Chapter 94: A Sweet Contract

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Translator: Soafp

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The moment I turned around, her figure suddenly entered my view.

“…Konatsu-chan?”

I couldn’t help but call her name.

A cold wind blew through the rooftop. In that wind, Konatsu-chan stood quietly.

It was as if she had been waiting for me to turn around.

She smiled softly as usual. But there was something off about her appearance.

It had been quite a while since I last saw Konatsu-chan at school.

Since the incident, she had not shown up. No one knew why she had been absent from school, even though she wasn’t injured. I, too, had tried not to think about it.

Yet here she was, as if nothing had happened.

A sense of caution slowly spread in my chest. For me, Konatsu-chan had been a dangerous presence recently involved with Godai and Takamatsu. And—whether she was really Suz-chan or someone else. Just thinking about it made my chest stir uneasily.

“Why are you here?”

I asked cautiously, and Konatsu-chan gave a mischievous smile.

“I've been waiting for you to be alone, Hajime-senpai.”

“…Waiting?”

Konatsu-chan lightly spun around and walked to the edge of the rooftop. Her movements seemed relaxed, but to me, they appeared as though she was putting on a facade.

“…What do you mean, waiting?”

Trying to suppress my emotions, I asked, and Konatsu-chan leaned against the railing, staring at me intently.

“Hey, when you were in the hospital, didn't something feel off?”

“Something off?”

“Yeah, like if there was a sense of discomfort, or if someone said something strange…”

Konatsu-chan smiled meaningfully. For some reason, my chest tightened at her expression.

“…Now that you mention it, someone did visit my hospital room. They seemed to know a lot about me…”

“Probably someone you know, right?”

The moment Konatsu-chan quietly mentioned that name, my heart skipped a beat.

Mizuki-san. The cousin of Masato. He had visited the hospital when I was there and knew an eerie amount about us.

“…Who are you talking about?”

As if enjoying my reaction, Konatsu-chan slightly twisted her mouth into a smile.

“Seems like you met him after all.”

A chill ran down my spine.

It wasn't that I wanted to avoid this topic, but Konatsu-chan's way of speaking made it feel as though she already knew the answer.

“You know. What does Mizuki-san have to do with anything…?”

Konatsu-chan stared deeply into my eyes and lowered her voice just a bit.

“…That man is the one who took away the ‘really important person’ from me.”

I couldn't immediately understand the meaning of her words.

But the moment I saw the shadow in her eyes, something clicked.

“Hajime-senpai, you don't know anything yet. But there's something you should know…”

“…Something I should know?”

“Yes. If you don't want to know, I won't say anything more… But don't you want to know? That the promise the three of us made back then was a lie…?”

Her words sank quietly into my chest.

I couldn't say I didn't want to know.

That promise we made that we believed in and kept.

But Konatsu-chan's words made it sound as though there was something else, something different from what I had believed.

Mizuki-san's cryptic words, “I hope this time, no one gets lost…” had always been a nagging thought in my mind.

What did Mizuki-san know? What was he trying to convey?

But it wasn't just that. Why was Konatsu-chan asking me this now?

And what did she mean by “taken away” and “a lie”?

It felt as though she was trying to confront me with something unresolved within her.

“How about a ceasefire for now? And… I need you to cooperate.”

Konatsu-chan's voice blended with the wind on the rooftop.

“For both of our sakes.”

I knew I shouldn't agree to this invitation. I should feel that way, but…

“…What should I do?”

Before I knew it, I had said those words.

Konatsu-chan slowly smiled.

But it wasn't the usual light smile.

It was a somewhat sad smile.

—At that moment.

A voice came from the direction of the rooftop door.

“Hajime!”

With a sharp voice, footsteps hurriedly approached.

I turned around to see Kagura and Marin panting as they rushed up to the rooftop.

“…Huh?”

Both of them looked at me, then immediately shifted their gaze to Konatsu-chan standing beside me.

Clearly taken aback by the unexpected person, Kagura and Marin looked visibly confused.

“Who…?”

Marin frowned suspiciously.

As the two tried to make sense of the situation, Konatsu-chan smiled faintly.

“…Heh.”

It was as if she were enjoying this situation.

The next moment, Konatsu-chan put her hand in her pocket and took something out.

It was a small, wrapped piece of chocolate.

“Here, Hajime-senpai.”

Saying this casually, Konatsu-chan placed the chocolate in the palm of my hand.

“…Eh?”

I was bewildered by the suddenness of it all.

Upon seeing this, Kagura and Marin's expressions changed drastically.

“…!”

Both of them widened their eyes, speechless.

Konatsu-chan glanced at them, then smiled again.

“Well then, I'll be going.”

She gave a polite bow toward Kagura and Marin.

Their gazes focused on Konatsu-chan, and the atmosphere around us tensed. Konatsu-chan turned her back on us quietly, as if nothing had happened.

She glanced at me for just a moment.

“See you, Hajime-senpai.”

With that, she walked calmly toward the door of the rooftop.

—Leaving the rest of us behind.

“Kagura? Marin?”

I called out to them, but—

“…Hajime.”

When I turned back, the anger was evident in both Kagura and Marin's eyes.

“Wait a minute, who was that person?!”

Marin's voice was sharp.

“What's going on? Why did she give you chocolate?”

Kagura too looked at me, disbelief evident in her expression.

“No, it's not like that…!”

I tried to make an excuse, but their gazes were so intense that my words were drowned out.

In the cold wind, I could only face their anger head-on.