Chapter 206I Couldn't Just Let Him Go Alone Like That, Part 6
In a space at the back of the bicycle parking lot, where there were rarely any students. As if they had guessed what was going to happen, Wataru and Shinonome-san walked towards that place. I hurriedly followed behind them.
"..."
"...Is that so?"
Unable to digest the situation, with just the gaze rolling between Wataru and Shinonome-san. I had a bad feeling about something, but the tension in the place held back my words so that I could listen to the story in detail.
"...So? What's the reason you came to talk to me face-to-face, as if you were hiding somewhere, under these circumstances?"
Wataru asked in a somewhat rambling tone of voice. It was as if he didn't think anything after hearing Shinonome-san's words that she was being watched according to her family's directions. It was obvious that she intended to dispel the increasingly murky atmosphere.
"...This hand..."
"!"
In response to Wataru's words, Shinonome-san returned a painful gaze. The point of that gaze was fixed on Wataru's left hand, which was being bandaged with a slight reddish-brown spot. After staring at it for a moment, she's going forward towards Wataru, as she said she was allowed to do so under the restriction of being under surveillance.
"Hey, what the..."
Wataru walked back one step. However, Shinonome-san did not stop walking forward and continued to walk to the front of Wataru's current position. Then, gently and carefully, she lifted Wataru's left hand, as she watched, so as not to touch the injured part. Wataru and I were surprised by this sudden action.
"Oh, ...it's all my fault, ...if only I hadn't done that..."
"No, just a moment, ...Young Lady..."
As if treating a swelling, Shinonome-san placed Wataru's left hand on top of her palm and stroked it with the opposite fingertips. Then, as if to remove the annoyance from Wataru's face, she pressed her white cheek against that palm and closed her eyes as if in prayer. Her face showed a look of sadness and regret. She looked like she wanted to cry all the time.
I was dumbfounded, the driver, who said that he was surveilling Shinonome-san, started moving.
"Give me your bag."
"Eh..., eh, eh, this is Wataru's bag..."
"I know."
The very old man extended his white-gloved hand to me, and unintentionally, I almost handed over Wataru's bag without hesitation. However, I was able to strengthen the grip of both my hands and hug the bag tightly to prevent it from being taken away.
"I will take Sajou-sama back to his home."
"Th-That's..."
I was confused, and when I turned my gaze towards Wataru, our eyes met.
Wataru, whose left hand was still held by Shinonome-san, nodded as if he had given up with a confused expression. I relaxed my hand and held out the bag.
"Your bag, I'll put it in the trunk."
"Oh..."
The sense of loss that arose when the air no longer entered Wataru's empty bag. Wataru's bag might have been a shield of defense that allowed me to calm down in this place. Losing that bag, I suddenly felt vulnerable and insecure.
"Sajou-san."
"...What's wrong?"
Shinonome-san took a step back but started talking while still holding Wataru's left hand. When he was called out, Wataru replied with a tone of voice that sounded like he was irritated. I wonder if Wataru wasn't scared because the injured part was held by the other party. Although he was gently trying to get Shinonome-san to let go..., ...doing something like resistance was a bit much...
"I heard that your parents take you to and from school."
"Yeah, that's right. ...I don't know who you heard it from."
"And when you go home today, your parents can't come and that's why you have to go home on foot."
"Eh, seriously, who told you?"
Come to think of it, that's right. Wataru was indeed driven to and from school by his parents in a car to ease the impact of the injury to his left hand, but he walked home with me today. I was so busy going home with him that I never asked him about it. That's how it happened.
Where did Shinonome-san find out about this? For some reason, I feel like she has some kind of power that most girls don't have, but I wonder if I could know that too if I wanted to...
"Therefore, starting from today, I will be responsible for being the one to take you home until your injury is no longer a burden to you."
"What...?"
Wataru seemed bothered by the situation where Shinonome-san kept knowing this situation from beginning to end. The same thing happened to me as well. I had been listening to the conversation since earlier, but I couldn't understand a single meaning behind Shinonome-san's involvement in Wataru's injury. Why should Shinonome-san take Wataru home today?
If that's the case, it's as if I will no longer...
I will no longer ask the reason for the feelings overflowing from within me. My suppressed emotional line, probably a self-protective reaction tormented by this anxiety and turmoil, was pointing to the upper right side as if it was being flipped by a spring.
"─U-Um!"
"! N-Natsukawa...?"
"I... will be responsible for taking Wataru home!"
I don't know the true story of this situation. But one thing I can be sure of is "Wataru will come home with me". I didn't need to add anything superfluous to that. For a while after the bandage was wrapped around Wataru's left hand, who was watching Wataru from behind, huh? Who was always by his side? And who treated his hand injury at school? I didn't mean to say that I was the only one who did that, but I didn't want to let someone else who had just returned from a business visit take my role.
