CH 43

Narumi Kouta's trials

Translated by Dawn

Narumi Kouta’s trials

“…..Kazemiya.”

“……….”

“Hey, can you hear me?”

“……………”

“Come on, stop ignoring me.”

“………………..”

“Or rather, why did you suddenly run away?”

“………………………..”

After confessing to Kazemiya, getting an OK, and finishing the morning meal we ordered quickly. ……To be precise, I chased after Kazemiya, who left the restaurant as if she was running away.

“….Maybe I’ve already been dumped?”

“Of course not!”

She suddenly snapped at me. Finally, Kazemiya stopped and turned around to face me.

‘You finally looked at me.”

“Ahh…Wait. Don’t look.”

“I don’t want to wait.”

I quickly grabbed Kazemiya’s hand as she tried to hide her face. However, Kazemiya stubbornly refused to make eye contact with me and blatantly turned her face away from me. It was as if she did not want to make eye contact with me.

“If someone suddenly ignores you, you’re going to be concerned. At least tell me why.”

“I wasn’t ignoring you, I was just…”

Kazemiya must have understood that I was not going to give in, because, as if in a moment of resignation, she squeezed out a few words with a hint of embarrassment.

“…I don’t want to show you…because my eyes are swollen right now. And I definitely don’t look pretty”

“Ah~. So that’s how it is.”

Indeed, Kazemiya’s eyes were slightly swollen. The cause was obvious. Because she was crying when we were at the family restaurant earlier.

“…I want to show my boyfriend how cute I look. So I don’t want to show Narumi my not-so-pretty face as much as possible, and I want to go home and take care of my eyes as soon as possible…”

“….Fufu.”

“Huh? Did you laugh just now?”

“Sorry. I’m not making fun of you or anything. It’s just that…we’re a lot alike.”

I guess she wasn’t happy that I laughed at her. Kazemiya looked displeased.

“…Kazemiya is that. You’re a vain person, aren’t you? To the person you love.”

“Don’t call me a vain person.”

“Then you’re just trying to be cool.”

“That’s annoying, too.”

“But I hit the mark, right? Especially… towards your mother, or wasn’t it like that?”

I guess I had hit the nail on the head. She fell silent as if she had something in mind.

“…Yeah, that’s probably true. The only time I seriously fought with my mom was probably when I ran away from home. Other than that, I often tried to put up a front or hide things.”

“I’m the same way. In my case, it was against my previous father. I tried to be a ‘good person’ so he wouldn’t abandon me. I tried to be on the side of justice. That part of me hasn’t changed.”

“……What’s wrong with you all of a sudden?”

“I’m trying to act cool in front of you, Kazemiya.”

“…Is it because of the embarrassing confession you just made?”

“You called that embarrassing? I’m hurt you know.”

“You should think back on your lines.”

“……It’s embarrassing.”

No matter how many times I thought back on it, it was embarrassing. I was amazed at myself for how I could say such a thing.

“But I don’t regret it. I was trying to be cool, but I really meant what I said, and that’s how I really felt. Above all, the person I’m going to be dating is Kazemiya Kohaku. If I didn’t play it cool, I wouldn’t be able to match her.”

Kazemiya was a very attractive girl.

That was why I never know when someone might take her away from me.

That was why I want to be as tall and cool as I could.

“…I’m the same. I just wanted to act cool in front of Narumi. That’s why I was pretending, even though I didn’t want to be seen…”

“Sorry. But I want to see Kazemiya’s face.”

“…What’s the use of seeing a face with swollen eyes?”

“I want to see various faces of you, Kazemiya. I want to see the faces that I couldn’t see before, the faces that you showed me, the cute faces, the not-so-cute faces. If I could, I would keep them all to myself.”

“As I said, don’t say such embarrassing things so easily.”

“You don’t like it?”

“…I’m in trouble because I don’t hate it.”

“Then I’ll say it more from now on.”

“…Do whatever you want, you idiot.”

Kazemiya was walking quickly toward home again.

But her progress was more leisurely than before, walking shoulder to shoulder with me.

“Ahh, but. You left the restaurant early because you were embarrassed.”

“That’s right! Isn’t that a given!? I cried so much in the restaurant! I can’t go back there!”

“The waitresses don’t care much about it. They don’t talk to us except for taking our orders. You’re worrying too much. This is my opinion as someone who has worked as a waitress before.”

“Such a brag…. Besides, it’s because you brought me all the way to the family restaurant, Narumi. If you were going to confess to me, it could have happened even at home, right?”

“Because that place is special to us. That’s why…I wanted to do it there.”

“….I know that feeling, so it’s frustrating.”

Then, while soothing Kazemiya, we went home.

We had a new relationship, not as “friends” as before we left home, but as—”lovers”.

But I didn’t realize it at that time.

This morning, I wasn’t particularly concerned about it…or rather I was so preoccupied with the idea of confessing my feelings to Kazemiya that I didn’t even notice it.

—The trials for me begin from here.

***

After having a morning breakfast at a family restaurant, Kazemiya immediately took care of her eyes, the swelling in her eyes went down relatively quickly, probably due to her constitution.

