CH 73

Enka and I went to the food court.

“Hey, are you sure you want to go to a food court? We could go into a coffee shop or a different kind of shop.”

When I said so.

“No, it’s fine. Isshiki-san is already full and can’t eat that much, right? That’s why I thought it would be easier for you to go to the food court.”

Enka replied cheerfully.

I bought a coffee and she ordered a pizza.

“But still, I can’t believe you’re looking out for me.”

“You look at me in a bad impression again…”

Saying this, she pouts as she dissatifies.

“Even I pay attention to my surroundings in my own way. If you don’t read the atmosphere around you at an all-girls school, you’ll quickly become a target.”

“I heard you’re good at that kind of thing?”

“I’m more tolerant than most girls, I guess. But there are still times when the atmosphere is painful.”

“Un, this is a Valentine’s Day chocolate from me.”

The box looked quite splendid.

“I don’t suppose you have any laxatives in there to get back at me, do you?”

I jokingly said as I received the box.

“Don’t worry, it’s got chilli paste kneaded into it.”

“What? Are you serious?”

“Of course it’s a joke. Don’t take it seriously. I bought it in the shop, so don’t worry about it.”

Look at the packaging. It’s Godiva. (Notes: Very popular & luxury Belgian chocolate brand. They’re even said to be the best.) (TL: I only tasted few times. And I suppose their being one of the best is true.)

“It must have cost a lot. This?”

“Well, yes. But I can’t make handmade chocolates like Meika. We have to compete with each other in terms of price.”

Enka raised her eyebrows a little in frustration and laughed bitterly.

“I’m happy for the feeling. Thank you.”

I said that and put the chocolate from Enka in the paper bag I got from Meika-chan.

“By the way, Enka, I have something I want to ask you.”

“What is it? ‘Do want my Three sizes?”

“I don’t want to ask you that. ‘You idiot!”

I said as if I was going to throw up, and Enka laughed.

“What does Touko do these days ?We haven’t seen each other for a week.”

“This past week? Sister?”

As she says so, she adds a straw of the juice she ordered with the pizza.

“Come to think of it, she’s been out a lot lately. She’s also coming home late. I wonder where she goes?”

“Have been out a lot lately? Is she coming home late?”

I’ve never heard of such a thing.

I suddenly felt uneasy.

“Is that so?”

I absentmindedly stared at her with serious eyes.

Then, as if she couldn’t hold it anymore. Grinned.

“No, no, I’m only joking.”

“.. you!!”

I was really angry.

I can’t stand this sort of thing from her.

But Enka also looked at me with serious eyes.

“Isshiki-san, you’ re also to blame, for saying such things. You’re asking about other girls during the precious time we have alone. I’ve already told you how I feel about you, but –it’s terrible!”

Then she makes a sad face.

When you say it like that, I can’t get angry either.

“It’s true that right now I’m just being selfish and feeling for Isshiki-san, so there’s nothing I can do about it…”

Then Enka turned her face to the side and looked as if she were looking into the distance.

The side of her face still looked similar to that of Touko’s.

“About sister. She mostly locks herself up in her room. It’s kind of like before exams. Sometimes she goes out somewhere, but she’ll be back in two or three hours. As soon as she’s finished eating, she goes to her room. I was thinking, ‘The exams are over, but what’s going on?’.”

“Is that so?”

“Didn’t you make any plans with my sister today?”

“Yeah, so yesterday, when I got the call from Toko-san, I thought she was just going to say, “Let’s meet up today”.

“And you were disappointed that it was us?”

“No, no, it’s not like that.”

“It’s written on your face. ‘Why these guys?’ Did you look like that when you were with Meika?”

Enka says angrily.

“No, I don’t think so….”

“I would put up with it, but don’t show that kind of face to Meika!”

… I don’t look that disappointed in front of Meika-chan, probably.

Afterwards, Meika-chan joined them again and they played for a while in ‘a sports experience-type game centre where you can enjoy batting, football and basketball’.

Both Enka and Meika-chan are athletic.

If I get careless, it feels like I’m going to lose.

On top of that, my opponent is a high schooler with plenty of stamina.

After that, we played table tennis, went to an animal cafe with cats and owls, and had a good time being healed by the animals.

Then it was five o’clock in the evening.

‘Oh, it’s already five o’clock. My sister made it a condition that I should be back by night. I wonder if we can borrow Isshiki-san for the rest of the day.

