Can I brag about my very devoted wife to you?

Riko’s Secret

The girl with the cubs was in the square I had told her about when I first met her, and she was handing out flyers, her voice bright and cute.

“Um … ”

She turned around in surprise when the wave of people had died down. Along with Takamiya’s words, I remembered my actions from the last time we parted, and my stomach was in pain.

“I came to tell you that I won’t be seeing you this weekend anymore.”

“Eh… … W-why–”

‘With the way you’re acting right now, didn’t you act like that in front of the other girl too? I’m sure the girl was simply trying to say thank you again. But I think she realized that she was being misunderstood and got nervous inside. She’s probably regretting that she said something unnecessary right now.’

The refrain of Takamiya’s voice, which had been burned into my mind, was ringing out at a higher volume than the words of the little bear girl.

I’m sorry for the creepy misunderstanding. I bit my lip as hard as I could, not daring to say such words.

” … Sorry. That’s all… ”

“Ah, um … ”

” … ”

Stupidly, I didn’t wait for her to say anything else and ran away from the scene.

◇◇◇

–And now. I tried to apologize for my one-sided behavior at the time, but before I could, Riko hugged me tightly.

“I’m sorry… I made you talk about your painful memories… It was painful, wasn’t it … ”

“… It’s surely too much of a hurtful thing to hold on to for years just because of what someone said to me, and my personality must have changed too much because of it. Haha … ”

“That’s not true. One person’s words can save your life, and vice versa, the other way around. Sometimes words can carve a deep scar in your heart…”

“Riko…”

The enveloping hug and kind words made my heart tremble. Still, I couldn’t get rid of the regret I felt for my actions at that time. Even more so since I knew what happened to Riko after that …

I pulled myself up a little and looked into Riko’s eyes.

“Riko, I didn’t realize at the time that it was Riko who was inside the cub… I’m so sorry…! I never imagined that I would hurt Riko or make you cry… I regret it to death… I’m so sorry… I found out from Takamiya what happened after I walked away.”

“Ah, what do you mean you found out about it? Ah, I’m so ashamed … ”

Riko, who held her cheeks with both hands, turned bright red.

I told Riko exactly what I heard from Takamiya today.

Takamiya said that on Saturday, the day we promised to meet again, she couldn’t wait and went to the movie theater to check on me. But there was no sign of me in front of the cinema. As she had waited for thirty minutes, she saw the little bear who had been cheerfully handing out flyers returning to the back door after her part-time job.

“I’m sorry for suddenly asking you this. But did you intend to confess your feelings to Minato today?”

Takamiya herself said that she was out of her mind at the time, but she had suddenly asked such a question to a bear she had never met before. As soon as she did, something extraordinary happened.

The bear stopped moving for a moment, then took a deep breath. Then it broke into sobs and said.

‘He… he… he… he didn’t want to see me anymore… He rejected me before I could confess … ‘

Riko, who heard the story from me, froze with her face as red as ever.

” … Is what Takamiya said true…?”

I asked fearfully, and Riko lowered her eyebrows into a figure eight in embarrassment, then nodded curtly.

I couldn’t believe that Riko was going to confess her feelings to me when we were in middle school. It was like a dream come true, and I still couldn’t believe it even though she affirmed it to me.

” … But why… Ah… Was it because Riko knew that I was the one she played with in kindergarten?”

” … !!! Minato-kun, you remember those days too…!? No way!? How long did you know…?”

“Ah, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Actually…”

I explained that I had regained his memory of Riko after the photo. Riko, who had been so flustered, was almost in a state of panic because of it.

“Ah, mou, what should I do?”

The way she was panicking was also deadly cute …

“So you’re saying that since we met again by chance, you decided to confess your feelings to me?”

“… Uu.”

“Uu?”

” … I’m sorry… I… if I say this, Minato-kun will definitely be disappointed in me … ”

“Eh? There’s no way I’ll be disappointed in Riko. No matter what you do or say to me, I can only feel how cute she is.”

“Ah…!!! Mi-Mi-Minato-kun!”

“Yes…!?”

“I’m too happy, you can’t make me too nervous…!”

“Ah, yes … ?”

” … I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed, but yes… it’s not good for a couple to hide things from each other… I’ve been feeling so guilty… I’m sorry, I’ll confess… … I, I … ”

“Yes.”

“I… was a stalker of Minato-kun … ”

” … Eh?”

[TL: Btw, the author advertised one of his stories: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n2852hb/. Yes, Translator & Editor is Riciel.]