“Well, I hope Akasaki can properly face her. Unlike in the past.”
Murmuring thoughtfully to himself in a voice so small that no one else could hear.
Yuna and Rin couldn’t catch Kazamiya’s words, but the two nodded to each other again.
“But if it’s Akasaki-kun… he’ll definitely be fine.”
“If it’s Akasaki-kun, Sara-chin will definitely cheer up too!”
Watching Yuna and Rin speak with conviction, Kazamiya thought to himself.
(…Hey, Akasaki. Such good girls are thinking about you. These girls would surely blow away even your dark past. I’m not strong enough, but…)
While feeling his own inadequacy, Kazamiya returned to his usual tone and said:
“Well, I get to watch fireworks with both Takamori-san and Kohinata-san──surrounded by beauties, so it’s the best!”
Showing his white teeth in a grin, Yuna narrowed her eyes and retorted to Kazamiya.
“Eh, with Rin and me that’s two people… so isn’t Kazamiya-kun alone?”
A joking voice. She seemed to have figured out how to tease Kazamiya during this sleepover.
“Yeah. That’s what I was thinking too.”
Rin immediately responds.
“No, that’s terrible, isn’t it!?”
Kazamiya’s joke disappeared into the summer night sky.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT gadgetizedpanda.net
They had left the street of food stalls and come to the riverbank a little ways away.
“Ah, Akasaki-san… your hand…”
Sara spoke up in a small voice, hesitantly.
Sara’s hand was firmly grasped by Haruya’s left hand.
Because it was terribly crowded, he was trying to avoid getting separated.
Faced with Haruya taking her hand without question and leading her out of the food stalls, Sara couldn’t say anything.
After all, this was an opportunity set up to express gratitude to Haruya───.
“Ah, oh. Sorry.”
When they reached their destination, Haruya released Sara’s hand.
A place with fewer people anyway. A place where they could see the fireworks clearly and beautifully.
With these two conditions, Haruya had left the food stalls.
Even if it wouldn’t become completely deserted, they had managed to come to a relatively quiet place.
This riverbank. …He felt sorry for Sara, but it seemed like they had walked quite a bit.
“I tried to match your stride, but did your geta cause any blisters? Are you okay?”
She was walking in geta that she wasn’t used to wearing normally.
When he asked with a gentle, worried tone, Sara said:
“I-I’m fine. Thank you for your concern. That said, Akasaki-san… please listen.”
Taking a breath, Sara blushed and began to speak.
“I was able to meet Akasaki-san─── “
“Wait.”
Haruya interrupted Sara’s words.
Sara’s eyes widened greatly.
She should have had questions.
After all, they had suddenly left the food stalls without saying anything and come to this riverbank with few people.
There should have been things to point out, yet she immediately tried to express gratitude.
She was probably trying to conclude it the same way as when Yuna and Rin had expressed their gratitude at the end.
It was far too unnatural no matter how you looked at it. It was as if she was rushing something.
“…No, please let me tell you.”
“No, you can’t.”
To the desperate-looking Sara, Haruya objected again.
To her expression that seemed to want to protest, Haruya continued with “Because…”
“…When you’re not even smiling, when you have such a pained expression, I can’t accept gratitude from someone like that.”
Her blue eyes widened, and she was at a loss for words.
Even when she tried to say something, she couldn’t form the words.
Haruya’s straightforward gaze and words had hit her where it hurt.
After looking down for just a moment, Sara forced a smile.
“…Please let me express my gratitude. Then let’s return to everyone.”
Ah, so that’s how it is.
Haruya was convinced at that point.
He removed his glasses, ran his hand through his hair, and exposed his eyes.
“Eh………”
She probably couldn’t understand Haruya’s action.
Sara let out a confused sound.
“Sorry about this for a moment.”
After giving a brief excuse, Haruya continued by taking out his phone.
Then for a little while… he fiddled with his phone, typed a message, tapped the send button, and put his phone back in his pocket.
“Himekawa-san is worried about the fireworks, right?”
“……!”
Sara gasped for a moment.
Before she could say anything, Haruya continued.
“It’s a fireworks festival, so you’re thinking you have to watch the fireworks with everyone, right?”
“…That’s right. We’ll keep everyone waiting. If we came all the way out here to such a distant place, the fireworks will have started long ago by the time we get back. So─”
“Sorry, Himekawa-san…”
He knew she had a diligent personality and tended to bottle up her feelings.
