Vol 9 Chapter 3 (1/2)

Chapter 03: Separated Warmth

It was a bit cold, but with a bright morning sun that reminded you of a sunny sky. The refres.h.i.+ng morning of our date. What disturbed my peaceful slumber was

“Ahn! Noo! Stop!

a sudden charming and bewitching voice that echoed through my room, which made me jump up perplexed.

“Wh- What? Someone here? Just what are you doing in my room!”

When I straightened up my upper body and looked around at the same time, the alluring voice continued lewdly without pause.

“Yahn… Just not my bottom… Hahn… Stop… s.h.i.+n.o.bu-samaaa!”

The sweet voice calling me was the alarm clock that Kaorun gave me last night. Apparently it was the type that allowed a voice record.

“Please… show some restrain, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama… Ahn… This out in the open… Hyahn… My voice is leaking… Mm… If someone… hears this voice—”

“I would be done for without doubt!”

Like I would stand for someone getting the wrong idea.

I immediately slammed my palm on the b.u.t.ton on top of the clock, stopping the weird alarm. Following, I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead and made a small sigh.

…That d.a.m.n perverted maid, she pulled outrageous pranks as ever.

Well, it woke me up for sure. It was also a fact that I got kind of excited. Besides, I believed that Kaorun was just seeking attention with her own way of fawning on someone.

But I should properly caution her next time.

As such thoughts crossed my mind, now my cell phone rang. Kaorun was calling me.

“…h.e.l.lo?”

“Mm… If someone… hears this voice, we will be found… Kyahn… It is so embarra.s.sing… s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama, you pervert…”

“Kukuku, so you say, but it looks like your body can’t wait anymore, you know? In truth, even you want—”

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama, please stop the s.e.xual hara.s.sment. Otherwise I will report you right away. You are so shameless early in the morning.”

“That’s what I want to say!”

I had wanted to play along with her joke to retort later, yet she prevented me from doing so at the worst part. Now I was just a pervert. I regretfully sent my gaze to the alarm clock.

“What kind of behaviour is that so early in the morning? What’s the idea behind this alarm clock? Or rather, I hope you don’t have any listening devices in my room.”

The timing of her call was just too peculiar.

While I watched around my room once more, Kaorun gave me the morning greeting “Good morning, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama” through the phone. She changed her tone into a softer one.

“Just for the record, I have not set up any listening devices. I just somehow sensed your agitation, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama, so I tried calling you. Could it be, it happened at a nice timing?”

“Cruelly so.”

“Fufu, I am glad that I could meet your expectations. This is all possible through the power of love.”

“…What an annoying power. I’m already weary of it. I don’t want such a love.”

“Well then, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama, to make you accept my glamorous love, I will sneak into your room next time and change the recording of the alarm clock into a kitten-like little sister play one, or even into a mother play one that gives the impression of a snappy beauty.”

“Are you threatening me? If Nazuna or my mom were to hear that, it would result in a incredible awkward family meeting. So please, don’t do it.”

I was relatively serious. But Kaorun on the other hand giggled and readily changed the topic.

“—Now then, jokes aside, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama, please get ready for your date already. You are not allowed to go back to sleep and be late for the date, you hear?”

“…The hero always shows up late.”

“Okay, stop there. Since you are trying to go back to sleep by laying down on your pillow this very instant, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama, I will tell you something good. Therefore please get up properly.”

“Nah, I was just joking, but… what’s that something good?”

“Truth be told, the alarm clock I presented you is set up in the way that even when you press the b.u.t.ton on the top, it will ring the alarm again unless you turn off the switch on the side.”

“…That ain’t good at all. Launching a time lag attack, what a fearsome alarm clock.”

Most likely she wouldn’t allow me to go back to sleep. That said, I had no such intentions today. I ended the call with Kaorun and stretched myself a bit on the bed.

Then suddenly there was a knock on my door and Machina came into the room unforeseen. As soon as she spotted me, she showed a slightly surprised expression and then smiled softly.

“Morning, s.h.i.+n.o.bu. I thought you would still be sleeping, but I see that you managed to wake up yourself today.”

“Impressive, right? I really tried my best. Praise me kindly.”

“…What are you blabbering? You ain’t a kid, so it’s natural to wake up by yourself. Could it be you’re still dragging on the baby play from the other day? So you really seek a motherly figure…”

“Machina, currently I don’t seek a motherly figure, but your retort. Do your usual. And I would be grateful if you could forget about that baby play stuff. It’s even more traumatic for me than cross-dressing.”

