Chapter 26: Daikichi’s Style Is Unconsciously Getting Lost in Himself

Before he knew it, Daikichi Sakoda’s feet had started moving again—one step, then another—pushing him forward.

The temperature was eight degrees. The wind was gentle.

Every now and then, a colorless breeze swept by, drying the air and nearly making him cough; swallowing his saliva to moisten his throat, Daikichi ran with determined earnestness.

“—Is someone chasing you? That kid just now.” 

“—That’s one scary look… That uniform—isn’t it from that famous school? You know, the one where the upper-crust kids go.” 

“—It really is. Look at the collar line.”

“—But… isn’t anyone chasing you…?” 

“—Then maybe you’re just late for cram school? No, it should be a school that doesn’t require attending something like cram school.” 

“—Mysterious.”

Though he was a little behind others, had lived an unconventional life, and carried deep, indelible scars, he still experienced a sensation much like the fresh, slightly bitter aroma of green grass brought close to his nose. And the way one interprets it or the words one chooses are entirely personal.

Yet one thing is certain—it comes regardless of whether you want it or not, or even if you couldn’t care less.

Even if Daikichi Sakoda had chosen a different path at this moment—say, by rejecting everything and retreating into his shell—it would surely have manifested in another form. But Daikichi Sakoda did not choose an alternative; he chose the form he has now. It wasn’t because someone told him to or out of compulsion—it was his own desire.

And so, Daikichi Sakoda set off for a familiar place—the one he had visited with Hanakumori Sakurazaki.

First stop: the 100-yen shop. It was the first place he’d gone out with Hanakumori Sakurazaki. Squinting in the twilight, Daikichi Sakoda hurried into the store and looked around inquisitively.

As Daikichi Sakoda panted and searched desperately for Hanakumori Sakurazaki, his labored breaths attracted plenty of stares from the other customers. But, of course, he couldn’t care less about the attention of strangers.

“—Why are you in such a hurry… what’s up with that schoolboy?” 

“—Looking for someone… huh? It seriously reeks of youth.”

“Next, next.”

Not spotting Hanakumori Sakurazaki, Daikichi Sakoda left the 100-yen shop. Then he remembered the café where he’d had frappés with her and rushed over. But Hanakumori Sakurazaki wasn’t there either, and all Daikichi Sakoda received were suspicious glances from bystanders.

“Not here either…”

Although the surroundings grew steadily darker, Daikichi Sakoda wasn’t about to give up easily. Next, he headed to the after-school care center where Sachiko was frequently dropped off—a place he had first visited with Hanakumori Sakurazaki when she insisted on coming along… but she was nowhere to be seen.

“—Oh my, the boy who usually comes to pick up Sachiko… oh, but today, Sachiko’s Eleanor had already come.” 

“—No, I didn’t come to pick up Sachiko… I’m sorry.”

After nodding respectfully to the staff at the care center, Daikichi Sakoda then made his way to the nearby elementary school that Sachiko attended—a place he had also visited with Hanakumori Sakurazaki. Yet again, Hanakumori Sakurazaki was missing. The staff room had a faint light on, but all he saw were teachers—not her.

“…not here.”

Daikichi Sakoda searched every other plausible spot. But Hanakumori Sakurazaki was nowhere to be found, and eventually he reached what seemed to be the final possibility.

“The last stop is the zoo.”

If she wasn’t at the zoo either—and with no sighting reported by Sazanka Tsubaki—the only place left would be Hanakumori Sakurazaki’s home, which would mean the situation was slipping out of Daikichi Sakoda’s control. Thus, he believed this had to be the final stop.

Though Daikichi Sakoda was ready to explain the circumstances to Hanakumori Sakurazaki’s parents, he also imagined that things would probably get very messy. He thought that if it came to that, it would be impossible to resolve things solely by talking to her.

So, with a hopeful heart, he prayed that she would be found there. And as if his prayer had reached the gods, Hanakumori Sakurazaki appeared. After hours of operation had ended and the once-crowded zoo front had emptied, she sat on a long bench outside, both fists clenched on her knees, head bowed, tears falling steadily.

Feeling relieved, Daikichi Sakoda first sent a chat message to Sazanka Tsubaki, informing her that he had found Hanakumori Sakurazaki and giving his location. Then, he slowly approached her.

