Chapter 26: 1.6

Before I noticed, the hand of the clock pointed at three.

 

“I’m tired…”

 

After eating our lunch, we went around the building to play.

 

A long time passed before we knew it.

 

I changed from my swimsuit and sat down at the break area on the second floor of the building.

 

The wall of the break area was made of glass, so I could see the pool from up here.

 

This place seemed like a perfect place for the parents to take a break while watching over their children playing inside the pool. In fact, almost everyone here looked older than me, there were barely any teenagers like me here. Thanks to that, the atmosphere was quiet and comfortable.

 

I licked the soft-serve I bought at the stand as I stared blankly at the pool.

 

Yuuka and Shinji were still playing there.

 

They really went all out today, huh? Well, Yuuka did, as Shinji was just being dragged around by her.

 

…Today was really fun. I hope that everyone also felt the same way.

 

Shiina seemed to be having fun too, even though she occasionally made a mess here and there.

 

When I was thinking like that, someone approached me from behind.

 

“Can I sit next to you?…”

 

I didn’t have to turn around to know that it was Shiina.

 

She sat beside me without waiting for my answer. Why the hell did she ask me in the first place then?

 

Also, that seat was Hina’s… Oh well…

 

“I’m so tired…”

“Wait, you can get tired?”

“I’m not a hero anymore, of course. No matter how much I work out, I still won’t be able to have endless stamina like before.”

 

When I said that, Shiina giggled and smiled at me.

 

After that, we fell into silence. A comfortable silence.

 

Suddenly, Shiina opened her mouth.

 

“…Do you remember what you said back before we became friends?”

“D-Don’t remind me of that… I said a lot of embarrassing lines…”

 

It made me roll around my bed whenever I tried to remember it. It was a black history of mine.

 

‘Be my friend.’

‘I’ll still be by your side. I’ll be the only one who loves you in this world. That’s why, I’ll remove both curses out of your heart and soul.’

‘I’ll save you! I’ll make you happy! So, be my friend and let yourself be saved by me! I’m the hero who has saved the other world, you know? I’m more than reliable enough to save you. So, rely on me. Don’t keep everything to yourself. Talk to me if you need help. That’s what friends are for, at least that’s what Hina told me.’

‘Also, if you were to be my friend… I can be your exclusive hero.’

 

Stop! My brain! Stop replaying those lines! Aaaaahh!!

 

As I was dying of cringe, Shiina said,

 

“You don’t need to be embarrassed about it. That day was the happiest day of my life. Thanks to your words, my curse has been lifted…”

 

Her gentle tone surprised me. I turned my gaze to her.

 

She was looking at me. Her gaze made it look like she was looking at something dear to her.

 

“I know this is a little early, but I want to thank you properly.”

 

I had been unable to look at her eyes for a while.

 

So, when I saw this expression of hers, it felt like I was being dragged in by those clear black eyes of hers.

 

“Thanks to you, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”

 

Her smile was akin to a flower blooming under the sunlight.

 

“You’ve saved me and you’ve made me happy, my exclusive hero. Thank you.”

 

I couldn’t take my eyes off that smile.

 

 

I wanted to burn this sight to my brain, but I couldn’t. For some reason, my sight started to blur.

 

“W-Why are you crying?”
“…Huh?”

 

After hearing Shiina’s panicked voice, I finally realized that it was my tears that clouded my sight.

 

A man shouldn’t cry like this, how pathetic. I tried to stop them from coming out, but it was futile. Instead, it flowed even harder than before.

 

“M-My bad…”

 

Why am I crying?

 

I don’t know. All I knew was that I’ve always wanted to hear those words.

 

Ever since I heard about her past.

 

I always wanted to see her smile. I always wanted her to learn about happiness.

 

That was why I was willing to become the enemy of the world.

 

“…I’m glad.”

 

From the bottom of my heart, I felt genuinely happy for her. I had never felt this much happiness before.

 

The curse that was bound to my heart had slowly been lifted.

 

Everyone in that world, even the witch herself kept telling me that my choice was a mistake. But Shiina thanked me for that. My choice wasn’t a mistake. I was finally rewarded for all my sacrifices.

 

“A-Anyway, use my handkerchief!”

 

I accepted the handkerchief from the panicking Shiina. After I wiped the tears off for a while, it finally stopped coming out of my eyes.

 

Shiina let out a sigh of relief after seeing that.

 

As I regained my composure, a wave of embarrassment came over me. I couldn’t believe that I started crying out of nowhere like that.

 

People around us were staring at us strangely.

