kiwanis-nylisc Chapter 560 555: Your Traces
Chapter 560 555: Your Traces
"Dropping me off here is fine." Nadeshiko stepped out of the vintage car and said to Asakura: "I'll just take the train home from here."
"Wouldn't it be easier to just teleport back using the Blessing?" Asakura rested his arm on the car window, looking at the girl and asking: "You could even save on the train fare."
"That would indeed be very convenient, and I was using it for a while, but to be honest, if I use it too much, it's easy to accidentally run into my sister and the others," Nadeshiko sighed, "After all, it's placed in a corner by the backyard, and our backyard is very small... To prevent being found out, I haven't used it much for a while now."
"I see," Asakura nodded with understanding: "Do you need me to move it to a more hidden spot?"
"No need, and besides, I want to take the train to sort out my feelings." Nadeshiko shook her head: "After all, the process of this trip was quite unexpected."
"Even though we brought camping equipment like tents, none of it was used." Asakura said with some regret.
"Then when you're free, Asakura-kun, let's go camping together again! During this time, I'll also find Shimarin and the others to 'recharge' properly, learn more about camping, and make full preparations!" Nadeshiko said with high energy.
Asakura gave her an "OK" gesture.
Immediately after, he turned back to look at the rear seat: "Hitori, is there nothing you want to say to Ms. Kagamihara?"
Hitori poked her head out and said tremulously: "Th-that... although I can't say it very clearly... but I'm really grateful to Ms. Kagamihara... if you hadn't come... and it was just me following Asakura-kun... when we ran into that kind of thing... I feel like I would have been much more scared... thanks to Ms. Kagamihara... staying by my side all the time... um... sorry, I can't say it very coherently... anyway... thank you so, so much..."
Asakura, with a gentle smile on his face, finished listening to Hitori's words and then gave his honest impression.
"Too long."
"Awoo..."
"But I can feel Ms. Gotō's heart through those words," Nadeshiko said happily: "Ms. Gotō... no, can I call you Hitori like Asakura-kun does?"
"You... you can call me Bocchi too." Hitori said, summoning her courage.
"Bocchi?" Nadeshiko blinked her eyes, looking a bit dazed.
"It... it's an aff... affectionate nickname my friends in the band gave me." Hitori said stutteringly.
"..."
Nadeshiko looked at Asakura with a questioning gaze that said, 'Is this nickname really okay? Is Hitori really not being taken advantage of by those so-called band friends?'
"It started as a joke, but Hitori really likes it, so now it's become an official nickname within the band." Asakura explained to her with an open-hand gesture.
Despite it being a far-fetched explanation, after spending two days with Hitori, Nadeshiko accepted it quite naturally.
"Alright then! Well, Bocchi-chan, I hope I can go out and play with you again next time!" Nadeshiko happily reached out her hand toward Hitori.
"...yeah..." Hitori gave a high-five.
"No, no, no, any way you look at it, Ms. Kagamihara's gesture was meant for a handshake, right?" Asakura teased.
"Ahhh, s-s-sorry, I was too arrogant, thinking Ms. Kagamihara wanted to high-five someone as humble as me!" Hitori pressed her forehead against the car window, performing a simplified dogeza posture: "Gomen'nasai, please forgive me!"
"No, I won't forgive you." Nadeshiko shook her head with a beaming smile.
"Fr-friendship was severed in an instant?!" Hitori felt as if struck by lightning, her whole being nearly turning to ash.
"Nadeshiko." Nadeshiko said loudly.
"Eh?" Hitori looked at her in confusion.
"If you stop calling me 'Ms. Kagamihara' so formally and call me Nadeshiko instead, then I'll forgive you, Bocchi-chan."
"Na... Nadeshiko!"
"Bocchi-chan!"
"Nadeshiko!"
"Bocchi-chan!"
"This is just a temporary parking spot, staying here any longer will cause trouble for others. Is your little play almost over?" Asakura interjected.
The two: ""Sorry"..."
Though they were forced to stop, it was clear that the relationship between Hitori and Nadeshiko had indeed become a bit closer.
"Then let's leave it at that. This time it's a real goodbye, Ms. Kagamihara." Asakura waved his hand at the girl.
