Episode 52: “I Like Yuno”
By the time we’d finished the tofu steak and washed up, the rain outside had stopped.
We sat down together, side by side, on the tatami.
The distance between Yuno and me was the same as always — close enough that our thighs touched.
I need to apologize properly.
I drew a slow breath and opened my mouth.
“Yuno.”
“Mm?”
“I’m… really sorry.”
Putting it into words, my voice shook more than I’d expected.
“That day, I just assumed you’d definitely go back to Saeko. I’d lost all confidence in myself… I didn’t even listen properly, and I said horrible things.”
Yuno looked down. Her long lashes cast a shadow over her lowered eyes.
“Afterward, I heard everything from Saeko… I’ve regretted it ever since. Worried that what I said, driving you out like that, might have made you think about doing something to yourself… I’m truly sorry.”
A brief silence fell.
Yuno turned to face me straight on, and slowly lifted the corner of her mouth.
I couldn’t look away, and we held each other’s gaze.
That expression was, unmistakably, a smile. And yet there was no light in her eyes.
“…I haven’t forgiven you.”
What came from Yuno was a small, hoarse voice.
“Eh……”
My heart gave a heavy thud, and a small sound slipped out of me before I could stop it.
Because Yuno is kind, some part of me had been hoping, somewhere, that she’d laugh and say “it’s fine.” A self-serving thing to hope for.
“…Why wouldn’t Reina listen to what I had to say. Why wouldn’t she believe me… I never even liked Saeko-san that way. Why would she just assume…”
Her voice trembled, faintly.
“…I thought it was cruel.”
Yuno’s eyes, looking straight at me, still held no light.
Her large eyes were brimming, close to overflowing with tears.
She tried to lift the corner of her mouth, but her lips trembled in small, uneven movements. Eventually she bit down on her lower lip, trying to hold back the shaking.
I could feel, painfully, how hard she was working not to cry.
“I kept thinking I had to properly tell Reina how I felt. But that day… she told me she didn’t like me, that she shouldn’t have picked me up…”
Yuno’s voice kept breaking into fragments.
“And I thought, fine, that’s it then. Of course. Someone like me…”
“——But.”
A single large tear spilled from her brimming eyes. As if that were the signal, more followed, one after another, running down her flushed cheeks.
“Even after I left… I couldn’t forget you, no matter what I did. For money, I… slept with other people too. But the face that kept surfacing in my mind was always Reina’s…”
She gripped the hands resting on her knees, tight, and went on.
“Even wishing I could disappear… your face kept coming back, again and again. I wanted so badly to see you again… Before I knew it, I’d gone back to that alley, waiting for you to come.”
Her words came out in broken pieces.
Her shoulders shook, small, and tears fell, dripping onto the old tatami, soaking in.
Before I knew it, I’d reached out and pulled her into my arms.
Tight.
So dear to me, so achingly dear.
Fragile enough to break, and still I couldn’t loosen my grip.
“…Hh… hic… uh…”
Yuno buried her face in my chest, still trying to hold the sound back, and a muffled sob escaped anyway.
Tears spilled from my own eyes too, falling without end. A damp patch spread slowly across Yuno’s shoulder.
When was the last time I’d cried this hard, this messily.
Only the sound of two people sobbing filled the small apartment.
As the crying gradually softened into quiet sniffles —
Yuno spoke up, quietly.
“Reina, I——”
“Yuno.”
“Eh……?”
Yuno looked straight at me.
“——Let me say it first.”
I pulled back slightly and looked at Yuno’s face, straight on.
A mess from crying, her nose red, her lashes clumped wet. And still — why is this girl so unbearably lovely.
My chest pounded, hard enough to hurt.
Her large eyes, glistening like jewels with tears, stayed fixed on me. I felt almost pulled in, frightened by it, and faltered for just a moment.
— But I won’t run anymore.
“I like Yuno.”
Even with my voice shaking, I didn’t look away.
“I kept thinking I had to say it properly. But I was scared, of losing you. Scared to even admit to myself that I liked you. And while I was stalling, all of that happened — I was such an idiot.”
Yuno’s lips trembled, and then she broke into sobs, childlike. My own face was already a wreck too.
“…Reina, you idiot.”
She said it through her tears, somehow petulant.
Catching her breath in hiccups, she went on.
“I wanted to say it first… But being with Reina, I realized — this is what liking someone feels like. But I was scared of being rejected, so I couldn’t say it… I never knew liking someone could hurt this much.”
We held each other, tight.
Yuno’s fingers gripped hard at my back. That strength, so achingly dear, brought fresh tears to my eyes.
We stayed there, gazing at each other.
Both of us sniffling, eyes swollen, noses red. Not pretty in the slightest.
“…Ahah, Reina… you look terrible.”
“…So do you, Yuno.”
We laughed, soft, at each other.
Even so, our faces kept drawing closer.
When the tips of our noses touched, Yuno slowly closed her eyes.
A tear slid, slow, from her long lashes.
And then——
Gently, our lips met.
The barest suggestion of touch, nothing but tenderness.
A faint warmth reached me, softly, from Yuno’s lips.
Slowly, we pulled apart.
The kiss had lasted only a few seconds.
At this close distance, our eyes met, and we smiled at each other, soft.
We’d kissed each other so many times before this.
Tongues winding together, devouring.
However our bodies wanted it.
Kisses fierce enough to leave us breathless, again and again.
And yet.
Today’s single, gentle, barely-touching kiss—
was the sweetest, the most melting, the most unforgettable kiss of all.