Translated: Sei, MTL-sensei-tachi
Edited: Sei, Grammarly no Danna

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Epilogue | Because It's The Path I Chose | Remake our Life!


Part 1

I finally finished the manuscript that had been delayed for a long time, attached it and hit the send button.

The phone rang immediately. How many times have we repeated this exchange?

"Yes, Hello"

"This is Fujiwara. Thank you for your first draft. I will check it."

"Thanks for your cooperation."

It's been 10 years since I started writing light novels.

Luckily, I received an award when I was a student, and from that point on, I continued to write without much time to think. Of course, there were many times when I felt lost, but I tried not to think too much and just kept on writing.

Anyway, make it. Put it out into the world. If you are an amateur, you can simply knead the work by yourself, but if you are a professional, you must complete it properly and present it to the world. These are the words of Fujiwara-san, who has always been a great help to me. Since then, I have always followed his words.

"Thank you for your hard work the other day."

Fujiwara-san gave me a word of thanks. He did not explain what, but it was probably regarding resignation from CloDes.

"No, me too......I'm sorry to trouble you."

The final decision was not made solely by me. It was a decision that also involved Fujiwara-san. I was no longer capable of making a calm decision at that time.

"I'm sorry to have been so blunt. But I think that project was already at its limit."

"...... Right."

I thought about many things. I wondered a lot about whether this decision was really the right one. Even though I started this project by saying I would do it, I wondered if I should throw it away in the middle of the project?

Above all, Hashiba said. He said it was important to complete the project. Coincidentally, he shared the same opinion as Fujiwara-san, who had turned down the offer.

I wanted to do something about it, but I had reached my limit with that project.

"I wish I could have done something for Hashiba, but it’s a shame."

I was just about to say that.

A wry smile leaked from the other end of the phone.

"What's wrong?"

I asked without thinking,

"No, I really thought that sensei was a person who couldn't hide anything."

"................... Eh?"

"You watched the stream, weren't you?"

With that one word, I grasped it all.

Have I already been exposed to that much?

"Um, I'm sorry, I'll make sure the manuscript isn't affected, so."

"I understand. As long as you promise, it will be fine. Besides......"

"Besides?"

On the other end of the phone, a normal smile broke out this time.

"I was also watching the stream, and I was envious. People who are trying to make something are indeed attractive ... aren't they."

Now it was my turn to laugh.

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Part 2

I spent quite a long time wondering if I should put the name in the tweet or not. In the end, I decided not to include the name because I thought it would be less annoying, but I am glad that the message was conveyed properly.

"I'm glad it motivated him, really."

Kyoya-kun has been a great help to me with the game and also with the illustrations for the book, so I was sad to hear that he was discouraged by the cancellation of the project.

But I was happy to see that he was still trying to make something.

"...... I do owe a bit of an apology, though."

3 by email and 2 by phone.

I was asked, "When you are available, I'd like to work with you, please". And I immediately received a reply saying, "The illustration that was mentioned in the stream, was it Akishima-san's?" I had to tell them that it wasn't like that, that it had been decided before.

"Well, actually, I made the decision at that time."

Kyoya-kun was an interesting person.

It is not easy to say that creating something is interesting and that you will continue to do so for a long time, but it was refreshing for me to hear him say it so clearly in front of so many people.

After an announcement like that, I would have thought he would have said he was taking a break or leaving the industry for a while, or that it was only natural to say so, but I did not expect him to say right then and there that he was going to create something new again.

It's so interesting! When I was watching it, and before I knew it, I had sent RINE.

I have no idea how busy I'm going to be or when I'm going to be busy, but I can probably say this much.

"Kyoya-kun will do something"

I think that when making important decisions, it would be better to use such simple reasons.

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Part 3

"Uhm~! I really beg you, please don't suddenly decide on a new job on your own~. I'm going to get a lot of sarcasm from the department head later~!"

"Why is that bad? Because one job was canceled, so it doesn't matter if we fill it with something else."

