Ryunosuke twisted open his water bottle and took a drink. The sky was growing darker, and the two of them would have to part soon. Miki sat beside him, quietly running through the next scene in her head.
She gathered the greatest courage she had ever summoned and spoke. "Um! Why have you been so kind to me? You, you like me, don't you?"
Her face was already burning. She barely knew what she was saying. How had she managed to ask something like that? But she genuinely wanted to know. She wanted to understand what he felt. The afternoon was getting late, and if she didn't ask now, there might not be another chance.
Ryunosuke hadn't expected the shy girl beside him to come out with something so direct, and he blinked with mild surprise. Then he answered.
"Yes. I like you."
Miki immediately fainted from happiness.
Of course, all of that had only happened inside Miki's head. None of it was real. She hadn't actually asked anything. Even so, the imaginary exchange had nearly done her in. Her face was deeply flushed and cold sweat had broken out across her skin.
Ryunosuke looked at the girl beside him, who appeared to be generating visible steam from her head, and thought to himself: (What on earth is she doing?)
On impulse, he pressed his forehead against hers to check her temperature. "Strange. No fever."
The warmth of the contact spread through Miki's entire body in a wave. The next second, her head drooped forward, there was a small sound, and she fainted for real.
Ryunosuke: 😐
(Was I too aggressive?)
He genuinely wondered if he had been pushing too hard and she simply hadn't been able to withstand it. He looked at the unconscious girl now resting against him. He had no choice but to wait with her until she came around. He couldn't leave her alone here.
The evening light arrived slowly.
The time was 5:30 PM.
The matches had finished and most people had gone home. Since today's contest had been between Class B and Class D, it had nothing to do with Ryunosuke's Class C, so he could afford to be idle. Tomorrow was Suzune's match, and for some reason he was completely incapable of leaving her to handle it without him there.
Miki stirred slowly and woke in Ryunosuke's arms. She was certain this was a dream. If it weren't, why would Ryunosuke be right in front of her? And why would she still be in his arms?
(If this is a dream, I can afford to be a little bolder, can't I?)
Seeing her awake, Ryunosuke said with a touch of amusement, "Back with us, Sleeping Beauty?"
Taking the question as further confirmation that she was dreaming, Miki gathered her courage completely without meaning to and asked the thing she most wanted answered. "Th-th-that! Why have you been so kind to me?! D-d-do you, do you like me?"
Even in what she thought was a dream, she still stammered. Her face was crimson, and her legs had pressed together into a rigid X shape from sheer tension. His answer, though different from what she had imagined before, was the answer she most wanted to hear.
Ryunosuke tilted his head with a quietly resigned smile and looked at the lovely girl in his arms. "My, you figured it out."
It was an indirect confession, but unmistakably one. Miki's heart surged. From this moment on, whether or not he already had a girlfriend didn't matter to her anymore. That he liked her was enough.
She answered him back with a courage she hadn't known she possessed. Even if he had someone else already, she was willing to be third.
Arisu, who had been watching from around a corner, clicked her tongue and said something quietly ungentle under her breath before walking away on her cane. She had reached the limit of what she could stand to observe. Even if the whole plan had been hers, her chest still felt unpleasantly tight.
(Who exactly taught him to do it like that? How is he this good at it?) Arisu began to question certain fundamental things about life.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
Years later.
In a forest outside the city, the Yamamura family residence sat on a wide property. More precisely, the entire mountain belonged to them. The Yamamura family had built their wealth through cultivating medicinal herbs, and their land covered approximately 37 square kilometers.
Miki was in the kitchen preparing lunch, dressed in traditional Japanese clothing with wooden sandals, carrying herself with the ease of a woman completely at home. Strapped to her back was a one-year-old child, Yamamura Miwako, her daughter with Ryunosuke.
They had married shortly after graduating. Their daughter had been born roughly a year after graduation, meaning they had wasted very little time. To keep her hands free for housework, Miki had wrapped the baby snugly against her back with a carrying cloth so she could take care of things without the baby slipping.
She ladled a small taste of the dish she was making into a tiny bowl and tried it. Decent. She switched off the flame. The baby, catching the fragrance, promptly woke up and began to vocalize her feelings.
Miki patted the baby's bottom in an attempt to coax her back to sleep. It didn't work.
With no other option, she blew on a small spoonful of broth until it had cooled and brought it to the baby's lips. "You little glutton. The moment you smell food you start making noise."
She touched her daughter's forehead with genuine affection. Miwako laughed happily. With only a few teeth in and no capacity for solid food yet, tasting the broth was the next best thing, and it seemed to satisfy her curiosity for the moment.
Miki had a real talent in the kitchen. She had learned from Erina for a short period, and it showed. Even a one-year-old couldn't resist.
After the broth, the baby sucked her fingers and looked up with an expression that clearly wanted more. Miki put her hands on her hips and gave a firm shake of her head.
No more. Mealtime was nearly here. Miwako's eyes immediately began to glisten, readying herself to cry.
Miki, powerless as always, blew on another small spoonful and gave it to her anyway.
"This really is the last one." She resigned. The baby drank it eagerly and paid the warning no attention. There would be more demands before she was satisfied.
A little while later, her husband returned with the results of his fishing. Ryunosuke came in carrying two grass carp he had caught at the riverbank with visible pride. He had become a genuine fisherman by this point in his life.
Seeing his cheerful face, Miki smiled with gentle weariness.
"Fish again? I'd like something different once in a while. It's been a week of fish."
She took them from his hands. This was far from the first time. She was nearly at her limit with fish, but since fishing was something he genuinely loved, she didn't have the heart to ask him to stop.
Ryunosuke scratched his nose with one finger, looking mildly sheepish. "Next time I'll try for koi instead."
"That's still fish." Miki not quite sure what else to say. She helped him take off his coat and change his clothes all the same.
After he had changed, the three of them sat down together for the meal. Ryunosuke tasted Miki's cooking and looked thoroughly satisfied. "This is wonderful. It could compete with Erina's cooking."
He was obviously exaggerating, saying it purely to make her happy. He kept eating contentedly. Miki knew perfectly well it was flattery, but she felt warm and happy regardless. It was, after all, exactly why she had learned to cook in the first place.
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