When I dropped my shoulders with a sigh, Machina softly reached out her hand towards me and petted my head comforting.

“Good boy, good boy.”

“…Okay, it might be your idea of cheering me up, but to be honest, it has the opposite effect. What’s with that strangely warm smile? Don’t treat me like a kid.”

It was embarra.s.sing, as I was teased subtle.

For now I escaped from her warm hand, whereupon Machina suddenly s.h.i.+fted her gaze to the alarm clock on my bed, tilting her head doubtful.

“Is that alarm clock new? Somehow I get the feeling that the maid picture on it resembles Kaoru a lot. Did you buy it?”

“No, actually Kaorun came over to my room last night to play—”

“Yahn! I only came over to play, yet you dragged me all the way out here…! Aahn, you cannot, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-sama. I will end up leaking a l.u.s.tful voice. Mmm…”

Cutting into my words, Kaorun’s bewitching voice sounded from the alarm clock once more.

…Not good. I totally forgot about the time lag attack. I turned pale and stopped the alarm at the same time, but it was already too late. Machina’s lips were trembling.

“Sh- s.h.i.+n.o.bu! Just what did you do with Kaoru last night!? And even recording that voice of hers into your alarm clock! Just how much do you love maids!”

“No, wait, you’re wrong! It’s a misunderstanding!”

“Misunderstanding, my a.s.s! Don’t lie! I already know that you love maids! You’re drooling when my sister wears maid clothes! And you always enjoy talking with Kaoru so happily! Just what’s so good about maids!?”

“…Their submissive service to their masters?”

“Wh- What the! I don’t have either of that!”

I carelessly leaked my true feelings by forgetting my situation, whereupon Machina protested with teary eyes.

“Besides, if you want someone to listen to your every request, then get a computer program instead of a maid! I’m sure it’ll be more effective!”

“You’re wrong, Machina. The charming point of a maid is that she obeys you of her own free will. A program can’t imitate that.”

“I, I see. Maids are so profound— Not! To begin with, isn’t the perverted maid Kaoru the exactly opposite of your beloved submissive type? That you did weird things to Kaoru despite that means that you just have a thing for females in maid clothes, doesn’t it!?”

“No, no, I don’t really have a fetish for maid clothes…”

How could I clear up this misunderstanding?

Machina made a face close to tears while blurting out “I’ll wear maid clothes too! So play with me more often!”. I became even more panicked, whereupon my cell phone rang again, as Kaorun called me again.

“…What do you want now?”

“Well, I suddenly felt like maids were being made fun of, so I tried calling you.”

“Do you really have no listening devices here? What kind of sixth sense is that. Machina indeed said something on the lines of ‘A program is more efficient than a maid’…”

“Ah, please apologize! Please apologize to all maids and maid fans in the nation! Looks like I need to explain the merits of a maid to Machina! Please pa.s.s the phone over to her!”

“…Yeah, okay. And while you’re at it, tell her about how you gave me the alarm clock yesterday. She perfectly got the wrong idea about it.”

Asking Kaorun so and handing my cell phone over to Machina, I waited and observed for a while, but after a few seconds already, Machina furrowed her brow to whatever conversation they were having.

“Kaorun’s heartfelt weather forecast for today? I’m not interested in that. Eh? What? Don’t make fun of maids? Jealous Tsundere? Wh- Who are you calling a Tsundere! Eh? A contest? You’ll give me maid clothes when I win? Fine! I’ll accept by all means! Today for sure I’ll win over you!”

…Really, what kind of conversation were they having? After the call, Machina said “I’m going out for a bit!” as soon as she handed me back my cell phone and turned her back to me, rus.h.i.+ng out of the room.

Seeing that behaviour made me get the feeling that the misunderstanding wasn’t completely resolved.

While watching over Machina’s back, I inserted a sigh and decided to get ready for the date…

The meeting place was the fountain at the station. It might be the best spot for meet-ups, since the huge fountain served as a landmark. There were a lot of men and women in my vision, who all were probably waiting for someone.

But, as I came way earlier than the appointed time, Luna and Hijiri still weren’t here. By the way, my mother and the others recommended Luna to preserve the feeling of the date, so in the end she would rendezvous with me at the fountain too.

