Night.
Asahi Bakery.
Earlier, after she came out of the changing room, Kosui Taki had disappeared.
He didn’t know what had happened, but if she’d left, then she’d left.
That was what Hiiragi Shuichi thought.
Aoba Tomoyo turned out to be surprisingly good at cleaning.
You’d never guess she was a pampered young lady.
Before long, she’d finished everything that needed doing.
So, when she had some free time, she came to the front counter to keep Hiiragi Shuichi company, since he looked a little “lonely.”
Watching her slowly approach, Hiiragi Shuichi spoke without thinking.
“Good work.”
Aoba Tomoyo loosened the buttons and zipper of her uniform, revealing her pale collarbones.
It seemed as if heat were rising from her.
Fortunately, the shop had air conditioning.
Otherwise, the employees probably wouldn’t have been able to work for long in clothes like these.
Aoba Tomoyo took off her cleaning cap and tossed it onto the counter.
Leaning her back against it, she let out a long breath that said, “I’m tired.”
Now that she was relieved, her fatigue seemed to keep her from focusing on Hiiragi Shuichi right away.
On the person she loved.
After tomorrow, she would probably forget what it felt like to love someone.
Even Hiiragi Shuichi felt a sense of relief.
Feelings were incredibly heavy.
He’d learned that firsthand over the past little while.
They were perhaps different from “expectations.”
Expectations usually ended in disappointment, and after the disappointment, things were mostly the way they had been before.
In other words, anyone who was disappointed in you hadn’t cared about you that much to begin with.
At least, they wouldn’t want to get inside your heart.
Even now, the memory of his father, wearing an expression that said “I knew it,” and casually spitting out words full of contempt, remained vivid.
- Hah.
- Everyone says you can do it, but what can you do, exactly?
- At this rate, this is all you’ll ever amount to.
He remembered every word, not a single one out of place.
Back then, he was still in middle school, wasn’t he?
What did his father mean by “all your life”?
Maybe Hiiragi Shuichi could now return to Chiba Prefecture, back to the countryside, and shock his parents.
But for some reason, Hiiragi Shuichi just didn’t want to go back.
Speaking of Chiba, what was the main side dish in a Chiba resident’s bento?
The answer was “Miso Stir-Fried Peanuts”!
Uh…
Hiiragi Shuichi suddenly wanted to distract himself and forget about some painful things, but whenever he tried, his train of thought would derail halfway through.
Then he’d start feeling embarrassed and wonder, ‘What am I even doing…?’
“Shuichi? What’s wrong?”
Aoba Tomoyo’s lilting voice suddenly drifted into Hiiragi Shuichi’s ear, like a soft ear pick tracing every part of his ear before striking straight to the heart.
The sensation was like an ear massage, and Hiiragi Shuichi couldn’t help shivering.
“It’s nothing.”
“I just remembered something from the past…”
“Something from the past? Oh…”
Aoba Tomoyo understood and didn’t press him.
Aoba Tomoyo had always done background checks on the Student Council members in private.
When it came to someone as important as Hiiragi Shuichi, she basically dug into everything.
So she probably knew a fair amount about his past.
His family hadn’t understood him or expected anything of him.
He was just like little Rishi.
And since Hiiragi Shuichi was a year younger than her, sometimes she couldn’t help seeing him as her own little sister.
That was why Aoba Tomoyo could actually understand how Hiiragi Shuichi must have felt and why he’d made the choice he did when he hadn’t helped Aoba Toshie out of her predicament.
Just like how she loved Hiiragi Shuichi, yet couldn’t take a step forward when she was with him…
For half a meter around them, there was no sound except the low hum of the air conditioner and Komuro Ayumi’s occasional shouts from the kitchen.
What an awkward atmosphere.
About half an hour later, Komuro Ayumi finally came out, covered in flour.
It looked like she’d been through a fierce battle.
She saw Hiiragi Shuichi with Aoba Tomoyo, her eyes darting around in a panic as if she didn’t know where to look.
