Vol 2 Chapter 3 (2/2)

shi+ori looked at the hall, the origin of flowing musical notes in the court

“Did you come for the ball, shi+ori?”

“How could that be possible?” shi+ori said, spreading her cape that had always been covering her

“I can’t make it with this outfit”

“Well, why don’t we find another place?”

I had planned to date her again

“A date?”

shi+ori replied immediately

“…yeah, I want to date you”

I answered, feelingOn shi+ori’s face was a s

“Letyou somewhere I know, Yuichi-senpai”

What a miracle

I thought, looking at shi+ori’s small face

When I couldn’t see her, days seeht of her When I could, that feeling would vanish, replaced by a feeling that I had been with her for a long tis about Kaori, and all other worries would vanish into the depths of my heart

“Yuichi-senpai, do you still remember this place?”

Trees aligned on both sides of the shaded path

“I remember Ayu escaped and came here to eat her stolen food”

shi+ori laughed at my bitter remark on Ayu

“Then it’s where I first ht?”

“Yes”

It was here, shi+ori said, gently putting her hand on a tree in the middle of the road

“Yuichi-senpai, do you remember what happened then?”

“Most of it”

I wasn’t sure of what I had been doing, but I could recall what happened to shi+ori in every detail

“I re you and Ayu-chan said”

“You have a good memory”

She smiled

“Because they truly are precious memories”

“They don’t span enough time to be called memories”

“Meth of time”

The wind blew, shi+ori’s hair fluttered

“I think…it depends on how inificant it is…”

She said, hitting the crux of the ht

“Was it really that important?”

Ayu suddenly knocked on a roadside tree that made snow fall on shi+ori’s head—I couldn’t understand how this had to do with her profound words

“Because you and Ayu-chan were the real deal”

“Really?”

“When I got back ho”

shi+ori left the tree and continued walking

I immediately followed behind Fro Ayu, but if it occurred precious to shi+ori, let her think that way

“Here”

shi+ori turned around and spread her ar like a small cloak

“So there’s such a place around…”

This place was a wide park surrounded by trees

Like a round coliseu to the lower e stone- like mist

White snow imprinted itself: on the branches, on the rocks of the fountain, and on the ground

“This is the place I like thefor places to draw still life”

The scenery was certainly beautiful and illusory, suitable for drawing still life

With light footsteps, shi+ori ran down the stairs to the plaza

I followed her slowly When I had co in the middle of a snow-carved stadium There was, however, no audience

“This is great It’s like we have rent this place”

“Because today’s not a holiday We can even play baseball here”

I gathered the snow on the ground, htly threw it

Looking at the parabolic arc it drew, I said, “We can also have a sobll fight”

shi+ori followed suit and made a sobll

“Do you want to play?”

shi+ori kept onmore soballs

“But we don’t have a special reason to do so here…”

She made more soballs Snowaer if you had born and raised in this town shi+ori, on the other hand, usto as if this were her first time She didn’t even seem to care about her hands that had become red from the snow

“Can’t we play?”

Well, there wasn’t anything against playing She was pretty loaded anyway Heaving a sigh reluctantly, I held one sobll

“Okay, let’s have a snow fight until our hands fall off”

“Sure, yeah…?”

“We have to make more soballs”

“Do we have to stuff rocks inside?”

“Please don’t s words”

That would just glue my eyes on her hands

“Okay, so the number of soballs is even”

“Aren’t those soballs all made by me?”

“The one who goes first wins Here it comes!”

“Woah! Cold!”

The sobll I threw hit her hand

“Counter!”

“Revenge?”

Cold snow threw through the side of my face

“Hey, you aim the face…phhuu…impressive!”

When I opened my mouth to speak, I ate some snohich excited me

“Woah, Yuichi-senpai, using tow hands are terrible!”

“You can even maintain your speech while you hit back the snow I threw at you?”

A person scoring 0 in whack-a-mole would definitely fail to beat her

“It’s just a coincidence”

That shesoballs at o-around Showing off the reflexes I developed froames, I evaded her attacks and found chances to throw some back at her

As a result, although our hands didn’t fall off, we had a great tiht, and we didn’t stop until ere so tired we couldn’t even raise our hands

“Phew…”

Worn off, I sat on the edge of the fountain

“It's really tiring, eh?”

shi+ori sat besidewhite smoke But there was no sweat on her

I stretched my numb shoulders a little

“But what the heck are we doing? Going to a park with no one around on a working afternoon, throwing soballs at each other until our hands hurt”

“Do you even have to ask?” shi+ori adjusted her cape and said ”

“I see We really are”

It was a siood date so far

Lifting her head, shi+ori closed her eyes

“The wind feels good”

“Yeah”

My body warood

With her eyes shut, shi+ori allowed the wind to embrace her

Slowly, she opened her lips

If I were to touch these lips, I may…

Grumble…

“Yuichi-senpai, are you hungry?”

