CH 45

Chapter 45 "Another Promise"

It was a night filled with the sounds of crickets, and after dropping Aki off at home, I was heading home alone.

I wondered how long it had been since I had played this much.

It had been fun while I was playing, but now it was hard to even lift my foot.

I felt exhausted as soon as I was left alone.

But I hadn't finished what I was supposed to do.

--When I arrived at my apartment, I stood in front of the room that was one room ahead of my own.

《――Yes, who are you? 》

When I rang the intercom, a little girl with a polite tone answered.

It was Charlotte, who lived in the room next to mine.

"Good evening, Charlotte-san. It's Aoyagi."

《――!? Aoyagi-kun !? Why !?》

When I gave my name, Charlotte started to panic for some reason.

There was a loud noise inside that could be heard even through the door.

"-Well, good evening ..."

As I was wondering what the hell she was doing, Charlotte came out of her room, looking uncomfortable.

She was wearing pajamas that were white in color with pink polka dots on them.

If my classmates knew that I saw her like this, they would surely have been jealous and would have given me a hard time..

"Sorry, were you about to sleep?"

The fact that she had already changed into pajamas meant that she was probably trying to sleep.

(　Apparently, I was the only one who thought the usual promise was still alive today.)

"I'm sorry ... I didn't expect you to come today ..."

"No, no. Emma is already asleep , right?"

"Yes, ....... When I told her that Aoyagi-kun would not come today, she sulked and fell asleep. ...... I'm really sorry about that .......”

Charlotte apologized again and again, perhaps feeling guilty that she had made the wrong judgement .

She didn't have to worry about that much.

It was my fault for not making sure that we were on the same page.

Moreover, I felt that Charlotte's judgment was rather correct.

If I was in the opposite position, I might have made the same decision as her.

Because no matter how much we promised to play every day, it would be hard to believe that someone would actually come to play everyday.

"Don't worry about it. I'll pretend that I couldn't come over today, and I'll give her some sweets tomorrow and apologize."

"But ... Aoyagi-kun came properly ..."

"It's fine. It's not something you should care about ."

It was my fault for coming late at night to begin with.

Emma was a little girl.

We couldn’t let her stay up too late.

"... How kind are you ..."

"Hmm? Did you say something?"

"No, nothing."

I thought I heard Charlotte mumble something, but it seemed to be my imagination.

(　that's strange…….

I feel like this has been happening a lot lately .

I'm supposed to be young, but I wonder if my ears have gone crazy ...? )

For the past few days, I had been feeling a little anxious because I couldn’t hear what other people were muttering or I was hearing hallucinations.

"Well, if Emma is sleeping, it wouldn't be possible today. I should go back to my room."

As I tried to get back to the room-Charlotte grabbed the sleeve of my clothes as I turned my heels.

When I turned around, She was staring up at me.

"What's wrong?"

I pretended to be calm and called out to Charlotte while suppressing the beating heartbeat.

Then, Charlotte slowly opened her mouth.

"That ... Emma is sleeping ... We have another promise ...right ?"

"Ah ... yes, that was ..."

"Today ... is that okay ...?"

"Okay……"

I could have misunderstood something strange but I kept my calm, and I headed to my room with Charlotte.

And-then the two of us read a manga about drawing a manga.