Chapter 12

“Does it still hurt?” 

“Not at all. That was ages ago—back in middle school. It swelled up like crazy, though. Looked pretty bad.”  

Her dark eyes shifted to my hand resting near her face. Realizing it, I quickly withdrew my arm.  

“Did Miki ever get hit, too?”  

“Nope. Miki just played along, always smiling and keeping the drunk happy. But hey, doesn’t this topic seem kind of pointless? Or are you that curious about Miki?”  

“No, it’s not like that…”  

“Then what about you, Naito-kun? Do you have any siblings?”  

“Me? Nah, I’m an only child.”  

“Really? So you live with your parents?”  

“I live alone.”

Yuki suddenly leaned in closer, her interest clearly piqued.  

“Wow, you live by yourself? Why?”  

“Well, it’s… complicated,” I muttered, trying to steer the conversation elsewhere.  

Talking about my own life always felt harder than listening to someone else’s. I’d rather discuss Yuki’s favorite foods than dive into my personal circumstances. My reasons for living alone weren’t exactly something I was proud of—or something I wanted to share with someone I’d only known for a few days.  

But perhaps because she’d just opened up about her father hitting her, I let something slip without thinking.  

“My old man had the worst drinking habit. Once he was drunk, he didn’t care—he’d hit women and kids without hesitation.”  

Apparently, he claimed to have some serious muscle, boasting about winning an underground amateur fighting tournament back in the day. Said he could take on pros in a real fight. But there were no photos or proof to back it up.  

Looking back, it was probably a load of crap—just him embellishing his story. But to the younger me, he was like a demon. I couldn’t stand up to him.  

He started teaching me martial arts when I was still a kid.  

Not that I wanted to learn. I hated it. Whenever he signed me up for matches, I’d purposely go easy and lose just to tick him off.  

Eventually, he decided I had no talent and lost interest in me altogether.  

When I was in my second year of middle school, I came home one day after hanging out with friends to find him drunk and hitting my mom.  

I couldn’t stand by.  

I got into a fight with him—an all-out brawl. Before I knew it, I had him pinned and beaten to a pulp. Somehow, I’d grown stronger than him without realizing it.  

After that, he left.  

He never came back.  

We moved out of the apartment after he was gone and went to live at my mom’s parents’ house.  

But things didn’t end there.  

Mom was a wreck emotionally. Seeing me reminded her of him, and she’d start breaking down. My grandfather hinted at it gently, but the message was clear. It’s like pulling a bad tooth—getting rid of the decayed tooth doesn’t mean all the pain is gone.  

I caught on quickly. When I got into high school, I started dropping hints that I wanted to try living alone. They caught on too, framing it as, “It’ll be a good experience for you to live on your own early.”  

And that’s how it worked out.  

“In short, I fought back, beat the crap out of him, and ended up living alone.”  

Of course, I skipped over a lot of details. Saying it like that made the chain of events sound nonsensical. But there was no way I was going to delve into everything—especially the part about Mom.  

I braced myself for Yuki to recoil or crack some awkward joke, but instead, she laughed.  

“Wow, that’s amazing.”

I couldn’t help but feel a little relieved.  

She raised a clenched fist toward the air like she was celebrating something.  

“If I were a guy, I might’ve hit back too.”  

“There’s no point in beating up a tired old man. But… the fact that you’re laughing about it… you’re pretty strong.”

“Yep, I’m strong.”  

She flexed her arm dramatically, showing off her bicep. Her wrist was so thin, it looked like it could snap with little effort.  

Then, after staring at me for a moment, she let out a long breath, as if impressed.  

“Wow, I feel such a connection now… It’s like we’re twins!”  

“Don’t say that like you have the same clothes or something.”  

“This meeting must be fate.”  

“Not the kind of fate I’d want.”  

It was a bit strange. Despite everything that had happened yesterday, she was bouncing back way too quickly.  

It was like she didn’t even care about it that much, but maybe that was just her way of dealing with things.  

She didn’t seem sad at all—in fact, she looked happy, even laughing as she clapped her hands on her knees.  

“Hey, wanna go home together today?”  

“Go home together? Our places are in totally different directions. I don’t even take the train.”  

“I’ll pay for the train fare again.”  

“That makes no sense.”  

I really didn’t want to be dragged around needlessly, and I wasn’t too fond of trains either.  

She pouted and reached out to grab my fingers, leaning in so close that I couldn’t avoid her exaggerated tilt of the head.  

“Then let’s hang out after school?”  

“Why the sudden suggestion?”  

“Then let’s hang out after school?”  

“I said no.”  

“Then let’s hang out after school?”  

“Is this one of those games where ‘you can’t move forward unless you choose the right option?’”  

“Then let’s hang out after school?”  

“Alright, I understand, so would you stop already? It’s kinda creepy.”  

I was already planning to bolt home as soon as school ended today. I’d probably turn my phone off for a while too.  

With her grinning in front of me, I made my decision.

[TL: I’m not exactly sure if it’s a game thing but I went with that.]