[Warning 15+]
Part Five
―Even If, I Can't Treat You with That Same Energy Anymore
Chapter 206
―Even If, I Can't Treat You with That Same Energy
―Even If, I Can't Treat You with That Same Energy Anymore
Chapter 206
―Even If, I Can't Treat You with That Same Energy
A little while after that, near the purification font by the Shrine Office.
Kazuki, who had sat down in a corner, was icin' his swollen cheek with a wet handkerchief while gettin' chewed out by Himeko.
"Kazuki-san, what the heck were you doin' out of nowhere?! You totally freaked me out, and your cheek is super red!"
"Ahaha, the inside of my mouth got cut up pretty bad too, so I'm probably gonna be sufferin' from mouth ulcers for a while startin' tomorrow."
"It's not a laughin' matter!"
Seein' Himeko with her hands on her hips, poutin' angrily, was a sight Hayato was pretty used to.
Hayato let out a wry smile, thinkin' that maybe this was what it looked like every time Kazuki got hair-styled while bein' nagged at before headin' out. Next to Hayato, Saki also wore a sweet yet troubled smile.
When Hayato made eye contact with Saki, she shot him a slightly poutin', scoldin' look.
"You surprised me too. I didn't know you got into fights like that."
"No, well, that was... ...my body just moved on its own, or rather..."
"What were you gonna do if you got hurt too, jeez~"
"Um, oh... ...I'm sorry."
Knowin' full well he had provoked them too, Hayato slumped his shoulders with an embarrassed look on his face.
Both Saki and Himeko let out exasperated sighs at Hayato.
However, Kazuki began speakin' his mind, lookin' a little bashful.
"But I was happy, y'know. Yeah, really happy. Even though I thought you guys were idiots."
"...Sorry for bein' an idiot."
"Though I was actually the biggest idiot for throwin' a punch first."
"Tell me about it, you freaked me out too."
"My body just moved on its own too. Oh, I see—"
Kazuki paused there with a wry smile. He put on an awfully serious expression.
Glancin' over toward the Shrine Office where Hayato, Himeko, Saki, as well as Haruki, Iori, and Ema—who were explainin' the commotion—were standin', Kazuki openly voiced his true feelin's.
"I guess I liked Hayato-kun, Himeko-chan, and everyone way more than I even realized."
"K-Kazuki!?" "Kazuki-san!?" "W-Wah!?"
At that straight-to-the-point statement, both Hayato and Himeko choked on their words.
Even Saki flusteredly kept lookin' back and forth between Kazuki and the Kirishima Siblings.
Kazuki's face was completely bright and clear.
"Back in middle school, a lot happened. I developed a bit of trust issues with people... ...but I was saved by Hayato-kun divin' in like he did earlier, and by Himeko-chan always treatin' me so normally like it was no big deal. So—"
At that point, Kazuki paused and stood up. With his swollen cheek turnin' beet red, he stretched his hand straight out toward Himeko, his voice dead serious.
"I wanna be buddies with Himeko-chan too. Not just as my buddy's little sis, or your Big Bro's buddy , but as actual real-deal buddies."
"~~!?"
At the sudden request, Himeko turned so red it looked like steam was gonna blow out of her head. She leaked out lost-for-words noises like "Eh..." "Oh...", her eyes spinnin' around in circles. Both Hayato and Saki were the exact same way.
Kazuki's outstretched hand hovered in the air. For a split second, his expression crumpled, but he still took a step forward, though.
"Himeko-chan—"
"K-Kazuki-san!"
"Y-Yeah!"
"You don't gotta go out of your way to say stuff like that, we've been buddies for ages already... ...wait, what happened to your arm?!"
Himeko grabbed Kazuki's hand forcefully as if slappin' it, but yelled out when she caught sight of a painful-lookin' scrape peekin' out from under his sleeve.
Actin' like he was only noticin' it just now, Kazuki spoke like it was someone else's problem.
