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“It’s not so bad,” Chie said, looking around their tree house. “I mean, everyone else is too short to fit in it. Except for Rise-chan, maybe?”
“I like it,” Naoto said. The summer heat made the brim of her hat unbearably itchy, so she set it on the ground.
Chie rubbed her hands together. She scratched her leg, and let out a little gasp when she saw a green-breasted bird flit from one window to another. Naoto considered buying a mesh of some sort to keep the pests out. Maybe she’d buy mosquito netting when the construction of the tree house was complete. Or whenever she had money again. The custom-shaped motion-sensor doors had been an expense.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing that you made it look like this,” Chie said. “And, um, it’s not like anything went wrong here! But, well…”
“Hmm?”
“Did you have to make it look like a mecha crashed into the tree?”
“It’s my backyard,” Naoto said. “I am exercising my legal right to make do with my property in whatever way I care to.”
“The neighbors are going to complain again.”
“The neighbors complain about everything.”
“Oh my god, do you remember that time they asked us to stop cooking?” Chie said, apparently not remembering the neighbors had directed that particular request at Chie only. She rolled around on the rough, unfinished ground, gripping her hair in irritation. A carpet would have to go on the floor sometime after the roof was finished and the walls sealed. Something of the sort.
Sweat dripped into Naoto’s eyes again. Her bangs flipped back over her forehead. She brushed her hair out of her eyes. Chie said that she liked Naoto’s hair short, and Naoto agreed on terms of practicality. It seemed as though they were not so much of the same opinions as they were of similar tastes and goals, even if the path they took to the goals hardly ever crossed. Naoto let out a sigh; rolled up her sleeves, and frowned at the sweat. Everything was damp and hot and damp, and if she wasn’t careful, a family of termites or wood-killers would find their way into the cracks. She’d have to prepare for that.
“You’re staring,” Naoto said to Chie.
“I like the way you look when you’re thinking,” Chie said, and Naoto’s cheeks went hot. Chie smiled at Naoto, crooked and toothy, and, tapping one of the blueprints, said, “Hey, if you connected some lasers in here, this would be a pretty cool UFO.”
“No.”
“But—”
“It’s not a UFO,” Naoto said, her goodwill towards Chie vanishing. She raised her hand to her heart, and then extended it into the air. “It’s better than a UFO. This is a Gundam.”
There was a little pause. Chie stared at the blueprint, over at Naoto, and then said, “I don’t know why I live with you sometimes.”