Chapter 4: The Ball Games Tournament and the Sure-Kill Table Tennis Doubles

If the person you've harbored one-sided feelings for over the past ten years already has someone else in their heart, you must bless them. That is the ethical thing to do; it is common courtesy.

—But I wonder, what exactly is the statute of limitations on love?

It was eleven o'clock on Sunday night. Inside her own room on the third floor of Cafe Cassandra.

Kiyoko stared blankly at the ceiling from her bed and let out a deep sigh.

Shizuishi Kiyoko. Born in April, seventeen years old, a second-year in high school.

Yearning to see her childhood friend, she had made the decision to leave the prestigious Kyoto inn where she was born and raised and come to Tokyo all alone. She had decided for herself that she would live in this city.

—And now, after Kouya-kun asked if I wanted to run the shop with him, I find myself acting like an absolute fool, floating on air.

Just how much was she floating? She was floating so much that she couldn't stop grinning to herself on the street, earning suspicious looks from people passing by.

She had never imagined that Kouya would share in her dream of one day owning her very own shop. Let alone invite her to be his co-manager.

After all, a massive part of her decision to come to Asakusa in the first place revolved around the existence of the boy named Torame Kouya.

Within her floating mind, another Kiyoko constantly admonished her: "Remember your place." And upon cooling down, Kiyoko would sigh all over again.

"But Kouya-kun doesn't remember our promise at all, and he has Shiga-san... Business is business, and romance is romance. When it's time to step back, I have to step back gracefully..."

Remembering her lingering concerns, Kiyoko hugged her large pillow tight.

While Torame Kouya hadn't forgotten the year he spent in Kyoto during first grade, he seemed to have entirely erased the words he had given Kiyoko when they parted ways.

Kiyoko understood full well how fickle human memory could be. People didn't remember every single detail of their past. It was only natural for most childhood memories to fade away completely.

The only reason Kiyoko still vividly remembered the words Kouya gave her—the exact scenery of that moment—was simply because that instant had been incredibly precious to her.

And Kouya did not remember it. That simply meant that while it was important to her, it wasn't to him.

—That is probably the only answer I need.

But she also understood that blaming Kouya for it was completely unreasonable. He had been a six-year-old boy at the time. It was entirely normal not to remember every little promise made in elementary school.

The reason Kiyoko remembered it so vividly was merely because those words had been a pillar of support for her younger self. That was all.

"I was the only one holding onto what happened that day. And Kouya-kun probably remembers the promise he made with Shiga-san. —That's right. Knowing when to back down is important, Kiyoko," she told herself.

The one who had welcomed Kouya back from Kyoto that day had been a different childhood friend. And that girl, who had been his childhood friend not just for a single year but for all this time, was standing right beside him now.

The Torame Kouya who was with Shiga Meika wasn't the boy who puffed out his chest and put on a brave front like he did with Kiyoko; he was just his natural, unvarnished self.

So it had to be natural for him to be with Shiga Meika. Kiyoko knew she shouldn't get in the way of that, and that if things went well for the two of them, she ought to bless them.

"If only there was a statute of limitations on romance... this is just exhausting..."

The young girl's monologue vanished into the ceiling. In the silence, the rhythmic ticking of the clock echoed through the room.

—Until.

Thump.

Suddenly, shattering the quiet night, the sound of a bouncing ball striking something echoed from the room next door. The next room was, of course, Kouya's.

"............"

Wondering what the sound was, Kiyoko quickly arrived at an answer.

Tomorrow was the high school's ball games tournament. Kiyoko had entered for table tennis, and Kouya was supposed to have entered for futsal.

Coupled with the rhythmic thudding of the ball, the only logical conclusion was that her neighbor was practicing his juggling.

Her neighbor had, unbelievably, decided to start practicing soccer juggling indoors at eleven o'clock at night.

—He has absolutely zero common sense.

Thump, thump, thump!

The juggling sounds continued endlessly, punctuated occasionally by the sound of the ball slipping and crashing to the floor. The neighbor clearly hadn't realized that the noise of his practice was bleeding right into the next room.

