I’m an Introvert, but After Taking Care of the School’s Most Beautiful Girl Who Lives in an Apartment When She Was Sick, She Became Attached to Me and Started Inviting Me Over to Her Place! - Chapter 67

Chapter 67

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“Sorato-kun…!”

After taking off her shoes at the entrance and changing into her slippers, she ran up the nearest staircase. Having dashed off without any clear idea of where he might be, she quickened her pace, breathing heavily. She keenly felt just how blindly fixated she was on Sorato, thinking that she should have asked Tenma where he was if she was going to do this anyway.

The first place Kaon began searching was the second-year classroom floor—the place she judged most likely to have Sorato—among the four-story school building. Not a single student remained, and the area was wrapped in such silence that even the slightest sound would have been noticed immediately.

After steadying her slightly ragged breathing, she started running again toward the far end of the long corridor stretching out before her.

2-1… 2-2… 2-3… 2-4… 2-5… 2-6

Out of the corner of Kaon’s eye, the second-year classrooms flashed by one after another. At last, she rounded the L-shaped corner and, having checked every classroom, stopped at the end of the hallway. From this floor, she couldn’t sense even the slightest presence of people, let alone voices, and the contrast with everyday life gave off a faintly eerie feeling.

“Hah… Hah… Maybe he’s not here…”

Having been convinced he would be on their grade’s floor, Kaon slowly caught her breath and then headed up one more level to the fourth floor. With no other leads left, the only thing she could do was methodically eliminate every possibility.

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『I’m sorry. I’m heading over now.』

He checked his phone’s chat screen, but there was still no read receipt on the message Sorato had sent. Was she angry after all? Maybe she had already blocked him? Every possible anxiety and pointless thought was being processed vividly in his mind.

Normally, Sorato would overthink things like an idiot, spiral on his own, and lose his confidence. But now, courage welled up from somewhere deep inside him. It had to be because of the encouragement from his rival. If he had kept holding onto that knot in his heart, he would have stopped right here.

“So it’s about twenty minutes from here to Natsuki-san’s house…!? Please, my stamina… Show me your hidden strength!”

He had never resented not commuting by bicycle more than he did at that moment. All he could rely on now were his own legs. Sitting on the marble entrance floor, he adjusted the tips of his shoes, slung his bag back onto his shoulders once more, and steeled himself… So that he could tell her these words as soon as possible.

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“Hah… Hah… Wait, huh? Tenma?”

“Hm? Sorato? Are you alone?”

After running straight down the long path extending from the school building, the school gate gradually came into view—and beside it, Sorato spotted a familiar friend. When Sorato called out to Tenma, who seemed to be waiting for someone while using his phone, Tenma looked up and tilted his head curiously.

“You’re one to talk…! Hah… Today…! Didn’t you go home already…?”

“Nope. I was planning to wait for Kohaku today. More importantly, why are you alone?”

Still short of breath, Sorato took a brief rest, slowly regulating his breathing as he returned the question.

“Huh…? Oh, Kohaku should be coming soon, I think…”

“That’s not what I meant… Hah. I see… You guys really do keep missing each other in an almost impressive way… Hahaha.”

Sorato was completely thrown off by Tenma’s fearless smile and strange answer. Utterly confused, question marks floated through Sorato’s head.

“What do you mean…? Is this Kohaku we’re talking about or…?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry about it. …Anyway, why don’t you relax here a bit longer? I was bored being alone too.”

Smiling gently, Tenma beckoned Sorato to come stand beside him, seeing that he was still breathing shallowly.

“…Sorry. I can’t do that. There’s somewhere I have to hurry to.”

After taking a small breath—“phew”—Sorato straightened up from his hunched posture and, with a faint ache in his chest, firmly declared what he needed to do. At this rare show of resolve from his friend, Tenma’s eyes widened slightly before he broke into another gentle smile.

“I figured. That’s exactly why my role is to hold you back just a little right here.”

“No, I seriously don’t get what you’re saying anymore—”

“Suzuya…-kun…!!”

“…! Natsuki-san…?”

Just as Sorato was starting to feel a flicker of irritation at his friend’s cryptic remarks, he heard a familiar voice from behind and turned around. Seeing his reaction, Tenma shrugged beside him as if to say, “See?” Then, just like that, he quietly disappeared toward the bicycle parking area behind the gate.

The moment the girl standing there entered his field of view, the small seeds of irritation that had piled up like tiny puddles sank straight to the bottom of his heart. He tried to apologize to the friend who had been beside him, but for some reason, Tenma was already gone. Offering a deep, heartfelt “Thank you” in his mind, he turned his gaze back to the girl before him.

Silver hair glowing in the evening sun. Cerulean-blue eyes reflecting Sorato. Even her gentle voice calling his name… Everything about her was so precious he wanted to hold her tight.

