Traveling With a Beautiful Girl

Just past 6 PM.

Nanase and I are sitting side by side on the sandy beach.

We’re idly looking at a large, illuminated torii gate. There’s no particular reason for this situation.

After Nanase stopped crying and calmed down, we ended up here almost naturally when we returned to the ground.

The sun has completely set, and only the moonlight and street lamps illuminating the beach park light up the surroundings.

“Nanase-san, it’s cold.”

“What are you saying now?”

Even though it was for a short time, because our legs were soaked in water from the thighs down, it’s very cold. My indirect suggestion to move to a warmer place didn’t seem to be accepted. I sense that she wants to stay here a little longer.

Perhaps Nanase, in her own way, is cooling her head to sort out her feelings.

“…I’m sorry.”

Unexpectedly, Nanase said.

“An apology for what?”

“It seems I’ve caused you a lot of trouble.”

“Ah, I see… don’t worry about it.”

With that, Nanase touches my hand. Her eyes are filled with sorrow.

“You’re so hurt…”

I realize I’m more battered than I thought. My palm is bleeding from falling over several times, even though it’s already clotted. The area around my knee is also torn through my pants.

“Your lip is split too…”

“Ah, I punched myself for that.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Story?”

“… It’s embarrassing to recall, so maybe another time.”

“What happened?”

“A lot of things.”

I laugh it off at Nanase’s complicated expression. To be frank, I acted like it was no big deal earlier, but I was desperately searching, running a lot, and almost gave up several times.

But that’s something I don’t need to say. Just the fact that she’s alive like this… that’s more than enough for me. I put my hand on Nanase’s head, who is still apologetic.

She lets me pet her head. It seems she’s starting to trust me a bit, no, quite a bit.

“Thank you, Takahashi-kun.”

She calls me by my surname as usual. But it’s different when it comes with a modest smile from the person I care for. I feel embarrassed, my face heats up… and then, I realize something.

“I might have figured it out.”

“What?”

Nanase turns to me.

“The reason why you called people ‘you’ or by their surname.”

“Hmm.”

She prompts me with her eyes to continue.

“Kanade-san said. The way you address someone shows the depth of your bond with them.”

The way you call someone changes depending on how important they are to you.

“Maybe you were scared to deepen bonds with people, Nanase? You knew the pain of being betrayed after getting closer. So you thought it was better not to get close from the start.”

Yesterday, in Nanase’s monologue, the way she referred to her mother wavered between ‘mother’ and ‘mom’. Perhaps initially, she called her ‘mom’, like a girl of her age would.

“If that were true, what would you do?”

“I will never betray you, Nanase.”

I responded to Nanase, who seemed to be testing me. For a moment, joy flashes across her face. But then, she looks at me suspiciously, as if she’s examining someone suspicious.

“Are you indirectly asking me to call you by your first name?”

“Oh, you caught on?”

“Your thinking is too straightforward.”

“Isn’t it too late for that? So, what do you think?”

“…I’ll consider it.”

“Are you a politician?”

“It’s one of the important points for me.”

“That means my hypothesis wasn’t entirely wrong.”

“I struggle to understand how you connect causes and effects to reach that conclusion.”

A familiar deep sigh.

On the other hand, the corners of my mouth naturally lifted. I was happy that I could once again have a candid conversation with Nanase.

“By the way, I didn’t hear your reply to my previous question.”

“A-are you bringing that up now?”

“Of course. I confessed with all the courage I had saved up for a year.”

“That’s quite a realistic timespan.”

“So, what’s your answer?”

I asked in a serious tone. Nanase spent some time looking troubled, looking up at the sky, twirling her hair, until she finally blushed and looked down.

What a cute creature.

“…I don’t have enough.”

“Eh?”

“I don’t have enough to judge. We only started talking properly five days ago. No matter how long we’ve been together, I don’t have enough to make such an important decision.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

Even if I said that I was interested in her before we started traveling together, it would probably sound like an afterthought. She probably thought of me as just some common weed in school.

“That’s why, it’s on hold.”

“Guh… well, it’s a reasonable conclusion…”

“But, well…”

Nanase turned away with a pout.

“If you keep making approaches… is that the word? If you do that a lot… then maybe, my feelings might change for the better, you know?”

“You suddenly have a poor vocabulary when it comes to this subject.”

But well, I’m relieved that it doesn’t seem hopeless. There’s plenty of time from now on. Let’s close the distance little by little while traveling to various places… wait?

Is it just me?

Nanase’s ears… seem really red…

“Sh-shall we go soon?”

Nanase stands up.

“Did we have any plans?”

I thought we canceled the exciting Sanzu River tour.

“Aren’t you treating me to very expensive eel?”

Nanase says with a devilish smile.

“I-I said I would take you to a good restaurant, but I didn’t say I would pay.”

When I think about it calmly, I’ve spent nearly 100,000 yen today because I was moving around without caring about the cost.

Even though I have some savings, money doesn’t grow on trees, so I need to think about how I spend it…

“What, you were confidently saying earlier that you would earn the money, you’re such a small man.”