Chapter 34: CH 34

Kiri’s Perspective (2)

When the phone call with Nagi-kun ended, I slowly rested my back on the balance ball and stared at the ceiling for a long while.

“Hah~…”

I wanted to talk to him a little more, and I knew I could have.

I had a lot of questions going over my head that I wanted to ask, so I was going to call again just for a little while, but then I realized it was way past the time I had set for myself.

I started calling his phone while watching the second hand on the clock tick by slowly.

I thought I could call Nagi-kun if I didn’t break the rule I had set for myself.

Suddenly, I heard a ‘nyaa~’ and felt a fluffy touch on my leg. It was my cat, Senna, who was cuddling my leg.

“Sorry, I know you’re wondering what I’m doing.”

Senna purred again. I smiled and  cuddled her close to my chest.

When I pet her, I felt so much more relaxed.

“…Nagi-kun said he understood how Yui-chan feels when she wants me to sing for her.”

“Nyaa~”

“Fufu… That’s right, how would I know? You seem to have a troublesome owner, nyaa~”

Senna had recently started letting me touch her paw pads.

I held her little hand like I was shaking her hand and it was just so cute, it kind of made me want to cry.

When I said ‘friends,’ I wondered if we would ever play together like this.

I didn’t think Yui-chan caring for me was a good thing.

She also apologized to me personally for giving Nagi-kun a ticket to the radio show, and I told her there was nothing to apologize for.

I wasn’t expecting it. But that was just an excuse; I knew Yui-chan’s character and I still gave her the ticket.

‘I… I want Asatani-san to tell Nagito-san how she really feels.’

And all of my cunning and slyness, Takane-san knew.

She knew, and she was mad – and she scolded me for it.

Takane-san was very kind but also strict with herself. It was not easy for someone like that to fall in love with someone else.

When she defended Nagi-kun and said she was his ‘current-girlfriend,’ I was sure that Takane-san was still unaware of her feelings.

“…I made her confess, didn’t I? But I wonder if that would have happened even if I hadn’t intervened.”

Senna didn’t squeal, she just stared at me.

She didn’t try to have the look on her face that said, “I don’t want you to say this.” She just stared at me.

My true feelings, and how I really felt about Nagi-kun right now. I couldn’t say all of that. I would be fine putting it away until graduation, and even long beyond that.

What I said to Nagi-kun on the day of our junior high school graduation ceremony. I thought there were many people who spent this day without a care in the world – what a surprise.

“Nyaa~”

“…That’s right. We’re going to have fun together, so it would be a shame if I didn’t enjoy it.”

I was a friend, so I could play with Nagi-kun, Takane-san, and everyone else.

It was better not to overthink everything. I couldn’t swing Nagi-kun around any more and be near him in that way.

“…I have to practice my singing. Do you want to sing together, Senna?”

When I scratched her under the chin, Senna rolled over and started indulging herself. She liked to sleep in my chest, and during the winter months she would often climb into my bed.

Senna was a girl, but I couldn’t tell Takane-san how I named her. If I told her, I would not be able to show her how I always spend time with Senna.

“Nagi-kun, I wonder if he’s watching…”

I knew that ‘Ao Riri’ was watched by a lot of people from our age group and people a little older than us, but I couldn’t check the broadcast in real time when I thought Nagi-kun was watching it.

While I was still agonizing over my thoughts, there was a knock at the door of my room. I noticed earlier when chatting with Nagi-kun that Mom had come home from work.

“Kiri, what about today’s drama? Do you want to watch it with your mom?”

“Mhmm, not today. I’m alright.”

“Is that so? I wanted to talk about your acting for a bit… Alright then, let’s watch the next broadcast together.”

“Okay, good night, Mom.”

“Yes, good night.”

I knew that the reason she didn’t open the door and come in was because my mom respected me.

But it made me a little sad. When my mom watched the broadcasts with me, she no longer laughed as happily as she did the first time.

“…I know I’m overthinking this.”

Getting up from the balance ball, I looked at my smartphone on the bed.

I wondered what I looked like when I was talking to Nagi-kun.

Even when I didn’t have to act, I kept telling myself what kind of expressions I was allowed to make.

I wondered when that started. It wasn’t when I met Nagi-kun.

Was it since that time when Nagi-kun confessed to me? No, it started long before that.

I needed to practice singing. That was not for Nagi-kun, but because the better I sang in front of my friends, the better the atmosphere would be.

I wondered what kind of song Takane-san would sing.

“If we both ever did a duet, I wonder what Nagi-kun would look like.”

“Nyaa~”

Senna squealed like she was not interested and curled up in my bed. She didn’t like to be bathed, so when she sensed that I was about to take a bath, she suddenly started being disinterested.

If I took a bath now, Nagi-kun might just be watching the drama. Even if this was just a matter of mood, I thought I would just record it today and watch it later if I wanted to.