Chapter 23: Back to the Future to Those Days

♢♢♢

I’m soaking in the bathtub, surrounded by rising steam.

After exercising, it feels incredibly good.

This is the bathroom in Tachibana-san’s tower mansion. The bathtub is wide enough to stretch my legs, the tiles and walls are sparkling clean, and it even has a jacuzzi.

After Tachibana-san threw up on me, I was put in a taxi with it still on my clothes and brought here. Apparently, Tachibana-san’s mom is always out until late at night, and her little sister, Miyuki-chan, is still at futsal. It’s completely different from the house I live in, I think to myself.

On the high floor of the tower mansion, the entrance is already spacious, and the appliances in the washroom are all the latest models.

“Shirou-kun.”

A voice calls me from the washroom.

“I’ll leave the change of clothes here.”

She bought them for me while I was rinsing off.

“Thanks.”

“No, it’s my fault. Well, take your time.”

Smelling the lavender scent of the bath salts, I stretch and relax.

I was feeling kind of tired, so I soaked in the bath slowly. I’m generally a long-bath kind of guy.

After getting out of the bath, I dry off with a towel and put on the clothes Tachibana-san bought. They’re chic, the kind of style she said she wanted me to wear.

I dry my hair, walk down the hallway, and enter Tachibana-san’s room.

Tachibana-san is lounging on a big cushion, twirling her hair.

“I was going to read some manga while waiting, but knowing Shirou-kun is here makes me kinda nervous……”

Tachibana-san is dressed casually in a hoodie and shorts. Her white thighs and slender legs are stretched out. With the floor heating, she’s comfortable barefoot.

By the way, at the entrance, there are guest slippers and a pair of monster-foot plush slippers. After taking off her shoes at the entrance, Tachibana-san naturally slipped into the plush slippers, but then, perhaps embarrassed by her childish taste, she quickly took them off. Blushing, she said, “Th-these are my mom’s,” but I think her mom’s been unfairly blamed. She could’ve at least said they were her sister’s.

Tachibana-san’s room looks mature at first glance, but it’s mixed with childish tastes.

The curtains and bedspread are color-coordinated, and the furniture is stylish, but the hairpins on her desk are adorned with cute flowers.

“Shirou-kun, don’t just stand there, sit down.”

Tachibana-san points to the bed.

“Uh, there……”

“There’s nowhere else to sit.”

“I can see a chair by the study desk.”

“There’s nowhere else.”

Tachibana-san sits on the bed herself, urging me to join her. She looks a bit shy, and thinking she’s just a love-struck kid and nothing weird will happen, I sit on the edge of the bed.

“Being alone together is the best.”

Tachibana-san leans against me. Now that she mentions it, it feels like it’s been a while since we’ve had a calm moment alone.

“Sorry about earlier. I said a lot of things.”

“I’m the one who should apologize for my harsh words.”

“Then let’s make up.”

Saying the clothes look good on me and that I’m cool, Tachibana-san hugs me. It seems she’s content with just a hug and nothing more.

That’s right. Tachibana-san is the type who finds happiness in these little moments.

She loves cute things like stay-at-home dates. She doesn’t actually want to have sharp arguments like earlier. So this is fine. I wish this moment could last forever.

“I want to be honest and talk about everything. But it’s hard to be completely open.”

“I get it. I’m the same way.”

“When I was little, I was more honest.”

“That’s true for most people.”

“So, I think I’ll go back to being a grade-schooler.”

“Huh?”

“If I go back to being a grade-schooler, I can tell Shirou-kun my true feelings.”

“You’re jumping way ahead, and I can’t keep up.”

“Don’t you want to talk to the grade-school me, Shirou-kun?”

“Is this hypothetical? A metaphor?”

“No, it’s real.”

Tachibana-san stands up, takes something out of a drawer, and, blushing slightly, holds it out shyly.

“Talk about crazy timing and a crazy thing to pull out!”

I can’t help but blurt out. What Tachibana-san is holding out is—

A love notebook, of all things.

