Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16817330665542028014/episodes/16818093073608444116
I woke up to the sound of a clatter. I was supposed to stay up all night, but apparently I fell asleep before I knew it.
Sasatsuki is still holding me as a pillow, but fortunately the hold on my legs is off. I was very careful not to wake her up, but I loosened her hands around my waist and looked down at the bed.
“……Hm?”
My childhood friend who was supposed to be next to Asakura, who was sleeping soundly, was nowhere to be seen. I thought for a moment that she might be in the bathroom, but somehow I felt like it wasn’t the case, so I got off the bed and headed out onto the balcony, with a robe in my hand.
“What are you doing, Kanna?”
“Ah, Jinpei kun……”
Sure enough, Kanna was there. Even though it’s May, it’s still cold before sunrise. Not to mention Kanna is wearing scantily clad clothing. I gently put the robe I brought over her shoulder.
“As expected of Jinpei kun, you are very attentive. How did you know I was on the balcony? Are you an esper by any chance?”
“I don’t think so. I just had a hunch.”
“Really? I have the feeling that Jinpei kun has always been able to see everything that I’m thinking.”
[It’s just your imagination.] I replied as I lined up next to Kanna. Unlike in the countryside, I couldn’t see the stars, but the crescent moon floating in the clear night sky was just as beautiful.
“It’s a perfect opportunity. We haven’t had much time to be alone lately, so why don’t we have a little chat?”
I nodded in agreement.
I’ve been very busy since Asakura and Sasatsuki arrived, but that has left me with less time to spend with Kanna. I have a lot of questions I want to ask her after she moves here.
“I’d like to start with you. What were you doing out on the balcony at this hour?”
“I just felt like getting sentimental in the night breeze.”
[I’ve been through a lot] says Kanna with a smile.
“It has already been a month since I met Jinpei kun coincidentally. I’ve made friends with Asakura san and Sasatsuki san…..and I’m having fun every day.
“I see. I’m glad to hear that.”
I completely agree that every day is fun, but I would like them to reduce the frequency of their visits.
“Jinpei kun, why are you here? Did I wake you up?”
“I just happened to feel someone going outside. I woke up thanks to Grandpa’s teachings.”
The rustling of leaves, the faint sound of footsteps and vibrations on the ground. I was told by my grandfather in the countryside to be sensitive to signs, and it came in handy here as well.
“Fufu. Jinpei kun still acts like a grandpa’s boy.”
“I’ve spent more time with him than my mother and father, because he raised me.”
A short time after Kanna moved out, my father was transferred overseas for work, and my mother went with him. I remember that they thought that I should go with them, but I clearly rejected the idea even though I was a child. Needless to say, the reason was–
“By the way, Jinpei kun. It’s been a month since you started high school. Have you gotten used to life here?”
The question was a complete change from the previous ones.
“Thanks to you. Except for the occasional urge to go to the mountains, I’ve been able to live a pretty comfortable life here. The most surprising thing about coming here is that Kanna has become the president of a company.”
As expected of my childhood friend, I added, and Kanna smiled, looking somewhat embarrassed.
“There’s nothing special about being a president. What’s really amazing is Jinpei kun.”
“Hm? Why are you talking about me?”
I”‘m here today because of Jinpei kun.”
When she said this with a sad expression, Kanna began to speak quietly while looking up at the sky.
“To be honest, I haven’t had much fun since I came here. There was no one who understood what I was thinking and what I wanted to say like Jinpei kun did…….”
Just as when she was living in the countryside, she was looked down upon by those around her, and although she was not bullied, she did not make any friends.
“When I reached junior high school, more and more boys approached me, but I wasn’t naive enough to think that it was genuine. Well, it made me feel more and more alone.”
Kanna laughs as she says that. To make up for her solitary days, she studied like a madman. Then, before she knew it, she started her own business and became the president of the company.
How much pain she has gone through. Only she herself can understand that. I would never be able to understand it. No matter how much I try to comfort her by saying things like, [It must’ve been difficult] it wouldn’t resonate. That’s why the only thing I have to say to Kanna is this.
