After Practicing S*x With My Childhood Friend I Don’t Even Like, I Started Becoming Popular With Beautiful Girls. However, for Some Reason, My Childhood Friend Starts Acting Cold - Chapter 43 - Proof of Happiness (END)
Chapter 43 – Proof of Happiness
——Approximately one year ago.
Today too I went to visit my grandma in the hospital.
I don’t have friends to hang out with after school, and I don’t have any hobbies that I’m into.
I had a lot of time on my hands and I wanted to spend as much of it as I could with my grandma.
“Hey Kohaku. Are you happy now?”
My grandmother, lying in her sick bed, smiles a little more vividly than usual.
She seems like she’s feeling a bit better today.
“I don’t know.”
“Then, do you know how to be happy?”
“How to be happy? …I don’t know.”
What is happiness?
For the first time in my life, such a question popped into my head.
But I didn’t feel like it mattered to me.
“You see, when grandma was about Kohaku’s age, I didn’t know any better too. I wasn’t good at socializing and I was always alone.”
“Grandma did?”
“I was always bitter, lonely, and scared… I thought nothing was fun.”
My grandma is always kind to me.
She always strokes my head, talks to me who’s not very good at communication, and warms my freezing heart.
She understands me more than my mother and father.
I have always loved my grandma.
“But you know what, Kohaku? Grandma is happy now. She’s been happy for a long, long time.”
“…Eh?”
Why?
Even though grandma is sick and in pain every day… Even though she…doesn’t have much time left… It’s so sad and unfortunate.
How can grandma still say that?
Grandma smiled and patted my head.
“Because Kohaku is here. That’s why Grandma is happy.”
“Me, me…?”
“Yes. you see, grandma lived her life recklessly. I just envied people who lived with a smile on their faces. I couldn’t stand that only people like me lived with a gloomy face. I decided to change. I decided to live more brightly. And ever since then, I’ve been walking on a path that I don’t know if it was the right one or the wrong one… I was always lost, but…”
My grandma stroked my head and cheeks lovingly.
Her hands are colder and smaller than they used to be, and it looks like it’s about to fall apart.
But deeper than the skin, the heart is burning hot. A gentle flame is lit.
“When my daughter, Akari, was born…and then my grandchild, Kohaku, was born…I understood.”
At last, my grandma lifted up her exhausted body. I tried to stop her, but before I could, I was softly wrapped in her hands.
The warmth spreads deeper into my entire body.
“Kohaku… You are the proof of grandma’s happiness. You are proof that your grandma did nothing wrong and was happy.”
“Grand…ma…?”
“Thank you for being born. Thank you for giving grandma happiness.”
“Hu-huaaaaaa… Huaaaa…!!!”
What should I do? What should I do? I don’t know what to do.
Tears filled my eyes and I couldn’t stop them.
Grandma’s voice was kinder, warmer, and happier than any voice I’ve ever heard.
And yet, I’m about to lose this warmth.
At that moment, I saw a scene in the not-too-distant future without my grandma.
It’s a cold, pitch-black place without even a sliver of light in my world.
Ah, I see…
I’ve been happy up until now.
I would have been happy if my grandma had been with me.
I have lived my whole life under the protection of a happy ray of sunshine.
That’s all that was needed in my tiny, tiny world.
Without grandma, I… I can’t be happy…
“Don’t cry. My sweet, sweet angel. It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay. Kohaku’s gonna be okay.”
My grandma rubbed my back to quieten my sobbing.
“You have to cherish your relationship with others. Because that’s the only way to make people happy. Only people can make other people happy.”
My grandma’s small but strong words seeped into my body.
I cried and cried and cried.
I’m sure I’ll never cry this much again.
——Be happy.
My grandma said so at the end.
What is right and what is wrong?
Where and what do people need to do to call it happiness?
What does happiness mean to me?
In this world where people have lost their loved ones, is it something that will sparkle once more?
I don’t know what’s going on, but…
If that’s what my grandma would have wanted, I have to get out of my tiny little cage.
It’s scary, it’s unsettling, it fills me with desire to run away, but…
It’s okay.
In this heart, there is only one light, one guide.
I’m sure the day will come when I’ll understand.
I——Nekomura Kohaku——have decided to live for my own happiness.
◇◆◇
“Hey, Suzume.”
After revealing her feelings once more, Kohaku smiles softly, her black hair swaying in the night breeze.
“Hmm?”
“We’re going to practice now. Let’s quietly go away.”
“Huh? What are you talking about? Are you an idiot?”
