My Tsundere Childhood Friend, Who Was Always Haughty, Suddenly Showing a Sharp Increase in Affection and Directing Intense, Heavy Emotions Toward Me - chapter 30.1-30.2

Chapter 30.1: It’s Fine, Isn’t It? We’re That Close, You and I

After the erotic manga incident finally settled down, Sana started trying to take a bath together again, leading to another round of back-and-forth struggles. By the time bedtime arrived, I was completely exhausted.

“…I feel insanely tired for some reason.”

“You worked hard on studying from the morning, so that’s unavoidable.”

“No, no, the main cause of this fatigue has to be the last few hours, no matter how you think about it.”

Sana was grinning too, so she clearly understood but said that on purpose. Still, the time spent with Sana lately had been enjoyable, so it wasn’t really a problem.

To be honest, being with the old Sana had been overwhelmingly painful, to the point where I didn’t even want to interact with her beyond the bare minimum. If she had stayed the same as before, I wouldn’t have joined her for after-school study sessions, nor would I have invited her to my house like this.

“It’s getting late, so should we go to bed?”

“Aw, it’s a sleepover, so that would be no fun.”

“Then how about continuing with studying?”

“Instead, let’s look at the old photo albums. There were all sorts of things in them, right?”

“Oh, Mom compiled albums from our childhood up to recent ones, so I’ll go get them.”

I brought back several albums from Mom’s room. They mainly featured me, Dad, and Mom, but there were quite a few photos of Sana too. It was only natural since we were childhood friends from kindergarten through high school. We immediately started looking through them together.

“Ah, this is the photo from the mountain field trip in fourth grade elementary school.”

“Yeah, nostalgic.”

I still remembered being taken to a facility near Okayama Airport for a two-day, one-night trip with a walk rally and campfire. By the way, Sana and I were in the same group for the walk rally, and there were photos of us from that time in the album.

“By the way, I think I gave you a piggyback ride because you were irritated from getting tired of walking.”

“Oh, was that the case?”

“Here’s the irrefutable proof right here.”

I pointed to a photo that captured the exact moment. In it, Sana had an unhappy look on her face as she rode on my back. As for me, my face was completely dead, but that was inevitable since I had to give her a piggyback when I was already worn out from walking.

“It’s true… I don’t remember at all…”

“Well, memories from childhood tend to get pretty vague.”

“I was really selfish, wasn’t I? I see, I’d been messing up since back then.”

Sana wore an expression like she had fallen into self-loathing. To ease that, I followed up for her.

“Kids are all like that, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

“Thanks. I absolutely won’t cause you any trouble anymore, Haruto.”

“As long as it’s a reasonable request, I won’t see it as trouble, so it’s fine.”

If anything, I even felt like I wanted to help if Sana was in trouble. As we talked like that, we continued looking through the albums together. There were plenty of nostalgic photos from kindergarten field trips, elementary school arts festivals, middle school entrance ceremonies, and more.

When it came to school events, the photos with Sana and me together stood out the most. We got so caught up in reminiscing over the albums that time flew by, and before we knew it, the night had turned into morning.

“I’m really sleepy now.”

“Yeah, let’s sleep.”

Both Sana and I were satisfied, so we decided to go to bed, but then a new problem arose. Sana suddenly said she wanted to sleep in the same bed as me.

“That’s definitely not okay.”

“It’s fine, isn’t it? We’re that close, you and I.”

“But still…”

Just like with the bath, we went through a prolonged back-and-forth, but in the end, we compromised on sleeping in the same room. I would sleep in my bed, and Sana would lay out a futon on the floor.

We finished brushing our teeth and got into our respective beds. After a while, I fell asleep. The next time I woke up, it was morning, but for some reason, the bed felt narrow. With my mind not fully awake yet, I turned my face and saw Sana sleeping right next to me.

“When did you sneak into my bed!?”

In the end, things had gone exactly as Sana planned. It seemed she was one step ahead of me after all.

—

Chapter 30.2: Interlude 3 – I Won’t Waste Your Mistakes

“Huh, this place is…?”

I had fallen asleep in Haruto’s room, but when I came to, I was in a different location. It looked like an apartment room, and I had a vague memory of having seen it somewhere, but I couldn’t recall it right away. As I tried to dredge it up from my past memories, someone suddenly spoke to me.

“You seem to be getting along well with Haruto.”

“Ah, you’re…!?”

The other person’s face was exactly the same as mine. That’s when I finally remembered where this was. This was the place where the twenty-nine-year-old me had confronted me with harsh, bitter reality.

“I honestly didn’t expect you to become that straightforward.”

“Because you completely broke my spirit, of course I’d become straightforward.”

“I thought that unless I went that far, someone like Ibuki Sana would never realize her own mistakes in her lifetime, but aren’t you changing a bit too much?”

“I absolutely don’t want to make the same mistakes as you.”

I absolutely hated the idea of such a future coming to pass, but if I didn’t change, I was sure I’d end up with the same fate as the twenty-nine-year-old me standing right in front of me. That’s why I acknowledged my errors and changed.

“You’re really merciless saying you absolutely don’t want to make the same mistakes right to my face. If I hadn’t been there, your future would definitely have been pitch black too.”

“That’s why I’m genuinely grateful. Thank you.”

There wasn’t a shred of falsehood in those words. Without the twenty-nine-year-old me, I would undoubtedly have failed. When she showed me that scene that dealt such a massive mental blow and made me hear words I never wanted to, I honestly harbored some resentment at the time, but now I didn’t feel even a trace of that.

“If I could have become someone who says words of gratitude as straightforwardly as you are now, the outcome probably would have been different…”

“Since I’m making the effort to thank you, don’t give off such a gloomy aura. You must have some good things in your life too.”

I said that to the twenty-nine-year-old me, who wore a self-deprecating expression. Honestly, it didn’t feel great seeing someone with the exact same face as mine looking so down.

“You’re right. I was a bit short on positivity. Getting older really does you in.”

“You’re still only twenty-nine, so you’re plenty young.”

“Coming from a sixteen-year-old you, that just sounds like sarcasm.”

We were having that kind of conversation, but the twenty-nine-year-old me suddenly turned serious.

“I think you’ve become far more straightforward than I was back then, but whatever you do, don’t lose your sense of humility.”

“What’s this all of a sudden?”

“After the midterm exams in your first year of high school, a lot happened. If you don’t want Haruto to hate you, absolutely don’t forget what I just said.”

“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.”

When I answered clearly like that, the twenty-nine-year-old me wore a satisfied expression. And in the next instant, my consciousness awoke, and the ceiling of the room jumped into view.

I sat up and looked around, and it was Haruto’s room. It seemed I’d had a dream just like the previous time. But I remembered the details of what had just happened with perfect clarity.

“I won’t waste your mistakes.”

I murmured that and slipped into Haruto’s bed just like that. The current time was three in the morning, and Haruto was sleeping soundly. So I got under the covers without waking him in particular. I absolutely didn’t want to lose this warmth.