Feeling a faint warmth at the back of my head, I opened my eyes.
“Ah, you’re awake, Jirou?”
I blinked a few times, and found a familiar face looking down at me. It was Konoe Subaru. Oh right, it’s Takanashi Punyuru now. She seemed relieved to see me awake.
“…Where am I?”
It seems like my body was being put to rest. I felt a soft sensation at the back of my head, and with Konoe’s face this close—Wait a second, is she giving me a lap pillow?
“D-Don’t get the wrong idea! You just wouldn’t get up, so I wanted you to at least have a proper rest! There’s no weird meaning to this! I wasn’t enjoying your sleeping face at all!” Subaru-sama screamed, and forcefully pushed me off.
What do you mean…Was I sleeping? Why? I’m missing some memories…I feel like I got shot by Suzutsuki, and then…
“You were shot by the young lady, and then passed out. Once the tension of the contest left your body, you probably couldn’t keep it up any longer. That’s why I had you rest on this bench here.” Konoe gave an embarrassing explanation.
…The heck is up with that. How pathetic am I? On top of not getting that plush toy, I even passed out.
“Oh yeah, what about the others? Suzutsuki won, right?”
Although we were still on the same temple grounds, this was a different location from before, with no other people around. Just where did they go…
“Ahh, the awards ceremony ended, but a lot of problems happened…”
“Problems?” I returned the question, to which Konoe showed an awkward reaction.
“The thing is, a drunk Nakuru-chan went rampant, and…”
“Urk…”
“She was under the impression that your glasses were broken or something, and went around stripping people off their clothes…and was held down. The young lady and the others went with her to defend her in court.”
“W-Will she be okay?”
“Yeah, she might have been drunk, but she wasn’t actually drinking alcohol, so with a bit of help from the young lady, she should be okay.”
“So Kureha and Masamune joined them?”
“Dad did too. With self-defence, he can stop Nakuru-chan after all.”
I see, so that glasses incident caused another ruckus in the end. Maybe I should switch to contact lenses in the near future. Or maybe not, I feel Nakuru will grow rampant if I do that.
“You had it rough, right? Suddenly participating in that contest.”
I bet the reason she won was simply because the old man was one of the judges, but I guess she was forced into it by him to begin with.
“I didn’t exactly hate it, but it was embarrassing to be turned into the prize…and I was forced to give out a kiss in front of all these people…O-Of course, it was just on the cheek though!” Konoe added at the very end.
So I guess it was Suzutsuki. She really took the most delicious part in the very end. What a clever wench she is.
“But…I got a present from the rich lady after that.” Konoe said, and pointed at a large box with a plush toy inside…
Wait a second, that’s the Silent Sheep plush toy I wanted to give Konoe as a present.
“Cute, right? Apparently it was the prize for winning the battle royale.” Konoe affectionately embraced the toy.
…Damn Devil Suzutsuki. She really took all the glory. It’s like she took the strawberry from the slice of cake. Even though I wanted to be the one who’d win it for her.
“…Good for you. You’re feeling better now, right?” I muttered, unable to hide my frustration.
In response to that, Konoe tilted her head in confusion.
“Feeling better? Jirou, were you thinking that I was still feeling down or something?”
You were crying at the graveyard, right. I managed to somehow cheer you up, but it’s not like I did much. That’s why I wanted to win a plush toy of her favorite type. However…
“You’re wrong.” Konoe took off the glasses she was wearing. “After all, you cheered me up.”
“…Konoe.”
“Back then…when I was crying, you supported me. You were being considerate of me, despite your gynophobia activating, right. That’s why I was feeling much better immediately. Thank you, Jirou.” Konoe declared as she smiled at me.
“W-Well, it’s not that big of a deal.”
“Don’t say that, because you hugged me back then, I…” Konoe started blushing like she was embarrassed about something, and grew silent.
Gaaah stop with that! You’ll make me feel embarrassed as well!
“S-See, we’re friends, so that much is normal, right?” Unable to bear with the silence, I gave a random comment.
I feel bad for Nakuru, but…I still feel like Konoe looks better without glasses. And even without them…she’s super cute already.
“…Right. We are…friends.”
Even though I thought she’d cheered up, Konoe’s voice grew quiet in the middle of that. Hm? Maybe I should have said kindred spirit after all? But, that’d be a bit…
“Woah!?”
As I was thinking that, the sky suddenly lit up. More and more explosions happened, breaking through the silence like loud thundering—Ahh, the fireworks started, creating flowers in the night sky.
“Oh yeah, the last event was supposed to be fireworks, alright.”
More lights filled the sky…Yeah, this isn’t so bad sometimes. We’re at a summer festival already, so an explosive ending doesn’t hurt.
“It feels like summer is about to end, right.” Konoe suddenly spoke up.
“Really? We’re still in the middle of August, you know.”
“Yeah, you’re right. But, even the rest will pass us by immediately. We only have half of a month left. It’s a bit sad that it’s going to end so soon, but once the second term starts, I’ll get to spend time with Jirou and the young lady again at school, so—I’m looking forward to it.”
“I feel like it’s a bit of a shame.”
As your average student, I find myself wishing that summer break could continue forever. However, that won’t do. Because eventually, school will restart again.
“Well, I bet the second term will get even more noisy. I’ve gotten used to it though. Don’t you agree? And of course, we’ll always be friends.”
I guess this is the end of the first-term arc, with summer break as a bit of a break. We just have to get back on our daily lives once again.
“…I wonder.”
However, Konoe suddenly denied my words. I wanted to ask what exactly she meant by that, but she just turned her back towards me, and walked around the empty temple grounds. Almost like she was making her way towards the dancing fireworks.
“…I realized.” Her words barely reached me because of the fireworks.
However, she didn’t stop, and kept on walking.
“When you hugged me back then, I realized. You were bearing with your symptoms in order to help me…and seeing that, I realized my own feelings.”
“…Konoe?”
Because of the distance between us, I had trouble understanding what she said. Beneath the August summer night sky, filled with loud bangs, Konoe suddenly turned around, with flowers at her back.
“—I don’t want that.”
Wearing a yukata, the butler in front of me tried her best to convey this one sentence.