The evening moments on the balcony with Twenty-five-san were still continuing.

After finishing my part-time job, I would go out to the balcony to cool off, and sometimes I would run into her smoking a cigarette on the neighboring balcony, looking pensive.

"Good evening~. Thank you for your hard work."

"Good evening."

In the convenience store, there are the roles of customer and clerk.

We don't exchange any words other than the usual set phrases.

But here, we're neighbors. We can talk normally.

For a while, we would have a rambling conversation.

The content is really trivial. Stories about the books we have read recently, or the places we have been to. Or about what we would do if the city were overrun by zombies.

A conversation like smoke, something I'd forget by tomorrow.

Even so, there were times when we would talk about school.

"Clerk-san, have you made any friends since then?"

"Not at all. At the point when it couldn't be done in April, it was already quite tough. By the time Golden Week is over, the relationships will already be established. It's almost game over."

"Even in the bottom of the ninth, with two outs, a comeback might still be possible, right?"

"It might be. But the person has no intention of stepping up to the plate anymore. I've gotten so used to being alone."

"So, are you still a loner, Clerk-san?"

"I'm still the same."

"Hehe. I see."

She occasionally asks me if I have made any friends at school, as if she suddenly remembers, and I always answer that I haven't.

Then she shows a somewhat pleased expression. As if she were wishing for me to be alone. Is it that she has a taste for the sweetness of others' misfortune? However, I myself don't think I'm particularly unfortunate.

"Even so, it's impressive that you go to school every day without taking a break."

"I feel like if I take a break once, I won't be able to go anymore. Besides, I don't have anyone to borrow notes from for the class."

If I take a break even once, I won't be able to keep up with the classes. I can't just take a break so easily. I have to crawl to school if I have to.

"Then, what kind of high school student was Twenty-five-san?"

"I am not a morning person and just can't get up, so I was always late every day. Every once in a while, when I did arrive on time, the teacher was surprised."

"That's quite something."

"If I am late or absent eight times, I will lose the right to receive a designated school recommendation. I had it revoked in mid-April of my first year."

"In April of the following year. That's early."

"At that time, it was the fastest, and I think it probably still hasn't been broken. That said, it's not something I can take pride in at all."

"If it were a club with morning practices, it must have been tough for you."

"Hehe. That's right. I might have been fired early on."

"Did you join any clubs or anything?"

"Do you think I wasn't in any club, Clerk-san?"

"Not what club you were in, but what club you weren't in, right?"

"It's MineSweeper. If you guess the club I was in and it explodes, which club do you think would be the safest?"

"...Maybe basketball. Softball seems fine too."

"Hmm, hmm. I look like that to Clerk-san, huh?"

"At least, I don't think you are from the sports club. Then you wouldn't be smoking a cigarette right now."

"Just because I'm in the sports club doesn't mean I have a reason to smoke now, does it? Isn't it true that more people from sports clubs have smoked since their teenage years?"

"Now that you mention it, that might be true. Baseball club, soccer club, and so on. Then, what's the correct answer?"

"If you guess it right, I will tell you."

"But if this is MineSweeper, it explodes if you hit it, right? What happens if it explodes?"

"Well, you know... Shall I blow some cigarette smoke in your face?"

"That's subtly annoying."

She smiled faintly, and with her fingertips, she tapped the ash from her cigarette into the ashtray.

"But, if a serious Clerk-san were to date someone like me, who was a delinquent student, I might have a bad influence on you."

"You might think I'm serious, but I'm not really. Back in middle school, I even skipped school sometimes."

"When you were in middle school, that was before you started living alone, right? If you skipped school, didn't your parents scold you?"

"I made sure not to get caught. I pretend to go to school in the morning, and when it's time for school to end, I come back home with a face that looks like I've just finished school."

"But won't that mean you will get calls at home?"

"That's why I disconnected the phone line at home in advance. So that it can't be connected. Also, on days when I have gym class, I come home with my gym clothes a bit dirty."

"Hehe. You were quite the strategist, weren't you?"

Twenty-five-san laughed happily. While making a small sound in her throat. In her adult-like demeanor, a hint of youthful innocence peeked through for that moment.

I thought it was nice that someone would laugh at my story. That's why everyone at school might be trying to make friends.

After that, we chatted aimlessly for a while again, and somehow the conversation drifted to where we eat during lunch breaks.

I talked about the back of the special building. A deserted place overgrown with weeds. I always eat lunch there.

"I used to use that place often, too."

"Is that so?"

"It's a place where no one comes, and I can relax. For me, that place was a deserted place where I could escape when I didn't feel like talking to anyone."

I was happy to know that she had used the same place. She, too, had once drifted and washed up on that place. I felt a sense of connection, or something like that.

"Indeed. Well, it's not a deserted place for me, though."

"What do you mean?"

"The homeroom teacher sometimes comes by. That person also knows that place. Sometimes we have lunch together."

I said it while remembering Koharu-sensei. She came to the isolated place where I am, revealed a side of herself she doesn't show on the surface, and then left.

"Hmm. Is that person a woman?"

"Well, yeah..."

"Is she a young person?"

"She said she was in the second year."

"...Hmmm~"

After a brief silence, Twenty-five-san let out a long sound like a mosquito buzzing. Leaning on the railing with her chin resting on her hand, she exhaled a puff of cigarette smoke.

That expression seemed somewhat bored.

"Eh? Did I say something weird?"

"Never mind. I just assumed you didn't have anyone to talk to. Oh. You're not completely alone, are you?"

"Even so, I only talk to that sensei during lunch break. Because we're not friends, I'm still alone."

"But, having lunch with a young teacher, isn't that enviable?"

"Was it better to be completely alone?"

"It would have been better that way. I wanted Clerk-san to not speak to anyone all day, but still put on a brave face as if it didn't bother you."

"What is that?"

Am I being too twisted? I thought. But then I thought, only twisted people would live in this rundown apartment.

And since I am next door to her, I too must be twisted in my own way.

Chapter 6: A Twisted Person