Chapter 17: 17

Title: There are times when you fail as well.

 
Looking at her, who seemed despondent and depressed, I blinked in surprise.
 
“I’m so sorry, even though I said I’d make pancakes for us today, I don’t think that’s possible.”
That’s what Yuki told me. She looked like she was about to cry as she said that, so I was wondering what had happened. Come to think of it, earlier today on LINK, she read my message but didn’t reply.
I’m sure I must’ve upset her somehow, so I waited for her to speak.
 
The reason I come here isn’t solely to eat Yuki’s sweets.
Since the beginning, my objective has always been Yuki’s rehabilitation—Rehab so that she can return to school without fear.
I guess it is true, however, that Yuki’s sweets are so good that I’ve become quite addicted to them.
 
That being said, I don’t feel like I should tell her that I don’t need her sweets.
Yuki thought about it a lot in her own way and decided to make me sweets. Even I, a dense person, can understand that. In that case, I shouldn’t do anything that denies her decision.
That’s why all I did was wait for her to speak.
 
“I-, I burnt them.”
“Huh?”
“I was thinking about things, so I ended up scorching them. The pancakes. I’m really sorry. Even though you said you were looking forward to them—-”
Instinctively—before I was even aware of what I was doing—my hand was stroking Yuki’s hair.
 
“Huh?”
 
Yuki’s eyes widened in surprise. Even I could tell that this absolutely disregarded the distance that we should have between us as members of the opposite sex, but it was clear to me that her feelings were in disarray.
The clues were obvious enough, even for me, dense as I was. Today at lunch, she read my message on LINK but didn’t reply. After that, when I gave her my input, she replied immediately. I’m thankful to Kaizaki and Yayoi-sensei for that.
 
I had wanted to let everyone know how amazing Yuki was. But—Yuki had made those scones for me. Looking back on it, I feel like I had made light of her feelings.
 
That wasn’t all. I had done something for a third party that I had not yet done for Yuki. It was just something small, but something small to me could’ve been significant to Yuki.
 
I had brewed coffee for them. And, though this assumption might be a bit arrogant, I think that’s part of the reason why she seems so uneasy.

 
Well, of course this would happen. Up until now, Yuki hasn’t felt accepted for who she is. I had just accepted her as a friend—It was only a few days ago that she had finally managed to step foot outside.
 
To put it another way, we are still at that stage. Me interacting with and getting closer to more people will obviously make Yuki anxious. 
Yuki prefers her tea. But say, for instance, she’s bad with coffee—-Even though that might be the case, me brewing coffee for some third party in a place she’s unaware of might make her feel like I’m being taken away from her. Or at least that’s what I think might be going on in her head.
 
“Yuki, do you drink coffee?”
 
Her eyes opened wide, as if she wanted to say, “How did you know what I was thinking?”—She shook her head slightly.
 
“Not really, but….It’s kind of bitter so…But, even so….”
 
She hung her head. Once again, I patted her head.
 
“You know, the place I work part time is a cafe.”
“Huh?”
“On the menu there’s cafe au lait as well, so want me to brew some for you next time?”
“—Is that okay?”
 
A smile bloomed on her face. I finally felt relieved.
I gave her a small nod. I can’t brew it like the Master does, but he’s slowly teaching me, and I’m slowly getting better at it. It’s kind of the opposite of my dream, but I think this is fine.
 
“I haven’t even tried brewing cafe au lait at the store. I might mess up, but would you mind being my first customer?”
When I asked her that, Yuki nodded and smiled.
 
 
■■■
 
 
“I think this is perfectly fine, though?”

 
When I begged her for the failed pancakes, Yuki reluctantly gave in, reheating and serving them to me with a complicated expression on her face. I really think it’s a good thing that she didn’t just toss them. They were a bit burnt in a few places, but, compared to the omelet rice I had made, they were really good. And, more than anything, they were so tasty that it felt like my cheeks were going to melt off.
 
“I mean they were burnt….If I’m going to have you eat them, I want to make them properly, ‘kay.”
“Thank you.”
 
I smiled a little. She smiled back at me, indicating that she wasn’t dissatisfied anymore.
 
