Chapter 13


TL: Scaramochi


***


Am I changing?


Have I been able to change my life of not moving on my own and just looking out from inside the cage?


I confessed my love to Rinka, whom I had had a crush on for a long time, and decided to make a clean break with my past self from that day on.


But has it been done?


A pure land. I may have only found a source of water in this fresh earth and escaped from a life crisis.


Maybe, I haven't made a clean break with my past.


It's a little bit wrong to say "farewell". I am who I am now because of what I did in the past. In light of this, it's not good to give up immediately, saying, "yes, good-bye."


There is the indecisive me of the past, and there is the me who is somehow trying to get out of it.


The change in my heart may be small, but that small step is a big step for me.


***


"fuh......"


"fu~......"


Looking up at the evening sky, Rinka yawns sleepily, as if she had heard it at a planetarium.


I yawn as well.


"Did you sleep too, Yanagi-kun, by any chance?"


"I was awake until about the time the planetarium was over. I fell asleep because I was overcome by sleepiness."


"Wow. It's amazing that you could resist going to sleep on such a full stomach."


Rinka puts her hand over her mouth and is surprised.


I'm surprised that Rinka has forgotten her own name, which is "Akako".


I wonder if she forgot in her sleep.


I don't want to point this out to her, because it would just cause awkwardness, so I decide not to ask.


"I fell asleep, Yanagi-kun, how was the planetarium? If you were trying to watch it all the way through, maybe you got hooked?"


"Yes, I guess so. I think I'm hooked, or rather, I think I now understand what the planetarium is all about."


"What did you like about it?"


"I'm too embarrassed to tell you."


I would never be able to say in front of her that it was good that if you go to a couple's seat with someone you like, you can sleep with them and they can cuddle you like a pillow.


"At least it's not what Rinka thinks it is."


"Hmm. You're embarrassed. Well, I'll stop digging into the root of the matter."


"Thank you."


After that, we decide that standing around talking is not an option, so we decide to chat as we wander around town.


We have no purpose, just wandering around the city. It's almost time for the street lights to come on.


"Oh, I'm Akako, aren't I?"


You remember that now.


"You already know, don't you?"


"Yes."


"Right.........."


Rinka exhales heavily and deflates.


"Hey, how long have you been aware of this? I don't know, maybe, but have you been aware of it since you DMed me?"


I want to be careful here, but I can't lie to...... Rinka.


"I noticed it from the beginning."


"W-W-Why!"


"Because, your account name is 'Kujo@Urakaa', right? I knew it was you."


"But there was a possibility that it wasn't me, right?"


"Didn't you send me a DM once calling me 'Yanagi-kun'?"


"You said you didn't see it, but you did."


Mwu...... and a grumpy voice.


"Yes, I did see it. I'm sorry I lied to you then."


"Fufufu. Don't apologize for that. That lie was because you were thinking of me, wasn't it?"


I've done something deceptive.


As I'm depressed, Rinka turns her motherly eyes on me as if she was wrapping me in her arms.


"Nothing, I'm not mad at you for lying to me. Because I'm a woman with deep pockets."


Rinka puffs out her chest.


"So, don't worry about it. I'm sorry I lied too. Can you forgive me?"


"......Yes."


My head moves vertically, helpless in the face of motherhood.


Rinka's lie was so obvious, but the fact that she apologized to me probably shows how good a person she is.


She is a beautiful girl and a good human being.


Once again, I realize that the person I had a crush on is a good person.


"That's right. Yanagi-kun."


"?"


Rinka quickly comes in front of me and stopped.


In one hand she holds a phone.


Perhaps it's momentum that makes her cut out, but she shows her crimson-tinted face as she ostentatiously holds the phone in front of her.


"Contacts, do you want to exchange?"


"----."


I'm speechless.


I want to see Rinka's telepathic face, but I can't bring myself to do that.


I never thought that Rinka would ask me to exchange contact information, something that is a dream come true.


I thought we were going to continue to communicate with each other via DM in the back account.......


"You don't have to exchange contact information if you don't want to. If you want to contact me about something, you can do it via DM like before."


