“Hey. Why did you help me?”
It was a natural question.
At that time, she had no connection to Izumi. She didn’t even know him. They weren’t even in the same class.
Amane was prepared for some kind of demand from her—.
[Amane must be seriously working hard as a model, right? It’s ridiculous for someone like that to get hurt over something as trivial as studying.]
After saying that, Izumi looked flustered and put on a serious expression.
[Was what I just said too much? How was it?]
[You went too far……]
The impression that he was a bit of a lightweight didn’t change.
But Amane realized that Izumi must have some kind of philosophy.
Just as Amane was trying her best as a model to meet her father’s expectations, he must have something he wants to protect too.
–When she thought that, she had already fallen into an inescapable love.
Amane shouted,
“No! I don’t want to give up!”
She thought it was pathetic.
She was clinging onto Nanao’s clothes, her romantic rival, tightly.
Amane was trembling.
What would she be told for showing such weakness?
When Amane tightly closed her eyes in that fear,
“–Yeah. Thank you for telling me your true feelings, Amane-chan.”
Nanao held her hand.
And looking straight into Amane’s eyes, she said,
“Since we like the same person, I’m sure we can become allies.”
“…!?”
Nanao’s words were undoubtedly sophistry.
But they shook Amane’s heart.
Just when she was unable to move forward out of fear of failure–
The one who illuminated that path was the person she thought was her romantic rival.
“Is that okay with you, Nanao-cchi?”
“Of course, I have my own motives too.”
Saying that, Nanao smiled brightly.
“Izumi-kun is way too shy about love, so let’s work together to make him think love is wonderful?”
“…………”
Strangely, she didn’t sense any lies in those words.
That’s when Amane finally understood the reason Izumi opened his heart to her.
“…I want to try my best too.”
Nanao’s face brightened.
“Yeah. Let’s do our best, Amane-chan.”
–An ephemeral yet beautiful friendship existed here.
Even if in the end one of them won and their paths diverged,
For now–the real thing existed here…….
“Well, I’ll be the one who wins in the end though.”
“…………”
–A spark flashed between the two of them.
“Huh? Then why are you pushing Amane away? That doesn’t make sense.”
“I said Izumi-kun is being stubborn, so I need help.”
“Just for that? You’re lying, aren’t you? You want to use Amane?”
“It’s a matter of perspective. Let’s work hard together ♡”
No matter how tightly their joined hands gripped each other–
This was probably, surely, an ephemeral yet beautiful friendship!
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
When Amane returned to the photo shoot location,
Along the way, Izumi was there.
“Amane! Are you okay!?”
“Ah……”
Amane tried to avert her gaze from Izumi with an awkward expression.
Usually she might have made some excuse and run away. But this time, with Nanao supporting her shoulder from behind and encouraged by her warmth, she put strength into her feet.
“Izumi-cchi, why are you here? Don’t you have work?”
Izumi immediately answered her question.
“You seemed out of it, so I had someone cover for me.”
“I see……”
And then Izumi deeply bowed his head.
“I’m sorry about the other day!”
“Eh? Why is Izumi-cchi apologizing…?”
When Amane looked puzzled, Izumi continued with an apologetic expression.
“I said I would support you working hard as a model, but I said something really insincere. You seemed off today too, so it was my fault.”
“No, that’s not true. I was just selfishly moping around…”
As Amane fidgeted, Izumi quietly began speaking.
“You know about my family’s company, right?”
“The SUMIE Group…right?”
“Yeah. It’s run by my parents, but…when I was in middle school, I was given a job just once. Looking back, it was probably my parents’ way of testing if I had what it takes to be the successor. They told me ‘Come up with any kind of business plan.'”
This was news to Amane as well.
Izumi was usually casual and unaffected when his family’s company was brought up. But he seemed enormously embarrassed talking about this.
“So at the time, I got an original character goods line made by a designer I liked. And I had it sold through one of our subsidiary companies…but it just totally bombed and didn’t sell at all.”
It seemed like a point where Izumi wanted Amane to laugh.
But Amane just listened seriously.
“After that, my younger sister took the same test and made crazy profits. So she was chosen as the successor instead…ah, but I’m fine with that. I think she’s more suited for it. I understand it’s for the best for the company.”
Even as he said that, he couldn’t quite hide the hint of sadness on his face.
“…But it felt like my own interests were denied, so I got hung up on that. Eventually it made living at home too uncomfortable, so I moved out on my own.”
And he squinted with a nostalgic look as he said,
“I can only do things that anyone could do. But you’re different, Amane. Everyone has such high expectations for you, and you’re active as a model. It’s not something just anyone could do.”
And he firmly gripped Amane’s hand.
“I like people who seriously work hard like you do, Amane.”
Amane’s face flushed bright red.
Like.
He didn’t say it in a romantic sense for the opposite sex. But even though she knew that, her feelings couldn’t help but be stirred.
“So Amane, do your best.”
“…Yeah.”
Amane nodded firmly, her face still flushed red.
The hand holding hers was so hot it felt like she might get burned. She even thought it would be nice if they could just melt together and never be separated for life.
Then, the voice of the photographer came from the shoot location.
“Amane-chan! Are you ready to go?”
“Ah, yes!”
Reluctantly, Amane released his hand.
For a moment, she started to dash back to the set.
But when she turned back, she smiled at Izumi.
“Izumi-cchi!”
“Hmm?”
As Izumi tilted his head, Amane said with a dazzling smile:
“It’s really cool to properly do the things anyone could do!”
“…………”
Izumi looked on in surprise as Amane headed back.
The photo shoot resumed, and the surrounding spectators’ murmurs grew louder. When Amane heard the photographer shouting something in an impassioned way…it seemed Amane was back in high spirits.
Izumi asked the grinning Nanao beside him,
“Nanao. Did you say something to Amane?”
“Hmm?”
Her expression didn’t betray her true feelings, but Izumi somehow felt it was probably the truth.
Izumi smiled a little…just a tiny bit, as if savoring Amane’s words.
–This was last Saturday.
It happened when Izumi was waiting for the train home after his date with Nanao ended.
“Nanao, why do you like me?”
Nanao looked up at Izumi’s question.
“I can only do things anyone could do, so I don’t really think I’m that appealing honestly.”
“…………”
Nanao gave a slight smile.
Then lifting herself up on her toes, she brought her lips close to his ear.
“It’s really cool to properly do the things anyone could do.”
“…………”
At those words, he felt something that had been troubling him deep inside start to dissolve, if only a little.
A feeling of wanting to entrust himself to that “like” welled up in his chest.
But precisely because of that, he was afraid to fully accept it.
Would the day come when he could take that extremely close, yet endlessly distant, step?
He didn’t know, but–
For now, he just wanted to stay soaking in this pleasantly lukewarm bath a little longer.
“So stop whispering in my ear!”
“Izumi-kun, you put your guard back up at the very end.”
“Yeah, that’s right. I’ve got my guard up. Are you giving up?”
In response to Izumi’s words, Nanao smiled softly.
“That stubbornness of yours is one of the things I reaally like ♡”
Visit the request page If there’s a Japanese Light Novel (LN) or Web Novel (WN) you’d like me to translate
When the donation goal progress bar above hit 100% one novel will be chosen for translation
| Table of Contents | Next* |
Support the Author by Buying the Original Books!
