CH 298

The rain cleared earlier than expected.

“Oh, it’s sunny …”

Drinking coffee. Is it still bitter? She frowned and threw in a large amount of sugar cubes and milk, which had been prepared on the table.

Bitter is enough in reality. Kirari basically likes sweet things. Not only food, but also stories, she thinks that a romantic comedy that is so sweet that it gives her a heartburn is just right.

Some people on the Internet have derided it as “just a boring lovey-dovey story”, “no plot”, or “a typical romantic comedy”, but since it is the opinion of others, it doesn’t matter to Kirari.

She wants to dream, at least in her creativity.

Kirari seeks happiness in fiction because she knows it does not exist in reality.

Not long ago, the boundary between reality and fiction blurred, and she sometimes perceived herself as a tragic heroine,… but after going through it, she is finally able to keep her feet on the ground.

So she understands that suddenly contacting Kotaro is unlikely to be appreciated.

If Kirari were a heroine of her own creation, he might be pleased to the extreme, but … she was no longer immature enough to dream about reality.

(Well, what do I do?)

The answer didn’t come immediately, so Kirari, tired of waiting as expected, decided to read the light novel.

While reading, she felt restless and the sentences slid by.

It was when she had been reading for a while without being able to get the contents of the book into her head.

It must have been about an hour after sending the message to Azusa.

After about an hour had passed, I finally received a message with Kotaro’s contact information attached to it.

“What do you want from Onii-chan?”

However, it also came with a question from Azusa, and Kirari did not know how to reply to it.

(It’s rare that Azu-chan is concerned about Ko-kun… It’s the first time since middle school.)

Since entering high school, both Azusa and Kirari had been so preoccupied with Ryoma for a while that they hadn’t paid much attention to Kotaro.

So they probably felt uncomfortable in the situation where both of them are interested in Kotaro now.

(“Because I want to apologize for slapping him” – I can’t say that.)

It is awkward to send the facts as they are.

But it was not like she had anything significant to say, so she thought about it for a while, but eventually she decided to keep the matter ‘a secret’ and brushed it off.

“Don’t be too mean to him.”

Kirari’s eyes widened when Azusa replied.

(Azu-chan, you’ve always been selfish and egotistical only towards Ko-kun, but … you’ve grown up.)

A sister who cares for her brother is cute after all.

It’s a common theme in novels, but Kirari loves such a promised character.

“Of course. It’s okay, don’t worry, okay? You don’t have to be wary of Kirari Onee-chan.”

On a whim, she spoke lightly like she did when they were in middle school.

After entering high school, they didn’t get along with each other much like this, probably because they thought of each other as rivals instead of friends.

She sent her message with a sense of nostalgia, and this time she received an unusually quick reply.

“Azusa doesn’t need a Onee-chan.”

“Oops……”

Kirari couldn’t help but laugh at the coldness of the message for Azusa.

(Did I just step on a landmine? Something troublesome has been happening lately with Onee-chan.)

If she teases her any more, she was sure she’d put Azusa in a bad mood.

For now, she replies with a bland sticker and ends the exchange with Azusa.

Kirari then decided to stop escaping reality and face his contact information.

(I’m glad she gave me his contact information, but what am I supposed to write …?)

From the beginning, ‘Sorry for the suddenness. This is Kirari. I want to apologize, so I asked Azu-chan to give me your contact information’ seemed too heavy.

On the other hand, ‘Yo-ho☆, it’s Kirari!　Can I talk to you for a minute?’ is too casual and he would be taken aback by the lack of remorse.

Not too heavy, not too light.

Trial and error, trying to find just the right balance.

After about 20 minutes, she finally finished the following sentence.

“I’m sorry for the suddenness. This is Kirari. Can we talk a little?”

It was a bit heavy, but it matched the current sentiment, so Kirari decided to use it. Along with the message, she requests to be registered as a friend. While thinking that it was typical of Kotaro that he did not allow this automatically, she was slightly nervous.

(I-I’m nervous…!)

I was nervous because of the strange tension.

She wishes this were a sweet feeling of love, but her mood is that of a job hunter waiting for a reply from the company she has interviewed with. No, Kirari has only done short-term part-time jobs, but she thought it was kind of the same thing.

(He may or may not get back to me by the end of the day…)

It’s only been a minute, but she can’t stand the pressure of looking at her unresponsive phone, and almost turns it off without a second thought.

Maybe she would check to see if there was a reply after she took the time to properly prepare herself – and that’s when she almost fled.

“♪”

A notification appeared on the screen, informing her of a message’s arrival.

There it read, ‘Kotaro Nakayama has registered ☆Kirari☆’, and Kirari’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest.

“This is Nakayama. What’s the matter?”

Seeing his typical simple sentence, Kirari almost dropped her phone.

(What should I d-do!?)

The reply came so much sooner than she expected, and she wasn’t yet ready for it…