If she left him alone, he would undoubtedly keep going forever. She absolutely could not just cry herself to sleep over this. There are simply some fools in this world who won't catch a hint unless you spell it out for them.

"............"

Making up her mind, Kiyoko gently released the pillow she was hugging. Slipping out of bed without making a sound, the Kyoto-born girl draped a cardigan over her pajamas and silently left her room.

Knock, knock. Wearing an expression as utterly devoid of emotion as a Noh mask, she knocked on the adjacent door.

Finally, the juggling stopped.

"Kiyoko-san? What's up?"

A boy hugging a soccer ball to his chest peeked his head out of the room. A boy with zero malice who genuinely had no idea why his neighbor was standing there.

"Practicing so diligently for tomorrow's matches at such a late hour... you certainly are an energetic one, Kouya-kun. (Translation: Stop juggling that ball right this instant.)"

Flashing a dark, venomous smile, Kiyoko gently drove the nail in.

Sensing the true gravity of the situation from the veins popping on Kiyoko's forehead, the boy's face cramped in sheer terror.

"...I'm so sorry."

And with that, Kouya hastily retreated back into his room with the ball.

Watching him go, Kiyoko let out yet another deep sigh. If she kept quiet, these utterly insensitive Asakusa residents wouldn't pick up on a single thing.

Shizuishi Kiyoko felt it deep in her bones.

—Cultural differences are such a pain…

The ball games tournament was an event designed with the express purpose of forcing normally reclusive, indoorsy students to move their bodies.

Which is to say, participation was mandatory, but it wasn't nearly as intense as the actual sports festival. To differentiate it from the sports festival—where classes fought tooth and nail for their pride—this tournament intentionally avoided using the athletic field, offering instead a smattering of smaller events that could be held inside the gymnasium.

Specifically: futsal, basketball, and table tennis.

These events were further divided into several categories, with a winner crowned for each. Every student in the school was required to enter exactly one of these categories. Of course, if they were highly motivated, they could enter multiple.

Furthermore, the winner of each category would be awarded a 3,000-yen free coupon usable at the cafeteria and school store. Since it essentially meant getting 3,000 yen worth of their favorite food or stationery for free, it was a highly coveted prize for perpetually broke high schoolers.

For the record, the prize was strictly for first place in each category. Second place got absolutely nothing.

That was the general, laid-back vibe of the ball games tournament.

—The day of the tournament.

Torame Kouya, having seriously aimed for the 3,000-yen coupon, had entered futsal. However, thanks to a terrible draw, his team went up against the soccer club captain's team in the very first round and was swiftly eliminated.

Thinking he might try to hop into basketball or table tennis instead, he wandered over to the booth manned by the executive committee.

"You can't enter a different event now. Multiple entries were allowed before the deadline, but registration for all categories is completely closed."

The executive committee member rejected his attempt at late entry with cold, bureaucratic efficiency.

"Well, now I've got nothing to do. How boring," Kouya grumbled.

Unlike the sports festival where class pride was on the line, a small-scale, individual-entry tournament was incredibly dull to simply sit and watch.

Just as he was looking around for a way to kill time, he saw another committee member and a female student walking toward the executive booth together.

"Which means my partner will have to forfeit, but..."

"From an operational standpoint, we'd really prefer to avoid a default win in the finals—it just makes the tournament feel anticlimactic. Are you sure you can't find a proxy right now?"

It was Shizuishi Kiyoko and Higuchi Hitoha. Class Representative Higuchi Hitoha was wearing an "Executive Committee" armband. She had apparently been drafted into running the event due to her committee duties.

"Oh, it's Kiyoko-san."

"Kouya-kun..."

Spotting Kouya in front of the booth, Kiyoko stopped in her tracks.

"What's with the serious faces? Did something happen?" Kouya asked.

The committee member, Hitoha, suddenly brightened up. "Ah, Torame-kun! You're here at the perfect time!"

"Huh?"

"Would you be willing to act as a proxy entry for the table tennis doubles? The finals start in five minutes."

