Chapter 7 (2/2)

“From your point of view, because Haruki said that he liked s, you think that…”

“He likes you, right?”

“S-So that’s what it was…”

Suddenly feeling faint, Natsuki sunk doeakly into a crouching position

“H else?”

As Akari bent down to peer into Natsuki’s face, her eyes shone mischievously

‘Then, does that mean she heard the rehearsal after all?’

She opened her mouth to ask her about it, but the words that ca entirely different

“…Hey, Akari, what do you think about s?”

“I like them A lot”

After answering, Akari blinked in surprise at herself with a, “Huh?!”

Natsuki was also embarrassed as how quickly she’d replied, but she smiled back at her

“…I like your drawings too, Akari I admire that unique atmosphere it has And I like Miou’s delicate, and detailed drawings, too I want to look at them forever”

It gradually becah, she ended up speaking very quickly

However, Akari see clearly, and her face lit up

“Nacchan! Nacchaaan!”

“Wahh?! Hey, Akari, I can’t breathe…!”

Akari’s slender ar down

‘It’s sweet… Smells like peaches…’

Just as she was about to lose focus, the grip of Akari’s arhtened

Although they looked thin, they’d been toughened up by carrying heavy canvases and art supplies when she bought thehtly by these arain, but for a reason that was different from before

“…I’s like I did”

Akari whispered in her ear with a shaky voice

Natsuki felt so damp on her shoulder, and silently shook her head

“No, I’m the one that’s really sorry”

Wrapped in the scent of peaches, Natsuki slowly closed her eyes

‘I’ll have to ask her what shampoo she uses later…’

She’d ask for the brand, and then they ether

And, of course, they’d invite Miou to co, too

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Feeling fatigued, like she’d just swaainst thein the train

‘I wonder if Akari made it in time…’

Natsuki looked towards the bus terminal in front of the station to search for her friend, who had gone there after seeing Natsuki off before she boarded the train But the bus must have already departed, since she couldn’t see the bus oor Akari anywhere

‘Maybe I should text her to make sure’

She reached into her cardigan pocket and took out her cell phone

Just as she was about to open it, she realized that the light indicating a new e was on

‘Shoot, I didn’t even notice…’

Hoping that it wasn’t anything urgent, she quickly opened her inbox

Along with several newsletters, there was a text from Miou

“Akari-chan went after you Were you able to meet her?

Let’s all go hoain tomorrow

Good luck at the dentist!”

When she read the entle voice, she wasn’t able to hold back the fresh tears that sprung up and her vision becaain

Natsuki rubbed at her eyes with her cardigan sleeve, and hovered her hands over the keys of her phone to type a reply

However, she hesitated for a long tie” screen

‘Going ho to walk home with Haruki anymore?’

From what Natsuki had heard, after the contest had ended, this time it was Haruki who had told Miou that he couldn’t walk home with her Apparently, it was because they were busy with finishi+ng up thethat wasn’t the only reason

‘It’s only a feeling I have, though…’

She couldn’t keep still because she knew that Haruki planned to confess to someone

‘Who could it be…? But I already decided that I’d support him no matter who it is!’

She leaned her head against the glass ith a thunk, and tried not to overthink it

After all, she pro in

Suddenly, her cell phone vibrated in her hand

Co to with a start, Natsuki slowly looked down at her phone

“Huh? Koyuki-kun?”

Surprised at who the sender was, she spoke out loud on accident

Her voice echoed throughout the mostly-empty vehicle, as it was still early in the day, but luckily, no one paid her much attention

Placing a hand over her chest with a sigh of relief, Natsuki turned back to her phone and opened up the text

“I’ll be waiting at the park”

There was no subject line, with only a single sentence in the body, and not even a specified time It hardly seemed like Koyuki at all, who usually wrote so methodically and politely, and she had to double check the sender name to be sure

However, the text had definitely been sent by Koyuki, leaving Natsuki at a loss

‘It’d be better if I just went, right…?’

She could always justthat she hadn’t noticed the text because her phone had run out of battery, or that she’d fallen asleep

Or should she reply, and find out what he wanted, first?