It’s a secret book of love techniques, compiled by a former member of the Mystery Research Club, filled with psychology and methods to make someone fall for you. The creator originally intended to write a love mystery but ended up completing this notebook solely from their obsession with love. Rumor has it their IQ was 180.

“You brought it all the way back from the clubroom……”

“Yup.”

She must really love it. Moreover, this notebook contains outrageous games for bonding with the opposite sex, making it a forbidden book. We’ve already caused all sorts of self-destruction with it. I can’t taste anything unless it’s a moist Pocky, and Tachibana-san sometimes still can’t shake her puppy mood.

And this time, the game Tachibana-san proposed is—

Back to the Future to Those Days.

The game’s description starts like this:

“Haven’t you ever thought, ‘If only I’d met that girl I love first, or if we’d been childhood friends—’”

In other words, it’s a game to go back and meet the past version of that girl and influence her past.

Of course, it’s not a time machine. Reading the game’s description, I’m even more convinced why this notebook is considered forbidden.

“This is just regression hypnosis!”

A technique to put someone in a hypnotic state and return their consciousness to childhood.

“I’m going to turn back into grade-school Hikari-chan now, so imprint on me there.”

“You’re only saying ominous things.”

“I’ll make sure no other guy can ever touch me. Imprint ‘don’t touch, don’t touch’ on me. Or make it so I can’t even see other guys besides Shirou-kun.”

“No way, doing something like that is……”

“Right. I figured you’d say that.”

But, Tachibana-san continues,

“Don’t you want to meet grade-school Hikari-chan?”

“I kinda do, but……”

Whenever we play these games, it never ends well. So I hesitate, wondering what to do. It’s not something to do lightly. As I’m thinking—

“Fine.”

Tachibana-san stands up.

“If you hate it that much, I’ll take this notebook back to school right now. If Shirou-kun won’t do it, there’s no point in keeping it. I wouldn’t do it with anyone else, and I don’t want to.”

Her profile looks incredibly lonely.

She probably wants to play this game to have fun with me innocently. Lately, things have been so tense.

But after being rejected, Tachibana-san looks like she’s about to cry. At that moment, my body moves on reflex.

“Wait a sec!”

I step in front of Tachibana-san, dangling a five-yen coin on a string.

“Aha!”

Tachibana-san laughs with a delighted expression.

“I love that about you, Shirou-kun.”

“No imprinting, okay?”

“Got it.”

We’ll just play a little. I want to meet grade-school Hikari-chan too. After all, I fell for Tachibana-san back when we were in grade school.

“We’re doing it, right?”

“Yeah, let’s try it.”

Back to the Future to Those Days.

That’s how it went.

♢♢♢

First, we decided to test if regression hypnosis would actually work on me. To be honest, I’m pretty skeptical about hypnosis and stuff like that. I half-think nothing will happen.

But you never know until you try, so we sit facing each other on the bed in Tachibana-san’s room. The way Tachibana-san sits cross-legged is kinda cute.

To make it easier to slip into hypnosis, we play some association games, and then—

“Shirou-kun, you’re going to turn into a baby, turn into a baby, Shirou-kun is a baby, a baby.”

Tachibana-san dangles the five-yen coin in front of my eyes and starts swinging it.

I’m totally exasperated. A baby is such an extreme choice, and regressing that far feels way too impossible.

“Baby Shirou-kun will lie down with my lap as a pillow, lie down.”

Ogya ogya. She’s just dreaming of a lap-pillow scenario in her room, isn’t she? But I’m not opposed to making that happen, and I do feel a certain babbu urge to rest my head on those white thighs stretching out from her shorts.

“There, there, Shirou-kun is a good boy, isn’t he~”

Hey, hey, don’t make me go all ogya ogya babbu babbu.

“If only regular Shirou-kun were this honest.”

“Hogya?”

“I love you, Shirou-kun, there, there. Hey, no sucking your finger! Stop that!”

“Kya, kya!”

Ogya ogya gyagyabu~.

“Shirou-kun, you’re such a spoiled baby.”

