Be careful with the laid-back beauty who took a liking to me. Otherwise, it will be too late! - Chapter 43: Can\'t Hold Back

Chapter 43: Can’t Hold Back

“Did you say something, Shiina-san?”

Since her voice was too soft to hear, I asked again, and she shook her head.

“No, nothing. Um, I was wondering if I could take a picture with you, Kawai-kun. Is that okay?”

Shiina-san turned a little red and tucked her hands behind her back. I was surprised by her request.

“With me?”

I was puzzled as to why she wanted a picture with me, and she took her smartphone out of her bag.

“Yeah, I’m taking pictures with friends to make summer memories, and I haven’t taken one with you yet.”

“Um… I have a girlfriend, so I’m not sure about just the two of us… but if Sayaka’s with us, that’s fine.”

I definitely didn’t want to make Sayaka anxious about anything.

When I declined with an apology, Shiina-san smiled and put her smartphone back in her bag.

“I see… Well, how about when Sayaka-chan is around?”

“Sure, that works.”

“Thanks! Well, I should get going. See you later, Kawai-kun!”

She waved goodbye and left. Alone again, I felt a little soothed by watching the cats at the cat café.

The cats were cute, but the ones at the café were adorable too.

(Wait, I’m forgetting my original purpose…)

I decided to leave the cat café and head to the shoe store I had intended to visit.

“Ugh… I can’t take it anymore…”

It was the last day of summer vacation. School was starting tomorrow, and I’d be able to see Hinata, but I hadn’t seen him for the past week, and I was feeling lonely.

Even though we talked on the phone, it didn’t completely ease my feelings of loneliness.

I lay on my bed, hugging my teddy bear tightly, and closed my eyes.

“Hinata…”

I was suffering from a lack of Hinata. I wanted to be close to him right now…

No, I can’t. If I act like this, he’ll think I’m too clingy and end up disliking me. I had to stop myself. I had to hold back.

(Oh, no! I can’t take it!)

Suddenly, I sat up and decided to call Yuna for advice.

“Yuna, what should I do?”

“What’s up, Sayo? Are you craving custard, or is it about Kawai-kun?”

As expected of my best friend. She knew what I wanted to talk about even before I said anything.

“Yeah, it’s about Hinata.”

“I thought so. Are you thinking about him a lot and wishing you could see him?”

“Yuna, can you read my mind?”

“I can’t do that!”

Switching to video chat, we excitedly talked about love for thirty minutes. Somehow, I managed to suppress my feelings of wanting to see him.

If I wanted to see him, I could just go. You might think that, but Hinata was currently on a family trip. Even if I wanted to, the distance was just too great.

(A family trip, huh…)

As I fell silent for a moment, Yuna called my name with concern.

“Sayaka… by the way, how are things with your parents? Are they okay?”

Yuna, who had been my friend since middle school, knew that my relationship with my parents wasn’t very good.

“It seems like both my mom and dad are fed up with me. The Kokuga family doesn’t need unnecessary people… so they don’t see me as their daughter.”

I was trying to keep my parents happy to continue living alone, but I wanted to cut ties with them in the future.

I didn’t want to go back to that strict household, and I certainly didn’t want to see parents who didn’t love me.

“I’m always on your side, Sayo. If anything happens, just let me know, okay?”

“Thanks, Yuna.”

After ending the call with Yuna, I looked at my phone and saw that I had a message from Hinata.

“Hinata!”

I held my smartphone with both hands and checked the message from Hinata multiple times to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.

“Can we talk on the phone now?”

It wasn’t an inconvenient time, so I replied that I could talk right away, and he called me back.

As soon as I answered, I put it on speaker. Hinata’s voice reached my ears.

“Ah, Sayo?”

“What’s up, Hinata?”

Hearing his voice after so long made me realize my mouth was stretching into a grin.

“I’m at my favorite observatory right now, and I wanted to show you the view. Can we do a video call?”

“Your favorite observatory? I’ll switch to video now!”

I pressed the video call button, and Hinata’s face appeared on the screen.

(Hinata is there…)

I couldn’t stop smiling, so I held a cushion to my mouth to contain my excitement.

“Okay, I’ll show you now.”

Hinata walked a bit and showed me the view from the observatory.

“…It’s beautiful. What a lovely place.”

I had never been to that location, but I could tell even from the screen. If I were to see it in person, I would probably exclaim, “Wow!”

“Have you been up to anything this past week, Sayo?”

“Not really, just working part-time… oh, but I did go on a second custard tour with Akari-chan.”

“I see. I wish I could have joined you…”

He sounded a bit like he wanted to be invited, so I hurriedly spoke up.

“Well, let’s take you to the places we went on the second custard tour. I want to go out to eat with you after school too.”

“Is that okay? It’s a second round, though…”

“Of course! I can never get tired of custard sweets.”

“Then let’s go after summer vacation ends.”

“Yeah, let’s go! By the way, Hinata, what are you doing over there? Are you alone?”

I knew he was with his family, but I wondered if they were all together now.

“My mom is next to me.”

Saying that, Hinata turned the camera to show Kaori-san.

“Oh, can I talk to Sayo-san too?”

“She asked if she could talk, so she can, but don’t say anything weird, okay?”

“Okay, leave it to me. Sayo-san, long time no see! You look cute as always. No, you’re even cuter than before. Your cuteness has increased!”

Overwhelmed by her repeated compliments, I thanked her, blushing.

“Sayo-san, you can come over to our house anytime. Feel free to think of it as your home.”

“Hey, what are you saying, Mom? You’re sounding a bit scary…”

Touched by Kaori-san’s words, I felt tears welling up and tried not to show my emotions, burying my face in the cushion.

Hinata, noticing my worry, looked concerned.

After wiping my tears, I lifted my face and spoke.

“I’m okay… Thank you, Kaori-san.”

“It’s fine. I’ll always welcome you, Sayo-san.”

What a warm place it was. I wondered if I could really go there after being in such a cold environment…