Vol 2 Chapter 6 (1/2)

Chapter 6 - In the Snowy Night

Time flowed in this dreamy week

shi+ori and I had gone to the ice crea district

We had also had lunch with Kaori, Kaori, and even Kitagawa

“I’m very nervous with you seniors…”

shi+ori stood still in the school cafeteria, see her hair

“It’ll be fine I’m here Nayuki and Kaori too”

“I’m here as well”

“It’s your first tiuess”

“But I was the first person who saw shi+ori in the courtyard It would have been great if I had just gone there toyou”

“I think it will end up the same”

Kaori said coldly, h

Then, after I had parted with shi+ori, Kaori said to me alone on the way back to our classroom

“It’s great we can come to this resolution”

I didn’t kno to respond to her

“Even if this normal lifestyle this ould be a burden to her body…”

Even if this would make her disappear earlier

“Isn’t shi+ori s from her heart now?”

That was all I could say

“You have to sh the s in the corridor to the court piled up with snow, “To the final moment”

In the court after school

“Yuichi-senpai, you’re so late!”

shi+ori pouted, waiting for me who had come late because of classroom duty

“Sorry, I’m sorry”

I stroked her head

“Nayuki forced me into this She took the broom and the towel and forced o”

“Are youher as an excuse?”

“Well…”

It was a bit exaggerated, but it was true Nayuki who pointed me to ith a smile looked scary

But speaking ised docilely

“Sorry”

“Okay, I’ll forgive you today”

shi+ori finally sh of relief, I wanted to let out a smile too, but I found shi+ori’s face even whiter than usual

“What are we going to do now?”

shi+ori placed her index finger beside her lips Her deh

“Why don’t we have a stroll on the streets?”

“Why not?”

I said, s the uneasiness in my heart

It was fine shi+ori was beside me It wasn’t the day of promise yet

Leaving school, ent to the shopping district we had always gone to

“If you want anything, tell me I’ll buy it for you”

“Woah, really?”

“If it’s below 200 yen”

“…Yuichi-senpai, you didn’t plan to buy anything for ht?”

“That’s all I’ve got here”

Actually I had a bit et

I hadn’t yet decided on what to buy Today was a good chance to pry into her what she had in mind

Along the shopping district, she would so s

“Ah, that plushi+e is cute”

Which one? I said, and then stunned upon turning my head to that direction

It was a huge plushi+e that guarded the shop’s door I couldn’t tell if it was for sale

“I think 200 yen is impossible for that”

“It costs 8000 yen”

It really was for sale shi+ori went ahead and checked its price tag

If I had to take out even e…

“Oh, but its original price is 500 thousand yen”

“Really? That price reduction is uniinable”

“Hey, look,” shi+ori showedTrue, the black words were crossed out, replaced with black numbers

“Is it unpopular?”

“It’s a doll that would curse the owner to die with an unknown death”

shi+ori’s eyes flashed

“It’s great!”

“You think so?”

I backed off a bit shi+ori nodded with affirmation

“I want this”

“No way, it’s cursed”

“We don’t knohether it’s cursed”

“Anyway, let’s buy so more normal”

Please, don’t let irlfriend on her birthday

“You sound like my taste is bad”

“Oh, look, how does that doll over that sound?”

“I hate Yuichi-senpai the most”

shi+ori smiled

“Whatever, I’d like to go into the shop for a look”

The shop was composed of a pale pink colour Dolls and little decorations filled the interiors

“Let me wait here This doesn’t look like a shop for man to enter”

“Really? It doesn’t seeh”

Casting an upsetting comment, shi+ori walked into the shop alone

I leaned on the electric lamp beside the shop

What should I do? If she finds a doll she like, I can buy it as a present for her (save the cursed doll) But it ive her a present that would displaythat would please shi+ori…

At thiswhacked my back

“Good afternoon, Yuichi-kun”

Ayu showed her usual sements, but every time I come here, she would bump into me

“Say, Ayu”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think there would be a girl ould be happy to receive an ice cream and a shovel on her birthday?”

“I don’t think so”

Ayu replied immediately

“Well, what do you think girls would noret on their birthdays?”

“Taiyaki!”

Ayu replied iain

“Only you”

I denied immediately like her

“Ugu…Yuichi-kun, do you want to give a girl a birthday present?”

“You can think of it that way”

“What kind of girl is she?”

I thought about it for a while

“Her e snowman Yeah, that”

Ayu tilted her head blankly

“So what present do you think will make her happy?”

“…Ice cream and a shovel”

“Right?”

Ayu tilted her head in thought too

Then she askedabout?”

“Yeah”

“I see,” Ayu nodded, s The setic self put on

“Does shi+ori have other interests?”

“Interests? Oh, she likes drawing”

“That’s it!”

Ayu clapped her gloved hands and said, “shi+ori fits drawing” I wanted to tell her she could say that because she hadn’t seen her drawings, but if I had to buy drawing tools, there were many choices and very accessible shi+ori would also be very happy

“I’ve made up my mind”

After I nodded my head, shi+ori had come back

She hesitated when she saw Ayu standing with

“She’s with you today again, Yuichi-kun!”

“Yeah”

shi+ori’s face reddened with a sed looks with me and shi+ori

“Yuichi-kun and shi+ori really look like close siblings”

“Siblings…”

shi+ori sneaked a peak at me

“Wrong, Ayu”

I softly placed my hand on shi+ori’s small shoulder

“We’re…couples”

Even though it was e, I had to say it

“I see…”

Ayu sucked in air with an “ah” sound shi+ori said, calmly, “I didn’t even know that too”

“shi+ori…”

“I’”

It was painful to me even if it was a joke

“Ahaha”

Ayu smiled at my pitiful look But her smile was different her usual one It carried a touch of loneliness Or was I too mindful?

