10 years had passed since I started playing the game of sekkusu with my childhood friend. - Chapter 33. That person was eating Takoyaki before the actual performance started as far as I can remember.

Chapter 33. That person was eating Takoyaki before the actual performance started as far as I can remember.

When I looked at the calendar, it just happened that the day of the festival fell on a Wednesday.

I got up from bed and looked at the folded blanket tucked away in the corner of the futon. The blanket that I had been using to play sekkusu games with Haruhime, lately no longer had a chance to be used, and had been left there like an ornament.

The faded bear mark feels as if it were staring at me.

It feels as if I haven’t seen Haruhime for a long time now. Today must be the same as well. Its as if she will never show up at this place ever again.

“Phew.”

That feeling only deepened when I saw Haruhime perform yesterday.

The Haruhime on stage appeared so far away that it felt like a lie that she had been here just a few days ago.

Haruhime is cute. She is cute, so cute that no matter what you add to the word “cute,” it’s still not enough.

Compared to her, I was practically nothing. I lacked both flamboyance and guts. Every thing I have is mediocre or worse, below it.

“I guess it just …… was like a dream.”

The time we embraced on the bed, when I realized that, it was already a long time ago. It faded away in my memory and has never come back again.

Sorting out my feelings, perhaps that’s what it means to realize that you’ve become an adult.

Sighing, I got up and quietly made my way to the school.

Walking leisurely, I heard a ghostly voice creeping up behind me.

“…… Tetsu-dono.”

“…… Fukuo?”

When I turned around in surprise, I saw a man with a face even paler than mine, walking briskly toward me.

“Good morning ……, degozaru.”

“What’s wrong, why does your face look so pale? By any chance, you haven’t been up all night playing games again, have you?”

“No, I was rather …… so tensed and couldn’t even get a wink of sleep.”

“Nervous?”

“Yes, when I thought that it was finally about to happen, the play, I became so nervous that I couldn’t sleep at all.”

“‘Hey, hey, hey, is everything really all right with you?”

“Ummmu. Maybe not. I will go a little faster and stock up on rations into my stomach, perhaps.”

“Don’t eat anything too heavy.”

“……ummu.”

Walking unsteadily, Fukuo’s footsteps were unsteady and he looked as if he would fall down at any moment.

Eventually, with a hint of anxiety, it was our class’s turn. In the audience, there were a good number of parents and students from the school.

“Then I’m off, degozaru.”

The pale-faced Fukuo appeared on stage and gave a convincing performance until the middle of the show.

However, right towards the end of the play,

When the witch’s curse was finally lifted, the part when the so called climax of the play was about to happen, he collapsed before entering the stage, as if he had run out of power.