Episode 125 – Snow Handshake

We left the rooftop together. It was already past dismissal time and the main entrance was locked, so the three of us quietly left through the staff entrance. We told the staff member in charge of the school the reason why we’re late was that Sakura was working on something related to the student council. If she hadn’t been there, I would have gotten scolded.

“Well, it was my fault to begin with. I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused you.”

In other words, I’m the root cause of it, but we don’t dare to talk about it and dig deeper. It”s because it is a delicate matter that has already been over and if we pursue it any further, it might cause cracks to appear again in our supposedly reconciled relationship.

“……No, it’s not. I brought the two of you into this.”

“No, I’m grateful to you, Yukihana san. Thanks to you, I was able to settle a long-standing tie.”

“……But, you know, student council work and all.”

“I’m sure you don’t have to worry about that. It will be over soon.”

Sakura covering for Yukihana so as not to make her feel responsible. However, I remembered one question about Sakura’s words.

“Is student council work such an easy task?”

“No, if you do it efficiently, you can go home earlier than the students of the culture club, you know?”

But as someone who was the student council president until just a few days ago, or rather, as someone who watched my sister closely……

“…….I remember that the former student council president worked from early in the morning until late at night.”

“Oh……well, Haruka senpai always tried to work carefully one by one.”

“In other words, she was incompetent.”

“You didn’t have to go that far !”

Well, the expression that my sister is an amateur who worked hard fits nicely. It’s not like she had any special talent, she’s the type of person who trains herself every day and finally gets a little more diligent. The fact that she is able to make Sakura respect her even though she is such a person shows how much effort she put into even the most trivial of things.

“I mean, you’re the one who should be proud of having such an amazing person in your family.”

“Well.”

I said, and kept my head down. Even if she doesn’t say that, I still have a fair amount of appreciation and respect for her. Because she proved with her own action that even people who have nothing can achieve something.

“…….You should respect your sister unconditionally.”

Yukihana, who was silently listening to our conversation, muttered bluntly without looking at me. Come to think of it, she was always in the position of an older sister.

“In order to be respected, you should show a little more what an older sister should be like.”

“……What are you talking about?”

“Do you think I can proudly introduce the owner of that room as my older sister?”

“Guha !?”

Yukihana choked. Well, I think it’s true, so I didn’t hesitate to say it. The piles of games and books, and a large number of plastic models that are still unfinished. For those who see it, it’s a treasure chest, but for those who don’t, it’s a room filled with clutter.

“I remember you were covering the shelves with a piece of cloth or something.”

“……So what?”

“I had a quick glimpse of it, but there was a package with a fairly skimpy girl. Could it be that that’s an 18+……?”

“Stop it ! !”

Yukika’s face turns bright red and she starts screaming. Apparently, it’s not something she want to be touch too much. I’m sure it was bought by mail order, but if it were exposed in the right place, it would be troublesome.

“……That’s right, I forgot about many things.”

“Hm?”

“Hmph ! !”

“Whoa !?”

As soon as I said that, Yukihana suddenly exploded a left straight with all her might at my dove tail. I tried to avoid it, but for some reason Sakura grabbed my shoulder from behind and took a direct hit.

“….What the hell are you guys up to?”

Saying that, looking at the two of them, Yukihana had a somewhat indignant expression on her face.

“…..The price for entering a girl’s room without permission.”

“Kanata. I can’t really defend you on that one either.”

Come to think of it, when I delivered Sakura’s contact information to Yukihana, I used a lot of crime-like acts to break into this guy’s room without permission. Even when I was asked over the phone, I admitted it, and I can’t deceive it now.

But when was the last time I was seriously attacked?I had not done anything seriously damaging since I was a child when my father was disciplining me, so this might be the first time.

“I’ll take care of it. Be thankful.”

It seems that with this blow, Yukihana will allow me to enter the Yukihana house and room without permission. I’m not sure if I should be thankful or not, but I regret not revealing the truth at the time.

And so the awkward moment came again. Sakura, who is probably the best communicator among the group, still seemed to be at a loss as to what to say in front of me. However, she seems to have made up her mind and opens her mouth again.

“Kanata, can I ask you a question?”

“What is it?”

Sakura asked me in a serious and heavy tone.

“What are you going to do about Shinya kun?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re going to take revenge, aren’t you?”

When Sakura asks me that question, I’m at a loss as to what to say. I’m sure I was like a hero to her when I rescued her in the past. Now, I don’t have the slightest remnant of those days, I’m about to fall into a different path.

But now that I’ve gotten her involved, I have a responsibility to tell her. I decided to be honest and confided in Sakura.

“Yes, that’s right. I’m going to pay him back more than double what he did to me.”

“……I see.”

“Do you want to stop?”

“No, I……”

I have a good idea of what she’s trying to say, so I hold Sakura’s hand. If she joins me, she will be in danger too. That’s all I’m going to do, like walking a tightrope.

“This is a fight that I have to do alone. I don’t want anyone else getting in the way.”

I have no intention of changing my mind about this. I intend to complete my revenge against Shinya and the others on my own. I don’t know what’s waiting for me at the end of it, and I don’t want Sakura to be involved in such a foolhardy plan.

So I ask her to take a different direction.

“So you help Yukihana.”

“For Yukihana san, you mean?”

“Yeah. I gave her your contact information in the hopes that you could help her out with her troubles. Besides, your junior was suspended from school, right? You can settle that together too.”

I work for revenge, but Sakura works for the friends she just made and the juniors in the student council. I’m sure she will try to force me to cooperate with her even if I keep her away from me here. So I dare to propose an approach from a different direction. Even if our objectives are different, the risks each of us is willing to take are different.

