[Warning 15+]
Author's Note:
The extra explanation about the "debts" between Hayato and Haruki in Chapter 5 has been beefed up.
It's not like you'll be lost if you skip it, but reading it should give you a much better handle on things.
Part One
~She Only Acts Like Her Old Self When She's with Me... Wait, Hold Up!~Chapter 14Hayato, You Freaking Idiot―!!
One day after school, at the local supermarket.
That's where Hayato heard a voice as clear as a ringing bell—a sound he'd been getting pretty used to lately.
"Oh."
"…Yo. Hey."
The reply that escaped Hayato's lips was awkward as hell.
And for good reason—Hayato was caught in a position he definitely didn't want anyone to see.
Hayato was hunched over in a corner of the stationery and toy section, dead-set on hunting through the stock with total tunnel vision.
"…Candy toys?"
"No, wait, I mean, this is…"
Hayato was being super thorough about it, too.
Picking them up one by one, shaking them to see if the one Hayato wanted was inside, and even pressing down on the boxes to try and guess the contents—no matter how you looked at it, he was in full-on geek mode.
And obviously, Haruki wasn't the type to let a goldmine like this slide. Her eyes lit up with a grin like a kid who'd just found a brand-new toy. It was Hayato who was losing his cool.
"Wh-What a coincidence running into you here! Feels kinda weird seeing you outside school, especially in our uniforms. You on your way home?"
"Hmm, dinosaur fossils and raw ore, huh…? ...Now that I think about it, you always did have a thing for collecting weird stones, Hayato."
"Y-Yeah, anyway, I'm right in the middle of grocery shopping! Better wrap this up and get home quick, haha!"
"I actually built a diorama using the 'Showa Era Candy Store' series."
"…For real?"
"Yeah, for real. Check this out."
Haruki said as she flashed her phone screen at Hayato.
It was a tiny wooden shack of a shop with a Coke sign hanging off it. It didn't just have the right-looking snacks, but even a vending machine, a gacha dispenser, an ice cream freezer, and even a bug-catching net.
Right there on the screen was a perfect, old-school, retro candy store.
"Wait, that's Grandma Murao's shop!"
"Yup, I built it from memory."
"This is insane, even the ground and the trees… …how the heck did you pull this off?"
"The hundred-yen shop. You can get everything there—from boards, stone clay, and color powders for materials, to glue, tape, and brushes for tools. They've got it all."
"Whoa, the hundred-yen shop! So they actually exist?! I thought that was just an urban legend!"
"There's one in the building in front of the station, too… …wait, that's the part you're shocked about?!"
"No, I mean… …yeah, but I didn't know you could actually make stuff like this with candy toys…"
"It was a total grind~ I wanted that ice cream freezer so bad, but I just kept pulling bench after bench until they were piling up… …ufufu… …I lost count of how many times I questioned the laws of probability…"
"Eh, hey, Haruki…?"
The light completely drained from Haruki's eyes, leaving her with a hollow expression. But her mouth was still smiling. She was clearly not in her right mind.
Instinctively, Hayato hallucinated himself being dragged down into the "hobby abyss." He felt a chill run down his spine. He quietly put the candy toy back on the shelf.
"What's wrong? Not buying it? Doesn't this 'Rural Festival & Food Stall' series look tempting as heck?"
"A-Alright, groceries! Let's get back to the groceries, Haruki! Come on!"
"Oh, the candy toys~!"
Then, Hayato forcefully pushed the "hobby abyss" dweller (Haruki) by her back to drag her away from the aisle.
Candy toys are a total trap. Hayato carved that lesson deep into his soul.
◇◇◇
A little while later, the two of them finished their shopping and headed out of the store. For some reason, they both felt way more exhausted than usual.
"Phew, that was a close one… …I was seconds away from sinking into a whole new abyss…"
"Just take it easy, man… …huh?"
Hayato's groceries weren't all that heavy.
Just some chicken, konnyaku, and burdock root he needed for tonight's Chikuzen-ni, plus some salmon fillets for the main course. It was an amount even a little kid could carry without a problem.
Haruki, on the other hand, had bought so much that both her hands were full. She kept shifting her grip on the groceries, looking like she was having a hard time even walking.
So, to Hayato, what he did next was just common sense.
"Here, let me take those— —whoa, these are actually pretty heavy. This one too, alright."
"H-Hayato?!"
"Hmm? You're on your own for the rest, okay?"
"Eh, oh… …yeah."
"Wait, is most of this stuff frozen? We better move it then."
Hayato half-forced the groceries out of Haruki's hands in a way that felt totally natural, then urged her to start heading home.
Haruki was more than just surprised—she was completely thrown off.
Sure, Haruki'd had boys at school offer to carry her stuff before. But there was always some kind of angle or an ulterior motive behind it. She'd never experienced someone reaching out just because they saw she was struggling, the way Hayato was doing right now.
The truth was, Hayato didn't have a single hidden motive.
Back in Tsukinose, if you ignored someone struggling with their groceries like Haruki was, you'd be the talk of the countryside and getting judged by everyone before you knew it. That's the scary part about the countryside. For Hayato, this was just a habit that was baked into his system.
But for Haruki, it wasn't like that at all.
This brand-new experience left Haruki's heart a mess of surprise, joy, confusion, and doubt, and she couldn't help but be hyper-aware of Hayato's presence.
"Hey, do you always buy this much stuff?"
"Oh, eh, yeah. I'm the type who buys everything in bulk all at once."
"I see."
"Yeah…"
"…"
"…"
But the conversation just died right there.
They walked side by side in silence, just like the old days. Every now and then, Haruki would steal a glance at Hayato, who was now a full head taller than her.
But Hayato just kept walking, not even noticing Haruki's looks. His side profile, looking the same as always, was actually kind of annoying for some reason.
Haruki wanted to say something, but at the same time, she felt like this was fine too— —and so they walked down the twilight path with those complicated feelings. The only thing they could hear was the sound of their own footsteps, yet it felt weirdly comfortable.
(Well, I guess that's just how it is with Hayato.)
Finally, they arrived at Haruki's place, where no lights were on yet.
For the past seven years, it'd been a pitch-black house with nobody to welcome Haruki home. Coming back here with Hayato… …it felt kind of surreal.
"We're here. Where should I put these?"
"I'll grab the keys, just leave 'em by the door."
"Gotcha… …Alright, I'm headed out."
"Wait!"
"Huh?"
"…Eh, never mind, I mean…"
The words just blurted out. It wasn't something Haruki'd planned to say.
But because of that, Haruki's true feelings leaked out with them, and that realization sent Haruki into a total spiral.
"Your number! Oh, right, give me your number! Now that I think about it, we haven't even swapped contact info yet!"
"Oh, about that… …sorry."
"…Huh?"
Haruki'd started rambling just to hide her nerves, but the reply she got left her brain completely fried.
Haruki never in a million years expected to get shut down. Her mind started refusing to process the situation, and the loneliness she'd kept locked deep inside her heart began to peek out. Her heart felt like it was being squeezed to the breaking point.
Haruki even had this illusion that something incredibly important was slipping through her fingers, and then—
"The truth is, I don't actually own a smartphone…"
"Hayato, you freaking idiot―!!"
That scream, which had shifted into pure relief, rang out louder than anything else that night.
TL: Reeze27
ED: Reeze27
PR: Reeze27
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