In the afternoon, Kazemiya appeared in front of me as we ate lunch that Kotomi had prepared for us. After lunch, Kazemiya started to take a light shower. I wondered if she was concerned about the sweat she had worked up while walking outside.

In the meantime, I made full use of my smartphone to check the information on the café that Natsuki had told me about. ……As expected of Natsuki. The atmosphere inside the café was very nice and stylish.

“Kazemiya, even though it’s daytime…let’s go on a date. Natsuki told me about a pretty nice café.”

I talked to Kazemiya, who was relaxing on the sofa in the living room after taking a shower.

It was summer vacation. It was natural to want to go on a date with your girlfriend.

“I don’t like it.”

“So, let’s get ready…….wait, you don’t like it!?”

“Yes. I absolutely hate it. I won’t go. It’s too hot outside. I just took a shower.”

It was certainly hot, as it was summer now. But not as hot as when we went to the pool the other day.

In fact, it was actually a little cooler. That was why I thought today was a good day for a date and asked her out…I didn’t think she’d say no.

“I’ve decided to stay home today.”

“Do you have something to do?”

“…Then why?”

“……….”

Kazemiya was sitting on the sofa in the living room and lightly tapped the empty space next to her. She seemed to mean that I should sit next to her.

I sat down next to Kazemiya, not fully grasping the reason for her rejection of my invitation for a first date.

Perhaps it was because she had just showered, but I could smell Kazemiya’s gorgeous fragrance, mixed with a hint of shampoo and conditioner, tickling my nostrils. My brain was about to be shaken unintentionally, but I managed to endure it with a strong will.

“…Because…it’ll be difficult…to do it outside, I don’t like it.”

Her voice sounded smaller than usual as if she was squeezing it out.

Difficult? What is? Kazemiya answered before I could even ask her.

“…Kiss, or something.”

“———”

It felt like I had been punched in the brain.

It was as if my heart had been clutched in my chest.

It was as if time had stopped and the world had frozen over.

“You know, when they come back, it’s going to be hard to do things. You have to put up with voices…and you have to be careful…but today, Narumi’s Mom, Narumi’s Papa, and Kotomi-chan are all out of the house today, right?”

“…That’s right.”

I nodded back as if I was just confirming a fact.

“So…I don’t have to hold back my voice or anything…and days like this don’t happen very often…so I thought we’d do a lot of things while I still can.”

Thinking back, when I realized that I was going to be alone with Kazemiya this morning, I was already preoccupied with the idea of confessing my feelings.

That’s right. I could have predicted…this would happen when we became lovers and were alone together at home, couldn’t I?

And moreover, Kazemiya had asked for it so much at the swimming pool.

(—This is bad)

This was a little bit, not good.

I know. I know it, and I should know it.

“Then, let’s…consider it a home date for today.”

Even though I knew it was bad, I couldn’t refuse Kazemiya’s proposal.

After all, in front of—Kazemiya Kohaku, I would do my best to act cool.

“……If that’s the case, then it’s fine.”

“……Thank you, is that okay?”

“……You’re welcome, is that all right?”

“……I’ll leave that up to you. But, you know…”

“……What is it? If you have something to say, just say it.”

“……Do you realize you’ve been quite aggressive is that sound?”

“……You’ve been just as aggressive, haven’t you, Narumi?”

“……Are you still holding onto what happened at the family restaurant?”

“……It’s not that I’m holding onto it, but it feels like I’ve been constantly under attack from Narumi.”

“……So you’re retaliating?”

“……That’s part of it. About half of it.”

“……And the other half?”

“……The other half is because I want to kiss Narumi.”

As I said, don’t say things like that. That was what I meant by being aggressive.

Actually, this was really bad. It seemed like she was relentlessly asking for kisses without any limits.

This is bad. It’s really, really bad. Especially in this house right now. I have to do something. I have to――――!

“….Kazemiya.”

“….What.”

“….Should we set a limit?”

“….The kisses? Why?”

“….Guess it. Or rather, I’m sure you already know.”

I couldn’t hold it. My rationality and all that.

“….What if I say no?”

“…..I guess I’ll just have to spend the rest of my day outside the house.”

“……..I got it. Okay, okay.”

Kazemiya reluctantly nodded. What would she have done if I hadn’t made this suggestion?

“…How many?”

“…Tw-twice.”

“Huh?”

I was given a glare. Even though I made considerable concessions.

“….Three times.”

“Ten times.”

“You’re insane.”

“Ten times. I’m compromising by offering that many.”

“Four…”

“…………”

“Fi-five times! Five times is the limit!”

Kazemiya laughed triumphantly as I shouted half-heartedly.

“Okay. Five times it is.”

“…You planned for five times from the beginning, didn’t you?”

“I don’t know.”

She absolutely knew. Since I would have done so even if I were in Kazemiya’s position.

“…Well then…let’s do the first one right away, should we?”

“…….Mhm.”

The first one, which took place in the living room of a house with no one but us, lasted so long that we forgot about the time.

—-Thus began my day of trials.