"I'll gladly exchange contact information!"


"Yes! Good! If you had said you didn't want to exchange contact information, I probably would have hated you, Yanagi-kun!"


"Rinka is so rough, isn't she?"


"Fufufu. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that to me before."


And so, we exchange lines.


The only friend I had outside of my family was Hashimoto, but another character named "Rinka" is added.


Rinka's icon is the night sky.


She had a blast at the planetarium, but I could tell that Rinka really likes the stars.


"Do you like flowers, Yanagi-kun?"


Perhaps Rinka saw my icon and suddenly wonders.


"No. I don't like it at all, but I like the language of flowers in that icon."


"Heh......."


The begonia, a flower with asymmetrical leaves.


The language of flowers is "kindness," "confession of love," "happy days," and so on.


But the reason I like it so much that I even made it an icon is because it has the word "unrequited love" in it.


That word is in the language of flowers.


Of course, I also like the flower simply because of its appearance.


"I wonder what the name of the flower is, but I guess this is goodbye."


Rinka's voice sounds sad.


I look up and there is the apartment building that is Rinka's home.


We're already walking this far.......


"Well, I'll see you at school again."


"Yeah. I'll see you at school. Bye."


We turn a corner. I keep waving my hands until I can't see Rinka's back anymore, pushing down the feeling of wanting to hold her back.


This feeling of loss that comes after a breakup.


I had never experienced this before.


My head is a mixture of joy that I had changed from my old self and sadness that I want to be with Rinka a little longer.


But...


Ping!


The ringtone of my phone.


My sadness is overcome when I saw the notification.


The notification is a Line.


It's from Rinka.


"I was going home alone, and I felt lonely. Do you feel the same way, Nyanagi-kun?"


She must have typed that in a hurry, because there is a typo.


I have a lot of things I want to send, but this is the perfect chance to look back at Rinka, who laughed at me for biting my tongue while we were talking earlier.


"You misspelled it. What do you mean, 'nya'?"


"That's an imitation of a cat. Do you like it?"


What a nice retort. But if she was imitating a cat, wouldn't she have put "nya" at the end of the word?


......No, let's not get too deep-rooted in this kind of thing.


"Well, next time you do that thing called imitating a cat, please do it for me. I like it, and I'd like to see it live."


"Whenever you feel like it."


I wonder if Rinka was telegraphing?


I go home with such faint hope.


I'm so excited.　


"Oh, why is she so cute?"


"I wonder if I have a one-sided love....... Maybe, no. I don't think so. I don't have the courage to say to her face that I like her. I want to be able to be more manly and decisive. But I love the person I am now. Of course, I love her even more than that."


[I love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love her.]


***


[Rinka's POV]


Yanagi-kun's posts this evening are far more numerous than usual.


"Uhehe."


A strange voice escapes my mouth.


It makes me happy to think that every single one of these posts is directed at me.　


He looks at me and likes me one way or another because of it. Yanagi is my ideal man himself.


"Uheh."


"Onee-chan. Did something good happen to you recently?"


Because I'm lying on the sofa, my twin sister, Ran, hears my leaked voice. I wonder if it's a good thing.


Ran is always quick to notice changes in me, and even though we are the same age, she is overflowing with adult sex appeal. She is small in stature and has a short cut, so she looks like a little devil.


I'm the one who's the big sister, and I'm competing with her on my own.


"Hmm?"


She tries to peek at my phone, so I hurriedly put it in sleep mode.


I can't imagine what would happen if Ran finds out about Yanagi-kun's backstage account.


It could be...... in a bad way for me.


I have to make sure nothing is revealed here.


"There's nothing like that. I always point it out, but this time it's just a misunderstanding on my part."


"Fufufu. I see. Then, I won't pry into you any further, will I?"


Ran returns to her room, letting things slide.


I wonder if she doesn't know I'm feeling this way......?


Well, if she doesn't pry, then she probably doesn't know about it.


"Your sleeping face was really cute when you were having that blast of sleep."


"I mean, they saw your sleeping face!"


That doesn't matter, now I have to mention in the DM that my sleeping face was seen.



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