Vol 2 Chapter 4 (2/2)

“What?”

I left Nayuki and Kitagaere startled, and staggered out of the cafeteria

I then left school without takingI didn’t want them to see me dejected in humiliation

I wandered to the shopping district

Uh, uh, uh?

The

shi+ori, I have avenged for you Now is the tiht, but there was nothing I could do Again I grasped the ha the moles

At this moment

“You sure are working hard, Yuichi-kun”

In a corner of the field of s

“When did you come?”

“Just now”

Speaking of which, I did start to smell the sweet scent of taiyaki

“Do you want some, Yuichi-kun?”

Ayu took a taiyaki fro

Just when I decided to say I didn’t have any appetite, the s from the taiyaki captivated

“Thanks”

I took one and had a bite

“Woah, hot!”

“Because it’s just out of the oven”

“You have to tell ot burnt”

“Good Great I haven’t had one yet”

Thump

“Ugu…I’m not a mole!”

Hit by the galoved hand

“I’ bites on the taiyaki It wasn’t anything I like to eat, but eating sweet things at this y and stamina

“By the hat are you doing here?”

“I’”

“Looking for so similar before?”

“Yeah But I haven’t found it yet”

Ayu looked serious

“I see”

I put down the hammer and packed the coins back to my wallet

“Let’s look for it together”

“Are you fine with that?”

We left the arcade andthe streets

“Are you trying to find a shop with loose security to steal food and drinks?”

“Ugu…no!”

“Then what are you looking for?”

Ayu’s face reddened

“Well, it’s so…I dropped”

“Your wallet? Is that why you’re stealing food?” I asked, “A?”

She shook her head energetically, the wings on her bag shaking along

“It’s so very important to me…”

Ayu stopped talking abruptly

“What’s that i?” I pursued, “Hey!”

How can we look for it if you don’t knohat it is!

“B-But I’ll remember when I see it, because it’s very important”

Ayu looked even more serious

Okay, as you say, I heaved a sigh

I also had so I didn’t knohat it was but that I lost

It was the memories I had the last tio

The recent days I had spent with shi+ori were so pleasant that I had already forgotten about this

“Then let’s have a here you usually go”

I walked with Ayu around dessert shops, pasty shops, and cake shops

“Ah!”

“Did you find it?”

“How come there are so many kinds of pasty nowadays!”

“Go home, now!”

“I’”

“I’ you The shops you frequent only sell food”

“Ugu…none of your business”

Saying all anted, Ayu and I laughed

This could count as insincerity to shi+ori

Anyway, I laughed with Ayu, as if I had forgotten about shi+ori

I felt only laughter could save hearts that had sunk to the deepest levels

When I laugh with Ayu naively and thoughtlessly, I could solve shi+ori’s sickness and our iher It sounded reckless, but it was

So I…

“Yuichi-kun?”

Ayu looked up with surprise at

“…Ayu, I…”

I understood now That hy shi+ori just kept her s nothing of her condition shi+ori wasn’t just pretending or forcing to smile

“I thought of so important, so, well…”

Even if I return now, shi+ori wouldn’t be there Still, the only thing in my heart was to see her I couldn’t stand it if I don’t

Ayu showed a moment of loneliness, but soon she nodded with a smile

“Okay, I understand I’ll go find o find yours”

“Next time we meet, I’ll show you what it is”

“Sure…”

Ayu wavedkid stuff and left the shopping district, I looked back to have a look at Ayu She was standing there alone, against the flow of people in the shopping district I waved at her

Thank you, Ayu It was great to see you here today

No students were in the school

Evening had come, and Nayuki said there were exams, so most clubs were naturally suspended

I walked straight to the court Of course, no one was there

But…

On the snow ground was a single pair of intermittent footprints

The footprints lead to the door to the school building They were fe the door to the interiors, the footprints carried da less obvious But they were still there, and they were not long left Even if they were gone, I still had a hunch of where the one who left it had gone

I climbed the stairs

It was the junior’s classrooinally had to go to I didn’t knohich one it was, so I went through one by one Their doors were opened, and no one was inside But there was one door closed It was the one right below the classrooently opened the door

Wearing a cape and casual clothes, a girl was sitting almost in the centre of the classroom

“I’m found”

The girl—shi+ori—turned around as if she kneas I, and slowly smiled at me

“I thought no one would be around at this tiht”

“…”

I couldn’t say anything I just approached her

“This seat is originally mine”

Stuff was messily thrown in the table of the seat It looked by no irl’s

“Of course, now it isn’t”

shi+ori caressed the table

“This seat is still the seat I sat on the first day of school, this table still the one I used the first day, i in front”

“…yes”

“That girl seemed very nervous by herself I said I was by hted”

“That girl seems to care about you, shi+ori”

“Ah?!”

I told shi+ori, as surprised, how I irl in the corridor

“It that what happened? I see”

shi+ori held a corner of her cape, lowering her head in a bit of embarrassment

“I’m sorry for what I did today, shi+ori I…”

S, shi+ori shook her head at me, as about to continue

It’s fine I kno you feel, Yuichi-senpai

Her eyes told me so

“Where is your seat, Yuichi-senpai?”

shi+ori lightly stood up from ‘her seat’ and asked I walked to the second seat from the back beside theand pointed at it

“So this is your seat”

shi+ori walked to where I was, sat down, and looked through the

“So this is the scene you see everyday, Yuichi-senpai…”

“This is the third floor, so it’s a bit different”

“It’s fine”

shi+ori smiled and looked at the sky

“Because this sky is the same sky you see”

The winter sky dyed orange We both looked beyond theat the clouds that were slowly changing their shapes

We rereat to spend ti the same scene

It would be better if ti

But ti seamlessly

“Have you known those things about me…from my sister?”

With her usual calm tone, shi+ori commenced

“…Yeah”

They talked similar when they went into serious topics, probably because they were sisters for this matter

“It isn’t any cold at all, is it?”

shi+ori nodded

“I’ to you, Yuichi-senpai”

“…”

“It’s actually a et cured even with a lot of medicine or injections”

“What sort of illness is it?”

“…I don’t remember”

shi+ori looked at me with a sorrowful smile

“It has a co I can change”

So its na her smile

Even when Kaori, her sister, were in tears

“I also have another thing to apologise”

shi+ori looked straight at me Her clear pale iris captivatedme in

“I love you, Yuichi-senpai”

“shi+ori…”

“Perhaps I love you more than anyone else”

But… she said, her s

“I planned not to love anyone I kneould only bring sadness, yet I couldn’t help”

She directed her gaze below the

“Today as well I knew probably I wouldn’t see you again yet I ran there I knew I just have to give up, yet I waited, and waited”

I elass, but very warm shi+ori had truly lived her life as hard as she could

“I’m dumb”

shi+ori stayed inan inch

“I’m so dumb that my sister hates me”

I shookher dry and fresh hair

“I’m sorry How bothersome I may be, I still love you, Yuichi-senpai”

I held her hand and let it go behind my back

“I also love you, shi+ori”

“…”

“So even if you tell me I’m bothersome, I’ll still stay beside you, forever”

“Yuichi-senpai…”

shi+ori lifted her head, still s quietly

“It’s like a soap opera”

“Yeah”

It didn’t matter, because this was a happy scene It was scene that didn’t need any tears

For what reason was the child born?

I answered Kaori’s question

She was born for the sath of one’s life didn’t matter

shi+ori was born to experience happiness