After a Heartbreak, My Bitter Childhood Friend is now Sweet Like Sugar

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Chapter 6.11

That evening, I had dinner with Kokoa, who had completely recovered.

“Thanks to Yu, I’m completely healed. I’m glad you live next door.”

“Well, I was helped once too. It’s hard to be alone when you get sick, like making meals and going shopping.”

“Really. What did you do in the past?”

“I don’t get sick very often.”

“I envy you. It’s so hard for me.”

“Well, you’ve got me now. Isn’t that good?”

“Well, yes. From now on, Yu will be there…”

And then her face turned bright red…

“W-what are you talking about? You mean we’re going to be together forever!?”

“I didn’t say forever, did I?”

Don’t change your words.

Or am I just imagining things?

“In a regular house, you’d have a family, but we live alone.”

When I muttered this, Kokoa looked at me as if she saw through my mind.

“Will Yu’s family ever come back?”

“Well, you know. If it’s convenient for them to come back here, they will. They’re not really interested in me.”

“… I see.”

I rarely talk to people about my family. Even with Senpai, I only answered a few questions when she asked.

However, I had told Kokoa about it a long time ago. She also had a lot of trouble with her parents since she was little, so I felt close to her.

Well. It seems that the nature of the trouble between Kokoa and me is the opposite. In her case, she is excessively interfered with. However, it seemed that she was trusted by her mother enough to leave her in Japan while she went to America for work.

“It’s nice and easy, though, living alone. Do you want your parents to stay with you, Kokoa?”

“No, it’s easier to be alone. And more importantly, I don’t feel lonely anymore.”

Her cheeks reddened a bit again, and she looked away.

Yeah, I’m happy, but I’ll be embarrassed if I say that seriously.

“… You know, I had some free time today, so I read a book.”

“Yeah?”

“The main character is a boy who has lost his girlfriend and found himself in a parallel world where his girlfriend is still alive. But the main character got a new girlfriend. A girl he’s known since childhood.”

“It’s all very familiar.”

“That’s why I haven’t had the courage to read this book for a long time, even though I like the author. But recently, I finally got the courage to read it when Reika appeared, and I cursed God.”

Well, I suppose you would curse him.

It was a coincidence, but so well done that it was unpleasant.

“I read it all the way through. Today.”

“Yeah.”

“The ending was that the main character, who couldn’t choose between the two, ended up going out with both of them.”

“What’s that? I thought he was supposed to choose.”

“He has to be honest with his desires, and then he tells them and asks for forgiveness. He didn’t cheat on them because they were from different worlds.”

“That’s absurd.”

“It’s absurd, but it makes sense. He wants so, so he does it. I just gave you a synopsis, which is a bit bland, but there’s a lot that leads up to it.”

“Well, a book might be like that if you just read the summary.”

But still, it’s an ending that you don’t see very often.

“And after reading it, I felt a little foolish for not having the courage to start reading it before.”

“Why?”

“Because Yu would never do something like what this hero did.”

“Well, of course, I wouldn’t go out with both of them.”

I won’t, or rather, I can’t. I don’t think I would have the gall to reopen my heart like that. I even felt envious.

“Then, who would you choose?”

“Why are you asking me that?”

“I’m just curious.”

I guess there would be no deep meaning behind her words if it were like before.

But now maybe, with Reika’s appearance, she had more things to think about.

If it were me, what would I do?

As long as I clearly know which one I liked better, I’d be inclined to choose that one. But she’s a dead ex-lover, right? I was familiar with how much that existence tailed off.

In the first place, how did he end up going out with this childhood friend? Somehow, for comfort? Did he fall in love with her? Was it because the childhood friend pushed on him, saying that she had actually liked him before?

The protagonist might have wanted to forget about his ex-lover as soon as possible. And so, in an attempt to face a new love, he ended up going out with his childhood friend. It could be that.

It may be in the book, but in any case, it was his ex-lover that he loved before and now his childhood friend that he started dating afterwards.

If that was the case, the childhood friend is a substitute for the ex-lover.

—A substitute.

Ah, that couldn’t be!!

I never thought about it before, but perhaps…

“… Yu?”

She worriedly looked at me.

“You don’t look okay. Are you alright?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m sorry. It’s nothing.”

“I’m sorry for such a strange question.”

“It’s all right, but I don’t feel so good, so I’d better get going.”

“Oh, could it be that you’ve caught a cold?”