But tears naturally welled up and she couldn’t stop them.
“Huh? Asakura-san? What’s wrong? Did I say something hurtful?”
Niou Futako was also perplexed. She was horrified to see Kirari who suddenly started crying.
But the most perplexed person is probably Kirari herself.
“N-No… Niko-chan isn’t bad at all, you know. It’s me who is to blame.”
Suddenly, the memories of the past flashed through her mind like a running light.
He read whatever books she recommended. He would tell her what he thought of them when she asked him, and sometimes they even had discussions. He always listened to Kirari’s opinions, and no matter what she said to him, he never looked down on her.
Ko-kun always accepted her feelings of affection for him.
It was only after losing it … that she finally remembered how happy it had made her…
She couldn’t help but suppress her chest as she realized that the thing that had always been by her side was her most treasured possession.
(I see… For me, Ko-kun was my best friend after all.)
The entrance ceremony of the high school. The first time she fell in love at first sight with Ryoma Ryuzaki and didn’t pay any attention to him.
No, no. Since she took it for granted that he was right there by her side, she never thought of valuing him.
Because of that, by the time she realized it, he had already gone far away.
A precious treasure was gone.
Crying over it now would not bring him back.
She knew that, and she would not do such a pathetic thing as clinging to him anymore.
She wiped away her tears with a rough gesture as if shaking off her unresolved feelings for Ko-kun.
“I’m sorry …, it’s nothing. It’s just a speck in my eye.”
She lifted her chin stoutly and smiled.
Then the fidgeting Niou Futako patted her shoulder as if in relief.
“I was puzzled because I thought I had hurt you…, whom I want to be friends with from now on. I am sorry for showing you how disgraceful I am.”
“You want to be friends with … me? I’m not sure what to do. You used to be so reluctant to talk to me before?”
It was strange.
Niou Futako is basically unapproachable to others. Not that she is shy, but she is a solitary girl who does not try to befriend anyone in particular.
And Kirari was also on the side of those who disliked her because of her familiarity… Niou Futako shook her head and shrugged.
“No, what can I say… you changed your hair, didn’t you? Maybe that’s why you look so much like you now… or maybe it’s because before, Asakura-san looked ‘fake’ and I didn’t like you. But now you look ‘real’ and I found you very fascinating, so I couldn’t help but talk to you.”
Apparently, there was a reason why she spoke to her out of the blue.
(Not a fake, but real…? She sounds just like him.)