Vol 1 Chapter 5 (1/2)
Chapter 5 - Present
A boy was crying alone on the long bench in front of the station
That boy was I
Since I was looking at that child, I thought, I was in a dream
That boy—Yuichi, had been rubbing his eyes with that back of his hand repeatedly while choking with sobs for some considerable time
So to help The only thing a helpless child could do in this situation was to cry repeatedly
How long had he been crying? When evening arrived, pedestrians passing the station increased, and it started snowing
“…I finally found you”
Yuichi, with his head lowered and his eyes vague with tears, saw a pair of girl’s shoes Looking up, he saw long braids, hands red by the cold, and on those hands a white snow rabbit
It was Nayuki
“I had been looking for you since you didn’t come home”
“…”
“I have so I want to show you”
She showed Yuichi the snow rabbit on her hands
“Look This is called a snow rabbit”
Nayuki forced a s Yuichi
“Iit, so I spent a lot of time and with all my effort”
Yuichi hadn’t been playing with Nayuki for alnirl Nayuki was lonely, for sure Now Nayuki was still crying for that girl Nayuki should knoell But even so…
“Could you take it, Yuichi?”
In her hands, the slowly leamed with its red eyes like tears
“I know you’ll be going back to each other for a while But when spring comes, followed by suain…” Nayuki bended her body, looking at ain, won’t you?”
“…”
“What I have prepared now may look simple, but this my present for you, Yuichi”
“…”
“Although…I couldn’t find a way to say it…I always had…been in love with…”
Knock, knock
Knocking sounds woke me up
“…Yuichi? Have you slept already?”
“No I’m still awake”
I didn’t plan to sleep After dinner, I decided to lie down for a nap while waiting for the bath, but I seemed to have fallen asleep
“We have to prepare for the exams today, you remember?”
“Yeah I’ll go there now Please wait for me”
“Certainly”
I couldn’t, however, look at Nayuki’s face directly now after having had that dream
“We’re doing science subjects today Work hard~”
With that said, she held the e cat accessory
“Nayuki, I’ve always been curious Won’t that mechanical person be hard to use?”
The round, fat cat looked heavy
“A bit”
“It looks extremely hard to use”
“That’s not the case I like it very much”
“Really?”
“…eh I thought you would say so it to train your shoulders?’”
“You’ve grown smart, haven’t you?”
After that dreay to refute or make a joke
After that, we kept silent in our reading for a while
Since I took a nap, I wasn’t that sleepy
Nayuki too Sometimes she would “Ku…”, but when I hit her, she looked like she had now beenlate
“Phew…”
After soh
“Have you got tired?”
“I want to take a break”
“Let’s go to a place to freshen ourselves”
Nayuki stood up and opened the door to the balcony, waving to tell me to follow her
Carefully, I walked out to the balcony Though I earing a pair of slippers, it was slippery on the frozen ice I al Nayuki to see my silly posture
“Let’s go back”
“We’ve just come out”
Nayuki smiled
I could see, rarely, the beautiful ht
The gardens and the houses below and beyond the balcony were twinkling with covered white snow
Nayuki’s long black hair looked beautiful too under the ht
“Braids…Do you don’t tie theer?”
Words slipped, without much care
“Braids?”
“You tied braids before, when I was a still a primary kid”
“Do you remember them now?”
Nayuki suddenly lifted her head
“Yeah”
With that said, I couldn’t stopthose memories
“Snow rabbits…and the girl with braids who made a snow rabbit for me”
“I see…”
“I have to apologise to that girl Still, even when she made a snow rabbit for me, I…”
“I’m really an idiot~”
Turning away from me, Nayuki stopped me
“For holding on to the past…”
Nayuki’s shoulders shi+vered,else
“I’m sorry”
I couldn’t help but eirl’s body
“Sorry, Nayuki…I…”
“You don’t have to apologise to me, Yuichi, for I’m an idiot”
Nayuki felt like a good-te still to let me hold her
“No, I , I…”
I couldn’t believe a sense of nervousness would thrash in ain Then I sue and said, “I think, I love you, Nayuki”
I could feel in my arms that Nayuki’s body tensed I couldn’t scare her I loosened the eo away if she wanted
Still, Nayuki kept like that, re silent
“I hated this tohen I first ca in the past But I soon started to think otherwise, because you ith me So I want to pick up those memories I had with you”
“So you remembered them?”
