c3 (1/2)
And, albeit slightly later than proain, there was a coloured illustration for this part that I’ here This one was redran the middle and the text removed by a kind anon in a Joukamachi thread, so thanks to them
Autumn
The cultural festival had ended and the season had begun to feel like winter The leaves on the trees were still turning red but the air had gone cold and in thetheir breathseason, the relationshi+ps between Koutarou and the girls were only getting warmer
“You’re ten years too early to beat ame, Theia!”
“Koutarou, you can only boast at times like this! I’ll show you who the true ruler is!”
Koutarou and Theia had tight grips on controllers and werethe TV They had pulled an old game console out of the wardrobe and were in the middle of a race on it
Following the play, they’d coht less over differences in opinion However, when si to win in co people were like, it wasn’t because they hated their opponent Rather, things heated up because they knew that the other would give theames, they were the perfect rivals
“Do your best, Koutarou! Me getting more chocolate relies on you!”
“Don’t lose, Theia-chan, I don’t want my chocolate to be taken!”
Sanae and Yurika were supporting the for Koutarou and Yurika for Theia The two of them had bet their snacks on the outcome so the support had become more spirited
“Your Highness, Satomi-sama, try your best!”
Ruth was supporting both of them She understood that Theiaand Koutarou were ideal rivals Theia was a princess, so three weren’t many people she could clash ithout ulterior h various circumstances, the enht be arguing now, but that was because it was fun, and they were friends Ruth understood that and watched over theht speak harshly to each other, and soht physically, but Ruth knew better than anybody that that was their playing
“I’ve made tea and snacks, come and eat when you can take a break”
“It’s chocolate, ho-!”
“Rice crackers too, ho-!”
Contrary to Ruth, Kiriha was on neither side However, everyone at least vaguely knew that she didn’t like needless fighting and so had a strange feeling of trust towards her The one with the strongest trust was Koutarou, he’d heard about her first love froan to doubt He began to doubt whether she really was here to invade the surface
“There was a shortcut here!!”
“That’s why I left the brakes to the last minute!!”
In the narrow iames console, the blocky tyres of the cars Koutarou and Theia were controlling squealed and slipped However, the relationshi+ps between the to be etting in each other’s way
In the end, the race went to Theia Koutarou had the lead, and in trying to lengthen it, went too fast into a corner and went off the course, in this gaame over, but it did ht up in that tiht in snatching victory from the jaws of defeat
“H down too late and lost”
“Theia, you don’t understand the ro”
“Rouess it can’t be helped then”
Up until now, Theia had been filled with triu Koutarou found it strange and wanted to knohy
“You left it surprisingly quickly”
“Looking like this, I have an understanding of romance”
“Do you?”
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have done the Blue Knight play, would I”
“I guess so… here”
Now that he knew, Koutarou offered his chocolate to Theia If there was an honest understanding shown, losing didn’t feel that bad, so Koutarou didn’t feelhis chocolate to Theia
“‘ank ‘ou”
Without taking it fro it The chocolate had biscuit inside and she crunched up and down like a squirrel eating nuts
“That’s bad manners, Theia”
“Don’t be so up tight, I can eat the spoils of war as I wish”
“Even so, Ruth-san has a scary expression”
“Ahem”
“I-I see, eating properly is better!”
Theia corrected her posture and began eating her own chocolate Ruth was looking, so this time she made sure to eat properly
“Why’d you give it up, Koutarou! Thanks to you, Yurika took et your chocolate taken too…”
Sanae was dissatisfied with this result Her plan was that Koutarou would win and have two pieces of chocolate and Sanae would get the extra that Yurika had bet and have two as well Then she’d have Koutarou eat all four, so she could indulge in chocolate and have an a her scheer at him
“You knoinning depends on your luck on the day”
“Love towards Sanae-chan doesn’t change with time”
“What’s that about?”
“It doesn’t matter, comfort me”
“Sure sure, what a shame, what a shame”
“More nobly”
“It was an utter shame, my lady”
“Ohohoho, very well”
However, venting her anger didn’t take long To Sanae, eating chocolate and playing with Koutarou were siood humour as they talked
Afterhat he said, Sanae went back to the console
“Alright Yurika, now it’s our turn”
“Ehhh, we’re playing?”
“Of course we are! I’ my chocolate back!”
“I’ll obviously lose, I don’t want to!”
Sanae was filled with motivation to play but her opponent, Yurika, held her sweets close and backed away, shaking her head
“Koutarou, Koutarou, do so”
“Yurika, if you do it, I’ll look over your homework”
“I’ll do it! Compared to homework, one or two pieces of chocolate is cheap!”