"What? What are you talking about?"

As the boy tilted his head in confusion, Hitoha quickly explained.

"Well, you see, the Shizuishi-Kasamatsu pair made it all the way to the finals in the free doubles category, but Kasamatsu-san started feeling unwell and just went to the nurse's office."

"Oh, so Kiyoko-san has to forfeit?"

"As it stands, yes. But as the executive committee, we really want to avoid a scenario where the championship is decided by a forfeit. It totally kills the hype, doesn't it?"

"I guess so."

"So we're desperately looking for a partner for Shizuishi-san right now. Proxies are allowed in cases of unavoidable circumstances. —So, Torame-kun, will you do it?"

"Doubles? Me?"

"Yes! If you win the finals, you'll be awarded the standard 3,000-yen prize per person. It's in coupons, not cash, though."

"............"

Kouya sank into thought for a moment.

He was incredibly bored right now anyway, and the prize was a 3,000-yen coupon. The hardcore athletes were all playing basketball and futsal, while the actual table tennis club members were risking their pride in the singles matches. The "free doubles," where anyone could team up with anyone, was the least popular category by far.

It was safe to say they had a very real chance of winning.

"Alright then, I'll step in for Kasamatsu-san and play doubles," Kouya told the class rep after a brief moment of deliberation.

"Wait..."

Kiyoko, who was standing beside him, looked distressed and tugged on Hitoha's sleeve.

"I really do not mind forfeiting..."

"It's fine. It'd be a total waste to forfeit after you made it all the way to the finals, so I'll team up with you," Kouya offered cheerfully, completely oblivious to Kiyoko's inner turmoil.

With just one more win standing between him and a 3,000-yen coupon, it would be a loss not to try.

"Hold on a minute, Kouya-kun."

Kiyoko dragged Kouya off to the corner of the gymnasium. Lowering her voice, she scolded him.

"Didn't we agree that we are strangers at school?"

"What's that got to do with doubles?"

"If you suddenly pop up out of nowhere to play doubles with me, people will think we are close."

"You're overthinking it."

"Wouldn't everyone wonder why you are teaming up with me?"

"No one's gonna care about every little detail like that."

"Even so..."

"Come on, I'm just offering to act as a proxy out of the goodness of my heart."

"That is not the issue here."

"Don't you want to win?"

"I am telling you that is not the issue! Please do not let my consideration go to waste!"

"Consideration?"

"Exactly. Kids our age will take any boy and girl hanging out together, instantly spin it into some grand romance, and spread wildly exaggerated rumors before you know it. If some weird rumor reaches Shiga-san's ears, it would cause trouble for you too, wouldn't it?"

"...Uh. Haven't you been completely misunderstanding the deal with me and Meika lately?"

"Misunderstanding? About what?"

"Like I said—"

Just as Kouya was about to correct Kiyoko on whatever massive misconception she was harboring...

Pweeeeet!

Hitoha blew the referee's whistle hanging from her neck.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your little moment, but the match starts in one minute, so please decide quickly! If you can't form a doubles team, the opponents win by default. You have ten seconds to decide. Ten, nine, eight..."

Pushed by Executive Committee Member Hitoha, the countdown began with zero room for argument.

"............"

Kiyoko and Kouya looked at each other. They didn't have the luxury of taking their time to talk this out. If they didn't decide fast, that 3,000 yen was going to slip right through their fingers. If rumors spread, they'd just cross that bridge when they came to it.

Kiyoko and Kouya both nodded.

""We'll do it!"" the two of them answered in unison.

—And so, the curtain rose on a heated battle with 3,000 yen worth of cafeteria and store coupons on the line.

"We will now begin the final match of the Free Table Tennis Doubles!" Declared Higuchi Hitoha, an executive committee member for the ball games tournament, megaphone in hand.

At the grand stage of the finals—a table tennis table set up in a corner of the gymnasium—there was only a sparse smattering of spectators.

Since everyone had gone to watch the basketball and futsal games, the free table tennis doubles didn't seem to be garnering much attention, despite being a final match.