"Yeah, see you later, Takuma-kun."
"...?" Asakura was about to reverse the car but felt something was slightly odd, only then realizing the girl hadn't used his surname as before.
"The next time we meet," Nadeshiko waved toward Asakura: "I'll make Takuma-kun call me Nadeshiko, too."
"I don't really care about that sort of thing; if you want, you can call me that right now."
Having been a person from the Celestial Empire in his previous life, Asakura really didn't have any hang-ups regarding such etiquette.
"...Takuma-kun definitely gets called a blockhead often, right?" The girl, who had been full of energy, felt a bit deflated by his remark and even stopped her waving motion, "Do try to understand a girl's heart a bit more!"
"Understanding that sort of thing too much will turn one into a playboy."
"I actually feel that the current Takuma-kun is already enough of a playboy..."
"Huh?"
"Nothing, please don't mind it."
Nadeshiko waved at them once more, then pulled her luggage and ran toward the train platform.
After watching her figure disappear into the crowd, Asakura drove away from the train station.
After Nadeshiko left, the air inside the vintage Ford seemed to grow much heavier. After a long silence, Asakura couldn't help but ask: "Hitori, do you really have nothing you want to say?"
"Wh... what words?" The girl gave a start like a startled bird and asked.
"Anything is fine. Your troubles, interesting things that happened at home, your outlook for the future... isn't that what chatting is for?"
"Th... the weather is really nice today." The girl played the "weather" card deck.
"After all, the typhoon just passed; even if there were clouds, they've all been blown away."
Conversation over.
After another few seconds of silence, Asakura sighed.
"When we first set out, I felt your affection level was quite high. Why have you turned back into this again, Hitori?"
"Be... because while at the inn... I understood once again how amazing Asakura-kun is... I feel like the distance... has become a bit far..."
Asakura slammed on the brakes.
With a soft "awoo," the girl's head hit the back of the front seat.
She tearfully clutched her red-bumped nose, looking at Asakura piteously.
Meanwhile, Asakura looked back at her without mercy and patted the passenger seat beside him.
"You," he said, "get over here."
"I-I-I prefer the back seat..." the girl said tremulously in a small voice.
However, her voice sounded completely lacking in confidence, carrying a sense of "I'm an easy target" weakness.
"I'm not some kind of dictatorial tyrant," Asakura said loudly, "So, I'll give you two choices."
"O-okay..." The girl hunched her shoulders, waiting for the options.
"The first choice: come sit in the passenger seat."
"The second! I choose the second one!"
"The second choice: sit in the passenger seat while wearing a swimsuit."
"Weren't the choices supposed to be about the seats?!"
"Now, which bag was that swimsuit in again..."
"Are we starting the execution already?! —! I choose the first one!"
And so, the "democracy-minded" Asakura had Hitori move to the passenger seat before continuing to drive.
But even though Hitori was now sitting in the passenger seat, the inside of the car remained dead silent; the only sound was the creaking of the car itself, as if it were mocking Asakura.
Finally, Hitori couldn't help but be the first to speak: "Is Asakura-kun angry?"
"Why would you think that?"
"B-because you stopped talking, and you aren't forcing me to talk either..."
"I've been reflecting a bit myself, wondering if I've been too harsh on you, Hitori. After all, a person's personality can't undergo a radical change in a short amount of time."
Asakura, who was rarely driving on the ground instead of flying, looked ahead and said casually: "Because you are too... well, not very assertive, I worry that you've just been forcing yourself to cooperate with me this whole time."
"..." The girl showed an expression as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.
"Don't worry about saying something strange that might displease me. After all, we are dating; trust me a little more."
"...Actually, just a little bit."
"As I thought?"
"Yes, because Asakura-kun is such an amazing person. For someone like me, just following in Asakura-kun's footsteps is already exhausting..."
"I see. It's been hard on you."
"But... even though it's tiring, I'm still very happy... I can see things I couldn't see before... even though I don't like change... Asakura-kun completely ignored my 'At-Field' and just barged right in... what with Kessoku Band, and the witch's curse, and the summer trip... by the time I realized it, my surroundings were already filled with Asakura-kun's traces..."
