CH 71

[This is the past]

“Shi-chan, over here!”

“W-Wait, Takkun!”

Holding Shi-chan’s hand, I ran through the wooded area of the shrine.

Shi-chan, with the physical strength of a elementary school girl, tried her best to keep up with me.

We came to an open area at the edge of the shrine.

I had found this place by chance when I was adventuring with Takayuki, and since no one ever came near it, it was our own special seat and secret base.

“Wow! Amazing!”

Shi-chan, who I had brought with me, was also surprised by this space, surrounded by trees and isolated from the surroundings.

“Right? We can watch the fireworks in peace here!”

With that, I pulled Shi-chan’s hand and made her sit next to me.

I wanted Shi-chan to enjoy this city as much as possible, since she had come from far away.

I wanted her to enjoy the city as much as possible. If she liked the time she spent here, I had a faint hope that she would come back soon.

“Takkun, thank you for bringing me to such a wonderful place!”

Shi-chan, who sat next to me, thanked me with a big smile on her face.

The smile on her face was angelic, and even though she was a little girl, it made my heart throb with excitement.

“H-Here! Let’s just lick it and wait for the firework!”

As if to hide my embarrassment, I took out two candy balls from my pocket and handed one to Shi-chan.

As we both licked the identical candy, we waited anxiously for the fireworks to go off.

Finally, the fireworks started to go off.

Shi-chan muttered “awesome ……” when she saw the big colorful fireworks going off one after another with a loud sound.

I was so happy to hear this that I could only look at Shi-chan’s face, smiling happily next to me.

When Shi-chan noticed my gaze, she turned around as if to say, “What’s wrong?”

The gesture was really cute, and I felt my face getting hot all at once.

“Takkun?”

“Nah, it’s nothing!”

As if to hide my embarrassment, I looked straight ahead and saw only the fireworks.

Perhaps she found it funny, but next to me, Shi-chan was laughing hysterically.

“…… You know what, Takkun?”

“Ah mou! Let’s watch the fireworks now!”

I was afraid that Shi-chan would say something strange, so I interrupted her.

Then I grabbed Shi-chan’s hand and told her to do as she wished, and the two of us held hands as we stared at the fireworks again.

I could feel the heat rising in my face and ears.

Shi-chan was about to say something to me, but she happily replied with a small “Yes ……” and we continued to watch the fireworks together.

From then until the fireworks were over, the two of us remained hand in hand—-.

On the way home, it was late at night and I walked Shi-chan to the park.

I really wanted to take her home, but she said she was almost home and it would be fine here, so I went along with her.

As we walked, we had a good time talking about our impressions of the fireworks and other things, but I was still tense with a feeling I was keeping deep in my heart.

The end of the fireworks display would soon mean the end of this summer.

And once this summer was over, Shi-chan, who was now standing next to me, would go home again.

I realized that I had grown to love Shi-chan.

So, while I was with Shi-chan, I tried to keep her away from me as if to escape the reality that I couldn’t accept.

However, that was no longer enough.

One more week, and this summer vacation would surely be over.

“……Thanks Takkun. Today was fun.”

“O-oh yeah! I had fun too!”

“Y-you know? Takkun ……”

Shichi-chan started to talk as if she was having a hard time.

I’ve been thinking about it since we were watching the fireworks, but I was worried about the fact that she seemed to have a lot on her mind today.

But as a young girl, I was afraid to hear what she had to say.

I was so afraid that I would once again run away from reality.

“Well, let’s go see the fireworks again next year! It’s late tonight, see you tomorrow! Bye!”

I interrupted Shi-chan’s words again and ran off towards home.

I know that this is not good.

But I didn’t want to say goodbye to Shi-chan after the fun we had today.

That’s why I thought that tomorrow would be the day that I would properly talk to Shi-chan.

I promised Shi-chan that I would be waiting for her again next year.

[Present]

But the next day, Shi-chan didn’t show up at the park.

In hindsight, I realized that Shi-chan was trying to tell me that she had to go home.

However, I tried to avoid talking about it as if I were running away from reality, and as a result, I couldn’t make the promise I wanted to make or even say goodbye at the end.

After that, every time I went to the park, I was reminded of it, and before I knew it, I had stopped going there.

That was my memory of the fireworks display back then.

As a young child, I had suffered from the seeds I had sown, and I was sure I had hurt Shi-chan as well.

And yet, Shi-chan found me again.

And now, she’s sitting next to me again, just like she did back then.

This time, she’s my girlfriend—–.

So I turned to Shi-chan, who was smiling next to me, and made a vow in my heart once again.

I promised myself that I would never run away from Shi-chan again, no matter what.

And this time, I will make Shi-chan happy forever.

“Hey, Takkun! It’s about to start!”

The sun had already set.

When Shi-chan told me this, I looked at my watch and saw that it was just after 7:30 pm.

I held Shi-chan’s excited hand next to me, just like in the past.

Shi-chan was surprised by the suddenness of the event, but she soon smiled happily at me.

At that moment, with a loud explosion, a huge firework went off in front of us.