To be honest, I didn’t get a woman’s heart about this stuff, but it was a long-awaited date. Today at least I would put aside my worries and make some good memories with the three of us. Right now I thought it would be fine to face Hijiri’s feelings after that…

When such slightly serious thoughts crossed my mind, I suddenly felt a presence behind me. Apparently someone was sneaking up on me from behind.

…It might be Luna.

Luna actually loved physical contact. I was sure she would cling to me from behind and ask “Guess who?”.

I believed she was in high spirits due to the date. But it was slightly embarra.s.sing in public. I felt bad for her, but I would be laying in wait.

Therefore I went as far as to keep feigning ignorance while waiting for the right moment.

“Guess…”

“Wait a—”

Abruptly turning around, I extended my arm with att.i.tude to stop her, but… a squishy sensation spread on my palm and I inadvertently stopped my words.

A voluminous b.r.e.a.s.t.s that didn’t fit into my palm. A bewitching “Mm…” moan. And both my eyes fell on Hijiri’s appearance with red cheeks.

…Ah, it wasn’t Luna. I would have never guessed that Hijiri would try a Guess-who. Actually, didn’t I do something offensive right now?

Completely taken aback by the unexpected situation, I froze up with my hand still on her breast, whereupon Hijiri didn’t show any signs of anger and opened her mouth softly.

“You really love b.r.e.a.s.t.s, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun…”

Yeah, in the current condition with my hand on her breast, any words of denial I could utter would without doubt only sound empty. I wanted to pull my hand back from Hijiri’s b.r.e.a.s.t.s and apologize at once, but

“Uhm, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun, how does… my breast feel?”

Without time for me to stop her, Hijiri overlaid both hands on mine with still red cheeks and showed a worried expression after leaking another sweet moan.

“They aren’t as big as Luna-san’s, but do they still feel good?”

To be frank, it was awesome. The elasticity of her plump breast was pleasant on my palm and it was quite seductive how the breast softly changed shape on my and Hijiri’s hands. When I nodded back shortly to her question, Hijiri smiled relieved.

“I’m glad. So I wasn’t the only one, who felt good…”

…These words already cracked my reasoning. It was dangerous at this rate.

I felt uneasy like that, but it seemed that Hijiri had no plans to continue this any further too, as she likely was worried about people’s eyes. A bit regretful, she tried to remove my hand from her own breast— At that very moment.

“…Sh- s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san, Hijiri-san, what are you doing in a place like this?”

Suddenly a soprano voice that resembled a crying voice sounded.

While feeling all the blood leaving my head, I turned around together with Hijiri, whereupon there stood, like expected, Luna with teary eyes.

Instantly, I hastily removed my hand form Hijiri’s breast and warranted.

“Th- This isn’t what it looks like, Luna! Don’t get the wrong idea!”

“He’s right, Luna-san! Please don’t get a weird misunderstanding! It’s just an accident!”

“…Is that true?”

With still teary eyes, Luna asked doubtful.

“You both looked kind of happy, you know?”

“W- Well, I’m a boy after all. It’s true that I considered it a lucky accident. Sorry, Hijiri.”

“No, there’s no need for you to apologize, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun! It’s all my fault! The manga I borrowed from Kaoru-san yesterday had a Guess-who scene! I believe it was wrong for me to try mimicking something untypical for me!”

Apparently Hijiri was quite agitated. She hastily talked on and on.

“I was certainly happy too! When s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun touched me, my chest got hot and I considered his hand warm, big and pleasant! I’m aware that I did something bold! But I never planned to do anything funny! I just—”

“S- Stop, Hijiri. We’re in public. You better stop now.”

“Th- That is right, Hijiri-san. I understand very well that it was an accident. Do not worry anymore, okay?”

Each of us cutting into Hijiri’s words, me and Luna rested our hands on Hijiri’s shoulder mostly at the same time, whereupon she turned bright red, as she noticed that she was making an unnecessary coming-out, and looked down.

“…Sorry. All I do is so embarra.s.sing.”

“No, you don’t need to apologize either.”

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san is right. Actually I was thinking of doing Guess-who too. Just like me, you could not suppress your antic.i.p.ating for the date, right? So do not get depressed and let us enjoy the date.”

“…Okay. Thanks, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun, Luna-san.”

When she raised her head, her cheeks were still red, but Hijiri was showing a smile.

Attracted by that, Luna and I smiled faintly as well and then, to enjoy our date at once, we took the train— to a certain sports center with a skating ring.