Shinonome-san let go of Wataru's hand and turned her body towards us.
"...On foot, huh?"
"Ugh, yeah... ...O-On foot...."
"What are you responsible for?"
"I-It's..."
"'Natsukawa Aika'-san?"
"...."
Her blue eyes and strong gaze were directed at me.
Shinonome-san's goal was not to burden her injured opponent. But she used the car as a means to drive him home and tried to take my role.
What about me, on the other hand? I don't want Wataru to be burdened by his injury and cause another accident. For this reason, I would take the role of Wataru's left hand and act as the one to watch over him. For this reason, we're going home together today—"Which is the surest?", and "Which is the most useful for Wataru?" ...Clearly, there are no words to answer those questions.
"..."
In that case, why should she take responsibility? It's true, that I probably don't have the responsibility to keep trying to do those kinds of things besides Wataru. Even so, the reason I'm staying by his side is because I can't stay silent, I can't just let him alone like that, I can't help but worry about him...!
"Natsukawa, this is..."
"Shinonome-san, what are you responsible for?"
"H-Hey, Natsukawa."
Along with the words I replied, I realized that I was currently competing... I felt that I couldn't help but hate her, and as long as I poured that into my words and delivered them, I wouldn't back down.
"What responsibility or reason do you have to approach Wataru?"
"...Natsukawa-san."
"If it's just sheer kindness, I can also do that myself. You don't need to bother doing that kind of thing, Shinonome-san when you rarely have any contact with Wataru...!"
...I didn't want to lose.
I want to know more from Shinonome-san.
I don't feel that there's anything they're hiding from me right now.
I want to live the same tomorrow again.
Amidst the tension of my words, I caught Shinonome-san's gaze. There was no anxiety in her eyes. She was able to face me. She could feel the desire to welcome me. Contrary to my point of view, which was filled with unpleasant information, there were no breaks that could calm my heart.
"I do have a responsibility and a reason."
"...Eh?"
Those dropping words shattered my momentum.
The wind stopped as if time had stopped. My cold head begged for calm, and with the return of the bad feeling, I remembered that there was a reality that I didn't want to admit. A back that moved away from me and a face that I had never seen before. The tail of my heart had lost its right.
"...What are those?"
"N-Natsukawa, that's enough. I don't want to trouble Natsukawa either."
"Didn't Wataru get hurt because of his carelessness...? He was carrying a sharp object, then fell, and it accidentally stabbed him."
"Y-Yeah, that's true."
That was the sequence of events leading up to his injury that Wataru told me about.
While my worries were growing due to the seriousness of the injury, I felt that Wataru, who had gone out of his way to help out in this Cultural Festival, could have gotten too deep into the role, to the point that he could have gotten into an accident. There was a part of me that was dumbfounded by his carelessness.
"It's because of Wataru's... carelessness, isn't it?"
If that's the case, I can stay by his side for as long as I want. I could have hidden her fault with the excuse of Wataru's personality. I could have talked to him without making excuses, just using the injury as an excuse. To cover up my anxiety, I could have just held on to him now—
"...Carelessness? Carelessness, you say...?"
"...!"
"H-Hey..."
Shinonome-san's voice changed tone. Her fair-skinned face turned bright red, she clenched her hands tightly, gritted her teeth, and began to shake her shoulders.
Accompanied by an expression that looked like a mixture of anger and tears, her sharp eyes, which became even more glistening with moisture, turned to me.
"—No, of course, that's not true!"
This was the first time she had shown such an emotional attitude towards me. The calm demeanor she had shown during the fashion show at the Cultural Festival and the impudence she had shown Wataru earlier, had disappeared, and she was hurling strong words at me, her blonde hair swaying in the wind. I don't want to challenge her, nor do I dare her challenge—I just want to know the truth.
"Th-This boy was..."
"Hey, Young Lady!"
"Young Lady!"
"...trying to protect me...!"
Shinonome-san let out her words even though she was distracted by the trembling of her body. Wataru and the driver stopped her by holding her shoulders, she wasn't even raging. Wataru seemed to be trying to close her mouth, but his left hand was being bandaged and he hesitated to move.
"He stabbed his left hand to protect my life!"
The truth, ridden by desire, came down on me like cold water.
Along with the momentum in her words, a drop of tear fell from one of Shinonome-san's blue eyes. The transparency of her tears, which I could not feel the slightest lie coming out of, flowed through her flushed skin.
Oh... ...I.
"Stop being in pain! Show me your bleeding left hand! So that this stupid me can stop crying!"
I- I don't know anything anymore.
ED: Reeze27
PR: Reeze27
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