"It's a problem~! Because we don't even know if that job will be a job or not!"

"I guess so~. It might be an indie. Ah, then it would have been better to do it without going through the office!"

"Nana-san! I'm going to get angry!"

"It's a lie, lie, sorry! Well, if I can pull something from my previous work, I'll consult with you, so Kyoka-chan, please explain to your superiors~ best regards!"

"......Yee~s"

The call was disconnected, with the manager still mumbling and complaining. I get a lot of complaints, but Kyoka-chan is kind of an excellent manager, so I'm sure she'll do a good job. Yeah.

However, I decided on the job again on the spur of the moment. As Kyoka-chan often tells me, I'm not very good with momentum. When someone says, "I like you and I want to work with you," and I feel like I'm doing my job by saying "I like you too!". I am so easy.

But I think there's a reason for that, and people who want to make something, or who come to me and say, "Please give me your song!'', do their job properly until the end. If this is the type of work where you have to write a lengthy proposal about how the marketing is going to work, or how the work has sold, the last part of the proposal tends to be a lot messier, and you tend to say, " Isn't that good??"

Hashiba-san, I mean, it's not fair that everyone calls him Kyoya or Kyoya-kun, and he is a person whose passion to create comes out of nowhere, and yet he is a competent facilitator when the job is done properly, so you can rest assured.

Nevertheless.

"That guy ...... is good, yeah."

I had an image of him as a kind brother with a nice voice, but after watching that stream, I was a bit excited. Or rather, it made me like him quite a bit. We are the same age. I'm interested in him.

"If he and Eiko haven't been together yet, maybe I'll try to talk to him"

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Part 4

I finished work early that day, so I went out for a drink with a senior employee from my former company. Then I heard that a junior employee from my former company was going to appear on Nico Live, so I decided to watch it on my phone and have a drink with my senior.

The result,

"That guy, he was supposed to be streaming serious news about the cancellation of a production, and suddenly he starts talking about himself, and then he says he's going to make a game, he is really too crazy, seriously."

My senior who was drinking with me got drunk as you can see.

"But what he said really made an impression on me. I'm not from a creative field, so I thought maybe I wouldn't understand what he was talking about, but I felt like I had to do it."

People talk a lot about logic and theory, but what counts in a public forum is how seriously you can show your true intentions. In that sense, I think the speech was very effective.

"Kojima, were you that romantic?"

"If you put it that way, even Miyamoto-san suddenly turned into a hot-blooded uncle."

Ngugu, said a senior who was at a loss for words.

"...That's, well, his influence."

Yes, I really think so.

I was locked in the basement where I could get paid without working, and I was thinking that I would change jobs after about 3 years of fun, when suddenly a hot-blooded guy like the main character in a TV drama came in, who was also amazingly talented, and everyone was interested in him, including me, Miyamoto-senpai, Kouhai-chan, and the department head. Everyone took a liking to him.

Well, the company itself was already in a mess, so in the end no major reforms could be made, but if that hot-blooded man had been awakened earlier, the whole world would have been more interesting, I think.

"Even you were complimenting that guy."

Yes, I do. Otherwise, we wouldn't be doing this or that.

"For now, it looks like our star player is going to do something again, so let’s look forward to seeing what he will do behind the scenes."

Miyamoto-senpai nodded his head and said, "Ngu," with a much sobered look on his face,

"Good luck~, this time don't get caught by a crazy person..."

With his last ounce of strength, he raised his mug, which did not have much left in it.

"Hashiba-kun, be well"

We raised our medium mugs to each other and congratulated our passionate junior for the future.

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Part 5

Nosappumisaki, Hokkaido. 4:00 AM.

The notification came in a place where the internet environment was not quite as good as it could be.

"That was an unexpected turn of events. Hashiba, that was foolhardiness."

I unilaterally took a leave of absence from work and took off without telling anyone. The standard for this kind of trip is to go north or south for now, so I decided to go to Hokkaido since I was familiar with Kyushu.