Entering the center, Luna sparkled her eyes with “It is my first time at skating”, but after putting on her ice-skates, her eyes started flickering with anxiety and right now she was standing indecisive in front of the skating ring.

“Uhm, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san, I sometimes trip on even grounds, but… will I be fine here?”

“You’ll be fine. No problem. I’m sure your bottom will fulfil it’s role as a cus.h.i.+on.”

“Sh- s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san! My bottom is not that big! Please take a closer look!”

“…Sorry. I was joking. Please forgive me.”

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun honestly apologized at once!?”

No, Hijiri, I can understand your surprise, but look at that well-formed bottom lightly pushed out to me. Even if I wanted to continue the joke, words wouldn’t come out.

I replied so to Hijiri at heart, then s.h.i.+fted my gaze back to Luna and suggested.

“If you want, I can teach you how to skate.”

“…s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san, you can skate?”

“Of course. Even if I don’t look like it, I was… the older brother of my sister, who was once called the Ice Fairy!”

“Ehm, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun, that’s not something to be proud of, you know?”

“Well, you know. As Kaorun said it, I usually have a slippery mouth, so I should be good at skating too.”

The instant I went with the flow and threw out some self-destructive joke material to distract, Luna and Hijiri gently petted my head. Now I seemed really pitiful. After shrugging my shoulders lightly, I changed my tone into a bit more serious one.

“The jokes aside, I was skating a few times before at least. So I think I should be able to teach Luna. What about you, Hijiri?”

“Yeah, I can skate too, so let’s teach Luna-san together.”

After confirming that Hijiri nodded with a smile, I softly reached out my hand for Luna.

“Here, when you hold my hand, you won’t trip. For now let’s try a run.”

“Right. Let’s start with getting used to the ice at first.”

When Hijiri too reached out her hand in agreement with me, Luna took our hands, albeit a bit nervously, and hand-in-hand we three headed into the skating ring.

By the way, the ring had a diameter of about thirty meter and when Luna, still pulled by Hijiri and my hands, slid on the ice for some time, the tension gradually vanished from her expression and she slowly started to smile.

“How’s it, Luna-san? Quite fun, isn’t it?”

“Yes. It is really fun. But Hijiri-san, please do not let go yet, okay?”

“…Luna, if I carelessly let go now, would you get angry?”

“Sh- s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san! Do not say something so scary! Please stop!”

When I asked half-teasingly, Luna clung onto my arm while tears dwelled up in her ears, whereas Hijiri showed a wry smile and rebuked me softly with “Stop it, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun”.

Well, while such a thing happened, I let go off Luna’s hand for a test after she calmed down, whereupon to my surprise…no, calling it surprisingly might be rude, but against my expectations her good athletic senses made her not trip even once and she slid normally on top of the ice.

On the other hand, Hijiri, who watched over Luna together with me a bit apart, widened her eyes a bit and then leaked a voice of admiration.

“Luna-san is impressive. Even though it’s her first time…”

“Heh, I no longer have anything to teach her.”

“Uhm, why are you sounding like some old man?”

“I just wanted to say it once. Don’t worry about it.”

“Fufu, I see. You’re such a joker, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun. Really cute…”

…Being called cute really made me bashful. I should change the topic quickly. While scratching my cheek, I s.h.i.+fted my gaze towards Luna.

“Oh look, Hijiri. Luna has the knack of it. She’s even waving now.”

“You’re right. She looks a bit frolic— Mh? Huh? Doesn’t her face look kind of pale?”

“…It certainly is pale. And for some reason, she has even teary eyes.”

Suddenly we felt something amiss, whereupon Luna trembled her voice faintly with still teary eyes.

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san~ Hijiri-san~ Like I thought, these skates do not have breaks, do they?”

“D- Don’t tell me, you can’t stop?”

“That is right! Please help me! I am a bit scared!”

Luna sent us a SOS in a panicked sate. She had quite the speed and it would be a disaster if she crashed into the boards. I spread both my arms right away.

“Lu—”

“Come here, Luna-san! I’ll catch you!”

…Aw, everything I wanted to say was stolen by Hijiri.

Now my spread arms were kind of pointless.

While I felt a bit awkward and my cheeks got hot, Luna drew near to Hijiri with quite some drive. In regards, Hijiri properly caught her in her arms— or so she planned to, but it certainly was impossible on the ice.

