CH 8

“…Can I, really take your word for it?”

Marin thought about it and made a final confirmation to Yō.

“Ahh, don’t worry. Rest assured, I won’t charge you for it later.”

“You’re not going to do anything weird to me, are you…?”

“What do you mean by weird?”

“That’s― forget I said that…”

Embarrassed to explain or put it into words, Marin shook her head to cover it up.

“Can I assume that all this is settled now?”

“…Yes.”

In response to Yō’s confirmation, Marin shook her head vertically with some hesitation.

Seeing this, Yō held out his phone.

“Um…”

“It would be inconvenient if we don’t exchange contact information. It’s hard to meet up with people, and I don’t want you to get lost on the road.”

“Lost…? Please don’t treat me like a child.”

Marin took out her phone from her skirt pocket, while puffing out her cheeks for a bit.

Yō wanted to ask her if she didn’t understand that the act of puffing up her cheeks made her look like a child, but he swallowed his words, deciding that it would be unwise to spoil her mood here.

He had the impression that Marin always had a smile on her face, but this was the first time he learned that she also had a sulky expression.

Maybe she used to show this kind of expression to Haruki, her childhood friend― While thinking about this, Yō exchanged contact information with Marin.

And then―

“Neko-chan…!” [TLN: ‘Neko’ means cat]

Yō’s cheeks twitched as he realized that he had already done something wrong when he heard Marin’s words.

“Cats, do you like them…!?”

Seeing Yō’s icon displayed on the chat application, Marin looked up at Yō’s face with a glowing expression.

Looking away awkwardly from Marin, Yō opened his mouth.

“Is it bad?”

Yō feels embarrassed that his classmates know that he uses a cat as an icon, and he asks Marin back more bluntly than usual.

Then, Marin shook her head from side to side in a good mood.

“No, no, cats are very cute!”

Marin stares at him with a smiling face as if she’s in a good mood.

Her eyes, as if to say that she has found a friend, mercilessly cut into the heart of Yō.

Whether she knew about Yō’s feelings or not, Marin stepped closer with a very nice smile on her face.

“That cat is a Scottish Fold, isn’t it? Did you find the picture!?”

“That’s my cat”.

“―Eh!? If I recall, Scottish Folds with droopy ears are very expensive…!　It has a very cute face, I envy you…!”

Marin seemed to like the cat so much that she brought her face close to Yō’s in a rather excited manner.

If it weren’t for the height difference, they would have brought their faces so close together that they could have been breathing on each other.

“Do you like cats?”

“Yes…! I’m very jealous of you, Hazakura-kun, because I’ve been told that I’m not allowed to have one at home…!”

After answering Yō’s question, Marin tells him something he didn’t ask.

He could tell how much she adored cats from the way she was talking about them.

The topic of cats was more exciting to Marin than this wonderful scenery, which made Yō smile slightly.

However, Yō also liked cats very much, so he decided to go along with Marin’s story.

“Are you planning to get one in the future?”

“Yes, I would like to have a cat if it is in an environment where I can keep it…!”

He thinks that she was referring to the problem with the building or something.

If she lives in an apartment where pets are not allowed, she will not be able to keep them, and if the environment is difficult for pets to live in, she won’t be able to keep them either.

(Well, in Akimi’s case, she would probably choose a place where she could keep a pet.)

It was easy for Yō to imagine Marin owning a cat in the future.

“I hope you get one.”

‘Yes…! Hazakura-kun’s cat, please let me pet it sometime, okay?”

Marin seemed to really like cats and asked Yō with an expectant look in her eyes.

Her face was looking upward because of the difference in height, and Yō couldn’t help it but turn his head away because she looked so cute.

“Ah, it’s unfair of you to turn your face away from me…! I don’t think you have to be that uncomfortable with it…!”

Marin, who misunderstood Yō’s attitude when he turned his face away, puffed her cheeks out again and got angry.

The impression was completely different from the past, and Yō understood that this was the true nature of Marin.

(This one is more attractive… Am I going insane?)

While he was wondering about this, he realized that it was time for him to go.

“I’ll let you pet it if we get the chance. More importantly, we need to go home soon…”

“Ah, it’s already that time huh… I’m sorry to leave you, but it can’t be helped.”

Yō doesn’t think that the regret is about talking to him, but rather about not being able to see this view.

Yō also didn’t want her to be interested in him, so he thought this was fine.

He was wondering if he should make a final confirmation about the holiday, but he decided not to, thinking that it would not make a good impression to keep asking about something that had already been decided.

Instead, he looked at Marin’s feet and called out to her.

“Be careful, it’s hard to see in the dark. Instead of going uphill, we’ll be going downhill on the way back, so you have to be more cautious―.”

“Kyaa!”

“―Oh give me a break…”

When Marin slipped and almost fell next to him while he was giving her advice, Yō supported her with a wry smile.

Maybe Marin has poor motor skills.

If that’s the case, he felt a little uneasy about taking her with him in the future―-as he gazed at Marin’s face while thinking about this, she looked at Yō’s face, looking embarrassed.

“Umm, I’m sorry… And also, thank you…”

“Well, you’ll have to get used to it.”

Yō told Marin not to worry about it, but he strongly vowed not to take her to places where she might be in danger.