So I was driving to see the Northern Territories or something around there, and luckily the Wi-Fi at a diner in the Kushiro area caught the Nico Live information.

And I saw it.

After it was over, I didn't know what to do, so I just went outside. Hokkaido is a big fuc*king place, as it should be, and I couldn't go home, so I headed east as planned.

And now, Nosappumisaki. It was so fuc*king dark that I couldn't see anything, so I kind of decided to stick around until morning, worship the sea, and go home.

"I feel like my pace has gone crazy."

As expected, I thought it was time to take a break from making games for a while, and planned to take a break for about six months.

But he, who must have had an even tougher time than I did, looked like a student just out of a game production course at a vocational school, his eyes sparkling, and he said, "I'll do it again!".

There was no way I wouldn't be inspired.

"Hashiba Kyoya, huh?"

From the first time he came to us, he was a man of some repute. I thought he was a shady guy who had the backing of Kawasegawa or the executive director, but he turned out to be a hardcore idiot.

We made games together despite the hardships, cried, laughed, and became friends like we had been friends since we were students.

He was a good guy, but there was something about him that I couldn't grasp, and I was wistfully, or rather, all the time, haunted by the same delusion.

I wanted to spend my school days with this guy.

This may sound weird, but when I was a student, I was invincible.

Although there were some great guys around, I was confident that I could get past them, and I had an idea that if we worked together on something, it would be a great thing.

"Geidai... he got accepted, didn’t he?"

But if Hashiba had been around back then, I might not have had such firm confidence. He was such a man full of mysterious power.

"Project Grape, huh? That's nice."

Many people had already pointed out that after the first peak of the doujinshi game was over, there would be another wave coming up.

I am sure that the projects that those guys were leading and that the companies are supporting will become interesting in the next two or three years.

"If nothing else had happened, I might have done it too."

But.

To my dismay, it turned out not to be possible.

"Da*mn you for asking me to do this..."

Read over the message received by RINE from my former boss.

"It’s going to be expensive, Kawasegawa."

Finally, the edge of the sea is getting brighter.

When I see this, I'll be back in Tokyo. I'll have to think about what to make next.

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Part 6

The monitor in front of me shows a website reporting the news.

Clockwork Destiny's development has been cancelled. The gossip sites are all reporting BCC's loss, and many idiots are taking advantage of it.

As expected, I couldn't bear to look at it and turned off the monitor.

The room was pitch black, with only the emergency light by the window providing a dim illumination.

"He's really good at stirring up people's feelings with nothing, isn't he."

Surprisingly, he might get to a good place if he aims to be a congressman.

"But didn't you feel a little envious of that agitation?"

My former boss opened his mouth in the darkened room.

"But you also had a theory about that passion, so it's not quite the same."

"That's disgusting. If you're going to praise me, do something else, Horii-san."

He came to visit me shortly before the start of the live stream.

Originally, I had no intention of watching it. I would rather be moving to another job than wasting my time on that.

But Horii-san insisted that I should watch it, so I did.

"How was it?"

"It was a waste of time. I shouldn't have watched it."

I answered honestly, but Horii-san smiled wryly.

"I keep wondering how this happened, Executive Director."

Horii-san got up from his seat and approached my desk.

"I won't talk about that time again, but I think that if the gears had meshed just a little bit differently, we could have had a different future."

I knew what he was going to say. But I didn't say it.

"He's got me off the pace. It's a problem. Listening to him talk like a student, I get the feeling that everything I've built up is disappearing."

"That's how powerful he was."

Isn't that an overestimate, Horii-san?

Walk by the window and look at the cityscape at night.

The missing piece of humanity. We love it because we don't need it.

Those words make me laugh. Not my cup of tea.

"How can he say things like "I can't stop loving it" without embarrassment."

I said it seriously, but again Horii-san laughed.

"But still, are you sure? I should have said that I alone was enough to take responsibility."

Tomorrow's weekly magazine will report on scandals about my money.