“Ogya~?”

“Want some milk?”

“Ogya, ogya.”

“I should’ve bought a baby bottle. I should’ve prepared for a baby pattern.”

Ongyagyagyagya.

“But I think I’d rather be the little one and get spoiled.”

“Gyapu~.”

“I want grade-school me to get teased a ton by Shirou-kun. I’ll clap my hands to bring you back, so tease me a lot. Be forceful, okay? Absolutely, Shirou-kun.”

“Ogyagyagyagyaru gyaru!”

Babushakabubu babu~!

“But before that, maybe I’ll do a little imprinting.”

“Babu!?”

“Shirou-kun will feel naughty when he sees twin-tails, feel naughty.”

“Ho, hogya~! Babushakabu~!”

“Shirou-kun will feel very naughty when he sees a school swimsuit, very naughty, want to tease, want to tease.”

“Hogya~! Hogya~!”

“Okay, Shirou-kun, come back!”

Ogya babu~!

“Ha!”

My consciousness rapidly resurfaces. What was I just doing? Why am I on her lap? More than anything, I feel like I was in a really embarrassing state……

“Did the hypnosis…… work?”

“Look at the clock.”

“……Time skipped.”

“Then it’s my turn. Grade-schooler is fine for me.”

Saying she needs to prepare, Tachibana-san leaves the room. She comes back with two hair ties hooked on her finger.

“This sets the mood, right?”

What kind of mood, I wonder, but the moment Tachibana-san ties her hair into twin-tails, the back of my head suddenly feels hot. And for some reason, I feel very naughty.

“What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing.”

Why is this happening? I really want to tease the Tachibana-san in front of me.

Suppressing those improper impulses, I start swinging the five-yen coin.

“Tachibana-san, you’re going back to grade school, going back, going back, going back to grade school.”

Tachibana-san’s eyes quickly take on a sleepy look. Her eyelids slowly close as if she’s drifting off, and when they open again, her expression is incredibly childlike.

And then, Hikari-chan (grade-schooler) says in a spoiled voice,

“……Shirou-oniichan.”

Thus began the real Back to the Future to Those Days.

♢♢♢

“I’m hungry!”

Saying that, Hikari-chan (grade-schooler) tugs at my sleeve and drags me to the kitchen.

It’s no wonder she’s hungry. After all, she threw up everything onto my clothes.

“Make something~!”

“So Hikari-chan was the type who had her mom make everything, huh?”

“Hikari has secret food too! Stuff Mom doesn’t know about!”

Saying that, Hikari-chan opens a small door at the corner of the kitchen cabinet. Inside, a massive pile of instant cup noodles is haphazardly stacked. It’s a perfect reflection of Hikari (high schooler)’s sloppy personality. Wanting Hikari-chan (grade-schooler) to eat something more nutritious than instant food, I borrow some ingredients from the fridge and whip up a simple salad and scrambled eggs.

“Ketchup and mayo too~”

Hikari-chan is the type to put ketchup and mayonnaise on her scrambled eggs. We bring the food to the living room, and as Hikari-chan munches away, I sit beside her, watching. I wipe the ketchup and mayo from around her mouth with a wet tissue.

“Wanna flop down~”

Free-spirited Hikari-chan finishes eating and heads back to her room to lie down. She says, “Flop down with me,” so I lie beside her, snuggling close.

It’s strange. Her body and limbs are clearly those of a sixteen-year-old high schooler, but her gestures, speech, and expressions make her seem genuinely like a grade-schooler.

“Hikari, Hikari,”

Hikari-chan says, clinging to me.

“It’s not just Shirou-oniichan—I ended up liking Yanagi-oniichan too.”

“You’re really honest, huh.”

“But I like Shirou-oniichan way, way more. Way, way more.”

“Thanks.”

“But, but, I keep thinking about Yanagi-oniichan too, and it’s making my head all weird. I only want to think about Shirou-oniichan.”

Being a grade-schooler, Hikari-chan is brutally honest about everything.