“Kanata……”

“Now you can act like a person who is on the side of the rescuer.”

“…..Yes.”

And so we tried to terminate this conversation. However, Yukihana, who was listening to us, throws a side spear with an unpleasant expression.

“……Am I on the side of the rescuer?”

“No matter how you look at it, you probably asked for help from this guy.”

“Yes, but I’m still not convinced.”

Yukihana is still not satisfied with the one-sided help. But to be honest, there’s nothing this guy can do right now. If I had to force it, it would be about cooperating fully with Sakura and sharing information.

“…..I don’t want to be a person who just talks.”

“Hm?”

“…..I want to show that man how much I can hurt him.”

Apparently, Yukihana’s consciousness is leaning toward my goal of revenge. But she’s not suited for that kind of role. Besides, any further involvement with me could become a poison for this guy.

“Don’t do it. If you get involved with me any more, as far as I’m concerned, you’ll end up…..”

“……As a friend?”

“Huh?”

“As a friend, I’ll get involved.”

Both Sakura and I were taken aback by those words. I didn’t expect her to use the words from earlier in that way.

“I’m going to be a part of Kanata’s revenge as a friend.”

“No, you know……

“I’ll do it.”

I was thinking about how to refute Yukihana, but I couldn’t think much because I was moving my body violently earlier. Or rather, I’m shocked that someone who until a while ago said she’s less than a friend now boasts that she’s a friend.

“Kanata, please.”

Sakura, who had been watching the situation, also changed her mind from earlier and came to me with a smile. And Yukihana quickly touched her head and stared at me from earlier.

And so, the answer I gave was…..

“……Just don’t get in my way.”

It was that kind of roundabout acknowledgement.

I said this and Sakura breathed a sigh of relief and smile, and Yukihana looked somewhat confident as well. It seemed that my revenge drama was about to get a little revision.

As the air relaxed, Sakura asked me about something else that must have been on her mind.

“Even so, you knew my phone number well, didn’t you, Kanata? I didn’t even tell Haruka senpai.”

“Yeah, I got it from former vice president Miura. It’s for a little business deal.”

“Eh…….”

The moment she said that, Sakura’s eyes swam a little and she began to think about something. And…..

“I never gave Miura senpai my phone number, you know?”

“…..Hee.”

——-

The two of them were making some kind of difficult faces and starting to talk about something I didn’t understand. I took a dry attitude, thinking that it was probably none of my business, and reflected again on what had happened today.

(……I made friends.)

In one day, I made two friends. It’s no exaggeration to say that this is an amazing feat considering my life up to now. I had always been a bit of a recluse, and I had been keeping away from people who approached me with the intention of getting to know them. Even Shinkai san and I had a half-hearted relationship when we first met, and I wasn’t even sure if we could be called friends. Now we have become friends again.

(……Mom, would you be happy to hear this?)

One of the two friends is a little bit out of character, but still, I can talk to her about it, since we are less than friends. For some reason, my mother also liked Kanata.

Anyway, I think I will finally be able to reassure my mother.

“……”

I suddenly look at my right hand. My own hand that was forcibly grabbed when he forced me to stand up earlier. At that time, Shinkai sam said to shake hands with that, but it was nothing like that.

I mean, if anything, it was the first time I had been touched by a man who was not a family member. I heard that my father told me that the lower ranks of the gang would be killed if they touched me, even slightly.

“Well then, I’m going to ask him a lot of questions. See you later.

“Yeah. Ask Yukihana for my contact information.”

Apparently, Shinkai san is going in a different direction. He was as blunt as ever, acting as if he couldn’t believe that Shinkai san and I had been estranged for so long, but I kind of waved her off. Am I being like a friend now?

I then walked with Kanata in silence for a while and stopped. The reason was simple and obvious, we were approaching a road that led in a different direction from his house.

“See you.”

“……Yeah.”

I said that and we parted. I don’t wave politely like Shinkai san, and I don’t see him off politely like a family. But there’s something that’s been bugging me. I stop, turn around, and call him off in a voice that won’t disturb the neighbors.

“……Wait a minute.”

“What?”

Kanata looked at me with a dubious expression, wondering if there was something I forgot to say, and stopped. Then I stepped forward to him. Kanata’s expression became more and more mysterious, but I also had a sense of purpose. I didn’t want to admit that it was just a handshake.

“Wait, let me see your right hand.”

“Right hand?”

“Yes, your right hand.”

Kanata made a face that said he didn’t understand what it meant, but he held out his right hand more obediently than I thought, perhaps judging that there would be no particular harm. And I roughly grasped the hand that was casually offered to me. And shake it up and down a little roughly.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“….I don’t care, idiot.”

“Huh?”

Saying that, I let go of Kanata’s hand, turned my back on him without saying anything, and headed home. I’m sure that Kanata is staring at my back with a dumbfounded expression. I was feeling a little refreshed as I sent him a reminder that he would never understand me.

“……Grin.”

I have not been able to smile recently, but I finally feel my facial muscles relax a little. Perhaps it is my imagination, but my steps feel lighter than usual. I feel as if I want to run out of here right now. At this moment, I forgot about all the problems I’m facing right now. That’s how much the existence of “friends” means to me……

I clenched my right hand tightly as if to cherish the little bit of heat that remained in it.

“……I’ll do my best from tomorrow on.”

I started running for no reason.

A genius but clumsy boy and a girl who finally became honest.

We had a terrible beginning, but things could finally change from now on.

I feel like my life that was cold as snow, has finally begun to move with heat.

I hope those words and the handshake will be proof of that determination……

For some reason, I was looking forward to tomorrow, which was nothing special.