She lost her balance on the spot and fell down together with Luna. But seeing as she perfectly absorbed her fall, she most likely was unharmed.

But, in a different meaning something outrageous happened to them.

Hijiri was laying face-up. Luna was taking a posture of hanging over her. Their big b.r.e.a.s.t.s were perfectly laying on top of each other, each changing shape squishy. Moreover the instant Luna moved, Hijiri leaked a bewitching voice.

“Mm… Luna-san, if you move like that… Ahh… Stop…”

“I am sorry, Hijiri-san… Fuhn… I cannot… Hahn… stand up properly…”

While Luna desperately tried to stand up on the ice, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, different from her intention, pressed down even more strongly and slowly rubbed left, right, up and down.

“Yah… Don’t, rub… there… Ahn…”

“No… Mha… It is not… Uhn.. on purpose…”

Contrary to Luna’s efforts, the four b.r.e.a.s.t.s seductively turned with undulating sways and sometimes the girls trembled their bodies with a s.h.i.+ver.

It was a scenery I would like to remember— But it wasn’t the time to stare like that. The nearby other skaters started to make some ruckus too. Returning to my senses, I approached Luna and Hijiri at once and softly reached out my hand…

Afterwards, Luna quickly got better as the practice paid off and after we enjoyed some skating together, we took a late lunch at a family restaurant. Then at the end of a few minutes of rocking in the train, we visited the aquarium next.

Getting entry with the tickets from my mother in our hands, we went inside together.

Upon that, the interior was shrouded with a wondrous, blue atmosphere and I could confirm couples here and there. Then Luna and Hijiri stopped in front of a nearby fish tank, where each of them were fascinated by the swarms of sardines swimming in it.

An individual small swarm of sardines crowded together and looked like single life-form. Sparkling like a glittering jewel, their figures moved vividly and fast.

I was inadvertently captivated as well and Hijiri too leaked a sigh of admiration.

“Amazing…”

“Yeah, they look really delicious.”

“Well then, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san, shall I make fish for tonight’s dinner?”

I carelessly ended up making a foolery like Elni, whereupon Luna replied with a smile. I actually had wanted her to retort, but for now I decided to keep the joke going.

“Then I want fat tuna Sas.h.i.+mi.”

“If you give me a kiss, then yes.”

“…Sorry. I was selfish. Also, please retort already.”

Luna smiled roguish.

When I lowered my head, Hijiri giggled with a “You don’t hold a candle against Luna-san” comment. I didn’t deny it in particular and after leaving the sardine swarms behind us, we slowly walked around in the aquarium.

Luna sparkled her eyes while watching the colourful tropical fishes, whereas Hijiri took a subtle distance from the scary looking deep-sea fishes

“They’re swimming so happily.”

and gave the deep-sea fishes a smile.

Luna’s expression changed frequently and when I was fixated on her before I noticed it, I suddenly felt a gaze on me and turned around… Hijiri was looking at me somewhat sadly.

“What’s wrong, making such a face? Could it be, you’re feeling sick?”

“Ehm, that’s not it. I was thinking that you’re kind…”

“Mh? Of course I am.”

Hijiri sounded somewhat diverting, but she really didn’t seem to be unwell. I replied to her with a firm nod.

“I don’t grow tired of watching Luna and you too looked kind of scared of the deep-sea fishes just now. Sorry, but that was a bit funny.”

When I told her so partly joking,

“…So you were properly looking at me too…”

Hijiri softly took my hand after mumbling quietly.

There Luna noticed my situation too and imitated Hijiri by taking my other hand with an animated voice.

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san, your hand is so big and warm.”

“Yeah, it’s a bit rugged and the skin is thick, but I like s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun’ hand.”

“I like it as well. I would love to hold it forever.”

“Yeah, that would be nice…”

While talking so, Luna and Hijiri showed a smile.

…My hand had, like Hijiri said, thick skin due to my martial arts practice and some small scars stood out as well. Despite that both of them said they like it, which made me embarra.s.sed, but I couldn’t dare to pull away my hand.

Their heat I felt through the palm slowly suffused my heart.

Around us were various fishes swimming in the blue fish tanks. We three just quietly walked through the peaceful atmosphere while holding hands.

…That alone made me happy right now.

Suddenly I harboured the impossible dream of never letting go of these hands. I was seriously hesitant to let go off only one of either hands and I couldn’t help but wish to keep their warmth on my palms forever…

After going around in the aquarium, we decided to go watch the dolphin show, which we saved as a last entertainment. We got onto the show grounds and sat down in the front row, then the event started after a while, whereupon the cute dolphins showed themselves and Luna and Hijiri smiled spellbound together.

