[Warning 15+]
Part One~She Only Acts Like Her Old Self When She's with Me... Wait, Hold Up!~Chapter 16An Unexpected Promise
Early summer rain was drumming against the asphalt on the way to school.
Looking around, you could see a sea of colorful umbrellas. A lot of 'em looked pretty flashy, too.
Himeko, who was rocking a plain black folding umbrella strictly for the utility, made a sour face and muttered, "Ugh, there goes my girl power…!" before heading off toward her middle school.
After seeing his little sis off, Hayato walked through the school gates, still impressed by how the paved roads didn't have any of the mud or puddles he was used to back in the sticks. Then, he caught a glimpse of that familiar flowerbed out of the corner of his eye.
It'd been a few days since Hayato'd helped pollinate the zucchinis, so they should be starting to bear fruit by now. The more he thought about it, the more he just had to go check it out.
When Hayato popped over to the flowerbed, he saw that girl with the distinct curly hair caring for the veggies, not even caring that she was getting soaked in the rain.
"Oh, these are coming along great. Looks like a few of 'em are ready to harvest."
"...Oh!"
"How's it looking?"
"Yeah, take a look! The zucchinis grew so big, and the tomatoes and eggplants we pruned are also… …eh, um…"
"Oh, can you lend me the pruning shears? Might as well grab this one now… …I just wish I had a bag or something."
"Yeah, I've got a plastic bag right here!"
Besides the zucchinis, a few other veggies had started bearing fruit, too. Some were already overripe, though. The girl probably didn't know the right timing to harvest 'em and missed her window.
With the pruning shears in one hand, Hayato started harvesting while explaining the best time to pick each one.
This was second nature to Hayato, but since it seemed to be the girl's first time, she was looking dead serious about it.
The flowerbed was big for what it was, but it was still just a home garden at best, so the harvest was over in minutes. Even so, the plastic bag ended up pretty packed with the fruits of their labor.
The girl from the Gardening Club stared at the bag's contents with a look of pure sentiment.
This was the payoff for the first thing the girl'd ever grown; no wonder she was so moved.
"Oh, um, half! Could you please take half of these?"
"Eh, you sure? I mean, I'm not gonna say no."
"Being able to harvest these little things is all thanks to you, after all."
"It was no big deal… …but hey, thanks."
"Yeah!"
The girl replied with a huge, bright smile.
Seeing how much joy was radiating off the girl, Hayato couldn't help but feel a little happy himself.
Once the girl'd finished busily splitting the veggies into a spare plastic bag, she took one deep breath.
Then, looking kinda nervous but determined, the girl looked up at Hayato.
"U-Um, excuse me!"
"Wh-What is it!?"
Hayato had pretty much zero experience with girls his own age. Zero.
So, when a girl started acting all fidgety and looked up at Hayato like that—especially with their height difference—it was basically impossible for his heart not to skip a beat. He couldn't even look away from her intense gaze.
"U-Um, could you maybe give me your e-mail address or ID?! I-I mean, I don't really have anyone else I can talk to about this stuff, and there's so much I want to ask… …I-I know it's weird to be asked something like this out of the blue by some girl like me, but if you're okay with it… …I swear I won't be a nuisance or anything, so…"
"…Oh."
The girl said all that in one huge, rapid-fire breath.
With the girl's face beet-red and a dead-serious look, she was clutching her phone so hard her knuckles were turning red. You could just feel how much this meant to her—it actually kind of hurt. This had to be a massive deal for her.
But Hayato only had one answer he could give.
"Um… …sorry."
"Oh, I see…"
"Wait, no! It's not like that! I'm not saying no because I don't want to!"
"Huh?"
"I don't actually own a smartphone… ...See, I'm a transfer student from a place so far out in the countryside that we barely even got a signal, and, eh…"
Now it was Hayato's turn to scramble for an excuse.
Gesturing wildly with his hands, Hayato did his best to make the girl understand that he just didn't have a smartphone and there was nothing he could do about it.
Maybe Hayato's sincerity actually got through to the girl, because after looking stunned for a second, she started letting out a few little giggles. Feeling the awkwardness, Hayato just scratched the back of his head.
"I'm Mitake from Class C. Mitake Minamo."
"I'm Kirishima Hayato from Class A. Once I get a phone, I'll come find you and let you know."
"Okay, I'll be waiting. It's a promise..., okay?"
"—ngh, ah, yeah… …okay, I promise..."
The sudden appearance of that word made Hayato's heart skip a beat.
For Hayato, a "promise" carried a pretty heavy meaning.
That's why Hayato hesitated for a split second before giving Minamo a straight answer.
Haruki's face flashed through Hayato's mind.
But still, it would've been super weird to object or say no right then.
I mean, it's just about exchanging contact info later on, right? No biggie.
It's no biggie— —Hayato tried to convince himself of that as he took the veggies from Minamo.
"See ya later, then."
"Yeah…"
The end of June, the early summer rain.
With the vegetable blossoms in the flowerbed acting as witnesses, an unexpected vow had been made.
TL: Reeze27
ED: Reeze27
PR: Reeze27
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