In response to Koutarou’s bargaining, Yurika quickly returned to the console and the two of theame
“… Koutarou, Yurika intends to get you to just tell her the answers”
Kiriha had been drinking tea as she watched the progression of the conversation but now spoke to Koutarou Rather than being shocked at what Yurika was doing, she was more interested in how Koutarou intended to respond
“It’s fine” Koutarou nodded, time after time, Yurika would pick the enjoyable option So Koutarou knew that telling her he would look over her as the saive the answers “For noe’ll start fro the notebook open to do work If she keeps on like this she ht not make it to next year”
Leaving her alone, Yurika wouldn’t do the work, that had happened over and over since spring and now she was in danger of not being able to become a second year
He thought it et what she deserved, but he somehow couldn’t just abandon her He’d written the script with her and she’d protected Haruive her some study habits
“You’re a wise man, Koutarou”
“If I left her alone and she failed, I wouldn’t be able to wake up, would I?”
“You’re kind, Satomi-sama”
“That’s a good trend, just as a knight should be”
“I don’t reht”
“Ohohoho, first in form! Don’t worry about it, don’t worry about it!”
At some point, the mood in roo an autues in the hearts of the inhabitants
Originally Koutarou just thought of refusing and eli that at all, and if he were to eliminate them, he’d do it from in front, fair and square In short, he’d matured
In room 106, the ones that watched anime were Sanae and Yurika, but there was an exception once a week On Friday evenings, at half past five, there was an anime which two of the inhabitants were crazy about
“Kara, ho-!”
“Wait, I’, ho-!”
The two haniwa slid in front of the TV, and as if waiting for that moment, the anian to play
“Ho-”
“Ho ho-”
The haniwa had their eyes wide open and stared motionlessly at the TV, they looked forward to this every week
The anime that they couldn’t help but love was called ‘GO Haniwaned haniwa prince, and was a weekly airing story aimed at children, full of friendshi+p, dreams and adventure It was a title that had been popular with children for a long ti for over twenty years
“So cool, Prince Haniwamaru is our dream, ho-”
“He’s the best, we need to become like that too, someday, ho-”
The protagonist Haniwaetic and cheerful boy He was soot his friendshi+p and courage, and stood up and faced whatever hardshi+ps ca his sword, he showed peerless strength On screen was Karae of a haniwa, the two of them loved Haniwamaru
“And Haneena-chan is cute, ho-”
“I want a wife like her too, ho-”
There was another character that drew theirl She so kidnapped by the bad guys, every time she was saved by Haniwa relationshi+p It was ai But there were many fans who liked that, and there were by no means few adults that held them up as an ideal couple
“Hey, hey, Karaood about Haneena-chan? Doesn’t that Dograska have a nicer body?”
“You don’t understand Sanae-chan, Haneena-chan is really kind, ho-”
“Dograska has a bad personality Noher chest, or how slender her hips, that personality is awful, ho-!”
“Hmm, you place a lot of importance on personality”
“We do, ho-!”
“What’s inside is important, ho-!”
“I-I see…”
Sanae still didn’t agree with the haniwa about her, but felt aard stopping the any more, so didn’t press the matter
Koutarou was blankly watching the three that atching the TV Watching the three innocent people always s, for Koutarou, as an only child, it was enjoyable
“Satomi-san, Satomi-san, what’s the answer to this one?”
The sa could probably be said for Yurika But rather than innocent, she was a needy younger sister She was currently fighting with her kanji hoet most of the answers fro them
“Kyaa!?”
“Look it up yourself”
Koutarou thumped down a kanji dictionary in front of her, the sound surprised her so she ju, but her characteristic laziness soon had her opposing Koutarou
“Why are you mean to me!? Tell me please!”
“No, Do it yourself, I’ll teach you how to use the dictionary though”
“It doesn’t et Sakuraba-senpai to tell me”
When she realised he absolutely wouldn’t, she gave up on asking Koutarou and decided to go and ask Haruer in academics than Koutarou so it should be more reliable
“Wait, Yurika”
Koutarou caught Yurika’s ar away her homework
“Why?”
“When you’re really in trouble Sakuraba-senpai and I won’t always be around you know?”
Yurika was failing, if it continued like this, she’d have to redo first year But of course, Koutarou would become a second year and Harumi would become a third year Then Koutarou and Yurika’s curricula would differ, and Haru for exams So if Yurika were to fail once, the possibility that she would fail for a second tih
“Are you really okay with that? Are you that bad of a person?”