“Uuu… I…I…”

Daikichi Sakoda wasn’t shaken by Sakurazaki’s tears. He had easily imagined that things would turn out this way.

The fact that someone of the opposite sex—whom he liked and who he believed was kind to him out of affection—turned out not to be acting out of love was naturally bound to stir up conflicting feelings during such a sensitive stage of adolescence.

Daikichi accepted that it was inevitable for Sakurazaki’s emotions to become a tangled mess.

“Daichan… Senpai? No! Don’t find me! Don’t come over here!”

Sakurazaki noticed Daikichi and shouted those words. He fully sensed and understood the heartfelt cry hidden behind her outburst.
That was precisely why Daikichi took one step, then another, drawing closer to her.

“I told you not to come over!”

No matter how many times Sakurazaki screamed, Daikichi did not stop approaching. He thought that if she truly hated him, she would have shown it by running away rather than just rejecting him with words.

The reason Sakurazaki was here was that she had run away when she caught a glimpse of some of those secrets.

When she really felt uncomfortable or didn’t know what to do, Sakurazaki had already shown that she would run rather than simply reject. Understanding that Sakurazaki had always made it clear—“This is who I am”—Daikichi knelt as he made eye contact with her.

“I’m sorry… I’ll tell you everything.”

With those words, he gently placed his hand over her small, slender, soft fingers.

“……”

Sakurazaki said nothing more. She neither hurled any forceful words nor pulled Daikichi’s hand away. It turned out that his intuition had been spot on.

“……Yeah.”

Sakurazaki nodded slightly.

Perhaps, Daikichi wondered, Sakurazaki was testing him. He wanted to believe that her kindness was partly born of affection—that even if she hurled harsh words, she wouldn’t abandon him but remain by his side. Such an interpretation seemed possible.

However, Daikichi had no way of knowing which was correct. In any case, it was certain that the resolution was reached because he had decided to confront her head-on.

Daikichi took a breath, and then, bit by bit, told her everything.

He explained that his saying his parents were “not in Japan” was merely a pretense—a way of saying they were, in truth, deceased and no longer in this world. In fact, he had met Sakurazaki once, and at that time his then-living parents had mentioned her, their words ensnaring him.

That was why, at first, he had begun to help her quietly—not for her sake, but out of a self-centered desire to keep his parents’ past alive. His frequent visits to check on her were simply part of that.

“I see… I never realized that you, Daichan Senpai, had gone through so much pain… and that it wasn’t that you liked me or anything like that…”

After hearing this, Sakurazaki looked dejected, as if ashamed that she had been going in circles all along. A slightly heavy atmosphere filled the space—but it was only temporary. Daikichi’s story was far from over; there was, of course, more to come.

Finally, Daikichi confessed his current feelings. Although his initial reason had been what he’d said, in truth, as time went on, it wasn’t about his memories of his parents at all—it was that he had come to truly care for Sakurazaki.

“The reason I began secretly supporting you was certainly because I clung to the past with my parents. But, over time, that stopped mattering.”
“Eh…?”

“I came to believe that all that mattered was for your future to be bright. I started to genuinely want that for you.”
“That’s a lie… No way, don’t use your feelings like that…”

With a look of disbelief, Sakurazaki shook her head. Daikichi squeezed her hand tightly, proving again that his words were true.

“I’m not lying. It’s true. In retrospect… perhaps my attempts at hiding were half-hearted. Besides, I had no real need to check on you myself—I could have simply asked your homeroom teacher.”

“……”

“But I kept coming to see how you were doing. It can be seen as me unconsciously wanting you to find me—to recognize my existence…”

“Does that mean…?”

Sakurazaki’s face turned bright red. Even as the chilly autumn night wind caressed her, her cheeks flushed with heat in an instant.
And as for Daikichi, he was perplexed by her reaction.

He felt that his words had no special intention behind them; they simply reflected a growing desire to interact with Sakurazaki as normally as possible.
Yet he sensed that his words were being misinterpreted in a strange way.

(Is Sakurazaki acting strange? What does this mean?)

Daikichi twisted his neck in thought and troubled himself. He realized that his way of speaking was, in the first place, problematic.
His recent words and actions came across as if…

“Daichan Senpai… does this mean that, little by little, you’ve come to genuinely care about me?”

It could only be interpreted as him having fallen seriously for Sakurazaki midway and trying to assert his presence.