Sayin' that, Himeko spun around, grabbed both Hayato's and Saki's hands, and dashed off.
Right at that moment, Himeko bumped into Haruki returnin' from the shrine office, shootin' her a rushed sentence as they passed each other.
"Haru-chan, take care of Kazuki-san!"
"...Hime-chan?"
◇◇◇
Himeko and the others left both Haruki and Kazuki behind at the scene, both lookin' bewildered.
When Haruki shot a side-eye at Kazuki, who was grinnin' super brightly with an indescribable look on his face, he just shrugged his shoulders as usual.
"Huh, just you, Nikaidō-san? Where are both Iori-kun and Isami-san?"
"Those two are at the Shrine Office makin' explanations—or well, excuses—for what just happened. As for me, I just went to fix my messed-up yukata, and I felt weird jumpin' into their convo halfway through, so I came back."
"I see."
"...So, what'd you do to Hime-chan?"
"I just asked Himeko-chan to be buddies, that's all."
"Like what you said to Hayato back then?"
"Yeah, pretty much?"
Kazuki looked totally clueless, as if sayin' 'What about it?'.
Kind of able to picture the exact scene that went down, Haruki let out a huge, exasperated sigh.
"I've been thinkin' this for a while now, but Kaidō, you're an idiot, aren't you?"
"Even I surprised myself."
"Your face took a pretty 'handsome' beatin' too."
"Ahaha, guess it's gonna stay swollen for a while."
"...I honestly thought you were the type of boy who'd handle things way more safely in a situation like that."
"Yeah, if it was the old me, I probably would have. I know violence is wrong. But..."
"But?"
"When Hayato-kun and the others got made fun of, and when they reached out toward Himeko-chan and the girls, my mind just... ...went totally blank..."
"Hmm... ...Kaidō?"
For some reason, Kazuki's voice trailed off smaller and smaller at the end of his words.
Haruki knitted her brows in suspicion and leaned in to look at Kazuki's face, only to find him wide-eyed, starin' intensely at his right hand. As if tryin' to remember and confirm somethin', he leaked out a quiet mutter.
"Back then, when those boys reached out, all kinds of feelin's swirled up inside me—like I didn't want them tainted, didn't want them touched, couldn't forgive those b*stards—and I couldn't think straight at all... ...And even just now when Himeko-chan took my hand..."
Kazuki's face contorted more and more in pain.
Then, realizin' somethin', Kazuki swallowed hard as if chokin' down his breath.
Kazuki pressed the right hand he had been starin' at against his chest, clutchin' his shirt into wrinkles.
Kazuki's demeanor was clearly out of the ordinary. The atmosphere around Kazuki completely shifted.
"...Nikaidō-san, what do I do?"
"Wh-What? Don't tell me your wound hurts?"
"It's not a wound, but it hurts. My chest... ...it hurts so bad. Oh, I see—"
"Wait, what do you mean...?"
For some reason, Haruki's heart pounded fast, ringing alarm bells inside her.
Haruki had a bad feelin'. Her instincts screamed at her not to listen.
The change in Kazuki's expression was dramatic.
Right at that moment, Fireworks went off.
Illuminated by the Fireworks bloomin' in the night sky, Kazuki's face looked like that of a lost child on the verge of tears.
Yet, words acceptin' the feelin's that had blossomed inside Kazuki slipped right out.
"Right now, for the first time in my life, I've genuinely fallen for someone..."
"-!"
Haruki's breath hitched.
Haruki's legs felt wobbly.
Haruki's heart wouldn't stop racin'.
The eyes starin' at Haruki were as if askin', 'What are you gonna do?'
It was a sudden confession, but Haruki could understand Kazuki's inner conflict all too clearly. She couldn't help but understand it.
Undoubtedly.
In this single split second, Kazuki had placed various things on the scales inside his heart, yet still let it tip in a decisive direction.
—Even if, I can't treat you with that same energy.
Author's Notes:
And that's a wrap for Part 5!
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