Enka said this while looking at her watch.

‘So, will Touko-san be coming after this?’

I asked.

“I don’t know about that. I haven’t heard anything. Hasn’t Isshiki-san been contacted? You checked your phone often, didn’t you?”

U…… Were they aware of it?

I was checking to see ‘whether I had received any messages from Touko-san’ so that the two of them wouldn’t know.

That’s how I parted from Meika-chan and Enka.

The sun is much longer than at the end of the year, but it still gets dark fast after 5pm.

I guess I won’t be able to see Touko-san today after all.

As you can imagine, I was a bit pissed off too.

It’s just too crazy to leave your boyfriend alone on Valentine’s Day, isn’t it?

And it’s the first Valentine’s Day of a relationship.

She’s been out a lot lately. Also coming home late.

The words that Enka had said came back to me.

She immediately said she was joking, but I wonder if she was really joking.

I once heard that couples don’t always like the other person at the same degree of temperature.

And that “if a man is in love with a woman and she is not so much, quite often she is comparing the scales with other men”.

This is ‘not cheating’ from the woman’s point of view, apparently.

According to the women’s side, this is because they haven’t yet felt ‘in a relationship’ with the man.

And it cannot be ruled out as cheating if she is meeting with other male friends (her potential boyfriends).

After all, Touko-san is popular.

I’m sure that even those who have been reserved because Kamokura was their boyfriend until now will approach her thinking that they can win if she is Isshiki’s partner.

No, it seems that Kamokura himself hasn’t given up yet.

Maybe she’s meeting Kamokura or someone else.

I couldn’t suppress my anxiety any longer.

I’m almost at my own house, shouldn’t I try to go to Touko-san’s house right now?

But let’s call her once before that.

I tapped on Touko-san’s contact number.

“Yes?”

After about two calls, she answers the phone.

‘Um, hello? It’s me?’

“Yeah, I Know.”

“Can’t I see you today? Is Touko-senpai busy?”

“—”

I hesitated and then asked a question.

“Where are you now? If you’re at home, can I come and see you now?”

“I don’t think so.”

Touko-senpai said so in a cheerful tone of voice.

In my chest, a pitch-black fog erupts all at once.

“Because I can already see you. If you go to my house now, you won’t see me.”

I look up and see a woman in a red coat standing in the park where Enka was before.

It’s Touko-senpai.

“I’m meeting Yuu-kun now, so I’m busy.”

She said this on the phone and I started running at about the same time.

I ran as fast as I could for a little over a hundred meters and was breathing hard when I arrived in front of Touko-san.

“…..Touko-san!!”

“You don’t have to be in such a hurry. I just arrived a little while ago too. I got a call from Enka saying ‘I just split up with Yuu-kun’, so I left home right away.”

She laughed. But she seems happy.

“Why didn’t you see me for the past week?”

I said with resentment.

“I’m sorry. But I really wanted to make this.”

Saying this, she took out a white object from the handbag she had brought with her.

It is a scarf.

She first wrapped the long piece around my neck, and then the other one around my own neck.

“I’ve never knitted before in my life, so it was quite tricky. I was worried about whether I would make it in time for Valentine’s Day. And I was up all night yesterday.”

When you look at her eyes, you can see that they are slightly red.

I guess she hasn’t slept much.

“Er, thank you.”

“I brought chocolate, too. As expected, I didn’t have time to make them by hand.”

But I was still a little discontent.

“But then you could have told me why you couldn’t see me. I was quite anxious this past week.”

“I’m sorry. But if I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it? Besides, worst case scenario, there was a chance I wouldn’t make it.”

Touko-senpai apologized for the second time and looked up.

“You didn’t divulge it to Enka either. I nailed her just in case ‘because I wanted to surprise Yuu-kun.”

Because of the cold, or perhaps she was so happy to see me, her cheeks were tinted pink.

I felt the greatest love for her the moment I saw her face.

Slowly but strongly, I put my hands around her waist and hugged her.

As it was, without saying a word, I brought my lips to hers.

Without saying a word, she also let me do what I wanted.

After a few minutes of kissing, we looked at each other.

“But this scarf is too long for me to use alone. If you hadn’t made it so long, wouldn’t you have finished it sooner?”

“That’s fine. I’ve always dreamt of walking around with one scarf like this, just the two of us. And ….”

She lightly pulled on her scarf.

“If Yuu-kun cheats on me, I’m going to strangle you with it!”