I nodded
“…That’s rude”
In h serene, her words meant denial
She lightly escaped fro with her hair around to me
“It’s rude to say this stuff now”
I was struck speechless
“…I don’t understand I don't understand what you’re suddenly saying to me…”
Nayuki lowered her head, cowering Her slim body looked, now, very small
The winter chilly air froze the two of us
“…Let’s get back to our rooms”
“Yeah”
Of course, there was no e could continue studying now I said goodbye, conducted so ain and whispered, “Sorry”
On the following day, when I went to the living room to have breakfast, Nayuki had already left the house
“She said she didn’t have time to practice after school because of the exams, so she left earlier for the practice”
Despite it came from Akiko, I knew at the spot it was a lie
It was only an excuse to avoid me
This was the first ti in their house
During lunch break, even though the few of us went to the cafeteria for lunch as usual, the only thing I said with Nayuki was “Do you want ja our interaction, looked at each other
“Aizawa, are you studying today? Nayuki said she’d be going to her club”
“If you don’t come, I’ll be the only person to be scolded by Kaori-sensei”
What they said after school i had happened, I could consult them when Nayuki was not around
But I couldn’t accept their invitation
“Sorry, I think I’ll pass too for today”
“Aizawa, if you’re bothered by so about Nayuki…”
Before Kaori could finish, I shook , I left the what a secluded, typical dump man I was and drooped my head
How ironic
I tried to open s I had towards Nayuki, but when it just came back to me, she rejected it
I staggered to the station
The clock tower, the rings around it, and the wooden bench
It was the bench I sat and cried in my dreams
Speaking of which, this here I waited for Nayuki a feeeks when I came back to this town
I sat on the bench
Althoughthe snow rabbit to Yuichi, I eventually remembered of what happened later
“Although…I couldn’t find a way to say it…I always had…been in love with…”
you, Yuichi~ Yuichi should have heard what Nayuki had said
But on that instant, the snow rabbit Nayuki gave hiround, destroyed
The leaf-made ear was bended, the red eyes rolled to one side: the snow rabbit was crushed into just another pile of snow
“…oh, I’m so-sorry…”
Nayuki forced herself to use the most normal tone and to show a smile in this aard situation
“So Yuichi, you’ve come to hate snow~”
The person who brushed away Nayuki’s present on the ground with his hand was none other than Yuichi
Nayuki said, tre her eyes on as left of the snow rabbit
No
You had done nothing wrong, Nayuki
I would have said that, if you let rief at that ti for Nayuki
I was only focused in grieving, in such despair I hoped the whole town, along with the snoith all the happy memories, and whatever related would have never happened
“Yuichi”
Even then, Nayuki said gently to Yuichi
Even when Nayuki was allergic to cats, she e in any mind because she loves them Probably this was the same reason why she still smiled to Yuichi even when her snow rabbit was rejected
“No matter what happened, I still want to repeat what I said So please give me a moment, only a moment before you leave…”
Despite her obvious smile, a streak of tears came down her face
“Can you cooodbye?”
Yuchi didn’t reply
“I’ll be here…alaiting for you, Yuichi”
Still, I didn’t came back to Nayuki’s and just left the town
She must have drowned in sorrow Given the circumstances, even she would have co for me to coreethad happened and treated me with her usual kindness
Then I was again captivated by her
I was such a bastard With that thought in mind, I felt someone in front of me
“Is it you, Nayuki?!”
Abruptly I lifted irl I had never seen Probably she sawat me worriedly
Her rinned to the girl Freaked out, the girl s assured, and ran back to her mother
It was also time for me to head back…
Having delved h, I stood up from the bench at last
When I opened the door to the house, the phone started ringing As no one else seemed to be around, I picked up the call
“Is it you, Yuichi?”
It was Akiko
“I’m sorry Actually, I’m very occupied ork today, so…I’ll probably have to co”
“Ah…I see”
So aht…in this situation?
“I believe it’s fine since I’ve left dinner to Nayuki, but I’ve prepared soerator So you can heat them and have some~”
“I understand”
“Thank you for helping out”
“…okay”
To tell the truth, I had no confidence in helping out, but I couldn’t let her worry
It was simple to heat food with theas I, so I quickly set up the food and ate dinner early
It was only several days since I had eaten with Nayuki food she made, and here, also
It seemed I could never eat hotpot as delicious as that one
Though once frozen, food Akiko prepared was superb But when I ate it alone, it occurred tasteless
When I was almost finished, I left a note for Nayuki on the table
Akiko don't see back today I have finished my dinner Yuichi
It sounded pale, but I had wrote everything needed
Having climbed to the second floor, I lay flat on the bed
I had hardly spoken anything with Nayuki for this entire day
Would this continue till spring? Then everything would be y to Nayuki and remain cousins?
…How could anyone just change their feelings immediately?
Rolling around and glancing at the table, I found the mountain of books I hadn’t touched
If I stayed like this,tomorroould…
“Yipes!”
In a shriek, I sprang up Was it really tomorrow?!
“I’oner”
Even if I start now, everything was too late But I still decided to revise so was also a nice way to turn away fro about Nayuki Even when I heard her voice, I remained in my room and, quite rarely, concentrated in front of the table
Then, after some time…
Having heard knocking sounds, I opened the door
But there was no one there
When I got back into the rooain
What?
Looking closesly, I could see, on the balcony beyond the half-opened curtains, Nayuki was standing there, puffing white air So the balcony was connected to this room and Nayuki’s
I immediately opened the door to the balcony