It seemed that all the money that had been spread around in the education business groundwork, and the money spent on MysClo projects that I forced myself to put up, all the way down that route, had been found out.

So tomorrow morning I will hold a resignation press conference. In conjunction with this, Horii-san has also said that he will resign from his position.

Probably, it was BCC's Ichikawa who moved to investigate. If I had been waiting for the money to move, I would have fallen into a trap.

"I was also complicit in the misappropriation of funds."

"You just knew. You didn't plan it."

When I told him, Horii-san smiled a little sadly, just like in the old days,

"The fact that I knew about it and let it slide makes me just as guilty, Kou-kun."

Obviously, he was well aware that it involved something else.

"...... That's not fair. You only call me like that in the old days."

You can't start your life all over again.

My life, in which I hated everything and repeatedly despaired and retaliated, has come to an end for now.

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Part 7

The publisher sent me a sample image of a weekly magazine to be sold tomorrow and a sample of a hanging advertisement. Since I had already checked the contents of the magazine, I told them I would leave the rest to them.

This concludes all my plans for today. I haven't finished cleaning my apartment, so I think I'll finish up early, get some rest, and get up early tomorrow.

On the monitor, I saw the screen of the Nico Live broadcast that Hashiba-kun and the others were doing. Only the words "This stream has ended" stood out strangely.

I thought he was going to talk about the development cancellation, but then he suddenly started talking about himself, and I was wondering what was going on, and then he said he was quitting the company as well.

"I wish you would have talked to me about it ahead of time..."

I decided to forgive him because he was cute when he came to me right after the stream was over and bowed deeply.

"After all, a boy chasing his dreams is cute"

He was a capable kid, and I was thinking of transferring him to the headquarters if possible, but if he says so, well, I guess it can't be helped.

More importantly, probably at this rate, unfortunately, he might move out of the apartment as well.

If the president of the company he left is the caretaker, it's going to be hard to live there indeed.

"What should I do, go ahead and buy the apartment Kyoya-san will be in next......?"

No no, that's definitely a stalker.

However, I don't want to say that we are no longer having any relationship, so for the time being, I would like to put Project Grape under my direct control, so that I can keep in touch with them.

"All of a sudden, I'll show up and say I'm the other person in charge. Fufu"

I'm not ready to let go of such an interesting boy yet.

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Part 8

The next day after Nico's stream, I was packing a paper bag full of stuff and heading out of the BCC building.

"Uhm, I'll mail it to you later, Hashiba-san."

Perhaps concerned that I was getting reasonably heavy, Sakurai-san approached me.

"No problem. By the way, thanks again for the Grape."

Sakurai-san showed her brightest face and said,

"No! I'm motivated once again. I'll do my best to make Project Grape!"

Sakurai-san will be supporting Project Grape by herself after I leave. It is a big responsibility, but I am sure she will be able to handle it as she is getting stronger day by day.

"But just because there is support money and no salary for a while, are you sure you want to do that?"

"I'm fine. I was with a company that didn't pay me for six months, after all. I'm used to that kind of thing."

"I think it's better not to get used to that..."

Good grief, she said. That's exactly what I thought.

"Then, I'll contact you again when the project starts working."

"Y-Yes, I look forward to working with you!"

After receiving Sakurai-san's most respectful bow, I walk down the street in the morning. I had been putting away my belongings since night, but before I knew it, it was morning.

"I wish I could have at least said goodbye at the end, but I guess ...... that can't be helped."

When I was busy cleaning up, Kawasegawa also left the office before I knew it, and I was unable to talk to her.

Well, we may get together with the old Succeed group again sometime soon. It seems that Miyamoto-san has created a RINE group chat as soon as possible.

Yoisho, as I picked up the bag, but involuntarily stumbled to the left.

"It's pretty heavy."

Holding the handle firmly, I managed to start walking even though I was unsteady.

