Chapter 17: It’s already been five years, and besides, when you show yourself like this…

“Ouch… watch where you’re going… oh, crap…”

The boy who bumped into Sakurazaki, the moment he realized the trouble he’d caused, immediately took off.

Fearing that his parents would scold him—or that, if caught, he might be forced to atone—his frantic dash to escape such a dire fate was, in its own way, very childlike.

Should he catch the boy first, or rescue Sakurazaki first? Such a dilemma was thrust upon Daikichi.

Without hesitation, Daikichi decided he should help Sakurazaki and rushed into the fountain—only to find that it was shallow, as Sakurazaki suddenly sat up with a mukuri.

Relieved that she seemed unharmed, Daikichi knew he couldn’t just leave her there, so he reached out to pull Sakurazaki from the fountain.

But as Sakurazaki burst into loud tears, Daikichi froze in shock.

“No…! Why…! Why does it have to come to this?”

Daikichi realized with a sinking heart that he was the one who had driven her to speak those words.

He thought there was no need to startle Sakurazaki as he had earlier—he could have just spoken to her normally, but he didn’t.

Daikichi was aware that even though he often acted all grown-up, he was still just a child.

Sakurazaki, who strove to follow her own heart, was far more mature; while Tsubaki—sensitive to his feelings and background, choosing her words carefully—was every bit as dependable.

That was what Daikichi felt, and he now sensed the urgent need to confront his own immaturity.

It was much like an elementary school student facing the last day of summer vacation with a mountain of unfinished homework.

Ever since the moment he witnessed the accident that took his parents, Daikichi had been haunted by it—remaining as unchanged as a broken wind-up clock, clinging to his inherent childishness.

But it’s been five years now.

That much time has elapsed.

Daikichi began to feel that it was finally time to accept it.

“…Look”

That’s why Daikichi extended his hand to the still wailing Sakurazaki; he decided that, like a clock whose hands must move forward, he could no longer run away from her.

“Eh…?”

“Hand.”

“Ah, thank you…”

Sakurazaki took Daikichi’s hand.

It felt as though her fingertips—soft, slightly plump yet slender—were winding up his inner spring.

In a more poetic expression, it was as if his own second hand had started ticking away—tick-tock, tick-tock.

Well, anyway.

Wearing a relieved smile, Daikichi inadvertently shifted his gaze toward Sakurazaki’s chest.

Her cute, patterned white blouse clung snugly to her skin, revealing her underwear.

Daikichi felt a peculiar shock as he stared at Sakurazaki’s childish underwear adorned with a cartoonish dog illustration.

He figured that the pattern might suit an elementary schooler’s swimsuit, but certainly not the underwear of a high school girl in her mid-teens.

Daikichi’s instincts were likely right: Sakurazaki appeared to be straining to wear them, the fabric stretched so taut that the drawn dog looked pitifully distorted with a patsu-patsu sound.

There was no size available in that design to accommodate her chest—meaning that, originally, it was meant for a much younger child.

Incidentally, the wet fabric allowed droplets to trickle down, and whenever one fell on the dog’s eyes, it appeared as if the dog were weeping.

“Daichan-senpai…?”

“…”

“Where are you looking… huh! No! Don’t look at me wearing childish stuff!”

Hanakumori Sakurazaki noticed where Daikichi Sakoda was staring and began vigorously swinging her head from side to side while covering her chest with both arms.

Daikichi Sakoda hurriedly started to explain himself.

“No, it’s not that I was checking out your boobs…”

“You just said ‘boobs’! You saw them, that’s why you’re saying that!”

“I figured that, since you were covering up with your arms, you must have assumed you saw them…”

Daikichi managed to spout a rather clever excuse, instantly fabricating a plausible-sounding rationale that the whole misunderstanding was due to your actions.

Daikichi had always been the kind of boy who lied to himself and deceived others. He’s pretty skilled at telling white lies to avoid hurting people or being hurt.

“Really?”

Sakurazaki, seemingly nearly convinced by his words, looked up at him for a final confirmation.

“Trust me. I didn’t see anything.”

In truth, he had seen everything, but Daikichi nodded firmly as he declared, “I didn’t see anything.” His response was so unwavering that Sakurazaki stopped doubting and let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh, really? That’s a relief.”

“Yeah, it is. But if you stay like that, you’ll catch a cold. It’s not summer anymore. Let’s explain the situation and borrow some clothes from the zoo staff. Come on, stand up. …Just bear with it until you can change.”

Daikichi removed his jacket and draped it over Sakurazaki, who was shivering as she stood up.

Sakurazaki clutched his jacket tightly, looking pleased.

“…Yeah. Ah, but since it’s wet, even if I change, I can’t return Daichan-senpai’s jacket right away… I’ll have to wash it properly.”

“That’s not necessary. Just toss it when you get home.”

“No way!”

Sakurazaki insisted that she simply couldn’t give back his jacket as it was. For a moment, Daikichi wondered, “Why?” but then he quickly understood.

Sakurazaki believed that this might become an item that would deepen the connection between them. Daikichi, who had begun to reexamine himself and look ahead, thought that maybe it was okay to let the situation carry him along sometimes.

“I see, yeah. I’ll have you return it.”

“Y-yes!”

“But when will I get it back…? I might not be able to have it right away because of my own schedule. Let’s exchange contact details.”

At Daikichi’s suggestion, Sakurazaki’s eyes sparkled and she snorted excitedly.

“That means…⁉️”

“We exchange contact info.”

“⁉️”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“I-I-it’s fine! The more, the better!”

Clearly overjoyed, Sakurazaki immediately pulled out her smartphone.

In the past, a wet smartphone might have malfunctioned—leading to another missed opportunity—but nowadays, smartphones come standard with excellent waterproofing.

So, without any dramatic twists like in a romance manga, everything proceeded smoothly.

“Uh, my chat ID, and the DMs for my short video, image-sharing, and microblogging accounts… oh, and even though I don’t use it much anymore, my phone number and email address too… just in case…”

“Wow, that’s a lot. There might even be apps I don’t have.”

“I’ll add them for you! Hand it over!”

Prompted by Sakurazaki, Daikichi handed over his smartphone.

The same apps that Sakurazaki had installed were downloaded one after another onto Daikichi’s phone.

“So many… Won’t you get confused?”

“Of course I would—normally, I’d be overwhelmed. That’s why I only maintain one account per app. In reality, I mostly use just the chat and the short video accounts that I can quickly check and consume.”

“Then why don’t we just exchange contact info for the apps we use most frequently, to keep things simple?”

“No. Even if I don’t use the others much, they should all be included.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s better that way. It’ll absolutely be better.”

Sakurazaki repeated, “It’s better that way,” without ever giving a reason, which left Daikichi rather perplexed.

Well, this was just the result of him deciding to let Sakurazaki get closer on her own—and, good or bad, everything comes back to him as karma.

He had no choice but to accept it.