"Umm... Kasamatsu-san is unable to participate due to poor health, so Torame-kun will be stepping in as a proxy at the last minute. Therefore, the final matchup is the Shizuishi-Torame pair versus—"

"I've kept you waiting, my friends."

Before they could even be introduced, their opponents stepped forward to face Kouya and Kiyoko.

"...the Shiga-Dazai pair. In a strange twist of fate, the free table tennis doubles final has become a Class 2-3 derby!"

"Dazai-kun... and Shiga-san..."

Kiyoko murmured the names of her classmates, her opponents for the finals.

To think she would end up battling Taishi in a place like this...

"By the way, Taishi, why are you even playing table tennis?"

At Kouya's innocent question, the president of the Science Club, Dazai Taishi, smugly adjusted his glasses.

"Whatever do you mean, my dear friend? Since ancient times, it has been ordained that the reasonably athletic introverts who cannot blend into the basketball or futsal crowds shall gravitate toward table tennis."

"You classify yourself as an introvert? Pretty sure that ain't right." Kouya tilted his head.

"I played mini-basketball in middle school, so I was hoping to play hoops. But Dazai-kun told me the actual basketball club was gonna go all-out, so our chances of snagging that 3,000 yen were way higher in table tennis. So here I am."

Tap, tap. Meika explained the situation while lightly tapping her racket against her shoulder.

"Oh really? Taishi said that, huh..."

Kouya gave him a deadpan stare.

The ulterior motives of his bad-news buddy—spinning some half-baked logic just to team up with his crush, Meika—were so blatantly obvious it went completely past exasperating and straight into refreshing.

"Well, whatever," Meika said, beginning her stretches. "I absolutely refuse to lose after making it all the way to the finals. Sorry, but that 3,000 yen worth of store and cafeteria coupons has our names on it."

"Indubitably, Meika-kun! To fall at the finals would be an absolute outrage. Let us both give it our utmost and carve the memory of our victory into the grand monument of our youth!"

Clenching his fist, Taishi delivered his grand speech.

It was entirely unclear what this "monument of youth" was supposed to be, but one thing was certain: their opponents were fired up.

"My apologies, Shiga-san. Since we have made it this far, we cannot afford to back down either, so I shall be borrowing Kouya-kun."

Firing herself up on her own, Kiyoko also clenched her fist.

"By the way, it's seriously surprising that you managed to win your way up in table tennis, Kiyoko-san."

In response to Kouya's blunt observation, Kiyoko silently showed him her personal racket. Kouya's eyes went wide at the sight of it.

"Whoa! That shakehand racket is incredibly well-worn!"

"When one thinks of a ryokan, one thinks of table tennis. You would do well not to underestimate the skills I have honed by playing against our guests whenever they lacked a partner."

Hehe. The daughter of a long-established Kyoto ryokan let out a rare, fearless chuckle.

"Then let the final match begin! The game will follow the same rules as before: a best-of-five format with each set going up to eleven points. —Let the final match begin!"

The starting whistle blew, and the doubles match for the championship commenced.

And despite the complete absence of any active sports club members, the finals were played at a surprisingly high level, turning into an incredibly fierce battle.

"The first set goes to the Shizuishi-Torame pair."

"The second set goes to the Shiga-Dazai pair."

"The third set goes to the Shizuishi-Torame pair."

"The fourth set goes to the Shiga-Dazai pair. We will now enter a full set."

Neither side could land a decisive smash. Both sides tenaciously returned the ball, keeping the rallies going.

"Ten to ten. Deuce."

The match plunged into a sudden-death battle where a team needed a two-point lead to win. After an endless, neck-and-neck dogfight, both teams had somehow pushed their scores into the twenties.

"Smash!"

Letting out an ear-splitting roar, Kouya drove a full-force diagonal strike across the table.

Meika didn't move an inch.

—No, she couldn't move.

The ball clipped the edge of the table at high speed and shot off far behind her. Meika was completely unable to return it.

Match over. Pweeeet! The whistle blew.

