Episode 47: Confession
When we arrived at Shiori’s place, I hesitated for a moment before stepping inside.
“Sit wherever.”
Following her prompting, I lowered myself onto the sofa and let my head hang, absent.
I didn’t even know what I was supposed to be thinking about.
Shiori prepared drinks and sat down beside me.
Glancing over, I noticed she’d prepared one for me as well.
“…Thanks.”
I murmured it quietly, and Shiori smiled. “You’re welcome.”
“Feeling a little calmer?”
I let out a small breath and nodded, vaguely.
“…Yeah, I guess.”
In truth, my feelings weren’t sorted out at all. Honoka’s face on the verge of tears, her trembling voice, the way she’d looked when she turned back one last time — all of it kept spinning, over and over, in my head.
“…I wonder how Honoka is right now.”
The words slipped out before I meant them to, and Shiori’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Probably still crying.”
Those words settled heavy on my chest.
“…Was I wrong?”
I murmured it, and Shiori shook her head quietly.
“It’s not a mistake.”
“But…”
“What is it you want, Yuna-chan?”
What I want — I couldn’t find the answer to that.
“…I don’t know.”
My own voice sounded terribly weak.
“Then how about you stop thinking about it?”
Shiori’s hand touched mine. At the warmth of it, my breath caught for a moment.
“…I can’t do that.”
When I murmured it, Shiori looked down for a moment, as if considering something, and then spoke quietly.
“Then — turn your attention to me instead.”
I found myself looking at her, startled.
“…What?”
“What do you think of me?”
The sudden question stopped my thoughts cold.
“Think of you how…?”
“Just a classmate? Or… something a little closer than that?”
Shiori’s eyes held me steadily.
Meeting that gaze was, somehow, a little painful.
“…I don’t know.”
Right now, I don’t feel like I’m seeing anyone clearly — not Honoka, not Shiori either.
Shiori slowly reached out and touched my hand.
“Not just Shiraishi-san — look at me properly too.”
I found myself looking at her, startled.
“I like you, Yuna-chan.”
“…What?”
For a moment, I couldn’t process what had been said.
“…You’re joking, right?”
“There’s no way I’d joke about this.”
Shiori wrapped my hand in both of hers.
“I’m not asking you to answer right now. But — will you at least think about it?”
Her eyes held me, steady and direct.
“…Feelings don’t just change that easily.”
I said it in a hoarse voice, and Shiori smiled quietly.
“Feelings do change, you know.”
Those words snagged somewhere deep inside me.
—What am I actually supposed to do?