They were clearly words of complaint, but for some reason, coming from the girl's mouth at this moment, they didn't feel like a complaint at all, nor did they carry her usual timid aura. She lowered her head slightly, her pink hair falling along both sides of her face, hiding half of her expression and revealing only those sapphire-like eyes shimmering with subtle, tiny emotions.
Her voice was so light it seemed afraid of being heard by the wind, yet it hidden a hint of a spoiled tone she didn't dare say directly, making one want to respond to her small stubbornness.
"I see, I understand." Asakura looked at the girl with a smile in his eyes and asked out of the blue: "By the way, Hitori, did you tell your parents you were going back today?"
"Ah, right, I have to notify them in advance... phone, phone..."
Prompted by Asakura, the girl hurriedly tried to pull her phone out of her pocket, but her range of motion was restricted by the seatbelt, so she couldn't get it out no matter how she tried.
"No need to take out your phone," Asakura said. "If you don't mind, stay out with me for one more night."
"Eh?" Hitori tilted her head in confusion and watched Asakura. "But didn't Asakura-kun say he was going to that... um, Holy War with someone else?"
It seemed she had already forgotten the name of Natsu-Comi.
"It's not like I have to go there right this second; it doesn't matter if I go home a day late." Asakura said nonchalantly: "Remember? I spent a lot of magic power to reunite the innkeeper's family. You owe me one."
"That... how do I pay you back?" the girl asked timidly.
"Mucosal contact," Asakura said.
"?" The girl showed an expression of not understanding.
"Simply put, it's a kiss."
"Oh..."
"However, Hitori, a lot of your magic power has already been squeezed out by me on the way here."
"A-after all, I was taken advantage of so many times... Ugh, why do I have to say that out of my own mouth..."
"So just consider it an experiment and stay with me for a little while."
"S-since Asakura-kun says so... I-I guess there's no helping it!"
"Suddenly putting on such a grand expression, Hitori; your emotional shifts are quite fast."
"Sumimasen..."
"I didn't mean to blame you; on the contrary, it seems quite interesting to me."
"I... am not an exhibit animal..."
"Aren't band members meant for people to watch? But since Hitori is my girlfriend, maybe for me, you can count as being for 'preservation' and 'use'?"
"U-use?!"
"Come, let me pat your head."
"Aba-aba, don't look at me, look at the road! It's dangerous!"
"Don't worry, even though this car looks like an antique, it actually has an automatic transmission."
"Is that what automatic transmission means?!"
Before long, Asakura found a place similar to a pedestrian street with a small plaza.
"A-are we going shopping?" Hitori asked in a small voice.
As a "gloomy shut-in," the most "normie" things she could imagine were probably just shopping together and watching movies.
"Even though it's a bit sudden, Hitori, you once did an impromptu street performance with Kikuri, right?" Asakura asked.
"That was to sell tickets... the ticket quota at the time was a bit of a struggle..." Hitori said softly.
Asakura led the girl to the back of the car and opened the trunk of the vintage vehicle; Hitori was then stunned by what was inside.
"M-my guitar? Why is it here?"
"I asked Aunt Michiyo for it before we left," Asakura said. "I heard from Futari that you used to practice the guitar for several hours every day at home?"
"Yeah... because I didn't have friends and didn't want to go out to play..." Hitori muttered under her breath. "I didn't want to study, so I could only practice the guitar..."
"So, having not touched the guitar for these past few days, how are you feeling right now?"
"...I super want to take it out and play."
Hitori, for whom it had become second nature, resisted for a moment, but ultimately succumbed to her own desire and spoke softly to Asakura.
"Then go play!" Asakura gave the girl an encouraging push. "Not only must you play, but you must sing too! That's the only way it counts as healthy!"
"Eh? Now? Here?" Hitori instinctively picked up the guitar bag, but she was still a bit hesitant.
"Go to the plaza over there; there are more pedestrians there."
"W-will that make it easier to attract passersby and give me more confidence?"
"No, that way we can blend into the crowd and escape easily when the police arrive."
"An illegal performance?!"
"Just kidding. Don't worry, I'll help you sort out the performance permit."