When I cursed her for not making sense, Kohaku scowled in an overtly bad mood.
“I’m not an idiot. I’m just joking.”
“Just joking, huh… Your jokes are really hard to understand, so stop it…”
“Hmph.”
Kohaku suddenly turned her head away and walked unsteadily in front of me.
“I’m going to stop practicing.”
“Stop? That’s another abrupt comment coming from you.”
Kohaku’s expressionless face showed a hint of seriousness.
Perhaps, this time she’s not joking.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I don’t want it anymore.”
“I see.”
It seems that our relationship that has been going on since spring break ended rather quickly.
We only did it once in the end, though.
“What? Perhaps you’re a bit disappointed?”
“Huh? Huuuh? What are you talking about?”
“Did you really want to do it with me?”
“Of course not. Maybe you should grow your breasts a bit more then come back to me.”
“Pervert.”
With a grin, Kohaku smiled wickedly.
“Oi, you’re ignoring all my arguments! Why are you acting like I wanted to have sex with you!? Oi!!”
“…Hmph!”
“Ouch! What is it this time?”
My foot was stepped on after a while.
“Don’t say that with your big voice. I already told you the other day.”
“Huhhhh!?”
What? Are you ashamed by any chance?
I’m already angry. I’ll say whatever I want!
“Séx! Sex! Sex! Sex is the best!!!——Wait, this just makes me look like a pervert, doesn’t it!?”
“Pfft… Idiot, pf-pfft…”
“Don’t laugh at me!”
The more I shouted, the louder Kohaku’s giggles grew.
Shit, I can’t stand it any more, even if it is my own fault.
How can I make her understand…
“Hey, Suzume.”
“Huh? What’s up, I’m busy developing a harassment right now——Huh?”
Next thing I knew, Kohaku was right under my nose.
“Squat a little.”
“What? I don’t want to…”
“Just do it.”
She pulled my body.
And then…
“Chuu~”
Our lips met.
A subtle sweetness filled my body.
“Huh? Huh? Huh? What? What’s going on!?”
“Practice… This is the last time. I’ve never done it on my own before…”
Perhaps nervous, Kohaku blushed and hid her mouth as she looked away.
“I’m serious. With this, it’s over.”
“O-oh…”
“So, um… So, you see…”
She hesitated in her words, and just as I thought her ears had turned bright red, Kohaku turned her back towards me.
The angelic figure, illuminated by the moonlight, is strangely divine.
I hate to admit it, but I find it beautiful.
“So what?”
I urged Kohaku, who remained silent, to continue.
“…If Suzume and I ever…do it…next time, it might be…not practice, you know.”
“What…?”
“I-I’m going back!”
“O-oi, Kohaku!?”
Before I could even ask Kohaku what she meant, she ran off.
“Ever do it…? Huhh? With Kohaku?”
No, no, no, that can’t be true.
No matter how much we practiced with each other and even though it was our first time, we are nothing more than childhood friends…
As much as I’m an admitted boobs lover, there’s no way that Kohaku, who is now the most popular girl in the school, would fall in love with her childhood friend.
Moreover, it would be impossible for her to act like a lover.
She’s always acting irregularly.
But if, just if, there’s something different about a childhood friend compared to anyone else…
And if the day comes when one realizes that…
Can a relationship between childhood friends become a relationship between lovers?
I think there are a lot of anime and manga like that.
“Well, for me she’s like a pet or a little sister at most. My cute, very cute little cat, Kohaku-chan.”
I got myself together and headed for the gymnasium to help Tachibana-senpai and Himesaki…
I was then scolded for taking a break without permission.
“Suzume-kun. If you want to take a break, just tell me, okay?”
“…Yes. I’m sorry…”
Getting scolded by senpai, it’s more like a reward.
And so, the trial student council’s first mission, the welcome party for new students, ended successfully——
It’s time to enjoy the Golden Week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
T/N:
This is the end of the series. I saw it was marked completed at the raw page but I didn’t think it would end like this. Last update by the author for this novel was over a year ago, so I don’t think there would be any new chapters to this title. The author probably dropped this novel and marked it completed just for the sake of it.
There are still some unresolved plots in this novel, like the Shin girl, Himesaki’s problem mentioned at the welcome party arc, and the most important of all, the skull-crushing thigh sandwich promised by Tachibana-senpai!!! That’s all I can remember at the time of writing this.
Anyways, that’s it from me. I hope you enjoyed this novel! Please consider donating to my ko-fi if you like what I do! Thank you for reading!