Kururi Kurumizawa gave the following assessment of Shiho and Iâs romantic comedy:
âItâs almost stretching it.â
I couldnât argue with that statement.
Deep down inside, I thought that might be true.
But Shiho is different.
Unlike me, she has a strong will. She has absolute confidence.
She would never doubt herself like I do.
And she trusts me more than I trust her.
âYou know, Kotaro-kun, you love me, donât you? Maybe you donât realize it? Iâm so lucky to be loved like this⦠Itâs so wonderful that you look so pained just because another girl touched you. Really, I canât help but love you.â
Shiho is good at detecting things Iâm not aware of.
Like now, she can read my mind from my simple actions.
I wonder if she is smart even though her grades are bad. Sometimes, she makes a pointed remark that makes my heart skip a beat.
âBut, Kotaro-kun, you are not kind to yourself because you always want⦠to be perfect, and even now you are not satisfied with yourself, right? So, like this, you canât forgive yourself.â
â⦠I guess so.â
Shiho explained my mental situation, which I had not been able to verbalize, to me instead.
When she said it, I recognized a side of myself that I did not know was there, that I might indeed be like that.
Maybe Iâm quite a perfectionist.
No, technically speaking, I am too much in pursuit of my ideal self.
Thatâs why I get frustrated with myself when I fall short of the ideal.
I deny that I am such a fool.
Shiho saw that part of myself as dangerous.
âIf you donât learn to love yourself a little more, it wonât work out even if you become my lover. Because you make it so hard on you, it will surely fall apart at some point. Kotaro-kun will get angry at his unworthy self and wonât be able to stand being around me.â
âI imagined.
Letâs say I was dating Shiho in this state.
My great girlfriend and me standing side by side ⦠Oh, so thatâs what itâs all about.
I mean, one day Iâm going to think like this.
Once we start dating, those feelings will be more apparent.
Shiho thought that far⦠and may have sensed that it would happen, rather than just saying itâ¦
So I didnât rush.
Slowly, she was going to wait until I matured and learned to love myself.
(She wasnât stretching it outâ¦, after all.)
Understanding this, I was ashamed of myself for doubting it.
Shiho Shimotsuki sees much further into the future than I do.
I live in the present with the goal of being happy at that moment.
It seems like she is living momentarily, but she is not.
Shiho was very serious about love.
âBut Iâm sorry, okay? I was supposed to be there to watch over you until then⦠I got sick. They took advantage of my absence and hurt you.â
Then Shiho showed a rare display of anger.
âI will never, ever, ever allow anyone to tarnish my treasuresâ¦â
She bit her lower lip in frustration.
In her eyes, a fire of fighting spirit, which did not suit Shiho, was burning.