“Does Shirou-oniichan not like this kind of Hikari? You don’t like me anymore?”

“That’s not true.”

Sure, it’d be nice if she stayed completely devoted to me, but that’s probably not realistic. Noticing the charm of different people and feeling affection for them—that feels perfectly natural.

“But then, won’t Shirou-oniichan end up liking Hayasaka-oneechan? Won’t you choose Hayasaka-oneechan over Hikari?”

“No, that’s not……”

As I’m pondering how to respond, Hikari-chan looks at her hands and lets out an “Ah.”

“Gotta cut my nails.”

Saying that, she scurries out of the room with quick steps and returns with nail clippers. This random, emotional behavior is so grade-schooler.

“Cut them~”

I sit on the bed, and Hikari-chan climbs onto my lap. I start clipping her nails.

Hikari-chan keeps her fingers stretched out straight, staying still. What a good kid.

The sound of clipping nails echoes rhythmically in the room. Hikari-chan looks sleepy.

She can’t prepare her own meals, can’t go to bed on her own, can’t even cut her nails. I have to take care of her. I have to protect her. Thinking that, she feels incredibly cute and precious.

I suddenly feel like I understand how Hikaru Genji felt toward Wakamurasaki.

I clip her nails with utmost care. I have to stay by this girl’s side. I have to protect her.

The nail on her left pinky—I angle the clippers to form an oval shape.

Her fingers are stunning. Pure white, slender, long, like porcelain. As someone who plays the piano, they’re refined, free of excess flesh. Shaping the nails at their tips feels like adding the final stroke to a work of art.

The moment I focus on her fingers, she’s no longer Hikari-chan.

It’s Tachibana-san. Even her expression seems a bit more mature.

Ring finger, middle finger, index finger. After clipping, I run my fingers from the back of her hand to the tips of her nails.

“Being touched like that feels so good.”

Tachibana-san leans against me, eyes closed.

I move to her right hand.

“This is nice. It really feels like I’m being loved.”

Tachibana-san says, in a state of bliss. I think to myself,

How many people have ever cut the nails of someone they love? It’s about shaping them, tracing their contours, an act of profound significance.

By the time I finish all ten fingers, I’m captivated by the beauty of Tachibana-san’s fingers.

But clipping alone isn’t enough.

I use the file to polish and shape her nails, smoothing the contours of love.

“It’s so calming……”

Tachibana-san completely surrenders herself to me. Tachibana-san, you’re an incredible girl. You always make me notice new worlds. That’s what this game was for, right?

Polishing the nail on her right index finger, careful not to nick the skin, I think,

Focusing on a woman’s face or chest is third-rate. The most beautiful part is her fingers. Shaping their delicate tips, I feel the world. Polishing nails—it’s the gate to heaven, the Renaissance, the gospel, the creation of the world, the act of living and meeting someone—

I polish her nails obsessively. After finishing all ten fingers, I have Tachibana-san sit on the bed, kneel before her, and start on her toenails. Once again, I trace the contours of love.

Tachibana-san extends her foot. I reverently hold the top of her foot with my left hand and clip her nails with my right.

Kneeling before Tachibana-san, I’m kneeling before love.

Is there any act greater than shaping the contours of the body of someone you love?

Thumb, index finger, middle finger. I clip with gratitude that Tachibana-san was born into this world. Vulgar desires and carnal lusts fade away.

This is true love—

I’m careful not to cut too deep but also ensure they won’t split by leaving no excess length. My care for her is being tested.

What’s needed is focus and boundless love.

When I finish her toes, I feel a sense of accomplishment, as if I’ve done something noble. With gratitude, I rub my cheek against the top of her foot.

This game can end here.

With the allure of the new world of finger beauty and the afterimage of noble love burned into me—

That’s what I thought at that moment.

“Oh, right!”

Hikari-chan kicks my face and stands up.

“Gotta take a bath!”

“A bath!?”

“‘Cause Hikari exercised and hasn’t washed off the sweat.”

True, after futsal, I took a bath, but Tachibana-san hasn’t. I felt a slight oddity, but could she have planned this from the start?

