It’s Too Early to be Having Newlywed Syndrome! ~Childhood Friends Who Rekindled their Love for Each Other ~ - 3 - 2 - That’s Not It
That’s Not It
January 8. Natsuki’s condition has relatively settled down, so as promised, Naoto and Natsuki went to the 100-yen store. While there, they took the chance to go to the nearby shopping mall as well.
When Naoto asked his senpais from his part-tie work where one can have a n affordable date, many of them suggested going to the shopping mall. When he brought it up, with Natsuki, she was enthusiastically into the idea.
“E—-r, what should we be doing again?”
Natsuki asked Noto while looking at the guide map at the entrance of the mall.
“First, let’s prioritize anything time-limited, and look for interesting vents or movies. If there is none, we can aimlessly do window shopping or go eat something. Let’s avoid exploring all of the mall so we can have a reason to come again.”
“When we were kids, we were always brought by our parents to department stores, but this is the first time that were going to such a place with just the two of us, huh?”
“Yeah. My heart is beating fast somehow.”
“Mine’s beating fast too. I wonder why?”
“It seems, I’m happy since it’s been some days since I walked outside with Natsuki. Even though I’m an indoors-type of person. I’m a bit nervous.”
“Is it that I’m in a bad mood as I thought?”
Natsuki asked.
“No, I don’t think that’s it. I won’t be able to tell if you won’t tell me.”
“That’s good.”
“But it’s perfectly fine with me if you order me around a bit more like a princess.”
“I’ll pass, I’m already grateful that you spend your time with me on the phone whenever I can’t fall asleep. If you do much more for me than that, I’ll end up getting fat because of doing nothing. Today, I have to do three days’ worth of walking.”
“Then, let’s go look at lots of shops. Where should we start?”
“Nao-kun, you’ll be going to the game store and bookstore, right?”
“It would be good going to that area first.”
“Then let’s start with the game store!”
After declaring such, Natsuki started walking.
Naoto, who has a poor sense of direction,
“Is it okay to prioritize shops I want to go to?”
Asked while following behind Natsuki.
“You bought me a present at the 100-yen store, after all.”
“Thanks.”
Naoto reminisced about the past while looking at Natsuki’s back. When we were kids, I’ve walked while looking at Natsuki’s back for how many times. She’s become pretty, really.
While they’re moving, Naoto’s eyes caught a store selling girl’s underwear, so he quickly changed his sight to the floor.
When Natsuki took a peek behind her, she saw Naoto’s ears becoming red, a same scene in the past whenever there was a kissing scene in the anime they watched back then. Natsuki quickly change her gaze to the front, and secretly laughed to herself.
I remembered that because Nao-kun looked like he would bolt out of the room, whenever such a scene happens, I would take a hold of his hand so he wouldn’t escape.
When were on the way home, I’ll hold his hand and go through this way again, Natsuki was planning something sinister.
While looking at a flyer for purchase and exchange price in the game store,
“The 500-yen card that I wanted so much I had my parent buy them for me long ago is now valued at 30,000 yen.”
Naoto was surprised.
Even Natsuki was surprised.
“Eh, which one?!”
She clung onto Naoto.
“This one, ‘The Emissary from the Forest of Elves’, this one’s the premium version. The one I have is also the premium version.”
“Are you sure this is that?”
“I’m pretty sure this card has been banned for resale, so this is the only kind of card with this name.”
“Show it to me later!”
Natsuki, who’s a fan of item appraisal tv shows, was very excited.
“Okay.”
“Somehow, even coming home has become something to look forward to.”
“Well, we already went to the 100-yen store, and we can go to the other shops anytime we want. Should we go home now?”
“Eh? Hasn’t something like this happened before?”
“We slept together during New Year’s Eve, then without prior arrangement we went to the arcade, it looked like everything we did were very sudden. Just like the time when we were doing countermeasures against cystitis. That’s what comes to mind.”
