Epilogue
6:15 p.m.
Leaning wearily against the railing at the edge of the stairs leading to the rooftop, Kai waited.
“Kai-kun… Um, sorry to keep you waiting.”
Kurono approached from the other end of the hallway. Kai straightened his posture.
She must have changed—her usual school uniform and ribbon hair tie were back in place.
A tightness gripped Kai’s chest. This was his last chance to see her.
“…Um, Kai-kun. Are you… hurt, by any chance?”
“Huh? Oh, no… I just tripped a little. I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.”
Kai quickly brushed off the dirt on his uniform and the scrapes on his skin.
He mentally rehearsed the words he’d repeated countless times, joining Kurono in the line stretching up the stairs as they waited to enter the rooftop.
“Kurono-san, want a drink?”
“Oh, thank you.”
He handed her a can of coffee he’d bought earlier, and they sipped together.
Their turn came. Stepping onto the rooftop felt like entering another world.
Candles of every color, each tinted with flame reactions, flickered beneath the night sky like a kaleidoscope.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
At that moment, Kai’s fingers brushed against Kurono’s beside him.
Now or never. That instinct raced through his mind.
“Hey, Kurono-san—”
He turned to her, his throat tingling with nervous tension as he called her name.
And then—time stopped.
“—Kai-kun.”
Her teary eyes and flushed cheeks gazed up at him as she spoke.
“Face-to-face is still too embarrassing… so I’ll say it like this.”
Her words came out haltingly.
But her expression—
“I did it. I beat Papa.”
It was a perfect smile, one he’d never seen before.
“So, for now—at least until we graduate high school—I can stay with you.”
Kurono looked down, then slowly brought her face closer to his.
“And then—”
The kiss on his cheek lasted only a fleeting moment.
“I like you.”
And that was the single sentence she conveyed.
“I’ll say it properly without stopping time before we graduate… so…”
Yet the impact that resonated in his heart felt like it would linger forever.
“Please wait for me.”
“Huh? So you chickened out, Onii-sama?”
“Shut up…”
Upon returning to the apartment, Sotomichi was there.
In the end, Kai couldn’t confess to Kurono.
She’d preempted him by stopping time and asked him to wait for her instead.
He’d missed the perfect moment, then dawdled, hesitating for another chance, only to let the opportunity slip away entirely.
Hearing the whole story from Kai, Sotomichi let out a deep sigh and shot him a look of exasperation.
“Did you know, Onii-sama? In technical terms, missing the last arrow is called ‘chickening out.’”
“Shut up… But that’s not all.”
His tone suddenly shifted to a low, serious one, causing Sotomichi to furrow her brows.
“Onii-sama? Something else?”
“…I could move.”
“Huh?”
“I was able to move.”
The moment Kurono stopped time and kissed his cheek.
In his shock, she hadn’t noticed, but he’d blinked once. He’d been able to blink. Which meant her time stop no longer worked on him.
“Hey, uh, what… what do I do from here?”
“Well, even if you ask me…”
For a moment, the two stared at each other with straight faces.
“For now, if she finds out, it’d be a total disaster, so you’ll just have to hold it in forever.”
Kai shouted,
“No way I can do thaaaaaat!?”
And so, the difficulty of one boy’s high school life skyrocketed.
As for what lay ahead for him and the girl who could stop time—their future together—
That, for now, remained unknown to anyone.
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