“Um, Hikari-chan, could it be……”

“Yup” Hikari-chan says with an innocent face.

“Hikari can’t open her eyes, so she can’t wash her hair herself. So Shirou-oniichan has to wash it!”

♢♢♢

Man, Tachibana-san is such a schemer.

As a shy love-struck kid, she can’t take bold steps herself. But if you think about it, shame grows stronger as you become an adult. By becoming a true kid, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.

In other words, this game is entirely Tachibana-san’s way of luring me in.

A message to force me to do things she normally can’t.

“Banzai~”

In the washroom, Hikari-chan raises both arms. I take off her hoodie.

“Take it all off! Everything!”

She throws a tantrum, so I reluctantly remove her camisole and shorts too. Her underwear is a childish strawberry pattern. As usual, she’s got oddly high quality in weird places.

And her slender, white limbs are undeniably those of a sixteen-year-old high schooler.

“You can take off the rest yourself. Also, I’ll wash your hair, but cover your body properly with a towel or something.”

“Okay, Shirou-oniichan is embarrassed to see Hikari naked, right?”

“Exactly.”

She says she’ll call me when she’s ready, grabs a white towel-like thing, and heads into the bathroom.

Meanwhile, I take off my clothes and wrap a towel around my waist.

But Tachibana-san miscalculated. She set up this situation hoping I’d do something naughty, but the feelings I have for Hikari-chan (grade-schooler) are nothing but noble love.

There’s no way I’d do anything like that to Hikari-chan (grade-schooler). With that thought, I enter the bathroom when she calls me—

I’m done for.

It’s a white school swimsuit.

“Why!?”

“‘Cause Shirou-oniichan said to cover my body.”

The name tag reads “Tachibana” in hiragana. No way, she totally planned this. She had this ready from the moment she brought the love notebook home.

And why is it that, despite not having such tastes, seeing Hikari-chan (grade-schooler) in twin-tails and a school swimsuit makes me feel so naughty? An improper urge to touch her body and slip my hand inside the swimsuit wells up.

“Shirou-oniichan, it’s okay……”

Hikari-chan turns on the shower, wetting her body. The surface of the school swimsuit gleams.

“If Shirou-oniichan teases Hikari, she won’t tell Mom or the teacher.”

She says outrageous things. As expected, Hikari-chan’s core is Tachibana-san. Though her mental age is younger, her memory is fully intact, so she’s deliberately provoking me.

“Teach Hikari adult games. Tease innocent Hikari a ton. Do naughty things and make Hikari Shirou-oniichan’s girl.”

It’s a forbidden game. She’s a grade-schooler, but her body is fully sixteen, inviting me to tease her. It feels kinda wrong but kinda okay, driving me crazy, but it’d probably feel so good.

So, I reach out to touch her wet skin and swimsuit. But at that moment—

“Oh!”

As if remembering something, Hikari-chan dashes out of the bathroom, still wet, and quickly returns. In her hands are a toothbrush and toothpaste.

“Gotta brush my teeth!”

Apparently, Tachibana-san was the type of grade-schooler who brushed her teeth during bath time.

“Brush them~”

“Alright, come here.”

I sit on a chair and have Hikari-chan sit on my lap. She wraps her arms around my neck, like she’s being carried like a princess. I hold her head with my left hand and start brushing her teeth with the toothbrush in my right.

You miscalculated, Tachibana-san. You became a kid to shed your shame, but because you’re a kid, you’re too pure, and your actions are uncontrollable, derailing even your own plans.

“Open your mouth wider so I can brush your back teeth. Here, say ‘ahh.’”

“Ahh~”

Like with the nail clipping, I carefully brush each tooth. This, too, is an act of tracing the contours of love. I want to ask the world: You say you love someone, but is that love real? If you truly love her, what do you know about her? I know the shape of her teeth, the length of her nails. I’m tracing her contours. People, this is love.