“I did that as well, when I wanted to see Nao-kun, I went back to your workplace to pick you up.”
“We’re pretty half-minded.”
“I kinda like this feeling like not understanding what is happening though.”
“Me as well. I am bad at making plans, after all.”
“Then, it’s really okay if we go home now?”
“Yup, I said it before, but I’m an indoor-type of person. If Natsuki already want to go home, then I want to save the fun things for later. We can return anytime too. Let’s do this as many times, and explore every shops little by little.”
“Then, let’s go home while holding hands.”
Natsuki said after taking a hold of Naoto’s hand.
Of course, Naoto was not aware of Natsuki’s evil plan. He just felt happy that they’re holding hands.
“We’ll soon be arriving at a place that has something Naoto loves.”
As they approached the store selling girl’s underwear, Natsuki said while looking amused.
“I, I don’t really care for it.”
“You’re not interested?”
“Not at all.”
“Then, from now on, I’ll keep it in mind not to accidentally show you mine.”
“No, Natsuki’s is different.”
“Hm?”
“If, Natsuki, accidentally show yours to me, I’ll feel happy.”
“You sure you won’t be happy with anyone else’s—?”
“I don’t think I will be.”
At this moment, sounding unbelievable, moreover adding ‘maybe’ to his sentence, Naoto’s honest feelings showed up.
“Then, don’t go cheating on me, okay?”
“Of course. If I ever cheated on you, it seems like I won’t be served food anymore and my part-time earnings will be confiscated, so you can tell that to your parents as well.”
This time, Naoto is being completely honest. Natsuki lightly tightened her grip on Naoto’s hand.
Hearing those words, Natsuki came to want to know what kind of underwear Naoto likes.
“So where’s the 30,000-yen card?”
Since Natsuki, can’t seem to calm down, deciding to go back to the shopping mall some other time, they cut their date short, and now they’re in Naoto’s room.
“It should be in this deck.”
Naoto, quickly checking the bundle of cards one by one,
“Here”
Took one of the cards, and showed it to Natsuki.
“It really is the same card.”
Natsuki said while staring at the card which is covered in special purpose transparent cover twice.
“That’s what I told you.”
“Why did you buy this card?”
“Firstly, I liked sparkling cards, at that time, it was supposed to be valued at 2,000 yen.”
While saying that, Naoto brought out a worn-out magazine from his bookshelf,
“Look, it says here that premium editions can be sold at 2,000 yen and purchased at 800 yen.”
“It is.”
“It was strange that it was being sold at 500 yen in the first place. At that time, other stores have a price tag of at least 700 yen for this card.”
“That’s an amazing find.”
Naoto lined up the other cards on the floor,
“This one is 500 yen. This card 200 yen. These eight cards together are at least 1,000 yen.”
He said while picking them up.
“This one is so pretty it looks like a photo. How much is it?”
“A hundred of that is only worth about 10 yen, so even the sparkling ones are pretty cheap.”
“Eh—–? I am pretty sure something with this kind of illustration would normally sell.”
“You can have it if you want.”
“Is it okay? Won’t you be unable to play if you have insufficient cards?”
“It’s not like I’ll be unable to play with that forest. E—-rr, here, look, I have 10 non-sparkling versions of that card.”
“Then, I’ll really take it, you know. I’ll take good care of it.”
“It’s okay. In fact, there are people who have this person’s illustration laminated in a business card shop so it won’t bend and set-up like a key holder or the like. That way, it can be put into places like a pocket for a period of time.”
“I want to do that!”
“I have 10 other versions of this person’s illustration. How about this one?”
“This also looks like a photo. So beautiful—-…….”
Natsuki took the card and took a good look at it.
“I didn’t know that Natsuki would like this kind of thing. I also thought this while were in the arcade, but Natsuki really ended up liking games, didn’t you?”
“I like games even back then, you know?
But Nao-kun always got mad at me, so I might have played games with Nao-kun only a few times. Last time at the arcade, Nao-kun was kind, so I really enjoyed myself.”