At this moment, the victor of the free table tennis doubles, which had tangled all the way to a full set, was finally decided.

"Twenty-three to twenty-one. Total sets, three to two. The winners are the Shizuishi-Torame pair! Congratulations on your victory."

Executive Committee Member Hitoha congratulated the winners. Because the match had dragged on so long, the young committee member was looking a little fatigued, but pointing that out was strictly forbidden.

"We did it!"

Kiyoko and Kouya reflexively high-fived. A beat later, realizing the eyes of the crowd were upon them, they hastily put some distance between themselves.

Placing her megaphone on the floor, Hitoha approached them carrying two gift envelopes for the prize money.

"To our two champions, we present the championship trophy and a 3,000-yen coupon usable at the cafeteria and school store for each of you. Here you go."

In high spirits, Kiyoko and Kouya graciously accepted their envelopes.

"Tomorrow, I shall have the cafeteria ramen topped with fried chicken."

Beaming with joy, Kiyoko checked her newly acquired coupon.

Kouya blinked in surprise at her unexpected choice of words. "You actually like ramen, Kiyoko-san?"

"I do indeed. I doubt there is a single Japanese person who dislikes ramen, is there?"

"I just never pictured you eating it."

"Exactly what sort of person do you think I am?"

"Well, you're from Kyoto, so..."

"Kyoto actually has one of the highest numbers of ramen shops in the country, you know. And bakeries as well."

"Really? That's seriously surprising. You look like the type who just eats bubuzuke all day."

"Please cease with the stereotyping. I am a modern woman, and I actually prefer Western cuisine over Japanese."

"Oh, yeah? Well, I guess I'll grab the daily special set meal then."

Kouya also opened his envelope and checked his coupon.

Kouya and Kiyoko started walking toward the gymnasium exit, but the class representative hurriedly chased after them.

"Wait! You two right there! Please make sure to accept the trophy along with your prize money!"

Running up to them with a gold-plated trophy in hand, Hitoha shoved the championship trophy into Kouya's arms.

"Wait, just one?" Kouya reflexively asked Hitoha.

Because despite there being two of them—Kouya and Kiyoko—they had only been handed a single championship trophy.

"It's for doubles, so naturally there's only one."

Hitoha argued that it was one trophy per team. Considering that in Olympic team sports, every athlete in the top three receives a medal, the logic of "one trophy because it's a doubles match" was completely absurd. The executive committee had almost certainly just cheaped out on the trophy budget.

"............"

Kiyoko and Kouya looked at each other. Since there was only one, neither of them could simply claim it as their personal property.

"Well then, how about we just display it on the shelf next to the stairs on the third floor?"

"Indeed. If we are to display the trophy, a shared space would be best."

"Shared?"

Hitoha, who had been listening in on the conversation between the two Cafe Cassandra housemates, looked at them with a puzzled expression.

"————!"

Kouya and Kiyoko instantly snapped back to reality.

To the rest of the world, the two of them were supposed to be complete strangers; they were actively hiding the fact that they lived together. If Hitoha were to accidentally leak anything unnecessary to the people around them, it would be a disaster.

Kouya frantically changed the subject. "More importantly, Class Rep! Don't you think it's messed up we only get one trophy just 'cause we played doubles? You better file a complaint with the higher-ups!"

"I will deal with it accordingly."

Right as Hitoha gave her serious reply...

"'Scuse me! Newspaper Club here!" A student holding up a DSLR camera pushed their way in. "We're putting an article about the ball games tournament in the school paper, so mind if I grab a pic? We're planning to publish a photo of all the winners from every category."

"Oh, go right ahead."

"Alright then, could you two scooch a bit closer together? You won't fit in the frame like this."

Framing the shot, the Newspaper Club member issued instructions to the doubles champions. Following the instruction, Kouya closed the distance with Kiyoko.

"Like this?"

"Yep, perfect. Also, since you won doubles and all, it'd look way better visually if you threw your arms around each other's shoulders and struck a victory pose."

"............"

