Episode 121: Bonus - Lover

When I got out of the bath, a beautiful girl was sleeping soundly on the bed.

She must have been exhausted from coming to look for me.
Judging by her phone history, it was clear she’d been terribly worried.

I gently stroked the head of the girl sleeping peacefully on the bed, looking as though nothing could wake her.

It’s not as though I have any ulterior motives.

It was cold, so I decided to sleep beside Endo-san.

Just as her name, Endo Hina, suggests, she was warm and glowing like the sun, with the lovely scent of flowers.

She warms me both from the outside and from within; she is like my sun.

An indispensable presence.

I’ve even come to think that if she were to disappear, I would surely lose my light and be unable to go on living. That is how precious Endo-san is to me.

Someone who can do anything — and she’s my girlfriend?

I still can’t believe it.
Whether I touch her cheek or pinch her nose, she just furrows her brow and doesn’t seem likely to wake up.

I want to hear her talk the way she always does — and yet I want her to rest properly.

‘Endo-san—’

……

Of course, there’s no reply.

‘Hina—’

…………

I don’t know how long I stayed like that, but I kept stroking Endo-san’s silky hair.

No matter how much I touched her, Endo-san didn’t look like she was going to wake up.

It felt a little lonely, but she’d promised she’d be by my side again tomorrow.

That’s all there is to it—

No, just thinking that such a happy day would come again tomorrow made my breathing grow shallow and drowsiness wash over me.

I kissed Endo-san gently on the cheek, held her close, and closed my eyes.