“So which park are we going now?”

I was having a date with the person I like, yet I couldn’t help inviting Ayu

But Ayu shook her head, her smile intact

“I think I have to go”

With that said, she turned away, but then turned back and whispered to ive to shi+ori”

“Ayu,” I asked unintentionally, “are you still looking for that thing?”

Ayu exchanged glances with me and shi+ori beside me Then she smiled shamefully

“…No I think I’ve found it already”

Then it was 31st January, Sunday

Even though sunlight poured in through the crevices of the clouds, the sky was a shade of grey The as cold and penetrating It wouldn’t be a surprise if it snowed This was a common day in winter here

Today was a weekend Dates we had before spanned only half a day, but now I could spend the entire day with her Excited, I ca place fifteen minutes earlier

shi+ori ca ti

“Am I late?”

“No, I’m early”

“I’ you, Yuichi-senpai, it’s fine to come later”

shi+ori puffed white s here?

“Didn’t you getlate?”

“But I want to be earlier than you today too”

“What reason is that?”

shi+ori smiled Except for her skinnier face and tired voice, her sht as ever

“By the hat bag is that?”

shi+ori who usually had nothing in her hands had now oddly a rectangular bag wrapped by cloth

Proud, shi+ori took out the box inside, which of course was rectangular as well

“It’s a lunchbox”

“Did you make it?”

“Yeah Because I promised you I’d do so”

“Okay I look forward to it”

“You sure do!”

“Taste aside”

“…I hate Yuichi-senpai the most”

Having repeated things we had once being saying over and over again, we started walking

“So where are we heading? Since we have a lunchbox, let’s find a place we can eat it”

“Okay, a place you knoould do”

“But I know only a few places The house I’ district, and the park you took me to…”

“I want to have a look at your house”

I stopped at the little choices I had

“Can I?”

I was joking about my house, but shi+ori looked serious

“You can…but it’s just a regular house”

“It doesn’t matter”

“Then it’s good”

I was also a healthy young irl to my house

Of course, I didn’t tell her so I just moved my lips

shi+ori lowered her head and looked up at me only with her eyes

“Yuichi-senpai, I guess you aren’t thinking anything funny, are you?”

“Coo if we’ve decided”

“Woah That’s not an answer”

Althoughvoice, shi+ori followed me

On the way, shi+ori didn’t forget to take a trip to the shopping district to buy some ice cream she liked

Returning home so early, Akiko was a bit surprised, but…

“Nice to meet you I’m shi+ori Misaka”

shi+ori’s careful bow made her understand immediately

“Welcome, shi+ori It’s a small house, but please make yourself comfortable”

“Thanks”

“If Yuichi does anything funny, remember to scream”

“Okay I know”

Looking at their cheerful conversation, I was a bit let down

“Yuichi”

After shi+ori had ascended to the second floor, Akiko quietly calledroom

Akiko seeht I would be lectured, but what should she said blew me off

“Did you take shi+ori home because her condition is severe?”

shi+ori herself knew she looked bad I didn’t pay much attention, but it had becolimpse by someone else

“No…Well, don’t inning”

I tried to pretend calm

“I see I worry too much Sorry”

Akiko returned to her roos that betrayed my e at the door of the roo, opened the door, and invited her in

“So this is your room, Yuichi-senpai”

shi+ori looked around, curious

“It’s beautiful It’s even more tidy than mine”

“Because I have only lived here for less than a month”

That was about the time I had coly excited, looked at the s and touched the furniture

There wasn’t even a table in the rooazines in the centre of the room, and placed the lunch box and shi+ori’s ice cream on top

“I threw soer”

“But we don’t have anywhere to sit”

There was notcushi+on shi+ori said it was fine and sat on the wooden floor, leaning on the side of the bed

“Oh wait, why don’t we lay the cape on the floor?”

“No,” shi+ori said and pulled the cape on her body

“I like this cape”

“So you’re alearing it”

I sat beside her and pulled a side of the cape

“No I only have one”

“Then I’ll knit a new one for you”

“Woah You will?”

“I’”

“I’lad Is it handmade? Is it Yuichi-senpai’s handmade cape?”

shi+ori said with a singing tone

“No…wait, I said I don’t knit”

“You can by so”

“I don’t even kno to hold that stick”

“It doesn’t mind You only have to spend some time, and one day you’ll…”

shi+ori suddenly stopped, but she continued, s, “One day…”

shi+ori’s voice tre in casual chat, but these two si of this dream

And today was the last today of this week

shi+ori’s face, her shadow, her breath, even her hand to end today

Even I could feel this oppressing reality I could also feel it co from Kaori’s and Akiko’s words

‘One day’, it would happen to us

This was reality

“shi+ori”

“Woah, Yuichi-senpai”

shi+ori’s troubled voice because of the sudden embrace threw me even in more pain

“…I’m depressed”

In my arms, shi+ori was small and frail, but she felt softer and warined

I grasped her hand, stroked her head, letting her head to turn upwards at me

“Woah, no…”

I stole a kiss without letting her finished what she had been saying My heart’s waver flowed to my chest My heart jumped madly shi+ori didn’t reject my kiss Over her closed eyes, her eyelashes with moderate thickness trembled

I pulled off my face slowly, and shi+ori lowered her head, her face completely red

“People who do these things…”

“I love them”

I broke off what she said again This ti her entire body

“I have always loved you, shi+ori”

“…”

“So from now on, I would only love you, no one else”

“You’re saying so, Yuichi-senpai”