Will release the missed chapter from last week on Wednesday.
Shizuku was standing at the entrance of the park.
She stood on top of the stairs, looking over here. She was gasping for breath.
She was wearing a short pant and a T-shirt. It gave her a rough appearance. Her white skin like that of snow was more conspicuous in the backdrop of the surroundings that had started to dim.
However, it must be said, that the timing was a bit too good.
As if, someone had planned her appearance, but that was kind of obvious.
Yuuto was standing in front of me, his pretentious gaze directed at Shizuku.
He must have called her.
Prior to this, he must have left some kind of message for Shizuku on her phone.
It went without saying that Shizuku, who had forgotten her phone, must have returned home and checked it. She must have noticed Yuuto’s message then. She had then rushed over to where we were……
In which case, I could understand her reason for looking haggard, as if she had rushed over.
However, for her to have hurried over like this, what kind of message did Yuuto send her?
One step, another step, then another……
She came down the stairs, closing in on us.
From this distance, I couldn’t confirm her expression.
However, I could presume from what little I had heard from her just now, that she might have been listening to our conversation.
She had issued a darker voice than usual.
“……You had returned, hah”
“I returned a little while ago. Sorry that I couldn’t reply to everyone’s messages”
Her face was red with embarrassment due to the fact that she had forgotten to bring her phone along. As she stood before us, she surveyed the three of us briefly.
I hadn’t done anything bad, but because of the contents of the conversation from before, I had unconsciously turned away my gaze from her.
As if to have perceived my feelings, Shizuku directed a kind smile at me.
“I came to know from Ogiwara-kun that Minato-kun was talking about something important, so I rushed over. But it was something like that, huh”
“……”
“Please don’t worry about it. Minato-kun hasn’t done anything wrong. You simply spoke of your honest feelings. Besides, I don’t mind it”
Said Shizuku. Her expression didn’t seem to change.
However, I knew.
When she lied, she would put on a similar kind of expression like now, so that her surroundings couldn’t perceive that she was shaken up.
She would try to hide her emotions by clasping her hands behind her.
That extremely trivial and little gesture would even be unnoticeable to other people, but I could understand the meaning behind it.
If it had to turn out like this, I shouldn’t have answered Yuuto’s question.
An ambiguous relationship was not good.
Whether for yourself, or the other person.
If I had to start keeping a distance from somebody, I hoped it could happen swiftly and clearly, before it became troublesome, and as far as possible, amicably.
Until now, I had intended on following this policy in respect of my relationships with other people.
In the first place, even if I didn’t let a relationship escalate to the point of creating a root of evil, I almost never had a person with whom I was close. So, I could simply pretend not to know what she was talking about.
However, only this time, it was different. The person in front of me was different. I wanted to keep maintaining our usual relationship.
We were of the same age; we were childhood friends. She was like my family, and we had a good relationship. We didn’t step into the other’s personal space.
Even if we did cross that line a little bit, we had thought that it was natural. However, it would seem to all change now.
It went without saying that it would affect my personal relationship with her. However, it wouldn’t be limited to only that. The relationship between her and my sister, and the relationship between our families would also be affected.
As it was, I already had an exceedingly small circle of acquaintances. Now, if there was a change in one of those relationships, there was a possibility that it could exert a large influence on my way of living from here on out.
I loved my alone time.
I could be calm, and most important of all, I could choose to do the things I liked.
However, it didn’t feel good to be alone.
I didn’t like living in isolation or anything.
I didn’t think solitude was cool.
However, it was also the truth that I could not mingle with the people around me because of my somewhat twisted personality and sense of values.
That wouldn’t change from here on out either.
By no means, was this something I could boast about, but I was confident.
This was just how I was like, and the one who understood that best, was Kanzaki Shizuku.
I am a fool. I am saying strange things yet again.
Even then, it was precisely because she could understand my personality and my thought-process, that whenever I said something offensive and irredeemable, she would normally overlook my behaviour and laugh it off.
Even if there is only one person who can truly understand you, find that one person.
My mom had said these words to me many times.
Someone who can truly understand you……
I guess it was possible when somebody had known you for a long period of time?
In my case, without any doubt, these words applied to Shizuku.
She understood me. She was precious to me, and it was probably because of this reason, that I might have been putting away my feelings for her, feelingsthat I would harbour for somebody of the opposite sex.
“Shizuku……listen”
“I am!!”
I opened my mouth, wanting to say a few words. However, as if to cut me off, Shizuku began to speak.