Episode 135: Endo-san’s Worries (2)

I repeated several deep breaths. Once I confirmed the heat in my face had spread through my body and was cooling down, I left the room.

A wonderful smell of imoni had spread through the apartment.

Mayo-san was ladling the imoni into bowls, and Hikari-san was carrying them to the table. She looked dangerously unsteady doing it, so I went over to help. Takizawa was arranging chopsticks and cups on the table.

“Those cups are so cute~”

Hikari-san was looking at our cups, barely suppressing a grin. She’d probably noticed we had matching ones and was talking to Takizawa about it.

Either not noticing that Hikari-san was teasing her a little, or simply not caring, Takizawa was having a perfectly normal conversation with her.

“They are cute, aren’t they.”
“Did you two get matching ones?”
“Yes.”
“Nice work, Hoshizora-chan~”

Hikari-san was nudging Takizawa with her elbow, but Takizawa was looking at her with a completely blank expression.

That oblivious side of her is so Takizawa — and I love it.

Dinner preparations done, we gathered around the table together.

The warmth in my chest deepened.

Since middle school, being home meant being alone. That was normal, and I’d thought it would go on like that forever.

But now it’s different——.

Takizawa has started eating beside me. And sometimes like now, I get to eat with Mayo-san and Hikari-san too.

A version of myself from not long ago couldn’t have imagined this.

Spending days like these with people who aren’t blood relations, who aren’t family — there was something both strange and precious about it.

Before I’d even taken a bite of the imoni, heat was rising through my body and arriving at my eyes.

I quietly wiped my eyes with the hem of my clothes, making sure no one noticed.

“Itadakimasu.”

I brought a spoonful of the steaming, white-clouded imoni to my mouth.

Delicious…

I quietly absorbed that delicious imoni into my body.

We ate together, cleaned up together, talked about nothing in particular. Time passed in an instant.

“Which of you confessed first?”

Every time Takizawa was in the bath, the questions from these two became unstoppable. I might be easier to ask things of than Takizawa — but Hikari-san’s questions in particular came with such force that I found myself a little worn out.

Even so, I couldn’t let that show — so I decided to answer their questions until Takizawa came back.

“Takizawa was the one who confessed…”
“What?!”

That answer surprised Mayo-san. Hikari-san’s eyes were wide too.

I understood why they’d react that way.

Because out of everyone, I was the most surprised that Takizawa said it——.

I never could have imagined she would say something like that to me.

“So Hoshizora-chan seems reserved but is actually the bold one… I guess siblings really do take after each other.”
“Stop that.”

Mayo-san’s hand descended lightly on top of Hikari-san’s head.

But Hikari-san was right.

Takizawa always does things that feel like they’re ripping my heart out.

I can’t handle her curveballs — I keep missing the catch. If I could receive them a little better, would the distance between us close even more?

“Takizawa always does unfair things…”

My honest feelings slipped out before I could stop them. Mayo-san and Hikari-san, who would normally react to something like that, were stifling laughter.

I was wondering why — when my chin was tipped up firmly from behind. Looking up, Takizawa was looking down at me with a furrowed brow.

“Takizawa?!”
“What do you mean, I do unfair things?”
“No, I mean, um…”

I hadn’t expected to be heard by the person herself — and while I was flustering, the two older women said goodnight and made themselves scarce with impressive speed.

I didn’t think they meant it this way, but I felt a slight resentment at being set up by the two of them.

A silence stretched on — but Takizawa, perhaps getting sleepy, took my hand and began pulling me toward the bed.

The way she was pulling me into bed probably meant she wanted to sleep together. Without even turning off the lights, we flopped under the covers together.

You should just go ahead and make a move on Hoshizora.

I’d been about to settle in perfectly normally beside Takizawa — and then Mayo-san’s unnecessary words came back to me, and my face grew hot. While I was thinking these bad thoughts, Takizawa reached over and touched my cheek — maybe checking my temperature.

“Takizawa…?”
“Did something sad happen, Endo-san?”
“What? Why…?”
“You were crying during the imoni.”

How does Takizawa watch me so carefully? How does she notice every small change in me so quickly?

“That’s exactly the kind of thing that makes you unfair, Takizawa.”
“Unfair…?”

I lifted myself up slightly. I placed my hand beside her face and leaned over her. I held her cheek and looked into her beautiful jet-black eyes.

Takizawa was looking straight back at me.

Without realizing it, I’d stopped breathing.

“Can I kiss you?”

Takizawa, perhaps embarrassed, nodded yes in small quick nods. I pressed my lips to her slightly thin ones. Ask for more and she answers. Not like before, when I was still in unrequited love — she won’t push me away or pull back.

Does she know how much that means to me?

The desire to touch Takizawa had surpassed the fear of being disliked, and I was moving on my own feelings.

I touched my lips to her cheek, her ear, her neck — again and again.

Each time my lips touched her, her body tensed slightly — and that response was dismantling my brakes.

I lifted the hem of her clothes and gently placed my hand on her stomach.

Whether my hand was cold or her body was simply too warm, Takizawa felt hotter than usual.

Repeating it’s okay in my head like a spell, I moved my hand toward her ribs.

Before I could get there, Takizawa caught my hand firmly in hers.

That brought a little of my reason back, and I reflected on what I’d been about to do. And then I became despondent, thinking she’d rejected me.

“Sorry…”
“That’s not — it’s not like that…”

Not like what? I looked at Takizawa’s face and saw it flushed all the way to her ears, not looking at me.

I waited, a little anxious, for whatever would come next — and Takizawa looked at me seriously.

“I just need a little more time to prepare myself——”
“Huh…?”

I must have made quite a vacant sound.

I’d been completely sure she was going to say she didn’t want that. Those unexpected words made me wonder if I was dreaming or had misheard — I couldn’t help asking once more.

“Does that mean…?”
“Endo-san. Don’t ask any more.”

Takizawa’s face was as red as it could possibly be. She slipped out from under me and turned off the room light.

In a daze, I lay down, still wrapped in her arms.

Did Takizawa feel the same way I did?

If she did — just knowing that alone would send my feelings clean through the ceiling of this room.

If Takizawa was willing to let things go further between us someday, I could wait years. I held her tight.

“Endo-san, you’re grinning too much.”
“It’s your fault.”
“You weirdo…”
“I don’t mind being a weirdo.”

I didn’t care what I was called. As long as I could touch her, she could call me anything she liked.

“I’ll wait for you, Sora.”
“Thank you——”

I wrapped her gently and closed my eyes.