“Are you serious about that?”
Wakana took a step closer, exerting pressure.
“What do you mean ‘someday’? Is that really okay with you, Eiji? Do you really think that’s fine?”
No, it wasn’t just anger. Wakana’s eyes were flickering with anxiety.
She was a reliable girl I had spent time with, someone everyone looked up to like an older sister, yet she had strange insecurities.
Now, in her eyes, it looked like the dam was about to burst, as if she might start crying at any moment.
“You can dislike me if you want. You can think I’m annoying if you want. But right now, there’s a lonely girl, your sister Eiji, who’s feeling crushed and is all alone. Stop pretending you don’t see her! That’s not like you, Eiji!”
“Wakana…”
Wakana pounded her fists against my chest in frustration. Calling me “Eiji,” just like when we were kids.
—Once we become middle schoolers, we won’t be able to spend time like this anymore.
—Huh?
—Because it would be a loss for both of us. Being childhood friends feels childish.
Those conversations replayed in my mind. The talk we had on the day I tried on my school uniform.
Wearing the uniform made me feel like an adult. That’s why the relationship we had maintained since childhood felt like a shackle.
I was embarrassed by the way we teased each other, calling each other “Kana” and “Eiji,” which felt so childish.
I hadn’t noticed Wakana’s reaction of surprise.
Was this the cause of the discord with Wakana that continued until today?
And it was also the answer to the question I had been wondering about all along.
—In the game, neither Amamiya Wakana nor Kanazaki Eiji ever mentioned being childhood friends. There was no interaction like that. I never thought they were childhood friends.
The rift Eiji had created went unresolved, leading to estrangement and becoming strangers, which depicted the future shown in the game.
(If that’s the case, is this the turning point…?)
My mind was unnaturally calm as I thought.
If I accepted her scolding here, perhaps our relationship as childhood friends could be repaired.
However, that would mean introducing an irregularity, Kanazaki Eiji, into Amamiya Wakana’s story.
Considering her narrative, it could cause a collapse of the very foundation of the scenario.
And that might take away Wakana’s happiness.
(Then, in the end, there’s nothing I can do…)
I was merely a minor character. It wasn’t permissible to take away the happy future of the heroines. I didn’t deserve it. So—
Slap!
“…Huh?”
A sharp pain shot through my cheek.
When I instinctively looked back, Wakana had swung her hand and was glaring at me desperately.
Tears were streaming down her face.
“You idiot Eiji! Fool! Coward!!”
“Huh? What!?”
“Why are you silent there!? Are you hesitating!? Is that what you mean by ‘growing up’?!”
“Wakana…?”
“Suzuna-chan has lost her father and mother and is suffering… And yet, if family like you, Eiji, won’t help her, who will…?”
My cheek, struck, felt hot.
I couldn’t understand why Wakana was so worked up.
After all, to Wakana, Suzuna and, to put it bluntly, I, were outsiders, not family.
There was no obligation to be angry. There was no obligation to help. Even if she tried her hardest, she would only end up hurt herself.
(…No. Wakana is right.)
The pain in my cheek somehow struck my heart.
It felt as if the fog in my head was clearing away, giving me a strange illusion.
And then…
(…Huh?)
And I saw… “that illusion.”
