A Childhood Friend, Reunited After 10 Years Acts Deredere With Me - Chapter 9 - Sora's Secrets

“Wait! Seriously, wait!  I can’t, I can’t, I can’t! Alice! Alice!”

“Haah, I’m so happy to hear Sora call my name like this~”

“This isn’t the time to be saying that!”

There’s a reason I’m in such a hurry. It was the first roller coaster ride of my life. I am not very good at heights, but Alice insisted, so I went on the roller coaster. Now I regret it very much.

“Don’t worry, Sora! If there’s an accident or something, I’ll protect you with my life!”

“A-Alice…”

Alice is so cool.

As I was thinking that, Alice pointed in front of me. I looked ahead and saw that we had come to the place two seconds before the plunge.

“Ah… hey… my heart isn’t… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!

“A-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

………

……

…

“I-I thought I was dead…”

I saw my life flashing before my eyes. I really thought I was dead. Is that really a roller coaster? That was too much. My legs are still wobbling.

“Are you okay?”

“Why are you okay…?

Alice tilts her head and asks with the same face as usual. She has a strong heart, doesn’t she?

“I’ve experienced bungee jumping in the U.S., and this was a lot easier than that.”

“Aah…do they make you sign some kind of contract that says you can’t complain even if you die?”

When I somehow ask her about it, she makes a little gesture as if she’s thinking about it.

 “Well, there are some that do, but they are still much safer. They don’t have the same heavy equipment as in Japan, but…”

“It’s dangerous enough!”

“If you’re going to say that, what about Sora who climbed up to the rooftop without a lifeline?”

“Ugu…”

Actually, now that I think about it calmly, if I had made a mistake, I would have died, or at best, I would have been in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. I’m surprised I made that decision.

“Well, but I am very grateful to Sora for doing that. Even though you knew about my past, you didn’t despise me. Thank you so much.”

Why should I despise a mere victim who did not commit a crime? I don’t remember being such a jerk at all.

“…Why do you have such a dark expression? it’s not like you, quit it.”

With that said, we ended our gloomy conversation and went around to various places. We talked about all sorts of things with Alice’s goal of conquering all the attractions.

But even fun times come to an end. The last attraction of the tour is the Ferris wheel. According to the pamphlet, the Ferris wheel offers a beautiful view of the starry sky and illumination when it is over 7:00 p.m. Alice and I get on the Ferris wheel and it goes up and up.

Alice and I boarded the Ferris wheel together, and it continued to climb higher and higher.

“Puhah! That was fun.”

“Oi, Oi, it’s not over yet, right?”

“Yeah, but… if it ends now it’s the end, I’m a little sad.”

I was about to say something to her when I saw the look of regret on her face. I tried to stop my mouth, but for some reason I couldn’t.

“…Well…you know… If it’s okay with me, you can ask me out anytime you want…”

“!? R-Really?”

“Yeah…”

The atmosphere is strange, as they are aware of each other’s face turning red. Sora doesn’t like it and tries to talk about something else, but is drowned out by Alice’s voice.

“…Hey… Sora… I want to kiss you…”

As an instinct, I wanted to allow it. But the rationality I’ve cultivated over the years puts the brakes on that.

“No.”

“Does it have something to do with Sora’s past?”

For a moment, my mind goes blank. And then, memories that I don’t want to remember come into my mind and I get a headache.

“Not really, It’s not something that men and women who aren’t even in a relationship do.”

“Sora, before we came here, we talked about a lot of things. But it all started when I entered high school. Sora never told me what happened in middle school.”

“…”

I could only return silence on that.

“But…that’s okay. I’ve been hiding my past too, and I know I’m not in a position to say anything about anyone else.”

Alice got up from her seat, sat down beside me and took my hand.

“So I’ll wait. Until Sora tells me what happened in the past.”

At that moment, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a beautiful display of lights from the fountain at the amusement park. Normally I would have been glued to it, but now, just now, I couldn’t take my eyes off Alice’s face.