“……You did a great job, Kanna.”
While saying this, I gently patted her on the head like I used to do when I was a child. As if combing my silky smooth hair, I stroke it over and over again.
“Please don’t treat me like a child forever. I’m a fine adult, you know? I won’t cry.”
“Right. But if you want to cry, you can cry, okay? Because humans can cry.”
There is no need to force yourself to hold back tears. It is the same whether you are a child or an adult. If you can’t show your weakness because you are a president, at least be a normal girl when you are with me. With this in mind, I patted my childhood friend’s head.
“Thanks, Jinpei kun. Thank you…..so much.”
While saying this in a weak voice, Kanna pressed her face into my chest, and drops of water flowed from her beautiful, jewel-like eyes. Unlike when I was a child, my childhood friend’s shoulders were shaking quietly, and I rubbed her delicate back as if I were soothing a baby.
“You really did a great job, Kanna.”
“Yes……so can I have some kind of reward?”
“Well, well, well. Suddenly, the game changed, didn’t it?”
“To be more specific, please share the bed with me. And I will make it okay for you to sleep while hugging Sasatsuki san.”
Kanna’s uninflected voice made me break out into a sweat. Did she really see me being used as a hugging pillow? ? No, it can’t be like that. It was pitch black and she wouldn’t be able to tell unless she got close.
“It was like you were close siblings. In this case, would you say that Sasatsuki san is my sister-in-law? There’s nothing to be jealous of, right? When I was a child, I have a special place in Jinpei kun’s arm, but not anymore.”
Saying this, Kanna glanced up at me and looked at me. Her eyes are like an abyss with no bottom in sight and the highlights are gone. Sweat is pouring down my face like a waterfall.
“Um……I mean, what do you want me to do?”
“Don’t go back to bed, get into my futon. That’s all. It’s simple, right?”
“simple? Is that…..simple?”
“Don’t worry. I won’t do anything to you. Just sleep in the same futon like we used to. That’s all !”
Those are the words of someone who is definitely planning on doing something. It’s so easy to understand that I don’t even feel like poking fun at it.
“Ha….. I get it.”
“If you don’t like it, I’ll go to bed ! I’m not going to let Jinpei kun become Sasatsuki san’s pillow any longer—what did you say?”
“I said I believe Kanna’s words. You’re not gonna do anything, are you?”
“Of course ! I swear to God, I’ll never, ever do anything, okay?”
Her eyes were swimming, and that’s exactly what she said. Her voice was shaking, and I think she was ready to do it. I let out a sigh and turned on my heel.
“It’s getting cold, and it’s time to go back. We’re going to sleep together on the futon, just like old times, right?”
“Yes ! I believed Jinpei kun would say that !”
Kanna sticks to my back like a big dog playing with me. She cries. Angry. Happy. The ups and downs of her emotions are a roller coaster, but this is the true form of the Hanazono Kanna I know.
“I’ll go back as soon as I smell something dangerous, okay? Just sleep peacefully, understand?”
“Ehehe…..I know. But as you know, I can’t sleep unless I’m hugging something, so I might have an accident, please bear with me.”
“These aren’t the words of someone who was sleeping normally just a moment ago.”
While talking about such a trivial matter, we returned to our room and got into the same futon so that no one would notice my thumping hearts.
“Well then…good night, Kanna.”
“Yes. Good night, Jinpei kun.”
I slowly close my eyelids as I listen to her loving voice, [Sweet dreams] she says. Strangely enough, sleepiness soon follows, and my consciousness quickly falls into the depths of the ocean.
And then the morning arrives.
The first thing I felt when I woke up to sunlight streaming in through the curtains was a strange weight on my body and an unusual heat that I could not have imagined on a spring morning.
The reason for this was nothing else. I was hugged by Sasatsuki, who had moved from the bed before I knew it, and Asakura was stretched over my back, and Kanna was covering me in place of the blanket.
“Give me a break……”
The last day of Golden Week started in an indescribable state of extreme envy from the outside and extreme embarrassment from the inside.
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