I reclaim noble love and diligently brush Hikari-chan’s teeth. But—

“Shirou-oniichan, brush my tongue too~”

“Hikari-chan, you’re a grade-schooler who brushes her tongue?”

“Tachibana-oneechan’s been into it lately. She saw a video saying it’s good for health~”

Hey, don’t just split your personality like that.

“But I’ve never brushed a tongue before, so I’m not good at it.”

Still, Hikari-chan says it’s fine, so I try brushing her tongue. Being a beginner, I don’t know what I’m doing and push the toothbrush too far, making Hikari-chan gag.

“Hikari-chan, sorry.”

“No, it’s supposed to be like that. And, you know, when Shirou-oniichan makes Hikari feel bad, it feels really good.”

She says this with a blissful expression.

I brush her small pink tongue again. Each time I go too deep, she gags. Her stomach contracts, tears well in her eyes, but she seems happy.

“The bottom of my tummy goes all tight. And when that happens, I feel like I love Shirou-oniichan.”

This, this erotic grade-schooler (sixteen years old)!

I’m done for. Completely. Exactly as Tachibana-san planned, exactly as she schemed.

I repeatedly push the toothbrush deep into her throat. Each time, Tachibana-san’s body reacts. I turn up the shower’s water pressure, roughly rinsing her mouth. Tachibana-san makes drowning noises, coughing, but her expression is utterly melted.

I scoop up a droplet trickling down her inner thigh with my finger.

“Hikari, this isn’t water, is it?”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being a shameless girl. I’m sorry for being a bad girl. So punish me. Shirou-oniichan, punish me.”

It’s not just punishment. We have to wash each other’s bodies and hair too. Knowing Tachibana-san, she’s probably planned something pleasurable for every step.

“You can do everything. All the naughty things Shirou-oniichan wants to do, you can do them all.”

“Is that okay?”

She must be imagining what comes next.

Tachibana-san blushes, nodding shyly.

“What a naughty little grade-schooler.”

I won’t go into detail about the love-filled, gentlemanly acts I did with Hikari-chan (grade-schooler) after this.

Suffice to say, it was the best.

♢♢♢

In Tachibana-san’s room, I’m drying her hair.

In the bathroom, she got overheated, and after everything else, she was so exhausted she couldn’t stand. I managed to get her into loungewear, sat her on a cushion, and I’m drying her hair from behind with a hairdryer.

Naturally, we’re having a big reflection session. We agree to ban the love notebook games, and if we ever do them again, no pre-preparation allowed.

“But it was amazing, wasn’t it?”

Tachibana-san, basking in the warm air, narrows her eyes comfortably and says,

“I got turned into Shirou-kun’s doll and played with.”

“That was all love.”

“How was it, doing whatever you wanted with innocent, naive me?”

“I was just taking care of you.”

“The thing when you washed my armpits…… even I was……”

“Don’t say anything……”

“Maybe I’ll have Hikari-chan (grade-schooler) make more appearances.”

“No, that’s a bad idea.”

“When we go on a date, would you rather take Hikari-chan (grade-schooler) or Hikari-dog?”

“That’s one heck of a binary choice.”

But seeing Tachibana-san so happy is what matters most. Lately, she’s been terribly unstable.

“By the way, Shirou-kun, did you imprint something on me?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Well…… every time your hand touches me since earlier……”

“Oh, that.”

While washing her body, Hikari-chan asked, “Why does it feel so good when Shirou-oniichan washes me?” Getting your hair washed or shoulders massaged by someone else feels nice, sure. But I said, “It feels good when Shirou-oniichan touches you.” planting a pretty awful imprint.

“So I feel good just from you touching me!? Th-that’s no good!”

Tachibana-san says, unusually flustered.

“I mean, it’s already……”

Right, her skin and senses are so sensitive, she feels things intensely.

“But you imprinted something weird on me too, didn’t you?”

“……I didn’t do anything.”

Tachibana-san looks away with a straight face. No, she definitely did something.

“If you don’t fess up, this is what you get.”

“Hey, Shirou-kun!”

