Chapter 42: Intersecting Memories and Futures

Reading Settings

Translator: Soafp

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Although there was still some awkwardness, we were walking side by side like we did when we were children.

Miyabi and Aoi. The two of them, who once used to be together without any sense of discomfort, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. But now, walking like this felt somehow strange, as if time had rewound.

This lineup, which should have been nostalgic, felt awkward in some way now. Still, as our conversation gradually started to flow, I could feel the familiar comfort returning, just like it used to be.

Laughter mixed with our words. But we all knew that it wasn't the same innocent laughter from the past.

“Hey, Hajime?”

Miyabi suddenly spoke. Her voice was cautious, as if she were confirming something, yet it felt like a deep question from her heart.

“What?”

I looked at Miyabi's face. In her eyes, there was a mixture of uncertainty and determination.

After a few seconds of silence, she took a slight breath and, as if resolving herself, began to speak.

“After all… you are Hajime Rangaku, right?”

For a moment, a heavy feeling settled in my chest.

Hajime Rangaku— that was the pen name I used when I worked as a writer.

I hadn't meant to hide it. But I just didn't have the courage to talk about it.

The gap that had formed between us, I hadn't found a way to bridge it, and time just passed by.

“…Yeah.”

Miyabi and Aoi's expressions changed. It wasn't so much surprise as it was a confirmation, but it was mixed with a complex emotion, as if they didn't want to believe it.

“I… I haven't read your novels yet… I'm curious about what they're about.”

Miyabi muttered softly. Aoi also nodded slightly.

“Well, I might read them too…”

Aoi said, quietly.

I smiled gently at the two of them.

“Yeah, I'd love for you to read them. Read them and see for yourselves. After all, I wrote them for that purpose.”

At my words, Miyabi's lips trembled slightly. Aoi, too, clenched her fist, as if trying to hold something back.

“But… why didn't you tell us?”

Miyabi's voice wavered slightly.

“…That's something I've been wondering too. I knew you were doing something by yourself. But I never imagined it was writing novels…”

Aoi's eyes were filled with anxiety.

“…There was a reason.”

I replied with a faint smile.

“A reason?”

Miyabi tilted her head slightly.

I took a deep breath and began to speak, reaching back into my memories.

“Do you both remember the promise I made when you asked me to wish for something?”

At those words, Miyabi and Aoi's shoulders trembled ever so slightly.

“Y-yes…”

“If I could make you two the heroines of a story… then after that…”

Aoi's voice trailed off softly, and Miyabi picked up where she left off.

“…You asked me to marry you, right?”

Miyabi's voice trembled slightly. I smiled gently and nodded quietly.

“Yeah, exactly… Actually, it was like that. After winning the Namiki Prize… if I could make you two the heroines, I would ask you to marry me. I knew the term ‘Namiki Prize’ by chance, but it's not something a kid would usually know…”

“Then, then the ‘just wait a little longer’ you said was…!?”

Miyabi raised her voice in shock, and Aoi followed suit.

“And the ‘I've been working hard too’…!?”

The expressions on their faces were filled with astonishment and confusion, pale as if they had seen something they couldn't believe.

I lowered my gaze slightly and let out a slow breath.

“Y-yeah… at that time, the selection for the work wasn't finished, and the result hadn't come out yet… The editor, Hizaki-san, said ‘there's no doubt you'll win,’ but it wasn't guaranteed… But I couldn't wait anymore. I had been holding back for so long. So, that day, I rushed ahead even though I hadn't received the result yet.”

“Haha…”

A bitter laugh escaped me. But it was a dry laugh.

For a moment, Miyabi and Aoi were speechless, as if they had heard something crumbling deep inside them.

Their eyes wavered, and their lips trembled. They desperately tried to hold back the emotions welling up inside them, but they couldn't stop it.

“…No way…”

Miyabi whispered softly. There was a hint of guilt and regret in her voice.

Aoi clenched her hands tightly, her shoulders trembling. And then, finally, she reached her breaking point.

“…!”

Big tears fell from her eyes. And with that, tears began to well up in Miyabi's eyes as well, trailing down her cheeks.

“I'm sorry… I'm sorry, Hajime…!”

Miyabi covered her face with both hands, unable to hold back her sobs. Aoi also wiped her eyes with trembling fingers, but the tears seemed to have no intention of stopping.

“All this time… you've been working so hard… We really didn't understand anything…!”

Miyabi covered her face with her hands again, her shoulders shaking as she let out sobs. Aoi, too, could no longer hold back her tears, and as she desperately tried to wipe her eyes, the tears kept flowing.

“Even though you've been… suffering like this, we didn't notice…”

Aoi continued with a trembling voice. Her words were filled with frustration and regret.

Miyabi lifted her face and gazed at me with eyes wet with tears.

“I'm really… sorry, Hajime…”

In her eyes, it wasn't just an apology, but the weight of the time we had lost and a desperate wish to make up for it. There was pain, as if she were savoring her regret and foolishness, and deep down, an aching longing for the innocent days of the past and a strong desire to start over. It was pain I understood because I had felt it too.

I had wished so many times to start over again, just like that day.

But… the past we've lost will never return.

No matter how strongly we wish for it. The passage of time is relentless, and we can never return to things as they once were.

Even so, I could feel it now.

At this very moment, I could feel that they were thinking of me. That truth filled my heart with warmth.

Rather than trying to retrace the past, perhaps we could start building a new relationship from here and now.

Not trying to start over, but perhaps we could step forward again, no matter what form that took.

That hope slowly began to spread from deep within my heart.

With the two of them now, surely–

Miyabi and Aoi collapsed to the ground, their sobs echoing in the quiet of the morning.

I gently patted their heads, just like I used to when we were younger.

“It's okay now. We've talked about everything.”

As they cried, they nestled up to me, just like when we were children.

It was the moment when the long-lost time between us finally came together.