The sight of me walking, wobbling from side to side amidst the passing salarymen was quite funny. Still, I finally made it to the station and jumped on a train that had just come in.

After taking a breather, I realized that I had made a simple mistake.

"Ah, I made a mistake!"

I had mistakenly boarded a Tokyo-bound train when I should have taken a train bound for Shinjuku.

Well, I won't be commuting to work for the time being, and in any case, the Yamanote Line arrives at the desired station no matter which direction I take it.

So I sat back deep in my seat. It was Friday. It was just before noon, and the train was a little crowded, but not as much as the rush hour.

(Somehow, it looks like a lie.)

When I recall everything that has happened up to this point, it seems like a story. From the misunderstanding in Shinjuku, things have moved around up to this point. And the person at the center of it all was, unbelievably, me.

But now that I was alone, I felt crushed by an inexpressible anxiety. For someone who had dared to be so cool, it was obvious that I had nothing inside me.

"Next is Akihabara, Akihabara."

The train announcement echoed. I naturally got up from my seat.

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Part 9

I wasn't sure myself why I got off. Maybe there was something to be found in this town that I had frequented for so long. That's what I thought.

In the past, I used to frequent this city. Whenever a new game was released, I would check the pre-order specials at the store and carefully select the game after much deliberation. The same goes for new editions of novels and CDs. Even in an age when electronic media have become the norm, coming to the store was still a great way to experience something sparkling.

Behind the arcade, there was a store that I always went to. It made my heart skip a little. The posters and flyers that were everywhere brought my mind back to the place.

But when I walked into the store, my heart contracted even more. There was no place for me in the glamorous world. The feelings I once had as a user had never returned.

Actually, this is where the reservation announcements for CloDes and other items were supposed to be lined up. The posters were to be made with pictures drawn by Shinoaki, and text conceived by Tsurayuki would decorate them, while N@NA-san's music would play in the store.

When I thought about it, I suddenly felt my heart being suppressed.

What was somewhat of a dream world before I came here has returned as reality.

"...I can't go back."

The past never returns. Reality moves on.

What have I left behind? I just kept on fighting aimlessly and left nothing behind. I could have been smart and found a new place to live, but wouldn't I just be repeating something futile? These were the thoughts that kept running through my mind.

As I stood there with a heavy heart, three men passed me.

"What are you going to book this month?"

I knew immediately that they were talking about bishojo games. As the player, I too looked forward to my monthly reservations, and when I was a maker, I was both happy and sad at the number of reservations I received.

But now I didn't want to hear the word "reservation" anymore. It was hard because I had been shown only the reality for so long.

"You're going to get the crappy one again, aren't you?"

"Shut up, I enjoyed it unexpectedly, so it's not a crappy."

Apparently, it looked like the other two were stirring up someone who had once reserved a shi*tty game. Well, it's a common scene.

"I mean, the title was pretty obvious."

"The maker, you know, they should have known when they made that decision."

"What's that... You remember that, don't you?"

A and B, who were stirring things up, asked C, the person who made the reservation.

C replied reluctantly.

"[Puri-ketsu!] okay? Don't make me say it, the title is embarrassing."

I involuntarily.

(Eh...)

I almost let out a voice and rushed to hold it down with my hand.

(What did he say...?)

There was no way I could have heard it wrong. The one who made up that embarrassing title is.

"But, you know, the program was terrible, but they did a pretty good job with the scenario and direction."

The one who did it is.

"But I heard that the manufacturer is no longer in business and the president has fled."

"Aah, staff, I hope they're working on another new one somewhere."

The trio walked straight to the reservation area.

The opening movie of a bishoujo game was playing endlessly from the permanently installed monitor.

I was looking at the video over and over again with the video I had made in the past. No one helped me, no one did anything for me, I had no choice but to make the movie, and no one reacted to it.

The video images I was watching became increasingly warped and squiggly.

"It wasn't...... in vain......"

In disregard of other people's feelings, I cried.

