Episode 116 – Finish Talking

By the time I finished talking about the past, the sun was already setting and the cup of hot tea was getting cold. Yukihana listened intently to my story without interrupting me. I thought she would be suspicious of my unrealistic talk, but I think she was listening to me all the time without questioning my story.

“So, any questions?”

“……”

Yukihana folded her hands on the desk and pressed them shut. It’s impossible for me to guess her current state of mind right now. What did she think when she heard what I had to say? Or has she become more and more confused about me? It doesn’t matter to me. I’m not interested in other people, after all.

“……I think there was some kind of unnatural breakdown along the way.”

“It’s just your imagination. Perhaps it’s just your lack of imagination.”

“……I see.”

When I talked to Yukihana about the past, I didn’t mention the existence of “Shinkai Sakura” at all. I was a little nostalgic in my heart, but her existence would be like a joker for me and for Yukihana. So, because I talked about the past with a focus on me and Shinya, there was a bit of a contradiction. But it’s within the range of deception. It probably won’t be a problem.

I’m going to take a leap in a slightly different direction, just for the sake of deception.

“By the way, my real father is getting out of prison soon.”

“…….Are you going to meet him?”

“No, I’m not particularly interested.”

I lost interest in my own parents when I was in middle school. I can’t imagine why they divorced and why they ended up the way they did. I can’t imagine it, and maybe it’s something trivial. But there is no point in worrying about the past.

“So, do you understand me a little better now?”

I ask her about the underlying purpose of my sharing my past with her. Yukihana looks at me suspiciously, then narrows her eyes and says

“……How could I, you idiot.”

Saying this, she sipped her ice-thin orange juice. Well, the result is pretty much as I expected. But I think she get the idea that Shinya and I are enemies. That alone was a good thing for me to have partially confided in her about my past.

However, as expected, Yukihana also felt a little awkward after hearing about my past, and muttered again.

“…..It’s not like I have any sympathy for you.”

“I don’t want you to feel sorry for me.”

“Get in trouble.”

“Which are you?”

While saying that, Yukihana seemed to care about me. As far as I’m concerned, it would only be a problem if she really sympathized with me, but I can use this, so I won’t dare pursue it any further.

And when she finished her cold cup of tea, Yukihana started to talk to me again.

“……Revenge, are you going to do it?　Against that man?”

“I guess so. I’d like to do it if I could.”

“……I see.”

In fact, I’m already working on it behind the scenes, but I’m going to tell her about it. The reason is obvious, it’s not time yet. At least I will move after Yukihana’s matter is resolved. If I make a move now, I will have to deal with unnecessary problems as an added bonus.

“……Are there any collaborators for this revenge?”

I had expected that Yukihana would start out that way. Shinya is a common enemy for me and Yukihana. That’s why the royal road development here is to join hands and fight together. However, I rejected the offer with a shake of my head.

“I’m sorry, but I’m going on my own. Don’t get involved in that.”

“….But.”

“That’s why I gave you that notepad.”

“……!”

Then I mention the note I left in Yukihana’s room earlier. I’ve come this far, but I’m not going to stir things up any further regarding Yukihana and Shinya. That’s why Yukihana should rely on someone else, not me. I don’t care what kind of end result Yukihana gets.

“……I don’t like you after all.”

“What’s with you all of a sudden?”

“I don’t care.”

Saying that, Yukihana stood up and placed a 500 yen coin on the table. Then she gathered her things and tried to leave her seat.

“…You pay the rest.”

“What, you’re not going to buy me the full amount?”

“Just die.”

Saying that, Yukihana left the restaurant. I looked at Yukihana’s glass and the 500 yen coin left behind and suddenly remembered.

“Come to think of it, I had been to a coffee shop with Shinkai before.”

It shouldn’t have been that long ago, but it makes me feel nostalgic. Putting aside this and that with my sister, it was really the first time in a long time that I had tea with someone like this. That’s why there’s nothing special about it, but I was strangely immersed in sentimentality.

“…..I just have to do what I have to do.”

And when all is said and done, I don’t really care what happens to me. Because I’m giving up on my life.

———–

“……….Stuuupid.”

After leaving the store and being alone, I took a deep breath and muttered as hard as I could. I made sure there was no one around. I had never done anything like this before.

“…….Being told this is something heavier than I imagined.”

It wasn’t that there wasn’t anything in his life that I didn’t think about. Even I would have been pessimistic and unfaithful about my own family if it hadn’t been for my brother. I don’t know what my life would be like now if my father and mother had not loved me.

Whether there was a family who loved me. I’m sure that is the only difference between me and him. Well, it seems that that guy has a family that looks out for him now, but I’m not sure how he feels about that.

“But this is the first time he opens up to me.”

I pull out my smartphone from my pocket. On the screen, the characters during the call appeared, and I can see that the call continued for a long time.

I had connected the call to a certain person when I entered the coffee shop. It was the person whose phone number that guy had written down in a notepad, and who I honestly did not know how to deal with, either.

But when I called  before, they said they would help me with anything. So now was the time to take advantage of the opening, connect the call, and have them listen to the entire conversation.

“……Um, hello?”

[……]

I don’t hear anything from the other end. Is that person pushing away or away from the phone? I wondered if I had made the right decision in believing that if I connected the call to this person, something would change.

But since they knew this number, there was no doubt that there was a relationship between the two of them. To be honest, I wanted to ask him about it, but I decided that I should not let him talk about his own past any longer. I’m sure that if I ask him for more, I wouldn’t know what kind of retaliation I would get.

“……Can you hear me?”

I gathered up my courage and spoke into the other end of the phone with another line. It was already awkward when I had left the phone connected for so long, but things were not going to get any better unless I spoke to the person on the other end of the line.

So I waited. I waited for that moment when that person would speak.,

Eventually……

[……Liar.]

I heard the weak voice of a girl I had never heard before coming from the other side of my phone.