Vol 2 Chapter 2 (1/2)

Chapter 2 - First Date?

“Kaori Misaka? Yeah She’s my elder sister”

shi+ori’s overly pro

“Uical mothers different and you two didn't see each other after you were born? Or were one of you raised in a rich faed by delivering newspapers?”

shi+ori widened her eyes

“You know too well, Yuichi-senpai”

“Really?”

“I lied”

“So what’s the deal?!”

If eren’t in a court stacked with snoould have thrown round

“If it were true, though, it would be as fantastic as a soap opera”

shi+ori smiled and ate her ice cream

Since our firstto the court every lunch break

We didn’t make any special promise, but she would also come every ti else she wanted to eat, she would just reply she wanted to eat ice cream

I still worried over her ice-cream-fueled body, but succu ice cream at the tuck shop for her

Of course, o out with a cold

“Yuichi-senpai, why don’t you eat ice cream today too?”

“The nasty frosty feeling invading frome to eat ice cream!”

I was indulged with such delightful conversations that I always lost the chance to tell her to stay at home to take care of her body

The more I learn about shi+ori, the more I feel that the initial impression of dreairl who smiled adorably

“By the way, about what I mentioned earlier”

I said with caution because I found her eager to encourage me to eat ice cream

“About my sister?”

shi+ori see ice cream into herit to me

“My sister and I are just normal sisters in a normal family”

shi+ori shook her spoon and ate the ice cream herself

The way she spoke the word sister hinted a bit of playfulness

With her natural tone, I couldn’t help but pursue, “Then why did Kaori tell me she didn’t have a sister”

“Eh…”

The smile on shi+ori’s face disappeared

It was too late to regret what I had said shi+ori said nothing, and ate two mouthfuls of ice cream The joy ere in was lost

What an idiot I was How could I have been so unattentive?

I wanted to punch myself in the face

Nevertheless, shi+ori slowly faced me and showed her usual smile

“Then it must be my mistake”

“Your mistake?”

“Yes A person you know have the same name and surname as my sister”

“…”

“My sister must be in another class”

Could that be? Even if there were really someone else named ‘Kaori,’ it is uncommon to find the surname “Misaka’ For two people to have the sa?

“It see”

I decided to refrain fro

If shi+ori claimed so, let it be

“…Yuichi-senpai, do you like the snow?”

Suddenly kneeling down, shi+ori gathered the snow beside her feet with her hands

“I hate it”

“Why?”

“Because it’s cold”

I could tell there were other reasons, but I couldn’t reap of memories

“I like snow very much”

shi+ori athered

“Because they’re beautiful”

She then rolled the sobll on the snow ground Upon touching the icy snow, her white fingertips turned red

The sobll gradually becaer, from a table tennis ball to a tennis ball, then to a soft ball

“Yuichi-senpai, want to make a snowman?”

shi+ori lifted her gaze from the sobll to me

“Right now?”

“Yes Right now”

“I don’t mind But aren’t you born here? Didn’t you make a hell lot of snohen you’re sain?”

This ht be the case forsnow with Nayuki We even coht those we like hoave trouble to her mother Akiko

I liked snow too, back then

“I want tosnowman”

“How big?”

shi+ori looked up, as if checking her goal

“Around 10 metres”

“That’s out of the question!”

That’s a snow statue, not a snowman

“We have a lot of resources for that”

“Even so, it’s still out of the question”

“No?”

shi+ori placed her index finger on her lips It see

“Do you know this, shi+ori? A snowman is basically co, the ball’s dia Even if we couldto put it on a body with a height of seven metres? Do you understand why it’s out of the question now?”

“Yuichi-senpai, you’ve got a lot of spirit”

“Even if I have the spirit, it’s out of the question!”

“I hate people who talk like that”

shi+ori pouted

“When I was s snowman”

But as she continued, the edge of her mouth lifted up

Feeling that the heavy h

Now I knew that I wanted to help her wish come true

“I get you Let’s a big snowman then”

“Really?”

shi+ori’s eyes flashed adorably They were eyes that would waver your heart A little flustered, I avoided fro at her

“But we can’t do it now We need a lot of time and effort, so let’s spend an entire day outside when you’ve fully recovered”

“Okay”

“I can’t promise you that it’ll be 10 metres”

“It’s fine”

shi+ori curled the lower part of her cape in circles with her fingertip

At the sa

“Let’s call it a day, then”

“Sure”

shi+ori gave a bow, and turned away as usual

Then an icy bloind coursed through the court

“Woah!”