After a brief moment of hesitation, Kouya placed his hand on Kiyoko's shoulder.

Kiyoko flinched ever so slightly, but quickly told herself there was no need to get strangely self-conscious. What was required of them right now was the majestic and dignified posture of a championship pair.

"Pull her shoulder in just a liiittle tighter, please. Yeah, that's it. Hold that pose. Oh, and angle your faces straight forward. —Ah, looks great. Alright, I'm taking it! Say cheese!"

Click. The Newspaper Club member snapped the shutter.

As an aside, the photos of the ball games tournament winners published in the school newspaper later turned out to be wildly over-the-top.

The champions of the other categories had struck ridiculously playful poses, getting carried away in high spirits to a degree that made Kiyoko and Kouya look downright tame. Drunk on victory, there were two guys doing a princess carry, a whole group doing a Super Sentai pose, people blowing kisses—it was total chaos.

Looking at that barrage of eccentric championship photos made the two of them feel utterly foolish for having been so self-conscious about merely putting an arm around a shoulder. Standing next to the wildly uninhibited poses of the other ecstatic winners, Kouya and Kiyoko's wholesome shoulder-to-shoulder pose faded completely into the background, practically invisible to the readers.

Since they had gone through the trouble of winning, Kouya regretted not pulling off a crazier victory pose. But considering it was glaringly obvious Kiyoko would have refused to play along, it was a totally pointless regret anyway.

They returned home from the ball games tournament that day in the late afternoon.

"Well then, I shall borrow the shower first."

Tossing her bag into her room, Kiyoko promptly headed straight for the bathroom. After his fierce table tennis battles, Kouya was drenched in sweat and desperately wanted a shower himself, but since Kiyoko had claimed the bathroom first, there was nothing he could do.

He decided to wait obediently on the sofa until the shower opened up.

———Except, no matter how long he waited, Kiyoko didn't come out.

Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. Thirty minutes. A whole hour passed.

"............"

Surely an hour is way too long for just a shower, right?

His irritation eventually faded into genuine anxiety over how long it was taking.

—Don't tell me she collapsed in the bathroom or something?

As his unease mounted, Kouya finally made up his mind, stood up from the sofa, and headed toward the bathroom.

"Kiyoko-san! Are you okay? You didn't pass out or anything, did you?!" He called out to check on her while knocking on the bathroom door.

"I haven't collapsed, but I am in the middle of something right now." Kiyoko's voice answered from inside.

"Huh?"

In the middle of something? In the bathroom? What the heck is that supposed to mean?

"I'm coming in!"

Wondering what in the world could keep someone "in the middle of something" in a bathroom for an hour, Kouya opened the door to the changing room and stepped inside.

And there she was—completely naked save for a bath towel wrapped around her—prying the temperature control panel off the bathroom wall.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Kouya unintentionally screamed.

Tools like a screwdriver were scattered at Kiyoko's feet. It seemed she had taken it upon herself to remove the panel's cover.

Uncharacteristically flustered, Kiyoko stammered out an excuse.

"S-Suddenly, only cold water would come out, and then it stopped working entirely... So I removed the panel and tried to fix the malfunction myself, but as I kept tinkering, other parts gradually started acting strange as well, and I was wondering what I ought to do..."

In short, Kiyoko had been struggling in a desperate, one-woman war to fix the broken temperature settings herself. And unable to repair it, she had messed with the settings, made the problem worse, and ended up stuck like this for over an hour without knowing what to do.

No, no, hold on a second. Kouya stared at her in utter disbelief.

"Then why didn't you just call me right away?!"

"Because I was the one who did something unnecessary, I thought I had to be the one to fix it..."

"But you just made it way worse!"

"But I could not put it back the way it was!"

"Then stop messing with it!"

"I thought it might return to normal if I just kept adjusting it..."

"It obviously didn't, did it?!"

"Well, yes, but..."

"Whatever, just tag out. Not only did you fail to fix it for an hour, you actually made it worse! Are you just incredibly clumsy or what?!"