 

Of course they would be. A high school boy suddenly crying at a public place like this…

 

I could hear some of them whispering something about love quarrels and stuff.

 

In any case, I succeeded in adding another page to my black history.

 

“Seriously, did you start crying because you felt that happy?…”

 

To Shiina’s teasing, I just nodded my head.

 

“Yeah…”

“Huh?”

“I’m really happy to hear that…”

 

When I told her my honest feelings, she went quiet.

 

I stared at her, who was hiding her beet red face.

 

When I saw this cute and lovely sight of her, I finally realized my feelings toward her.

 

Ah, I love her so much…

 

Suddenly, my heart started to race.

 

It was beating so loudly that I suspected Shiina was able to hear it from where she was.

 

…Actually, I noticed this feeling of mine earlier than this, but I always pretended not to notice it.

 

But, when I saw that smile, it was hard to fool myself anymore.

 

I loved Shiina Mai. Not as a friend, but as a woman.

 

I hated to admit it, but that was my true feelings.

 

“Shiina…”

 

When I finally admitted it, it felt better than I thought it would be.

 

I loved her, I wanted to hug her so badly.

 

“What is it?”

“I found something I want to do.”

 

I told her with a smile.

 

Ever since the day when Hina scolded me, I had been looking for a new goal to achieve.

 

Something that I wanted to do. I wanted to decide how to live my own life.

 

But it was difficult for me. After all, for the longest time, I had been living according to my heroic codes. Hell, I couldn’t even admit my own feelings until today. But now, I finally realized what I wanted to do.

 

I wanted to always stay by her side.

 

I wanted to get to know her better.

 

…I wanted to kiss her again.

 

“…I see.”

 

Shiina blinked her eyes before smiling happily.

 

“That’s great. Do you mind telling me about it?”

 

She asked that with an innocent smile on her face. Immediately after that, my face heated up.

 

What the hell was I doing? Of course, she would ask about it if I were to say it like that.

 

I didn’t even have the courage to confess yet. It hadn’t been an hour since I realized my feelings, it was too early to confess…

 

“I-It’s a secret!”
“Don’t give me that! Tell me!”

 

When I tried to hide it from her, she pressed me even more aggressively instead.

 

“I-I’ll tell you when the time is right!”

 

Eventually, I’ll tell her. Just not now.

 

I liked her and I wanted to get to know her better.

 

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To do that, I have to confess to her and get into a relationship with her.

 

However, there was no need for me to rush things. After all, if she were to reject me, then everything would be over for me.

 

First of all, I should deepen our friendship first and make her look at me more favorably.

 

…As for how, I don’t know.

 

This was going to be difficult, wasn’t it?

 

Would this troublesome woman even fall in love with someone that easily in the first place?

 

Besides, we used to be enemies. We were friends now, but her starting affection points were in the negative, so this was trickier than normal. This was more difficult than I thought.

 

“W-Why do you look so down? You’re more expressive than usual today…”

 

Said Shiina with a confused look. Of course she would be confused.

 

I was confused by my own feelings too, let alone her.

 

“I can’t believe that you’re the man who never laughed back in your previous life.”

 

As Shiina said, I was a different man from my previous life.

 

Back then, I always tried to hide my emotions.

 

“…Well, my current self is better than back then at least.”

 

Nevertheless, we couldn’t be stuck in the past forever. We weren’t Grey Handlet and Cerys Flores anymore. We were Shiraishi Godou and Shiina Mai.

 

When I told her this, Shiina laughed.

 

“Yeah, it’s easier to guess what you’re thinking right now compared to back then. You were more scary back then…”

“Scary? How so?”

“It was hard to pick the conversation deck when I talked with you. I mean, I couldn’t read what was in your mind, after all…”

 

This girl actually prepared conversation decks to talk with me?

 

“Isn’t it just because you have no social skills whatsoever?”

“S-So what?! Humans are innately scary, you know?!”

 

Shiina started to make some absurd claims, so I tried to calm her down. As I was doing that, I heard footsteps approaching us.

 

I glanced over my shoulder to see an exhausted looking Yuuka and Shinji.

 

“I-I’m tired… I can’t believe I went around playing that much…”

“If you’re this tired, then think about how I feel… Huh, what’s wrong, you two? Did you two fight again?”

“We didn’t! This man just keeps abusing me!”

 

Shiina had become better at talking with everyone after the previous event at the pool. Now, she was able to talk with a normal tone with everyone other than me.

 

“Eh?! Why are you being so mean to her, Godou?!”

 

But, for some reason everyone always took her side whenever something happened. I hope that they’ll realize one day that everything that came out of this woman’s mouth was pure nonsense.

