A response straight out of a social etiquette example. Perry placed her hand on the elbow of the man who was a head taller than her and began walking. Despite the pouring rain blurring her vision, not even a shoulder got wet. Her peach-colored lips, which she had reapplied seven times just hours earlier, curved slightly upward.

The theater was less than 20 minutes from Perry’s home. The staff guided them to the best seats in the theater. They were close enough to potentially make eye contact with the actors. The play Perry had chosen had a particularly small gap between the stage and audience.

“It must have been difficult to get front row tickets.”

“It wasn’t difficult. ……How is it?”

“Hm? It’s good, I’ll be able to see better.”

Vague outlines and quite distinct colors. Orchestral sounds filling the space between.

As the house lights dimmed and the actors took the stage, a low voice tickled Perry’s ear.

“There’s a red tapestry on the left wall. It’s embroidered with a woman playing a lyre in gold thread. The person entering from the right is wearing white priestly robes. Looks like a bishop.”

Perry immediately understood what the man was trying to do. She couldn’t not know.

“Are you…… providing commentary?”

“Ah, yes. It will be inadequate. ……If it’s not distracting.”

Some theaters provided one-on-one commentators for plays, but competition was fierce. Some older theater companies didn’t offer commentary at all. From the moment Perry decided to watch a play with someone else, she had resigned herself to missing some details. After all, she was focusing more on who she was watching with rather than the play itself.

But her companion……

“‘Feline’ deliberately broke her finger—her index finger. She’s prowling around the banquet, intentionally displaying that hand.”

Concise and accurate explanations. Perfect timing with commentary between scenes. Perry knew this meticulous narration couldn’t have been easily prepared. Between scene changes, their previously one-sided gazes perfectly intersected.

“This play—have you seen it?”

“Once.”

In the darkness, his blue eyes appeared either deep gray or black like Perry’s. Even after the act changed, the man’s commentary continued. Though the listener’s mind was completely elsewhere.

The fists neatly placed on her knees twitched. Perry clasped her hands tightly together, took a deep breath, and bit her lip. The more she realized how thoroughly he had prepared the commentary, the more her eyes burned. At the same time…… she couldn’t focus because of his different scent.

It wasn’t just the perfume. His much brighter attire than usual—though still a similar suit—his neatly styled hair—though he generally maintained a tidy appearance—the stiff new gloves that were clearly recently purchased……

All those subtle preparations—perhaps Perry wasn’t the only one who spent the morning fussing. Searching through closets, browsing department stores, sighing deeply—perhaps these weren’t experiences unique to her alone……

Perry wanted to believe that. Even if the man always omitted the most important words.

Could the profile of someone who left more than ten years ago still make her heart flutter like this? Perry gave a short, mocking laugh.

Hatred, affection, anxiety, anticipation, disappointment, joy. Emotions whose original forms she couldn’t even gauge. He hid so much from Perry—yet gave so much too, easily keeping his mouth shut while being this kind.

Perry’s heart was no different from the girl who used to bite her lips and lie awake at night.

She wanted to be something to him, and in moments like these, she felt like she was indeed something. If not, if Perry Humble wasn’t something to him—

“If you’ve seen this play before, you should have said so. We could have watched something else.”

“I watched it in advance because I was going to see it with you.”

“……Like at the photo exhibition?”

“Yes.”

How should this kindness be defined?

Yet he never initiates the words Perry wants to hear. But perhaps, today……

※※※

Perry waited. While discussing the weather, recently eaten food, and upcoming plays, she waited for him to open the conversation first.

“Has anything been happening with you, Jin?”

“Me? Just the usual.”

The main speaker was still Perry Humble.

Perry thought about what she knew but the man hadn’t mentioned. As she sat by the window seat the man had reserved at the restaurant, glancing sideways at the coincidentally open window, she continued.

The food was flawlessly perfect, as was the man’s approach to the date. The chandelier light brightly illuminated their surroundings, and the sound of rain added to the atmosphere.

“Was the theater uncomfortable for you?”

“No, not particularly?”

“You didn’t feel… confined or anything?”

A cautious voice. Perry nodded while swallowing a mushroom that had already been cut into bite-sized pieces.

