CH 7

“…Ha?”

After being asked an unexpected question by Marin, Yō paused for a few tens of seconds and tilted his head.

The look on his face was beyond dumbfounded, he seemed to be glaring slightly.

“Y-you don’t have to look so scary…”

Marin, who rarely gets glared at by others, took a few steps back as if she was frightened.

―Yes, she forgot that this was a hill and that she was trying to see the buildings from as close as possible earlier.

“Oi―Don’t go back any further!”

“Eh―Kyaa!”

The voice of Yō’s warning didn’t arrive in time, and Marin, unaware of the cliff behind her in the darkness, slipped on the cliff.

“Sh*t!”

Yō clicks his tongue and immediately extends his arm to Marin.

And just in time, Yō grabbed her hand and pulled her up as hard as he could.

The situation would have been irreversible if it had been delayed by even a few tenths of a second, so Yō breathed a sigh of relief as he hugged her.

“Haa~… That was bad for my heart…”

“I-I’m sorry…”

It was due to her own carelessness, so Marin apologized to Yō  honestly.

After that, Marin breathed a sigh of relief, the same as Yō, when she was saved―.

“―!?”

Marin realized that she was being hugged by Yō, making her whole body tense.

Then she looked up at Yō’s face, but Yō didn’t seem to think anything of hugging Marin.

So Marin tried to get out of her own way― she didn’t feel any pain, but she couldn’t escape because she was being held tighter than she thought.

She had no choice but to hold back her embarrassment and talk to Yō.

“T-Thank you very much, Hazakura-kun… It’s okay now, you can let go of me…”

“Ah… my bad.”

That was all Yō said, and then easily released Marin.

From the way he was acting, Marin couldn’t decide if he was aware of the fact that he was hugging Marin, or if he even noticed it when it was pointed out to him, but decided that it wasn’t worth paying attention to.

If it was the former, she’d become wary again, and if it was the latter, she’d feel somewhat frustrated.

That’s why, she teased him a little.

“You seem to be quite accustomed to girls, don’t you, Hazakura-kun?”

When Marin said that, Yō stared at Marin’s face a little strangely.

And he nodded his head in agreement, as if he had guessed something.

“My heart was pounding, it’s just hard to show my emotions.”

“I-is that so…”

(If you say it honestly like that, I’ll be troubled…)

In response to Yō’s direct words, Marin felt embarrassed and smiled uncomfortably.

However, Yō was not looking at Marin anymore, but instead was looking at the buildings that were decorated with light.

(I thought he was interested in me since he even paid for my transportation, but it looks like that’s not the case. However, if that’s the case, what is Hazakura-kun’s purpose…?)

Marin couldn’t help but be curious about Yō’s purpose, but she couldn’t read the answer from him.

It would probably be impossible to get the answer out of him even if they talked.

Thinking of this, Marin decided not to pry any further, as she had been helped earlier.

Instead―

“By the way, Hazakura-kun, I would still like to know the channel name of the video you just showed me.”

Unable to give up on this, Marin decided to find out from Yō, no matter what it took.

“Did you not hear me properly earlier?”

Instead of getting angry, Yō asked Marin a simple question.

For Yō, Marin’s reputation is that she is smart and mature despite her appearance, but she is also honest and kind.

So he thought that if he told her that she should see it live, she would listen to him honestly.

Even so, he was a little troubled when she asked him to tell her the name of the channel.

“I’ve been listening, and I know what you’re saying, Hazakura-kun… But I want to see other videos, too…”

She looked up at Yō with a covetous look on her face, as if she really liked the video.

Yō was tempted to say something about her begging attitude, but there was a reason why he didn’t want to tell her the name of the channel, so he thought of a way to divert the conversation.

However―

“I think I’m going to get a glimpse of Haru-kun’s face this evening or something…”

As soon as he was told that, he had no choice but to tell her the name of the channel.

“Hee~, the video you just showed me was posted the day before yesterday, but it already has more than two million views…!”

After being told the name of the channel, Marin immediately searched for it on her phone, and when she saw the number of views on the video, she exclaimed in surprise.

I guess there are a lot of people who want to be healed by looking at such beautiful scenery. It seems like there’s a lot of busy working people who long for a relaxing space.”

“Not only that, but the female narrator’s voice is beautiful and the background music matches well. Are they original?”

“It’s original. The narrator also composed the music.”

“That’s right. You seem to know a lot about it, are you a fan of it?”

“…Well, yeah.”

It was a slip of the tongue, but Yō agreed with Marin’s words.

“The number of subscribers is 2.5 million, so it seems to be a pretty big channel. I’m going to subscribe to this channel too.”

Marin seemed to be in a good mood as she operated her phone and subscribed to the channel as she said.

Yō was watching her from the side, wondering if she was in a good mood or if she had forgotten about Haruki.

However, it wasn’t necessary to observe that.

The tension in Marin was a bit strange compared to normal.

She seemed to be a bit more excited than usual.

In other words, she was forcing herself to act cheerful.

“So, what are you going to do about it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about the holidays.”

When she heard these words, Marin remembered that she had raised the suspicion that Yō was a lolicon.

“Umm, about the transportation costs and such… What is the reason why Hazakura-kun is willing to do so much for me…?”

She gave up earlier, but she still couldn’t help but wonder about that.

After spending a lot of time with him, and after saving her from falling off a cliff a few minutes ago, she couldn’t help but question him.

And then, Yō thought for a moment and slowly opened his mouth.

“I wouldn’t be able to keep my promise otherwise, would I?”

“Why are you questioning that…”

Marin’s confusion increased when Yō replied while tilting his head.

If he acted as if he didn’t know what he was doing, it would be natural for him to react the way he did.

“To be honest, I don’t really understand it myself either. I just thought it was necessary and not too much of a burden, so I thought it was fine.”

At this point, Yō was half lying and half being honest.

The cost of transportation and food for Marin was not a big deal for Yō.

But of course, there was a clear reason for him to bear it.

He knew that if he added a flower like Marin Akimi to a beautiful scenery, he would be able to see even more dazzling things.

That’s why he wanted to take her with him, even if he was a bit suspicious.