.”
“Huh? Even this is too slow?”
“Well, not too slow… But… Could be faster.”
He laughed. “Man, you’re hard to please!”
“Hey, don’t take it personally!”
“No, no…” Kai laughed, lifting a hand and waving it dismissively. “I’m only poking fun—”
In an instant, Mel grabbed her hat, holding it firm onto her head. Kai glanced over in surprise, freezing his arm in the air. Realising he was just waving it, Mel immediately dropped her arm. Her sharp glare darted away.
He exhaled a breathy laugh. “What was that?”
“I thought—” she stammered, turning red. “I thought you were…! going to do that again!”
Kai simply laughed for a moment before reaching up his hand again. “I mean… If you want…”
Mel subtly flinched, but this time gave him a light push, over and over again. “Stop it! Stop it!”
“Haha! Okay! Okay! Okay!”
Mel moved on to listen to the next track, stopping again once it finished.
“Mn,” she murmured, seeing Kai humming to himself. “Do you want to take a turn?”
“Hm? Oh, no. You go ahead and listen through all the way first.”
She raised her headphones half way up, keeping them there. “It’s just… you know… awkward when I’m the only one listening.”
“Isn’t it always like this? They can only take one set of headphones.”
Mel said nothing more, and slid the headphones back on. But she did not press the play button.
“You still don’t believe in getting your own walkman?” she finally asked.
Kai thought to himself. “I mean… Maybe one day. But, you know… It’s not a priority.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve got other things to save for.”
“Like what?”
With a witty smile, he didn’t let her on. “Other… things…”
She quickly grew impatient. “Like what?!”
His smile broke into a chuckle. “Why does that matter to you?”
“I’m just curious!”
“Is it going to be another one of those ‘saving money’ rants again?”
“No…!” she blurted, stuttering her breath. “Unless— It’s more cassettes!”
He prodded her with an elbow. “See, told you!”
“Geez,” she huffed, adjusting her headphones. “Since when were you ever sensitive about that?”