“I’m used to theaters.”

“How was the play?”

“I wasn’t really watching it.”

“Oh… Was it boring? The commentary was probably inadequate—”

“Jin.”

She didn’t want to hesitate anymore.

“Don’t you have something you want to tell me?”

Ah, lips opening too hastily. Perry added one more sentence before the man could complete his lie.

“Could you swear to Witch Isobel about the answer you’re about to give?”

Witch Isobel, guardian of truth and romance. A name traditionally invoked, like linking pinky fingers and pressing thumbs together, when declaring only the truth.

Turbulent silence. The two faced each other without moving their cutlery or shaking their glasses.

The man, unskilled at lying, was readily caught in the interrogation. Or perhaps he had always intended to tell her, but the timing kept getting pushed back.

“I, to you, Humble……”

Perry thought the other person was excessively nervous. She hadn’t meant to frighten him. His clouded blue eyes were as gloomy as a late summer tsunami.

“It sounds like an excuse…… but I never intended to keep deceiving you like this.”

“What?”

“At first I was just going to send a fan letter and leave it at that, but then you replied. I’m not blaming you, Humble, of course not. Obviously, apologizing a hundred times wouldn’t be enough—”

“Ah, that’s right.”

A monotonous, casual tone. A voice lighter than someone who just realized they left the refrigerator door open. In contrast to the pale man, Perry waved her hand with an excessively relaxed attitude.

“Forget about that. I knew from the beginning.”

“……From the beginning?”

“You hid it, so I pretended not to know. I won’t apologize.”

They were even—the man who pretended to be an unrelated fan with a changed surname, and Perry who feigned ignorance despite knowing his identity. No, in fact, Perry thought the man’s fault was heavier if weighing right and wrong. However, she didn’t consider that weight serious enough to measure right now.

“You knew, you knew……”

“If you thought I couldn’t recognize your handwriting—you really must think I’m stupid.”

“No, that’s, that’s not it, of course……”

“Not that.”

“Not that?”

“Whether as pen pals or dating partners, there must be something you should say…… something you’ve been meaning to say…… right?”

She knew it was an ambiguous riddle. Yet Perry waited for the man to guess the answer without giving any hints. Tap tap, the heels of her newly fitted shoes tapped the marble floor a couple of times.

Her clear-cut eyes narrowed.

“Could it be—”

“Whoa, aren’t you Yuan? It is you, right?”

The boisterous greeting cut through the tense atmosphere. The outsider who recognized the man poured out one-sided words with frivolous laughter.

“Fancy seeing you here. I didn’t know you’d returned to the kingdom already.”

“Ah.”

“I heard the news. Must have been tough.”

“It’s fine.”

An acquaintance? Perry, who had been waiting calmly for the greeting to end, couldn’t believe her ears at the conversation that followed.

“By the way, who’s this beside you? Girlfriend?”

“It’s not like that. Just…… someone I know.”

Just. Someone. I. Know.

Each word broke into pieces and choked Perry’s throat.

Just. Someone. I. Know.

The moment she heard those words, somehow all her thoughts until now felt utterly foolish.

Perry silently repeated the man’s words and stood up to leave the restaurant. She didn’t even think about retrieving her umbrella left at the entrance. Somehow all the imaginings she’d had throughout the day felt utterly foolish.

Perry had words she wanted to hear from the man. Words she really, really wanted to hear……

“Humble, Humble!”

Elegant corridor, spiral staircase, lobby. Just before opening the door, the man followed Perry to her side—or more precisely, to face her. He shouldn’t be out of breath after just a few sprints, yet his chest heaved greatly. The man, who hadn’t even had time to put on his gloves, fidgeted with his bare hands and quickly made excuses.

“I’m sorry. He’s that, the person I briefly mentioned in my letter…… someone I knew before who I happened to meet at aviation school. He doesn’t know anything.”

“What?”

“I’ll apologize on his behalf. I’m sorry he made you uncomfortable.”

“What would make me uncomfortable?”

“Being misunderstood as a couple—”

“You’re wrong.”

How could he miss the mark so completely? By now she felt more bewildered than angry. Her unpainted lips twisted slightly.