“Fuyu-kun, the way you eat can make everything look delicious, can’t it.”
“No, it’s because what you make is really delicious. You don’t have to fuss so much over it, okay?”
“I don’t think I’m doing that at all.”
“Look, even if you burn the sweets, I’ll come every time, okay?”
“I know that.”
 

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Yuki looked straight at me.
 
“You know, it’s because I want you to eat my food. Also, it’s a bad thing that you can act so happy.”
“Huh?”
“I mean you make the food look so delicious when you eat it. That makes me want to cook food that’ll make you even more happy. You being happy makes me want to try my best.”
“…..I see.”
 
I sated my thirst with the black tea. There should’ve been sugar in the tea, but for some reason I couldn’t really taste it. And, for some reason, even though I had drunk the whole cup, I still felt thirsty. I couldn’t keep my eyes off Yuki’s expression.
“The one that wants to do their best is me.”
I whispered that to Yuki.
Up until now, ever since I had been admitted to this high school, I had been alone. Without the courage to enter any group, I had stayed like this for a year.
I had thought that maybe things would stay like this until I graduated. But….
 
—You
—But you
 

Our words overlapped.
““I’m so glad that I became friends with you.””
 
The way our voices overlapped made us burst into laughter.
 
“Hey, Yuki. If you have anything that you’re unhappy about, just tell me.”
“Huh?”
“….It’s about what happened today but….I wanted to show off how great you were to everyone else. And so that’s why I ended up talking with Kaizaki too, but you didn’t like that right, Yuki?”
“I–I wasnt that against it…It’s just that—”
“Just that?”
 
Yuki seemed hesitant, but she seemed to make up her mind and squeezed out what she wanted to say.
 
“It’s just—-When I think about the fact that, in a place that I don’t know anything about, you’re showing people your faces and expressions that I haven’t seen before, for some reason I feel frustrated. Even though I want to know more about you—”
 
Yuki hung her head. Her hands gripped her skirt.
 
“I guess I’m happy?”
 
My real feelings leaked out.
 
“Huh?”
“I’m honestly happy. The fact that you’re looking at me and the fact that you want to go to school makes me happy.”
“Fuyu-kun?”
“I was just imagining how fun it would be to spend time with you at school.”
“Fuyu-kun?”
 
Her eyes were cast downwards. Despite her embarrassment, the edges of her mouth were curved upwards into a happy smile.
 
“But don’t push yourself too hard to get there. I don’t want it to be painful for you, so it’s fine if you move one step at a time. So how about we do some rehab? But you don’t have to overexert yourself. You’re doing more than enough right now.”

“Okay.”
 
She nodded, but she whispered something to me.
 
“Now I have a goal.”
“A goal?”
“Yep. I want to go to school with you. I want to drink the coffee that you make at your part time job. I want to go out and have fun with you. There’s a bunch of things that I want to do with you—”
 
I clenched my fists again. I felt the same way. I nodded.
 
“I think I would be really happy if I could spend time with you at school. But don’t overdo it okay? We’ll move one step at a time and make it a reality together.”
 
I put my hand on top of hers.
 
“—Yeah.”
This smile on my friend’s face is the most important thing to me. That’s what I felt from the bottom of my heart.
 
【Shimokawa Sora’s monologue】
No, no.
Onee-chan, there’s no way that you guys are just friends. This atmosphere is definitely not an atmosphere people who are just friends would have. Not liking it when Fuyuki-niichan makes coffee for other people is definitely jealousy, okay?
And I could say the same for Fuyuki-niichan. He’s way too dense. I’m not sure if he’s approaching her with ulterior motives, but they’re exactly the same in this sense. Isn’t saying that you’ll “make it a reality together” essentially a pickup line? 
And this is the reason why, recently, there are none of your sweets leftover, right?
Dad would cry if he knew, though I think he would be a bit conflicted because Fuyuki-niichan’s the reason that you’re smiling more now.
He’s stroking your hair, and the two of you are holding hands.
Stop, just stop already.
Onee-chan, you’ve definitely lost sight of everything other than Fuyuki-niichan, right?
But I’m also here in this house, okay, so could you please stop it with this overly sweet atmosphere?
Please stop, I can’t take it anymore—-

[TLN: Little brother is actually just the readers irl. Also honestly im surprised i got this chapter out as demotivated as i am]

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