In a panic, shi+ori pressed down her flying skirt and cape

“I didn’t see anything”

Though extremely unfortunate, this was true

“The wind is up You should get home”

“Okay”

shi+ori walked as she turned away

“Can you go home by yourself?”

“I’m not a child anymore Of course I can”

“Only children make snowmen”

“I hate people who talk like that”

Her grumpiness was confined only in her voice, for her face betrayed a sood when she articulated the word hate

Good, now ensuesher hate meat the s of the school building

Woah

It was only a second, but I could swear I saw a long, curled, unmistakable hair

I was looking at my classroom

Had been Kaori been looking at us?

Fine snow began to fall, and hence I hurried my pace back to the classroom

“You’re back, Yuichi”

Nayuki greeted me with her usual slow tone

It eird for so with me to say ‘you’re back’ at school

“Did you have your lunch outside?”

“Yeah”

“By yourself?”

“Not really”

I didn’t want to spill all the beans and inform her of every detail about someone ore their causal clothes to school every lunch

“What could be so delicious to eat that you have to go outside and risk the cold?”

But Nayuki seemed she was more interested in what I ate than whom I met

Her easy personality did save me some trouble, thankfully

“It’s ice cream”

I stunned her

“Ice cream?”

“Yeah Oh, and I remember it’s the vanilla flavour”

“I don’t think anyone would go outside in this weather to eat vanilla ice cream without any reason”

“Yeah, you’ve got to have some reason behind”

Kitagawa heard our conversation and chipped in

Nayuki faced Kitagawa and said, “Well, probably he couldn’t wait for the weather to get warm”

“Then that means he just likes ice cream”

Even Kaori, who had arrived to her seat, came in

“Does it matter? Everyone has their own likes and dislikes”

Kaori came to a swift conclusion

The afternoon session started, and our conversation ended without a clear resolution

Back on limpse at Kaori

She spread her textbook and her notes on her table, as usual

But I was certain soed her

I would just have to wait till after school to ask her again

Sadly, before I even closed one from the classroom

“She’s in a big panic”

It seemed she scurried away

“Her club’s very busy, I heard”

I have to leave too, Nayuki said, stuffing her textbook into her bag slowly

“Nayuki, you’re in the track team So what club is Kaori in?”

“You want to know?”

Before Nayuki got to answer, Kitagawa nosed in again

“No Not really”

“100 yen and I’ll tell you”

“Do you want to spend 100 yen if you were me?”

“Ugh, my head hurts”

Let it hurt, then, with that said, I left hiot out of the classroom

Outside, the snow had been falling for some time

On the following day, the entire court hite The footprints shi+ori and I left, as well as the small soballs she and I made yesterday, were all covered byno trace

“The usual, unspectacular court looks great too”

shi+ori glanced around the court, eating ice cream today as well

I olfing down e

Although I had soive way

As such, I ate in an unintentional rush

“This is a scene I want to capture and draw”

shi+ori forers and her thuraphers to set their frame

“shi+ori, do you draw still life?”

“…I like drawing”

A faint red layer fell on her white cheeks

“I haven’t been drawing lately, though”

“What do you draw?”

“Sceneries When my body was better back then, I used to take o Then I also drew people…I mean portraits”

“I see Sounds quite formal”

I i her sketchbook to a corner of the street, some natural scenery, landscape and whatnot

With her weak de really well

“It’ll be great if I can have a look at your drawings”

“It won’t I’ll get embarrassed”

Her face grew redder

“I’ood at it”

“I don’t know any technical stuff as well”

I wanted to see it only because she drew it

“So…I can let you, but you h”

“Okay, I won’t”

Even though she was all smiles, if she couldn’t bear the embarrass or laughing Even if it happened to be beyond my apprehension, I would need to find any appreciable aspect to praise her

Thus I h at her when I really saw her drawings later on…

“By the way, shi+ori”

Having gobbled up my sandwich, I entered the main theme

“Yes”

“School ends after theclass tomorrow since it’s Saturday So there’s no afternoon break, isn’t it?”

“I believe so”

shi+ori looked down in slight regret

“So, if you don’t o somewhere outside school?”

“Do you mean a date?”