“Satomi-san…”
Yurika’s eyes ide She was expecting to be told off like usual But what ca words
“That’s right, at the aquarium, Satomi-san…”
She reone out with Koutarou, Harumi and Kenji Koutarou had said he believed her People ould risk their lives for others weren’t like that so Koutarou believed in her now That when it really mattered, she could do well
“I can’t let the people that believe in me down…”
There weren’t many people that believed in Yurika, Koutarou and Harumi were probably the only ones at theher, she’d lose that trust Yurika herself understood those pessirown at all over these months
“I understand, I’ll try it”
“Good luck, if you really can’t, I’ll help”
“… Only when I really can’t?”
“Just shut up and do it!”
“R-right!”
Anger aside, she didn’t want to actually be disliked Yurika opened the dictionary and frantically leafed through it
“… Alright, I’m done”
Then, next to Koutarou, Theia was doing the sa the work out to Koutarou
“Koutarou, sorry, but would you tell ?”
“Sure, let’s see…”
Theia had seriously tried at the homework and asked properly, so Koutarou had no reason to be cruel, so took the paper and checked the answers
“Yeah, there’s a few mistakes in here, Theia”
“I knew it”
Theia had asked hiht there werean alien, japanese, especially kanji wasn’t so she’d completely mastered
“First there’s this one”
“Which?”
Theia moved closer and looked over the paper with him As she did so, some of her hair fell onto the paper Koutarou followed it up and found hi so he found Theia’s face was closer than he thought and his breath caught
“W-what?”
Noticing Koutarou’s gaze turn to her, Theia looked at Koutarou and noticed the sahtly away The two of them were paralysed like that for several seconds
“…Well… Ufufufu…”
But Ruth’s laugh as she watched thehtly jerkyover the work
“W-well, first is the character for rice, there’s an extra stroke here”
“Isn’t it the s-same as the character for food?”
“Sometimes it’s, ah, abbreviated”
“A-ah, right, I see, I’ll remember”
They continued aardly like that for a while Ruth couldn’t find it strange, but bit down on her s of what they could be in the future
It took about an hour after she opened the dictionary for Yurika to finish her hos she wasn’t used to st her answers, she collapsed onto the table, like a puppet that had its strings cut
“I-I’m tired…”
“Well done, Yurika, would you like some tea?”
“Please, Kiriha-san”
Kiriha began preparing tea for an exhausted Yurika The hand on the clock had already reached seven in the evening so once she’d finished this, Kiriha intended to go and help Ruth with dinner in the kitchen
“Um, um, Kiriha-san”
“What is it?”
“Why do we have homework? Isn’t it easy to cheat nowadays?”
“Fufufu, that’s true But there are people who think it’s better to go through life the harder ithout cheating Homework is for those people”
“Don’t you think it’s better to take the shortest route?”
“Yurika, the next tied, hasn’t it?”
“I…”
For this hour, thanks to Koutarou teaching her, she’d learnt how to use a kanji dictionary So next tio and ask Koutarou or Harumi to understand it, so it would take less time
“That often happens when you take the longer route and do the work yourself It’s longer this tiht become the shorter route”
Yurika raised her head and looked at Kiriha She was brewing tea, and speaking as if it wasn’t anything special but it was very important to Yurika
“And when so the shortest route, you won’t remember the correct way, in the end you’ll have to ask next ti to rely on people for that will be the longer route”
“The longer route… Relying on people will be the longer route…”
Yurika understood that Earlier Koutarou had said that, when Yurika was really in trouble, Koutarou and Harumi wouldn’t always be with her When she was in trouble, she wouldn’t always be able to ask Koutarou and Harumi for help
“What’s ier route to take”
“Which…”
Whether to take the shortest route now, and rely on other people
Or to er route
When and where to take the longer way, that wasn’t the only difference And if Yurika didn’t chose, failure was before her
“When you look at a bomb, whether you think it explode because the fuse is still long or whether you put the fire out is up to you”
Yurika’s fuse wasn’t that long, if she was going to take the longer route, it would have to be now
“Thank you, Kiriha-san I’ll think about it properly”
“That’s good This is your life”
“Right”
Just a little, Yurika thought about her future It was only slightly, but that could be called an aiven her the advice that had become this chance
“She really is…”
While they were going over her answers, Koutarou listened to their conversation, and his doubts grew His doubts as to whether Kiriha really was here to invade the surface
Her words didn’t make it seem like she was Her kindness, dislike of conflict and instantly helping when Sanae and Theia were in trouble And now, her advice to Yurika Leaving her be would get rid of a rival, so there was no need for her to actively help Regardless, she had Thus Koutarou’s doubts gradually became convictions
Today’s dinner was deep fried food, and the s it through Koutarou