I thought it was worthless. I thought that in an industry where everyone was sparkling and shining, no one would even look at what I had created. After joining Succeed, I pushed it to the back of my mind as a gray history, never wanting to see or remember it again.

But it reached. It's really just a few places, but it's definitely reached.

"Another new one... somewhere, huh?"

It was as if everything in front of my eyes had become colorful and different at once.

"I'll give it a shot, a new work."

Why was I feeling so weak? I myself have nothing, but I have friends who will answer my call, and if there is even one user who is waiting.

Games can be lived.

"Alright...............!"

The paper bag, which had been so heavy just a moment ago, felt so light. I held up my chest, along with a paper bag that I held up, not so quickly ... but proudly.

I turned around and was about to head back to the station.

"Eh?"

A very unexpected figure was staring at me with her hands on her hips.

"Kawase...gawa?"

I was gaping dumbfounded, but she handed me a sturdy-looking cloth tote bag.

"Here you go. I brought it because a paper bag might break. Use it."

"Ah, etto, thank you."

For now, I packed all the contents of the paper bag into the tote bag. The handle of the paper bag was indeed already torn. If I had carried it around like that, it might have suddenly shredded into pieces.

"I mean, Kawasegawa, how did you know I was here?"

Regardless of whether it is in front of Tamachi station, this is a remote Akihabara, and it is a so-called otaku shop.

"I've been following you from the office to here behind."

"Eh, you should have called out to me."

"Because you looked more depressed than I've ever seen you ...... and I couldn't say anything, so I followed you anyway."

Indeed, I had been quite depressed until just a few minutes ago. The fact that she did not call out to me and that she followed me anyway is very Kawasegawa-like.

"...By any chance, did you see me earlier too?"

Kawasegawa turned her face away, and she was reluctant to say it,

"I don't know what happened, but stop crying in public."

I knew you were watching me!

Suppressing my embarrassment, I took a moment to hold the refilled tote bag. It was better than before, but still quite heavy.

"Uhm, I'm sorry that you brought this here, but I guess I should have these sent by courier or something........."

Kawasegawa picked up one handle of the bag as if it were a matter of course.

"Look, that's half of it. We're going in the same direction, so let's go."

"Ah, y-yes."

Yes, this will make it easier to hold.

"Eh, but Kawasegawa isn't that physically strong..."

The moment I said it, Kawasegawa grabbed the luggage and frowned.

"How could you decide to bring such a heavy thing home!"

"I told you so!!"

At first, we decided to walk to the station. Kawasegawa is not fast, so I walked at a leisurely pace.

"...You know."

"What?"

It would be unnatural not to talk about anything, so I decided to talk to her.

But right now, it was a little difficult to talk.

"Uhm ...... I'm sorry for suddenly saying that I'm quitting the company."

What I said in the live broadcast was not even told to Kawasegawa in advance. I only barely told Sakurai-san beforehand regarding the Grape.

So I was sure that she would be pissed off.

"Absolutely!!"

I knew, or rather naturally, her anger exploded.

"Talking about the handover, the next job, and so on... It's a bit selfish to announce that you're quitting because you want to make games when it's already hard without Kuroda, and to do it on the company's official Nico Live event!"

"Hih, I'm sorry!!"

Well, what she said was perfectly reasonable.

That Nico Live itself was very well received, but just as the heat was starting to die down, I got hit with some tit-for-tat about not using the official stream as a private one in the first place, or about not understanding the point.

In the end, someone reasoned that it was probably meant to be a publicity stunt for Project Grape, and I decided to go along with it. In reality, it wasn't really that calculated, but rather a result of my own free will.

"Well, it's fine. I think you'll be called to the company for a while, so just do it properly."

"Yes, I'll do it properly until the post-processing......"

I think it must have been a strange sight to see the two of us walking together with tote bags hanging from both sides in the strong midday sun.

(It looks like there's a child in the middle...no, what am I talking about)

I almost stepped on a landmine that I shouldn't have.

"Hey, how far has that project been set?"