But he hadn’t been able to notice until just before like this.
Without the words from Kazamiya, Rin, and Yuna, it was doubtful whether he would have noticed.
While cursing his own inadequacy, he looked at Sara sincerely.
“Eh…”
Sara voiced her confusion as Haruya bowed his head.
Haruya said in a calm, infinitely gentle tone:
“Let’s watch the fireworks together, just the two of us.”
“N-no, that’s not right.”
Sara instantly voiced her protest.
Haruya took out his phone and showed her the display screen.
[Sorry. Watching fireworks with Himekawa-san. Won’t make it in time] – the message he had sent to everyone.
This was the text he had sent a few minutes ago.
“So it’s already decided that we’ll watch them together.”
“…Why?”
“Because I also have something to talk to you about, Himekawa-san. Including an apology, but I also want to express gratitude. I’d be embarrassed if it weren’t just the two of us. So please, Himekawa-san.”
A straightforward gaze directed at her.
With his glasses removed and his eyes clearly visible, his seriousness was immediately conveyed to Sara.
There was no response to Haruya’s question.
Still, he didn’t mind and continued with “And…”
“…Himekawa-san, what you want to tell me isn’t just gratitude. That’s right, isn’t it?”
Her bangs swayed, and after tensing her face for just a moment, Sara opened her mouth as if giving up.
“How did you know? How did you notice…?”
When she brought forward the emotions she had been suppressing, Sara’s eyes began to moisten.
“I’m really sorry.”
Sara nodded to Haruya’s apology.
Feeling as if he was being prompted to continue, Haruya murmured:
“…I knew that Himekawa-san was actively approaching me. Before this sleepover started and after it began…”
In fact, during the shopping trip and during the volleyball at the beach, he had received approaches from her as a member of the opposite sex.
“But I thought your behavior changed after you asked if your swimsuit was cute during volleyball and I answered.”
Sara’s body flinched for a moment.
I knew it, he thought inwardly.
At that time, when she had actively and charmingly approached him, Haruya had answered “cute” in a somewhat dismissive, almost throwaway manner with a tone that seemed like rejection. It was because his past romantic trauma had been triggered.
The fact that he had dreamed about the incident that became the source of his trauma that morning probably influenced it too.
After calming down later, he had been concerned about Sara, but she seemed normal.
…But that was wrong.
“I’ve been a bit worried about it since then… but Himekawa-san seemed completely unbothered, so I thought it was just needless worry and let it slide, but that wasn’t the case at all.”
“Because,” he paused for a beat before continuing,
“Himekawa-san is in a position where you have to act normal.”
She was the one organizing this sleepover.
Inviting them to her grandfather’s house, arranging the schedule, managing the daily itinerary…
“So you had to act normal. So as not to make others worry…”
“……!”
Sara gasped there.
What Haruya was saying was probably right on target.
She remained looking down so her face couldn’t be seen.
“But being alone with me, who had once seemed to reject Himekawa-san, and then suddenly being told it was a gratitude meeting – of course that would be troubling. Himekawa-san, with your strong sense of responsibility, would think about making sure everyone could watch the fireworks together…”
Sara remained silent.
Haruya continued layering his words.
“I’m really sorry. Actually, I… still have a past I can’t face. It’s about love…. About romance. I still find it painful to talk about in detail. I think I remembered it during that volleyball game… and that’s why I took such a bad attitude. I’m really sorry.”
Haruya bowed his head deeply toward Sara, who kept her face turned away.
No response came back.
Although his past romantic wounds ached when he looked at Sara, Haruya still said it straight from the front.
“…I think Himekawa-san is a wonderful woman. But I keep dragging along the past, and I used that as a shield and hurt Himekawa-san. Those words from that time – I know it’s too late, but… I want to take them back.”
After taking a breath, Haruya said:
“…That swimsuit really suited you and… I-I-I thought it was cute.”
Though his voice trembled partway through, he said it all.
“So won’t Himekawa-san also tell me her honest feelings?”
Not false words of gratitude.
What she truly thought about Haruya as he really was. Those emotions.
────Was it okay to touch on that?
Haruya spoke in an infinitely gentle tone.
From his tone of voice and current attitude, it was immediately conveyed that there was no falsehood.
Sara couldn’t bear it anymore and, with tears in her eyes, threw herself at Haruya.
He didn’t have the right to embrace her…
Even knowing that, Haruya gently embraced Sara.
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