Mandarin Orange, Kotatsu, And A Found Cat

Chapter 78 The Cat's Worry

“…Satou-san, you are not… You’re not going anywhere, are you…?”

I couldn’t help but gulp at the words that came from her.
The sight of her was too fragile, too lonely.

Why did she say those words out of the blue? Why did she ask such an abstract question when I’m right here?
While these thoughts were running through my head, my gaze was drawn to her eyes, which looked as if tears were about to burst.

When I looked into her eyes, I was so strongly aware of her existence that everything I had been thinking about until then became unimportant.
As I said, I don’t think it matters what the reason was. There was only one thing I could do now, and that was to make her feel at ease from the bottom of my heart.

Convinced of this, I gently pulled Mashiro’s hand into mine.
To support her as she lost her balance a little, I took her in my arms and hugged her tightly around her back.

“S-Satou-san…”

Mashiro squealed at my sudden action, but I don’t care, I just hugged her tightly.
So that she could feel my feelings without having to say a word or unfounded worry

At first, Mashiro stiffened up in confusion, but she didn’t resist, and after a little while, she slowly relaxed and placed her weight on me.
It didn’t take away all of her anxiety, but it did calm her down a bit.
After confirming this, I slowly called out to her.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying here forever.”
“…Yes.”
“Even if I have to go somewhere, I won’t leave you.”
“…Yes.”
“So don’t look so anxious.”

Mashiro’s reply was as faint as ever, too quiet to be heard except from this distance, but she answered my feelings clearly.
To let me know how she felt, she also placed her hands around my back and hugged me.

It was the second time we had hugged each other like this since we had gone to the mall a while ago.
Strangely, I didn’t feel embarrassed, I just felt that I cared for her and that I had to protect her.

We held each other in that position for a while, and then, without saying a word, Mashiro let go of my hand and sat down beside me.
A little aware of the fleeing warmth of her body, I asked her.

“Did something happen?”

When I said this, Mashiro looked a little sad again.
But she didn’t seem to be overflowing with emotion like before, and she let out a small laugh in self-mockery.

“It’s not a big deal, I’ll take care of it. So I could just laugh it off.”
“Alright.”

I smiled again to reassure her, and gently nodded my head in return.
I was sure she had something on her mind when she said that. She said she would take care of it, but she was not going to be able to laugh it off lightly.

“Last night, I had a dream. In which it was just me and Satou-san.”
“So I was in Mashiro’s dream. I was honored.”
“Fufu, what’s that? …It wasn’t a very good dream. It was a dream in which…Satou-san went far away.”

Mashiro showed a sad expression again. I was tempted to hug her again, but I didn’t want to interrupt her, so I asked her about the details of her dream.
It was a dream, so it was abstract and incoherent in places, but at least it wasn’t a good one to wake up from.

If I had a dream in which I was in her case, it would be inevitable that I would feel depressed for a day.
And from her point of view, it must have been incomparably more painful than mine.

I don’t know anything about her past. Maybe if I asked, she would tell me.
But if she has even the slightest negative feeling about her past memories, I don’t want to force her to remember them.

Maybe the reason why Mashiro’s dream made her so anxious was due in no small part to her past that I didn’t know about.

“…And it made me feel helplessly bitter.”
“If I had had the same dream, I would have felt the same way.”

I tried my best not to hurt Mashiro with my words, but her expression didn’t improve much.

“I also knew that Satou-san would say that to me. And yet, I couldn’t help but feel anxious…”
“Mashiro…”
“I know I can trust you, Satou-san…And yet.”

After hearing Mashiro’s words to that point, I finally understood why she looked so sad.
Perhaps it wasn’t just the content of the dream that was directly pushing her over the edge, but her own anxious mind that was hurting her.

Just as I trust Mashiro, Mashiro also trusts me.
And yet, she must have felt that she had betrayed her trust in me by getting anxious over a single dream.

And once again, I realize that Mashiro was really just a girl in the truest sense of the word.
Just a girl, sensitive and vulnerable. I hadn’t understood that because I had always been in the position of being spoiled.

“But I am happy for you.”
“…Eh?”

At my words, she turned to me with a puzzled look on her face. I continued to speak without averting my eyes from her.

“Mashiro is very important to me. It may not have been long since we met, but you are more important to me than anyone else in this world.”

Mashiro might think that I’m exaggerating, but I felt that way without a doubt.
My own family was important, and of course, my friends like Sakakibara were also important to me. But the most important person is most closely related to me in my life now is Mashiro.”

“You don’t want me to leave you. How can I not be happy?”
“Satou-san…”

I felt a little embarrassed after saying all this, so I turned to her and smirked.
She still had a gloomy expression on her face, as if she hadn’t completely gotten rid of her apologetic look, but the light was starting to come back a little more than before.

“So don’t give me that look. I’d be more worried if Mashiro wasn’t smiling at me.”

I said, then gently patted Mashiro’s head. She doesn’t say a word and just lets me do my thing.
I always let her spoil me, so I want her to be pampered by someone as she should be at her age.
And if that someone is me. If that’s what she wants, I couldn’t be happier.

“…Satou-san, can we have lunch a little later today?”
“No problem.”
“Well, can I stay like this a little longer…?”
“Yes, with pleasure.”