I wrap my arms around Tachibana-san from behind. She squirms to resist but soon settles down, rubbing her thighs together shyly.

“Shirou-kun, you can’t…… I just changed into new underwear……”

“What did you do to me?”

“That was—”

Tachibana-san confesses the imprints she placed on me: twin-tails and school swimsuits.

“You’re gonna turn me into a criminal! Undo the imprints now!”

“……Fine.”

Held in my arms, Tachibana-san lets out a sweet, moist breath and reaches for the table. But instead of the five-yen coin, she grabs a hair tie. She’s putting her hair into twin-tails again.

“Oi.”

“I’ll undo it properly.”

But, Tachibana-san tilts her chin up, giving me a pleading look, and says,

“I’ve got a bit of time before my lesson……”

Right now, in my arms is a freshly bathed Tachibana-san, her skin soft and warm.

And this Tachibana-san is the kind of girl who needs to change her underwear just from me holding her.

“……I’ve got some time before my part-time job too.”

“Well, I’m still too shy to go all the way, but before we undo the imprints, maybe just a little more……”

“Yeah……”

We nod at each other.

“Hikari-chan……”

“Shirou-oniichan……”

With the anticipation of a pleasure we could never reach normally, we bring our lips closer.

But just before we kiss—

“I’m home~”

A voice rings out.

“Huh? Oneechan, you cooked for yourself? What’s gotten into you?”

Footsteps approach from the kitchen. They’re fast. The door swings open without hesitation.

It’s Tachibana-san’s little sister, Miyuki-chan.

“I thought you’d be starving and grumpy, so I bought a bento from the convenience store—”

Miyuki-chan sees us tangled together and drops the bento on the floor.

After standing frozen for a moment, she says with an icy expression,

“Oneechan, those are my hair ties.”

♢♢♢

This time, we truly snap out of it.

We go back to being a baby and a grade-schooler once more to erase the imprints.

Now, we’re waiting for the train on the metro platform.

I’m heading to my part-time job, and Tachibana-san is going to her piano lesson.

“Your sister hates me now.”

Miyuki-chan, of course, knows her sister is engaged to Yanagi-senpai. So, I must’ve looked like the other man. She openly declared, “I hate this guy,” with clear hostility.

“It’s fine.”

Tachibana-san says with an unconcerned expression.

“What my sister thinks doesn’t affect my feelings.”

“Won’t it cause a rift between you two?”

“If Miyuki got all clingy with you, that would cause a fight.”

More importantly, Tachibana-san says,

“Shirou-kun, you didn’t end up imprinting anything on me. I could’ve made it so no other guy, especially Yanagi-kun, could ever touch me.”

It’s fine, though. Tachibana-san says flatly. Unlike earlier, she’s not showing her emotions, speaking in a very calm tone.

“Shirou-kun, you’re scared of influencing other people, aren’t you?”

“That’s……”

“You’re thinking about things like not being able to take responsibility, right?”

Yeah. Family circumstances, the impact on the future—I can’t help but think about those things.

“Then, in the end, it’s Hayasaka-san for you, isn’t it?”

Tachibana-san doesn’t look at me.

“If you choose Hayasaka-san, you’ll get along with Yanagi-kun, and it won’t affect my future.”

If we keep sharing like this, eventually we’ll graduate high school. At that point, Tachibana-san will fulfill her engagement and leave the sharing arrangement. That’s one possible outcome of maintaining the status quo, and it’s not like I haven’t considered it.

“Even for Christmas, you’re probably spending it with Hayasaka-san, right?”

“About that……”

Lately, we’ve been caught up in Christmas preparations, swept along by the giddy tension of sharing, ignoring all sorts of things. But it’s time to face reality.

“Tachibana-san, Christmas was always impossible, wasn’t it?”

As I say it, the warmth in Tachibana-san’s profile cools.

Her silence is proof of agreement.

Yes, we knew from the start. It was decided all along. Tachibana-san and I were never going to spend it together.

Because Tachibana-san—

“You’re spending Christmas with Yanagi-senpai, aren’t you?”