“Ah… um, Suzuya-kun…”

However, the expression on her face as she stood before him was somehow fleeting. Anxious and pleading, a complicated mix completely different from her usual cheerful look. After calling his name, she said nothing more. No. She lowered her gaze, looking as though she didn’t know what words to say to him.

“…………”

What… What should I say…?

On Sorato’s side as well, he had no idea how to begin, and an utterly awkward silence formed between them. The resolve he had sworn in his heart wavered quietly, like a candle flame. No matter how much he tried to convince himself that “it’s okay if she hates me,” scary things were still scary. In reality, Sorato couldn’t bring himself to look at Kaon’s face because he was afraid of seeing what kind of expression she had right now. But…

“Natsuki-san.”

“Yes…?”

If he stayed silent like this, nothing between them would ever go back to the way it was. If he wanted anything more than that, he didn’t have the luxury of being afraid. Bracing himself, Sorato squeezed the words out from deep within his gut.

“I’m sorry about yesterday…! I think you trusted me, believed I was a ‘safe person,’ and that’s why you let me into your house. …At first, I really tried not to be conscious of it. But as the days went by, the distance between us kept closing, and the way you leaned on me was just… Um… So cute! And I ended up letting those words slip out…”

“Sorato-kun…”

Kaon’s moist eyes trembled, wavering with emotion. Forgetting the words she had sworn to say herself, she simply stared at him intensely, the evening breeze brushing past her.

“So I’m sorry. I can’t be just your ‘older brother-like presence’ anymore. I’m tired of telling myself to settle for that. The time I spent with you, the way you leaned on me and smiled… Every bit of it was precious to me.”

He poured every ounce of feeling and emotion he had into these words. He wouldn’t use evasive expressions anymore. Honestly—straightforwardly—he spoke the full extent of his feelings.

“I’ve been lying to myself about these feelings all this time. But I couldn’t hold them back. These feelings that kept overflowing, enough to make me want to hold you tight… They couldn’t possibly be brushed aside as just liking you as a younger sister or a friend.”

The petals of Sorato’s words drifted softly into Kaon’s heart, filling in the empty pieces of her puzzle. Her cheeks flushed redder than ever before, and her cerulean eyes sparkled like jewels in the light of the setting sun. The sun, about to dip below the horizon, cast its final light on the two of them.

“Natsuki-san…. I love you! I love you whose smile is beautiful, who looks stronger than anyone else, yet shows a vulnerability only to me.”

After his long confession, Sorato took another deep breath and, his face flushed red—whether from the sunset or from embarrassment, he couldn’t tell. He looked straight at her and spoke from his heart.

“I can’t let you lean on me like an ‘older brother’ anymore, but…! As your boyfriend, I want you to lean on me more than you ever thought possible…! This is my selfish wish, and I’m pushing my feelings onto you again. But the thought of you never seeing me as a man from now on… That’s even worse. I’ll say it again… Natsuki-san, I love you!”

He shouted his heartfelt words, giving voice to everything inside him. Even if his feelings weren’t accepted, Sorato was prepared to let them scatter quietly as they were. If he feared the collapse of their relationship, he would never be able to move forward. 

Even if she ended up hating him more than before…

“Suzuya-kun.”

Still bowed from the momentum of his confession, he couldn’t see her expression. He was still embarrassed, and at the same time, the anxiety he thought he’d sealed away surged up from deep in his chest, making him suddenly afraid to look at her face. Instead, he focused all his senses on listening to her words.

“I’ve felt the same way for a long time too.”

“…Huh?”

Her response was so far beyond what he’d expected that Sorato let out a bewildered sound.

“I didn’t want to be just a ‘younger-sister-like presence’ either. At first, I really thought it felt like I’d gained an older brother. But when you held my hand, when we spent time alone on the Ferris wheel, when I rested my head on your shoulder… I realized it. What was inside me was no longer that ‘past me who was asking for help’ from that day.”

“…!”

In that moment, Sorato learned for the first time how she truly felt about him. She had said many things before. Like how she thought of him as an older brother, or how she felt safe with him… But the words she gave him right now sank into his heart more deeply than anything else, in a strangely powerful way.

“Because of my past trauma, I used the cowardly label ‘older-brother-like presence’ for you. But I’d actually known all along…. My true feelings…  That’s why I talked to you so much… I did it to make you notice me. I tried so hard to appeal to you. I worried a lot about whether it was creepy or not, too… But hearing everything you just said, Suzuya-kun, helped me make up my mind as well.”

Closing her eyes, Kaon took a deep breath. In that instant, the final evening breeze softly passed between them.

“I love you too, Sorato Suzuya-kun…!”

A sweet, citrus-like scent from some distant memory teased his nose.

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