Making Kiyoko step back, Kouya peered into the broken panel. Pushed out of the way, Kiyoko moved around behind Kouya.

Drip, drop. Water droplets fell from her hair, forming a tiny puddle on the floor.

"............"

Because he'd been so panicked, he had completely forgotten, but Kouya finally realized that Kiyoko was standing right behind him wearing nothing but a towel.

It seemed Kiyoko had similarly just realized her own state of undress. The moment they simultaneously became aware of the fact they had forgotten due to the emergency, an intensely awkward silence descended between them.

Pointing out what Kiyoko was wearing now would be completely unnatural. But the reality was that the girl standing right behind him was in nothing but a bath towel—

"............"

Don't think about it, me! I shouldn't focus on it! Just the repairs! Focus on the repairs! Kouya desperately coached himself.

"...I shall go change clothes."

Kiyoko hastily snatched her clothes from the laundry basket and retreated from the changing room. A pair of pink panties peeked out from the bundle of clothes she grabbed, but by mobilizing every ounce of his rationality, Kouya decided he had seen absolutely nothing.

The boy forcibly directed all his consciousness toward repairing the water heater's temperature control panel. Some things simply couldn't be fixed no matter how much a clumsy person struggled with them, but a handy guy could often fix them up effortlessly with just a little bit of effort.

By the time Kouya had repaired the water heater, Kiyoko—now dressed in a shirt and half-pants—returned wrapped in an incredibly awkward aura. Perfect timing.

"There, all fixed." Popping the panel back into place, he showed it to her.

"...You are surprisingly handy, Kouya-kun."

Sounding somewhat impressed, Kiyoko tested out the fully restored panel, raising and lowering the temperature setting.

"Don't you have something else to say?" Kouya prompted her deadpan.

"...Thank you. I am sorry for causing you so much trouble." Kiyoko murmured hesitantly.

She looked visibly deflated. Perhaps because she was somewhat of a perfectionist, she was the type of girl who got deeply depressed whenever she couldn't do something right.

Haaa. Kouya let out an exaggerated sigh. "From your perspective, Kiyoko-san, do I really look that unreliable?"

"Pardon?"

Unable to understand the boy's grievance, the girl blinked in blank surprise. Looking just a tiny bit sulky, Kouya told her.

"I know you're the kind of person who can handle almost anything by yourself, but if you were in trouble, you could've just called me earlier and I would've helped you."

"...I apologize. I am simply not very good at relying on others."

Perhaps he had touched on a sore spot she didn't want pointed out, as Kiyoko looked intensely uncomfortable. Kouya just shook his head in disbelief.

"Your way of life looks exhausting."

"I suppose it is. I must admit, I am just a little bit envious of you, Kouya-kun."

"Then you could at least drop the act and be yourself when you're around me."

"............"

Taken aback by his unexpected offer, Kiyoko stared intently at the boy she lived with.

"Do you... want me to rely on you, Kouya-kun?"

"————"

Hit with a response he hadn't anticipated at all, Kouya was rendered speechless for a second.

"I mean, well... I might be happier if you did rely on me, maybe..."

As he stammered out his reply, Kouya realized something about himself. He was always trying to puff out his chest and act tough whenever he had the chance in front of Kiyoko. Because they were almost a full year apart in actual age despite being in the same grade, Kiyoko constantly treated him like a younger brother. Perhaps because he was usually the one being looked after, whenever he saw her struggling with something, he was driven by a sudden urge to act tough and talk a big game.

Just as she pointed out, he probably did harbor a desire to be relied upon by her.

"In that case, I shall take you up on your kind offer and rely on you from now on. Truly, thank you for today."

Offering a faint smile, Kiyoko slowly stood up and left the bathroom. Watching her walk away, Kouya vaguely pondered the origin of his desire to be relied upon by Kiyoko.

"What even is this feeling? Is it just me being vain...?"

But fundamentally, that wasn't really his personality. If it were Dazai Taishi diagnosing this hazy emotion, he would probably declare without hesitation: "You just want to look cool in front of the girl you like, nothing more" —but...