(This is Makoto’s POV)
In the end, I was able to give the present a month after, at the graduation ceremony.
That day, I got letters from the female students. People were saying that today is a turning point. Thus, I decided to give the scrunchie to Mai as my last chance. In the end, even though I couldn’t even say anything memorable, Mai received it easily without any doubt, so it felt kind of anti-climax. But when I disposed of the letters I received in the middle of the night, Mai seems to have seen them. The next day, Mai, who was clearly scared to see me, didn’t wear the scrunchie.
When I was throwing the letters away, I feel annoyance and disgust, so I’m sure I showed an expression that Mai has never seen. And it may have been an extra shock for her because I always intentionally show my gentle face to her.
After I explained the situation, Mai pondered about it while hanging her head down. I was perplexed by my own disappointed feeling when I peeked a bit on the back of her head and still couldn’t see the scrunchie on her.
Even though I can understand people’s feelings of “sadness” when their gifts are refused, I don’t have any sense of guilt or regret about throwing away the letters. After all, I am such a person, so I try to get away from Mai who was lost in thought, but Mai suddenly wore the scrunchie and grinned.
I have never thought about others’ smiles.
But when Mai laughs, something vaguely emerged from my chest or around my abdomen.
I wondered if it was because Mai was in the family category, but I never thought the same about the parents.
For both the blood-related one and the non-related one.
In a sense, I can say that I see them properly equal. And from that point of view, I think it’s an ideal form of family-in-law.
Maybe it’s just an obsession because Mai has almost died.
Will I feel the same if the parents are going to die? Should I start a fire and try to burn them?
From the time when I couldn’t give the scrunchie to her, I knew that I was obsessed with Mai, not with Mai’s life or death, but I still don’t know if it’s an attachment as a family or as a human being. Even if I did try to hurt the parents until they almost die, there are still some risks.
Then, maybe because I kept thinking about Mai, she appeared in my dream. I dreamed of touching her just like the health textbook’s instruction that I read some time ago.
Mai in my dream has the same voice and appearance as the actual Mai.
The only difference was when I touch her, she looks a little shy and made a seductive voice.
When I woke up, my body is showing a certain reaction, and I realised that I was seeing Mai as a woman, not as a family.
While thinking, that mysterious obsession fell straight into my heart.
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T/N: Hello, sorry for the late update, last week I was on bed rest again, so I couldn’t do any translations. Also, this chapter hasn’t been proofread-ed yet, but I thought I should post this quickly as I understand many of you might be waiting for this.