 

“Well, Godou is always a sinful man, we all know this.”

 

While Yuuka was standing firmly on Shiina’s side, Shinji started to insult me instead.

 

He ignored my hostile glare and looked around.

 

“By the way, where did Hina go?”

“Ah, come to think of it, she disappeared for a while now…”

 

Until a while ago, the place where Shiina sat was Hina’s.

 

Shiina came right after Hina went to the toilet.

 

But it had been more than ten minutes since she left, she was awfully late.

 

“She said she went to the toilet, but…”

“Maybe she has an upset stomach?…”

 

Muttered Yuuka. Then, I heard someone approaching us from behind.

 

Yuuka, who didn’t notice it, had her back hit by Hina’s chop.

 

“I was buying some snacks over there! What the hell are you saying?!”

 

Said Hina as she showed off her chocolates.

 

In response, Yuuka just sighed in relief.

 

…There was something about Hina’s behavior that made me curious, but I decided to shut my mouth.

 

*   *   *

 

After that, we left the pool and headed home.

 

While everyone was talking about how much fun they had, I was looking at the window while thinking about Hina’s strange behavior.

 

She said that she was buying some snacks, but was it really the case?

 

Because of my combat experience from my previous life, I could easily sense other people’s presence.

 

I didn’t know who it was, but there was someone who was staring at me and Shiina from a distance when we talked. I had a suspicion that it was Hina.

 

Though, I didn’t have the slightest idea why she was lying like that.

 

Probably, it was just my imagination.

 

‘I know you’re dense and all, but before I’m telling you everything, you have to sort out your feelings first.’

 

For some reason, Shinji’s words came to my mind.

 

*   *   *

 

Hina’s PoV

 

That was fun.

 

But it was also exhausting…

 

Did I manage to smile properly?

 

I was able to act like normal, right?

 

If it was Godou, he probably noticed that I wasn’t feeling well, but he wouldn’t know the reason why.

 

…Shinji seemed to notice what was going on, though. He gave me quite the stare.

 

“Hina?”

 

Godou, who was walking next to me, called out to me. He was probably worried about me.

 

We were walking home together after splitting up with everyone at the Maebashi Station.

 

“I’m fine. I’m just a little tired…”

 

I didn’t lie. I was really fine, I was just tired…

 

Godou let out a wry smile and continued walking.

 

The distance between us was closer than normal friends, but it wasn’t as close as lovers.

 

Ever since we were kids, we always managed this much distance between us.

 

I always thought that we’d be doing this for a while longer.

 

It wasn’t like I didn’t have the desire to close the distance between us.

 

I was just afraid that if I were to do that, I’d suddenly lose the position I was currently in. I was happy enough with the status quo after all.

 

…But, whenever the thought of him ending up with someone else pained me. Whenever I saw his happy face when he talked with Mai-chan, my chest started to hurt and it became hard for me to breathe.

 

I guess I liked him more than I thought.

 

After all this time, I only just realized that.

 

Though, it wasn’t like I wanted him to be mine. As long as he stayed by my side, it would be good enough for me.

 

All this time, I naively believed that because we had known each other ever since we were kids, even if we didn’t become lovers, I’d be able to stay by his side forever. I thought that even if one day, he suddenly found someone he liked, I’d still be able to stay by his side.

 

But, I realized that I couldn’t do that.

 

When I saw that scene, I couldn’t even think of getting in their way.

 

It was clear that those two loved each other.

 

I glanced at the man next to me.

 

Godou looked a little tired as he stared at the sunset.

 

It was hard to believe that this was the same man who cried earlier.

 

If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t even notice that his eyes were a little swollen.

 

Today was the first time I’ve seen him cry.

 

Even back when we were kids, I’ve never seen him cry even once.

 

No matter how absurd of a situation he faced, he always braved through it calmly.

 

It was unthinkable that he’d have that kind of silly face when he cried.

 

The fact that he showed that face of his to another girl made me feel jealous.

 

Even though this whole time, I was always by his side.

 

Before I knew it, he suddenly became close with a girl that suddenly appeared in our lives.

 

It was as if those two were bound by the red string of fate.

 

Godou, can you tell me?

 

Why do you only show your weak side to her?

 

Why do you care about her so much?

 

Why do you push yourself so hard for her?

 

…I need to stop thinking about it, or else, I’d start hating myself. Being jealous like this was the worst thing I could do.

 

Right now, I should get home quickly, get into my bed and try to forget everything that happened today.

 

…Though, I don’t think I could recover from this for a while.

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