However, she was a bit reluctant to do either

‘Even if I try asking over a text, I doubt that Koyuki-kun will just answer honestly’

Of course, this was just another gut feeling that she had, but somehow, it seemed reasonable

There were about two minutes until the nearest station And from there, it would take ten minutes to walk to the park

She typed in her reply that she would be there in about tenher eyes, she hit the “send” button

Koyuki i, “Thank you,” and her heart started to pound

‘I wonder what Koyuki-kun wants to talk to me about If… If it’s a confession, then…’

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Koyuki was sitting on a park bench, and watching some stray cats play with each other

Seeing the peaceful look on his face helped her nerves unwind a bit,it more natural to speak in her usual cheery voice

“Koyuki-kun, sorry to have made you wait”

“Oh, not at all! I’ you out here so suddenly”

Koyuki stood up froy

She found herself strangely ad like this one

“…We haven’t had the chance to talk alone like this since that day, right?”

‘Straight to the punch!’

Feeling her heartbeat speed up, Natsuki clumsily nodded

“At school, I always feel like Setoguchi-kun’s keeping an eye on uess you reap what you sow”

Unsure of how to respond, she could only shake her head silently

It was obvious that Yuu and Koyuki were keeping a distance from each other

They hadn’t been particularly close before, either, but whenever he joined Natsuki to talk with Koyuki about a, he would casually make friendly jokes But after what had happened that sued dramatically, and it was difficult for them to even speak to each other as classmates

“I’m sorry for how Yuu acted before I already cleared up the , so if you two just have the chance to talk again, then…”

Just as she was reassuring his between and Yuu would be fine now, she trailed off suddenly when she noticed that Koyuki was looking at her with a sad look in his eyes

For ato upset hi came to mind

Throwing hi

“…It wasn’t”

“Huh? Sorry, I couldn’t hear you…”

“What would you do if I said it wasn’t Setoguchi-kun’s ?”

The previous sadness in Koyuki’s eyes faded, and they now shone with an earnest light

He was staring straight at her, as if probing the inside of her mind, and it made her uncomfortable

But, that was it

Once she took a deep breath, she was able to organize her thoughts again

‘I feel like Koyuki-kun is always trying to hide what he really means…’

She faintly recalled how Akari had confronted her directly Co around the actual topic

“Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Um, well, that was just a hypothetical question…”

Trailing off into silence, Koyuki finally bowed his head

As she watched his shoulders drop helplessly, Natsuki then said so unexpected

“You know, you’re kind of like me, Koyuki-kun”

Natsuki’s eyes widened, surprised at what she had just said

Koyuki also looked up, and stared at her in confusion

‘Why do I think he’s like me? Is it because he hides what he really wants to say, and speaks with “if’s”…?’

As she thought it over in her head, the answer suddenly came to her

Instead of confessing for real, Natsuki had chosen to do confession rehearsals

Hiding his real intentions, Koyuki s

They were sis directly

They were also similar in how they tried to deny that fact

“…I’ about me,”

Natsuki started off, and started to talk about the answer that she’d just realized

“I’ve never had , anything, where I could say, ‘Yes! This is me!’ That hy I entered the art contest, but even then, I prepared myself for the worst”

As she spoke, Koyuki listened to her attentively, without even blinking

Encouraged by this, she revealed the feelings that she’d been keeping in her chest

“I really wanted to earn a prize this tiress with the piece I was sub I think I probably had it all planned out in my head somehow, and I’d prepared an excuse like, ‘I just didn’t win anything because I didn’t give it my all’ Unlike me, Akari and Miou really tried their best…”

Speaking out loud like this, the feelings that she’d shut away started to reveal themselves

Surprisingly, there was still a ray of light re at the bottom of the box that she’d locked away

“I thought that I just wanted soive me more confidence, but I realized that it couldn’t just be anything I realized that when there’s so that you really want to do, there’s no point unless you do it until you’re satisfied with it”

‘I see, so this is how I really felt’

When she’d found out that she hadn’t won anything in the contest, she didn’t feel sad that her piece hadn’t gotten a good evaluation

She just felt discouraged, thinking that she wasn’t good enough

In the end, she’d only entered the contest because she wanted so absolute, like to be praised by someone

“Enomoto-san, what do you really want to do?”

Koyuki asked her in a very quiet voice, like a still and tranquil sea

He spoke in the way he always had; it didn’t feel like he was trying to pry her for answers or anything She could tell that he asked purely because he wanted to know

Natsuki brought her index finger to her lips and grinned

“I haven’t told anyone else yet Can you keep it a secret for me until it’s ready?”

“Of course After all, I li—… I support you, Enomoto-san”

Koyuki carefully chose which words to use, and then smiled at her

Natsuki nodded in return, and spoke her newly-found dream out loud

“What I really want to do is—”