[Short Story] The Same Can Badge [Short-Short]

Yano and I had been talking about games almost every day since we became second-year high school students.

Game shops after school, lending and borrowing strategy guides, reporting on how far we'd progressed at home.

It wasn't like we were a boy and a girl in that sense.

The morning we went to the Tokyo Game Show was the same.

On the train, we sat side by side, spreading a game magazine out on our laps. Yano held the middle of the page down with her finger.

I'm definitely playing this new release.

You're bad at fighting games, though.

I'm not. You're just the one who keeps using the same move.

It was our usual banter.

Even though we had come so far, it didn't feel particularly special that it was Yano sitting next to me.

When we arrived at the venue, I was suddenly exhausted by the sheer number of people.

Even so, Yano's eyes lit up every time she found a line for a demo station.

As our turn approached, she tied her hair back with the black rubber band she wore on her wrist. It was a strangely serious face she made before playing a game.

When I saw her profile, I froze for a moment.

She was the same Yano as always, but she looked like a girl I didn't know.

What?

Nothing.

You look like you've already lost before the match even starts.

I do not.

I retorted, but my voice sounded a little strange.

Yano looked at me without smiling, still holding the controller.

That pause felt somehow embarrassing.

Just past noon, we sat at the edge of the break area.

When I shared some of the yakisoba I bought, Yano said "just a little" and then ate quite a bit.

"I wonder if we should have invited Taguchi today, too."

Yano said, still looking at the paper plate.

My chest felt strangely cold.

Taguchi is good at games and tall, too. Maybe Yano actually wanted to come with Taguchi.

"Then you should invite him next time."

I intended to say it normally.

Yano went silent.

Only the sounds of the venue passed between the two of us.

"……That was a lie."

"Huh?"

"I just wanted to see what kind of face you'd make."

Yano bit down on the straw and looked away.

I didn't know what to say either, so I just stared at the green seaweed on the yakisoba.

"Cut that out."

"Why?"

"Just because."

On the train ride home, Yano gave me a small paper bag.

Inside was one of the pin badges we had received at the venue.

"I have two of the same one."

"Why two?"

"I don't know. I realized I had two before I knew it."

As he said that, Yano looked out the window.

The next day, after much hesitation, I attached it to my bag and went to the classroom, and Yano's bag had the same pin badge attached to it too.

When our eyes met, Yano pursed his lips just a little.

"Don't copy me."

But you were the one who gave it to me first.

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