Suddenly, Kawasegawa asked.

"I haven't even decided yet. Even with the three platinum members, I haven't decided where and how they will work, and if anything, my position hasn't been decided either."

But I needed to make a decision as soon as possible.

To begin with, that project is still treated as a "reserved slot" in the Grape, and has not yet received a budget. I have to make a plan, and then I have to submit a formal application.

"But, well, I'll take it step by step. I'll have time."

"S-So......"

I just answered normally, but Kawasegawa's words were strangely inarticulate.

"Uhm, just in case, just in case I'd like to ask you about it."

"Hmm? What is it?"

Kawasegawa's voice is so small that I might miss it if I wasn't listening carefully,

"Uhm... There is an experienced person here who has been a producer for a long time, but would you consider hiring her?"

"........................ Yes??"

For a moment, I had no idea what she was talking about.

"I said! Because a person named Kawasegawa Eiko is free! I'm telling you, you can't use her!"

"I-I get that, but... why?"

Kawasegawa stopped for a moment,

"I also, you know, quit the company. I asked Kuroda to replace me."

"E-EEEEEEEH!!"

Kawasegawa's face turned red as I was completely surprised,

"That's why I'm looking for a job. Just consider it. I'll be helpful."

"No, no, so...Uhm"

So much so that my brain can't keep up. In the first place, Kawasegawa was a reasonably well-paid person. However, in this project, I can only guarantee the bare minimum.

"So, it's tough, maybe... I think I can barely afford to pay the rent and pay for food. I don't think you'll be able to maintain the lifestyle you've been living so far."

I told her the honest truth, and for some reason, she stared at me intently.

"If it's just one person. But with two, it should be possible."

"Eh, what does that mea"

I was about to ask her when Kawasegawa's face turned redder than ever, and I finally realized what she was talking about.

"Hashiba. Do you...hate me?"

In a way, I thought, it was the way she really is, the way she listens. Given her personality, it must have been quite a big decision for her to just say these words.

I, too, opened my mouth with as much sincerity as I could muster.

"Well, I love you. It's been that way ever since we first met in Shinjuku."

I still don't know what the coincidence was.

She works hard at everything she does and tries her best until the very last minute. She is actually a crybaby, but she holds back from crying all the time. She sometimes pretends to be a solitary person, but in fact, she loves people very much.

I've liked her for a long time.

".........So."

Kawasegawa heard my words and with a gentle face... 

"If so, you should have confessed sooner! Why did you make me wait so long!!"

"Whoa, I'm sorry!!"

I was scolded a lot.

"That's why I'm going to your house today as it is."

"Eh, today, suddenly?"

"Right. I'll check to see if two people can live there, and if not, we'll have to think about moving. Maybe we can look at the rent market and go to Sagami-Ono, Machida, or somewhere in that area."

Looking at Kawasegawa, who was mumbling about paying utility bills and paying off her former place, I thought it seemed unlikely that there would be anything like the freshness of the first time we started dating.

(Or rather, what I said earlier should be a confession, right?)

It's like a share house established out of goodwill.

While we were discussing such things, time passed. If we don't get on the train soon, the train will be crowded at noon.

"Kawasegawa, we should hurry up, the train--"

It was that moment.

The wind blew suddenly and hit the open part of the tote bag.

"Wawa!" 

Perhaps it was not a good idea to hold it open, but a few rough drawings that had been packed inside were blown out by the wind.

"K-Kawasegawa, it's the first job, but gather the rough together!"

"Mou! You're so weird in that way!"

With the wind making it difficult to hear each other's voices, she and I pick up the rough sketch that has flown away. Perhaps by chance, it was the rough sketch that Shinoaki had drawn that I particularly liked.

(I see, this kid too... She never went out into the world.)

I caught it in the air and this time put it neatly in the tote bag.

"Next time, I won't let it go to waste."

To the magical girl who was never born into this world.

Dreaming of a future that could have been.

I also stepped into a new creative field.


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