The "Hinamata-Specific Ice Age" continues for a solid week. Aiwa is a master of selective interaction. She is a warm, friendly, and engaged member of our little group. She laughs at Kenji's stupid jokes, discusses cosplay techniques with Haruka and Rina, and talks about cute cafes with Hana and Miki. She is the perfect friend to everyone.
Except me.
To me, she is a ghost. She avoids my gaze. She positions people between us. If I ask her a direct question, she gives a polite, one-word answer and then immediately turns to someone else to start a new conversation. It is a subtle, masterful, and deeply confusing form of social torture. And it is driving me insane.
Rina and Haruka are having a field day. "It seems your charms have worn off, Onii-chan," Rina says with fake sympathy. "I guess she finally realized who the superior sibling is."
But behind Aiwa's wall of shy, embarrassed silence, a plan is forming. She cannot continue like this. Ignoring me is just making things more awkward. The not-knowing is a constant, humming anxiety in the back of her mind. She has the photograph. She has the suspicion. She needs proof. But a direct confrontation is too terrifying. She needs a pretext. A safe, neutral ground where she can probe for information without the pressure of a direct question.
Our common ground. 'Starlight Paladin.'
The opportunity comes on a Friday. As the final bell rings and everyone is packing up, she takes a deep, steadying breath. After a week of actively ignoring me, she has to force herself to do the one thing she has been desperately avoiding: talk to me. She walks over to my desk, her movements stiff with nervousness.
"H-Hinamata-kun," she stammers, her eyes fixed on a point somewhere over my left shoulder.
I look up, completely floored that she is initiating a conversation. "Matsuki-san? Are you… talking to me?"
Her face flushes a brilliant red. "Yes. I was wondering," she begins, her voice a soft, nervous whisper. "I saw online that there is a cafe in Shinjuku. It is doing a limited-time… 'Starlight Paladin' collaboration menu."
My otaku heart immediately leaps with interest, momentarily overriding my confusion. "No way! A collab cafe? For a show that old? That is amazing!"
"Yes," she says, a small, relieved smile touching her lips that I am actually talking to her. "I was thinking of going this weekend. To… to do research. For inspiration." She finally meets my eyes, her own wide with a hopeful, terrified plea. "I was wondering if you would… like to go with me? Since you are also a fan. Just for research, of course."
I am completely blindsided. An invitation. After a full week of being treated like a ghost. My internal monologue is a screaming mess. Is it a date?! Is it a trap?! Is it an interrogation?! What do I do?! She ignores me for a week and then asks me out?! What is her game?!
My own desperate curiosity to understand what is going on in her head overrides all my panic. This is my chance to figure out why she has been acting so weird.
"Yeah," I say, trying to sound cool and casual, as if this is a totally normal occurrence. "Sure. That sounds fun. For research."
A brilliant, beautiful smile of pure relief breaks across her face. "Great! Is Saturday okay?"
We exchange contact information to arrange the details, an act that feels both mundane and monumentally significant. As she walks away, a new, nervous energy buzzing around her, I am left at my desk, my mind reeling. I have a date. A research date. With the girl who is secretly a cosplay goddess, who might also be my long-lost childhood fiancée, and who has spent the last seven days acting like I am a contagious disease.
My weekend is going to be anything but relaxing.