What I realized

It was probably an inevitable event.

“……”

“Hey, what are you doing?”

With a thump on the shoulder, I hit the wall behind me.

The place was an empty classroom…a male classmate called out to me when it was lunch break, and I came to this place.

“I don’t know what you’ve done, but you’re suddenly addressing me. The man-hating sisters….no, in this case it would be Sayaka? Do you think I held her weakness so that she, who hates men, could be friendly with me…..?”

Why was I brought here, and the reason would definitely be Sayaka.

The other guy……Yonezawa stepped back as if he had been hit by a bull’s-eye.

By the way, this is the guy who once asked me if he could visit my house before.

“W-what the hell is that supposed to mean?

“…….If you’re going to be upset there, don’t call me like this.”

But….I didn’t understand when he called me out like this.

Because those two really have a kind of fear of men, and it’s not wrong to have trauma in the past.

Especially when it comes to Sayaka, when she’s asleep, she subconsciously asks for help.……but that doesn’t mean that no matter what other people say, it doesn’t resonate and I have no intention of leaving her.

“I’ll tell you, Sayaka and I are family–she’s not someone I can easily leave at this point, and even if we weren’t family. Do you think I would leave even if you told me to?”

“……You’ve got an attitude.”

“So why should you get mad at me for something like that?”

It’s really troublesome……well, but I guess there are a lot of people who want to say things like this.

In this case, if I run away because it’s useless to talk to him, he’ll get even more involved than he is now, and that’s even more troublesome, so let’s just listen to him some more.

I sighed and continued to listen to the words that followed….I sigh again in exasperation at the end.

“I’m not sure how I can say this after hearing it all, but I can’t listen to anything you have to say. So give it up.”

The words that followed after that were roughly summed up like this.

He would tell me to do whatever he wanted me to: don’t get along with Sayaka, don’t do anything that Sayaka liked, don’t do anything that she didn’t like.

I had never met such a selfish person before, and it was just so depressing.

“Well, I’m going back.”

I left the empty classroom, thinking that it was enough.

After that, when I returned to the classroom, Tokikaze and the others greeted me, and Sayaka seemed to have sensed something from my appearance, and was about to come over, but she gave up because her friend was by her side.

Although I feel a little sorry about that, I think it was just right.

“……Sigh.”

I sighed again.

The lunch break was over and classes started, with a break in between and another class….and I kept thinking about Sayaka and Yume until after school.

The first thing that comes to mind is the

Even though we’re a family that came together for some reason, it’s unreasonable for people who don’t know anything and are driven by jealousy to say whatever they want…….I hate this kind of unreasonableness.

“Minato kun.”

“……Yes?”

“Shall we go home together?”

“……Okay.”

As I stood up and left the classroom, I noticed that Yonezawa was staring at me.

As expected, he glared at me when our eyes met….but for some reason, when I met his eyes, I fell into an incomprehensible feeling.

“And today, my friends—”

“……………”

I walked with Sayaka on the way home.

I was leaving school while nodding back to her conversation, but I was desperate to think and didn’t understand most of what she said, so I finally came to my senses when she pulled my arm tightly.

“Are you thinking about something?　What’s troubling you?”

“…………….”

“What happened to you at lunchtime? It started right then, didn’t it?

“……………”

She’s really watching me.

It’s something you can talk about or not talk about, but……if I talk to Sayaka about this, I have a feeling that she will feel some kind of responsibility for it.

This would be the same for Yume, I know because we spent time together…..they think about me a lot, so I think it would bother them.

“……Syayaka–“

I want to protect the two of them as a family,……so I can’t leave them.

But…..after talking with Yonezawa, I was thinking differently,……was that really all I was thinking about? Do I want to be there for them because I just want to protect them?

“I….I……”

“Minato kun?”

Do I not want to….leave them?

When I thought about it, I came up with one answer–I see…..I don’t want them to go anywhere.

Not only do I not want to leave them, I don’t want them to leave me…..the two of them who are always by my side, who always hold me close and make me feel safe.

“Sayaka.”

“!?”

I pulled Sayaka’s arm and hugged her tightly.

Her body trembled, probably because it was sudden and scary……but I still wanted to do this.

Sayaka did not hide her surprise, but immediately put her arms around my back.

“It’s fine, Minato kun–I’m right here.”

“……Yeah.”

“…..But can I have this in return when we get back?”

“What do you mean?”

“……Spoil me a lot.”

“……Okay.”

Another click, the sound I heard before.

I felt that illusion again…..as if chains were attached to my legs, arms, neck and every other part of my body.