When he was told that, Naoto remembered something.
Whenever he was busy, when his mother would ask him something about a game that he already explained before, he would end up shouting ‘I already explained that before!’.
So there was no doubt in his mind that he also did the same when Natsuki asked the same questions.
“I’m sorry. Back then, I took for granted the fact that Natsuki was willing to play games with me.”
He contemplated.
“You want me to forgive you?”
“Will you forgive me?”
“Then, give me this card, and this card, and this card too.”
“You can have them.”
“Is this also a hundred yen?”
“The two-colored version is about 2,000 yen.”
“Ah, then I don’t need it!”
When she heard the value of the card, Natsuki returned it with a trembling hand.
Naoto laughed at the way she panicked,
“We haven’t been this close for some time, so there are still things that I don’t know about the current Natsuki. Tell me about it, like your hobbies.”
He asked.
“My hobbies? My hobbies are—-, my hobbies are…… what were they?”
After thinking,
“How about Nao-kun?”
Natsuki answered with a question.
“My hobbies are games, manga and novels.”
“Yours haven’t change. Your manga collection has increased, after all.”
“Since I started with my part-tie job, I don’t have any time to read them, so I mostly stopped buying though.”
“Many of them are quite old.”
Natsuki took a look at the bookshelf.
Naoto also approached the bookshelf,
“This 5000-yen manga, I found in a cart at a used book store and bought it for 100 yen.”
He took out a manga from the bookshelf.
“Wasn’t this one the manga I sloppily read back when we’re grade schoolers?! Why do you have so many expensive things?”
“I just have them. This game should also be around 8,000 yen. Doesn’t Natsuki have something that can be sold at a great price?”
“I don’t have such a thing. I only have popular games and manga.”
“Speaking of, when we were kids, Natsuki have the image of someone who only owns normal stuff. You don’t like niche things?”
“If I don’t like them, I wouldn’t have fallen in love with Nao-kun.”
“Why?!”
“That’s because, I did not know anyone else who is a Nao-kun-like person.”
Natsuki laughed.
“When I was in grade school and middle school, I met three person who are like me, though.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Then, how about in our high school?”
“Now that you say it, I haven’t seen a person in school like that. That’s why I only eat lunch at the cafeteria with Iida.”
“See——”
“In the first place, what kind of a person am I? I’m normal, right?”
“A good person!”
“I’m not a good person.”
“Even though our relationship was not that good, you’re still worried when I have cystitis.”
“Like I said before, I just don’t want to see Natsuki being in pain.”
“Then, doesn’t that mean you’re a good person?”
“You’re mistaken. That’s not it.”
“What?”
“……Hear me. If I told Natsuki that I was worried about your cystitis not out of kindness, what would you do?”
“Eh? Even your kindness afterwards, or you worrying when I’m in my periodic pains, all of it was just a lie?”
“No, only the time when you have cystitis.”
“Then that means you’re kind.”
“Eh, is that okay?”
“Yup.”
“I see.”
After that, Naoto and Natsuki, for a little while, there was silence between them.
Even Natsuki know that Naoto’s behavior was somewhat strange. Was he lost in thought, or was he hesitating to say something?
But Naoto did not open his mouth.
“Earlier, you did plan to give me that 2,000-yen card.”
Natsuki muttered.
“That’s your reason?!”
Naoto shouted.
“It’s an important reason.”
“Is it?”
“A bad person won’t be giving me something like 2,000 yen, right?”
“That’s like a reasoning of a child who will follow some old man just because he gave them candy. You’ll be abducted, you know.”
“Will Nao-kun abduct me?”
“With just 2,000 yen?”
“That’s cheap!”
“Then how about 3,000 yen?”
“If it’s that much, well….”
“So it’s all right with that much?!”
The gloomy atmosphere from earlier suddenly became bright, and the two of them ended up rolling on the floor laughing.