Chapter 5: The End and the Beginning

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Translator: Soafp

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After being rejected, I don’t know what to do. It’s not like I didn’t anticipate it, but I had avoided thinking about it. Even Miyuki in front of me couldn’t move.

“I… appreciate you listening. Well then, I’ll go.”

As I tried to leave Miyuki behind and head back to the school building, I heard her voice.

“Um, um… Would you still… be friends with me?”

A voice filled with tears and a plea.

“Friends. Right, just friends…”

To me right now, those words felt incredibly harsh.

“… Yeah.”

To Miyuki, who wanted us to stay friends, I was the one who had pressured her into a romantic relationship.

“… I see.”

I left Miyuki without giving her a clear answer.

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[Miyuki PoV]

“Did Takumi confess to you? Oh, wow, seriously! You turned him down, right?”

I explained the situation to Nagisa-chan at our usual cafe. She nodded and responded to my question.

“You guys were close. Takumi always looked so gentle when he talked to you.”

Kuon-kun’s smile flashed in my mind, causing a pain in my chest.

Nagisa-chan took out her phone from her bag and showed me the screen with a relieved expression.

“That’s good. He is still in the group chat. He still will be your friend, right?”

“… I don’t know. But probably.”

He’s an important friend to me. I think of him almost like a best friend.

“Got it. I’ll subtly bring it up as well. Since Takumi-kun helped me get closer to Shinobu-kun, if Takumi-kun continues acting as he has been, things shouldn’t get awkward. I’ll handle Takumi-kun, and as for Miyuki, you’ll be with Shinobu-kun…”

Nagisa-chan might be saying it in a bad way, but I can’t help but think that other people thought I used Kuon-kun. Even so, I still treasure Kuon-kun…Nagisa’s conversation stopped, and her expression was frozen.

When I turned to follow her gaze, Kuon-kun stood there expressionless.

“T-Takumi. Ah… well, you know? What you were talking about just now is–!”

“…We weren’t friends from the start, I see.”

His voice was cold, unlike anything I’d heard before.

“T-That’s not true!”

I stood up to face Kuon-kun, but he turned his back on me without a word.

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[Takumi PoV]

Miyuki liked Shinobu, and I was being used to facilitate it. I’d been deluding myself thinking we were friends; our relationship was just for show.

In hindsight, it all makes sense.

Nagisa suddenly becoming close when we entered high school, Miyuki saying she wanted to stay friends. Essentially, I was just a bridge.

I suppose there were feelings of bitterness and sadness. Nevertheless, what lingers in my heart now is a sense of “enough.”

Everything I believed in, everything I loved, has faded to gray.

My emotions have become something nonexistent.

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[Miyuki PoV]

“Sorry, Miyuki. It might be over…”

Even before Nagisa-chan pointed it out, I could tell that Kuon-kun dislikes me… No, I understood that he despises me. Nagisa-chan doesn’t need to apologize. It’s thanks to Nagisa-chan that I was able to meet Kuon-kun.

“Thank you, Nagisa-chan. I’ll apologize to Kuon-kun properly.”

I didn’t feel like I would be forgiven. Still, I felt like I had to face Kuon-kun.

Days without Kuon-kun. It was even more painful than I imagined.

I couldn’t hear his voice, feel his warmth, or sense his presence.

Kuon-kun was more important to me than anyone else. He was more important to me than a friend or a lover.

I visited Kuon-kun’s class many times and waited for him after club activities.

But I didn’t appear in Kuon-kun’s eyes, and he never heard my voice.

“Miyuki, are you still going to try? You’re going to the same university as Takumi-kun, right? It’s tough if he doesn’t pay any attention to you…”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve got another four years to be around Kuon-kun.”

Nagisa-chan was worried about me, but I didn’t want to give up.

On the campus where cherry blossoms fluttered, I found your figure. I had been watching your back for a long time. There’s no mistake…

“Takumi-kun!”

Just like in the past, I boldly grabbed the hem of his jacket.

Takumi-kun turned around with a slightly surprised expression, and I was happy about that…

“Takumi-kun, please be friends with me!”

This time, I’ll confess to you, okay?

End