Without saying a word, she ran upstairs to the second floor with her eyes closed.
Just before she went up, she stopped and said:
“S-see you tomorrow!”
Hiiragi Shuichi gave a quiet “Mm” and said nothing else.
“Shuichi, are you sure she was talking to you?” Aoba Tomoyo asked in a teasing tone.
“She’s not close with you, senpai, so who else could she have been talking to…?”
“Besides, does it matter if she was talking to me or not?”
“It was just a ‘see you tomorrow,'” Hiiragi Shuichi replied listlessly.
“Shuichi, do you like things the way they are now?”
“Well… Life’s a lot easier than it used to be.”
“Whether I like it or not, that’s just how life is.”
“I see…”
After a few seconds of silence, Aoba Tomoyo suddenly said:
“Then, Shuichi, do you like me?”
“Huh?”
Hiiragi Shuichi had lost count of how many times his brain’s fuse had blown in front of Aoba Tomoyo.
But it had happened so many times that now he felt more exasperated than confused.
In the end, all Hiiragi Shuichi could manage was a heavy sigh.
Aoba Tomoyo didn’t rush him for an answer.
She just leaned against the counter, the warm yellow light illuminating only half her face.
Before, Hiiragi Shuichi would’ve assumed she was joking again, that she was teasing him.
But looking at her lonely profile, he couldn’t bring himself to take her words as a joke.
“Senpai, do you want to hear the truth?”
After thinking it over, Hiiragi Shuichi decided to ask her.
Whatever she said, even if she didn’t give him a proper answer, he could use it as a reference.
Aoba Tomoyo twirled the end of her red hair around her finger and spoke softly.
“Didn’t I tell you a long time ago?”
“Even if it’s a lie, I don’t mind.”
“Why ask me…?”
“If you didn’t ask, I wouldn’t have to wonder whether what you said was true or not…”
“If you’re going to take whatever I say as the truth, then is there any point in saying it?”
“Well… I suppose so.”
“I think I know the answer, so you don’t have to say it.”
Aoba Tomoyo straightened up and fixed her loosened collar.
Even though the air conditioning was blasting, Aoba Tomoyo looked perfectly composed as she held her hands like fans and fanned herself.
Hiiragi Shuichi pursed his lips, wondering why.
“Senpai, why did you come to work here…?”
“But there’s something I want to tell you, Shuichi.”
Before Hiiragi Shuichi could finish asking, Aoba Tomoyo immediately cut him off.
Hiiragi Shuichi turned to look at her.
The distance between them hadn’t changed since she’d first stood in front of the counter, but somehow he felt as if they were farther apart.
“Shuichi, tomorrow… I probably won’t be standing beside you like this anymore.”
What?
Hiiragi Shuichi immediately thought of the Notebook losing its effect, and his heart started to race.
What was going on…?
Was it a coincidence?
“…Can I stay here a little longer?” she added.
“Um… Stay as long as you like, senpai.”
“Just as I thought.”
“In the end, you still choose the easier way…”
“Maybe.”
“It’s just that tomorrow, senpai probably won’t want to hear that answer anymore, so it doesn’t matter what happens now.”
Aoba Tomoyo glanced at him and gave him a quiet smile.
“I kept wondering why I couldn’t say it…”
“I think I understand a little now.”
She paused and fell silent for a long time.
Outside the window, the sky was completely dark.
The darkness reached all the way into Hiiragi Shuichi’s heart.
Suddenly, a soft giggle rang through the quiet shop.
Sweet, innocent, and frank, it was like a whirlpool in clear water, able to stir up only leaves, petals, and twigs…
All the light things, unable to lift anything truly heavy.
And yet, it lifted Hiiragi Shuichi’s heart.
When the boy turned around, the girl seemed to be playing in clear water by the sea, though they weren’t anywhere near the shore.
She sent up a refreshing wave.
For the first time, Aoba Tomoyo’s smile seemed beautiful.
“Shuichi.”
“…” Hiiragi Shuichi remained silent.
“I love you.”