“Yeah! I’ to death!”

As I cursedsuch a clichéd response, I ranted

“Speaking of which, we haven’t even eaten lunch yet”

I nodded, with a bit of embarrassment

“Because we ca at the court”

“Sometimes people pull carts there and sell stuff”

shi+ori pointed to the direction from where we came

“Will anyone still do business in this season? And it’s not even a holiday”

“Perhaps, if we do a lot of good deeds every day”

“…okay The shopping district is too far anyway”

I didn’t have much confidence in my usual route, but it was fine to have a stroll around the park

We had a little walk Shortly after,a big umbrella: we lucked out

“See, I do a lot of good deeds”

shi+ori turned around at ood deed for a patient to run out?’ I instead flashed a smile back at her and took out my wallet

“Welcome”

The lady with her hair dyed gold reallyroadside stuff

Frankfurt sausages, fried noodles, and okonomiyaki

Juice, cola, and ice cream

“I want cola and fried noodles What about you, shi+ori?”

“I want ice cream”

As expected

“But Frankfurt sausages look good”

“I want vanilla-flavoured ice cream”

“Oh wait, isn’t this okonomiyaki made Hiroshi+ma-styled?”

“…”

“There are even eggs under its bottom”

“I hate you the most, Yuichi-senpai…”

“Haha”

“Have both of you decided?”

The lady had been opening and closing the box for the ice crea crea herself to do so The eyes hidden behind her golden hair glared at us directly

“Yes We want cola, fried noodles, and ice crea about, we are going to have vanilla ice cream for sure, hahaha”

Trying to get aith a dry laugh, I paid swiftly and returned to the fountain with shi+ori in a hurry

“Phew”

The unexpected tension ly delicious ice creah calorie fried noodles and cola

“Here, have some vanilla ice cream for dessert”

shi+ori held a spoon of ice cream at me

“No I’ve had enough vanilla”

“You’ve had?”

“…I’ve eaten it When you’re not around, I had them alone in the court”

“Was it good?”

I shook my head, “It’s too cold when I eat it by myself”

“…”

“Besides, I enjoy looking at you eat rather than eating it myself”

“I don’t knohether I should continue eating after you say that”

shi+ori sucked on one end of the spoon, her head lowered, her face a bit red

The water splashed in the fountain

We had been here for a while, but this was the first time I heard this sound

The wind blowing onto ain

The signs of evening came early in winter

“The ball should be in its climax now”

shi+ori placed her hands in front of her chest, holding her cape

“I think it’sin a dressed-up ball”

“Really?”

“Do you think balls are better?”

I et closer to her

“I…”

shi+ori didn’t continue, but I wasn’t really aware

She had finished her ice cream

This short silence was soothing

“So into my mind just now”

shi+ori lifted her head, as if suddenly re

“Isn’t the scene we are in now like those scenes we often see in soap operas?”

She spoke as if she was just a spectator

“Do you enjoy soap operas, shi+ori?”

“I actually watch all the soap operas that are aired”

“Then, what scene is it like if it’s a soap opera?”

I pretended to adjust et even closer to her

“Well…”

I took the finger at her chin she used to think and moved it aside

“Ah”

I moved my face to her She then closed her eyes I placed ly weak shoulders

A sweet fragrance of vanilla

In front of the fountain, our lips softly caether

“Is this too cliché?”

“Let’s see…” shi+ori looked down as if she was going to bury her body into her cape, “I don’t hate cliché episodes”

“shi+ori”

Touched, I wanted to hold her shoulders But since she stood up suddenly, I lost the chance and so my hand could only swap thin air

“Because…don’t e could at least see a happy ending in a story?”

shi+ori said, but to whom I didn’t know

“Because these stories are the happy endings hu with a hint of loneliness, “They feel wonderful”

“shi+ori…”

“That was my first kiss”

shi+ori gently stroked her lips with her tender fingers

“I’m happy it was you who took it, Yuichi-senpai”

After that, when I returned hos of ecstasy and anxiety crashed my heart, as if they were about to explode, which didn’t fade even late at night

I kissed shi+ori

I was elated

It was evento hear shi+ori said she was happy

But the lonely face she held after that was the face I could so far away

The s, and the more I see her smile, the more I couldn’t stand the other face she had

Don’t e could at least see a happy ending in a story?

So what she s only occur in stories? Then even the relationshi+p she had with me…

“Wuagh…”

I heldto explode after five seconds Before that happened, Nayuki called me from the other side of the door

“Are you free now, Yuichi?”

“What’s up?”

“There’s a phone call for you…from Kaori”

“…”

Slowly, I lifted the face buried in the pillow

“Are you going to pick it up?”

“Yeah”

I ell aware of as going to happen

This phone call was the only switch to prevent

Or perhaps, this switch could just straight off blow me into pieces