“The dolphins are so cute.”

“Indeed…”

“Did you know? Dolphin is spelled with ‘Sea’ and ‘Pig’ in Kanji. I wonder why with pig?”

“Just why are dolphins so incredible cute…”

“It’s a mystery…”

“Uhm, girls? Please listen to me, okay?”

Actually, don’t exclude me. When I embraced a kind of bitterness in my heart, Hijiri and Luna continued their talk while still ignoring me.

“Reminds me, I wilfully asked my father and mother to let me keep a dolphin as a kid, which quite troubled them.”

“You did something like that?”

“It happened when I was really small. It should have been obvious, but I was depressed about not being able to keep a dolphin, so Kaoru-san made me a dolphin plush toy. I was really happy about that and I still keep that plush toy preciously.”

“I knew it, Kaoru-san is really kind. She resembles s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san a bit.”

“You think so too, Luna-san?”

Not noticing how I frowned, Hijiri heartened up her voice a bit.

“Bad at expressing her own feelings honestly, shy and trying to brush off things with a joke. She’s the spitting image of s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun in these points.”

“Their cool sides are also alike.”

“Yeah, right. Also…”

While saying so, Hijiri and Luna had fun talking like this while ignoring the dolphin show.

…Didn’t they want to watch the show?

I inadvertently tilted my head in contemplation, but interrupting them would be tactless. Before I noticed it, even I had forgotten about the show and was smitten by Luna and Hijiri’s smiles, whereupon I suddenly could confirm a dolphin finis.h.i.+ng a high jump at the edge of my vision with a huge splash.

At this rate, the girls would get wet.

For now I should get Luna— when my thoughts reached that far, my body momentarily stopped moving.

…Why was I trying to cover Luna? Did I think Hijiri would be fine by herself? Hijiri certainly was athletic. She might be able to dodge with her intuition in this situation.

But this spontaneous decision… tightly corded up my chest.

If in the future, I would have to let go off just one hand that I was holding earlier and could only protect Luna, I would—.

Various thoughts floated in the back of my brain in mere moments. I was hesitant and faltering. But in the end, my extended hand didn’t pull Luna closer…I stood covering in front of the two of them with both my arms spread, then I felt a cold sensation on my face in the next moment.

…Likely because of the season, but the drops of water running down my cheeks were unusually cold.

It might be that I got a divine punishment, because I kept taking a vague att.i.tude. While I leaked a silent sigh, Luna hastily stood up.

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san, are you all right?”

“Geez, I totally turned into a s.e.xy wet T-s.h.i.+rt model.”

I hid my feelings with a wry smile. Contrary to Luna, who worried pulled out a handkerchief, Hijiri averted her eyes for some reason.

“…It turns out like that after all…”

She spun her words with a fragile voice.

Her whisper didn’t reach my ears and she remained at her place, not intervening with us at all when Luna wiped my cheeks with her handkerchief. She simply clenched both her fist like she was enduring something and just smiled somewhat forced.

…I didn’t know what she was thinking, but her expression resembled a crying face and without finding words to tell her, the dolphin show ended at some point. And after the show, we parted from the aquarium without holding hands under the evening sun that started to show up…

There were hardly any other pa.s.sengers on the train back home, so it cruelly quiet and somewhat lonely. I could hear the clattering of the train and Luna’s calm sleeping soungs.

She must have been tired from playing around. Luna was leaning her cheek against my shoulder and Hijiri continued to look out of the window wordless, but suddenly she said isolated.

“…s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun, thanks for today.”

“Mh? Why so suddenly?”

Hijiri quietly replied to my nonchalant question without taking off her gaze from the window.

“It was really fun. Until now I never thought I would get to hang out with my crush and a precious friend like this, so it’s like a dream… It was truly enjoyable.”

Despite her calm tone, I couldn’t see her usual dignity on her profile.

“…But, one day you’ll wake up from an impossible dream, ending it. Even though I knew that for a long time already…”

Blurring her voice faintly, Hijiri s.h.i.+fted her gaze to me after a long silence.

“Actually, at the time of the water splash at the dolphin show, you… actually wanted to cover Luna-san, right?”

“…What makes you think that? I wasn’t really—”

“You don’t need to be considerate to me.”