CH 9.5

It was morning when I realized it.

I was thinking of going back to the couch after Hinata went to bed, but I accidentally fell asleep.

It was five in the morning, and the first train to the station would probably start running.

Hinagata seemed to have already woken up. She came out of the bathroom.

“Let’s go home.”

After getting ready, we left the hotel.

We went back to the station, got on the train, and stared at the empty train car.

It seemed like a lie that I had just been in a love hotel with Hinagata.

“Are you going to play baseball again?”

In response to Hinagata’s sudden question, I gave her the answer I’ve been asking myself.

“Well, maybe I can play a little baseball.”

“Maybe you’d enjoy playing grass ball, Ryunosuke.”

“Probably, I would.”

I don’t have the burden of the ace number, and even if I can’t pitch well, they’ll accept me as a batter only. The number of high school students commuting to school began to increase as we passed the station.

“Morning practice?”

I whispered to which Hinagata replied, “I suppose so.”

Eventually, we arrived at the nearest station and our date practice, which had been a series of happenings, finally came to an end.

I walked with Hinagata, pushing my bike, my sleep-deprived mind vaguely thinking that school would be a hassle.

When we reached the crossroads, I waved to her and got on the seat, saying, “See you later.”

“Ryunosuke.”

I was called out, and put my feet on the ground.

“Hmm? Oh. I don’t need lunch today. I’ll eat somethi──”

When I was about to continue, I was interrupted.

“Actually, there was a charger over there.”

“What?”

There was a charger──?

“There was…? The charger?”

Not understanding what she meant, Hinagata hurried home as if to flee. By the time I decided to check on her, her back was no longer in sight.

“I see. They had a charger?”

No, of course they would have, I mumbled through my spinning head. I wondered.

“Why did she lie to me?”

Thought It’s my fault for not checking, but I don’t think he’d lie about something like that.

“……”

If I were to expand it in a favorable way, I would say that she still wanted to be with me.

But perhaps not.

She only thinks of me as a childhood friend, and while it’s possible that she likes me, it’s a slim possibility.

But if that’s the case──

But if that’s the case, then you like me, right ……?

“Well, I guess she just wanted to play with me anyway.”

In that case, it makes sense that you passed through with a fox sleep (?)  when I said that I’ll sleep on the couch.

Maybe she was under a lot of stress at home, in club activities, or at school.

“But if that’s the case──“ the thought that I had just had kept popping up and then disappearing.

As if to shake it off, I rode the bike home.