Rain.
Sitting behind the school with Kaito, I bit into my sandwich. I glanced at him while he was typing a ssage on his phone.
“How is it? Have the results been released yet?”
“They said it hasn’t even started. The tournant’s delayed until the afternoon because of the rain.”
Kaito shook his head. The person he ssaged wasn’t his girlfriend like usual, but an acquaintance from the Track Club.
Putting his phone down, he continued eating his lunch while asking again.
“Anyway, Ren, why are you asking through like this? You could just ssage Yona yourself.”
“... Didn’t you see arguing with her yesterday in class?”
Is this friend of mine getting dentia?
“Right, that’s true. I guess it’s just hard for to believe you could have a conflict with her. You two were always so happy together before.”
“I’m wondering about it myself.”
All of this happened after our date. I understand Yona was angry at because I refused to accept her donation. But as for why she ran off alone in the rain before that? I have no idea at all.
“Do you have any idea how I could fix my problem with her, Kaito?”
“No clue. And even if I did, I wouldn’t help. You guys hardly ever fight. This is rare, I wanna enjoy the show little more."
“Bastard.”
Is this guy really my friend?
Lunchti passed in the blink of an eye. In the last class before we went ho, I finally got information about Yona’s tournant.
Listening to the teacher’s explanation sowhat bored, I suddenly felt soone touch my leg. Turning to look, I saw Kaito.
Even though the teacher wasn’t looking our way, for so reason his face looked nervous. I lowered my voice.
“... What is it?”
“Yona... lose.”
Huh?
---
The next day, Sunday.
Surprisingly, I ended up waking up earlier than usual. Even though it was a day off, my bed didn’t try to absorb back to sleep, and instead, I got up easily.
Was it excitent from not having school? Or maybe from finally getting to play gas all day? I didn’t know. What I did know now was just going through my morning routine.
First, making my bed. The road to a better life starts with discipline, or so I read in a random article.
A few minutes later, the door opened and my dad entered my room.
“Ah, you’re already up, huh? Then can you help wake your mom? She said she had work this morning. I want to go shopping, so please, Ren.”
“Understood.”
Kneeling before the ruler of this house, I obeyed his order and went to my mom’s room. She wasn’t the type to sleep in, so waking her up was an easy task. Going to the bathroom together to get ready, we brushed our teeth side by side in front of the mirror.
“It’s Sunday, Mom.”
“Hmm? I know. Why?”
“Don’t overdo it. None of this will matter if you end up getting sick.”
“... Thanks for worrying, Ren. But it’s okay. Today I’m just going to et with a writer. They need guidance to resolve the conflict in their story.”
Conflict, huh.
If the way conflicts are structured in fiction applied to the real world, I’d want an editor’s guidance to resolve mine too.
That way, I could just sit still and wait for all the drama I face to be resolved with ti.
Though that clearly isn’t possible.
After Dad ca back, we all had breakfast at the dining table. I watched TV with Mom for a bit before she left, and then I returned to my room.
Yuri was already waiting for online. Playing a MOBA ga together on our phones, we chatted while bringing up her visual novel project.
“By the way, Yuri, aren’t you planning to publish your ga? I think it’s already pretty good from what I’ve played.”
“Not yet. Um, at the very least I want to replace the illustrations. It doesn’t feel right to sell sothing made with AI...”
“You have a point. In that case, maybe you could ask the Art Club mbers for help if the Ga Club gets ford. They shouldn’t mind helping a little.”
“... I can’t.”
“Why? Are you planning to do the illustrations yourself?”
“Embarrassing.”
“Hm?”
“I-Isn’t it embarrassing to ask for help from another club? I heard most of their mbers are upperclassn too. Wh-What if they reject ?”
“At least, the world’s not going to end.”
Looks like I’ll have to be the one to ask the Art Club for help. Turns out Yuri’s ntal endurance isn’t strong enough for that kind of social interaction.
I continued playing with Yuri for the next few hours. Before I knew it, morning had turned into afternoon.
Since my body was starting to feel uncomfortable from sitting too long, I figured it was ti to go outside for a bit. I needed fresh air.
“Stopping by the convenience store doesn’t sound bad either.”
Changing clothes, I went out of the house. However, once I reached the area near the park, I was stopped by a delinquent.
“Heh heh, what’s a guy doing walking around alone in a place like this? If you don’t want to be eaten, you better get out of here, rawr!”
Siblings really are no different.
“Go ahead. But before that, let pull your hair first, Hina.”
“Ow, owww! Gonasai, Ren! I was just kidding!”
"What are you even doing anyway?”
“P-Please let go of my hair first...”
“Alright.”
“Ugh, it’s so hard to take care of! I thought I’d just drop by to say hi to you, but I didn’t expect you to be this cruel... You monster! Inhumane! Demon King!”
I think my actions were pretty rational, considering I was about to be eaten by so random delinquent. This was a form of self-defense.
“So, how was the tournant? Weren’t you rambling yesterday about wanting to beat Yona or sothing?”
“Hehee, don’t be surprised when you hear this. Actually, I won it and got first place!”
Weird. This is really weird. How did she beat Yona? She was so confident about it, but isn’t this the part where she’s supposed to lose? I can’t accept it.
“You didn’t cheat, did you?”
“Of course not! I won fair and square! Even Sis Alice praised .”
“... I’ll believe you, at least for now.”
“Why do you still sound doubtful!?”
“Who cares? I’m leaving now.”
“Ehh? Just like that? Let’s play badminton first! I’m so bored today with no one to hang out with.”
Hina tried to grab my hand, but knowing I wouldn’t be able to escape if she did, I dodged quickly.
“Nope. I’ve got stuff to do. Goodbye.”
With that, I ran away before Hina could even react. At first she was stubborn and chased after , but after a few minutes of hide and seek, she gave up. With that, I won.
Yona, I’ve avenged your loss with this!
Arriving at the minimarket, I bought several things ranging from snacks to several bottles of drinks as supplies for playing gas after this.
Tomorrow is Monday, but is there anything that could stop now?
Maybe there is, because my steps ca to a halt on the way ho when I reached the base of a small mountain near my neighborhood.
“... Didn’t I use to play here a lot?”
But unlike the wild, overgrown mountain in my mory, I now saw concrete steps built for walking upward.
Was a shrine or sothing built on top?
Since I wasn’t in a hurry to go ho, I figured there was no harm in climbing for a bit. Though, after five minutes of hiking, I started to regret it.
After all, there was nothing here. The shrine I had imagined wasn’t here either. Just an empty field with dozens of tree stumps that looked like they’d just been cut down.
“Well, what was I expecting?”
If sothing had actually been built here, I should’ve noticed it long ago. Or maybe, the construction on this mountain only exists in this world? Because the last ti I saw this mountain, there weren’t any stairs or anything like this leading up.
Kind of a waste to go back down after climbing all this way. So I walked toward the forest area to wander around for a bit.
Until I stopped when I was about to reach the edge of the mountain. Not because I was afraid of heights, but because I saw a familiar figure standing far ahead. More precisely, beside the cliff.
The breeze was strong up here, blowing the leaves from the surrounding trees, as well as her ponytail.
“... Yona?”
The sun shone clearly in the sky, with no clouds in sight.
It was a bright day.
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