Himegi-san a Bride from the Future Begs Me to Confess My Love to Her Again - Volume 1 Chapter 3.6

Bento 6

On the day before the birthday party, I went to the park.

The purpose of my visit was to ensure the successful celebration of tomorrow’s birthday party.

“Is that girl in the school uniform Harune-chan…?”

Touka-san had described Harune-chan’s physical features to me, but honestly, such descriptions were unnecessary.

That’s because Harune-chan bore a striking resemblance to Touka Himegi in terms of appearance.

She had the same shiny black hair and pure white skin as Himegi-san, with perfectly symmetrical facial features that hinted at her potential to become a beautiful girl in the future.

I was sure she was the envy of her elementary school classmates, and yet here she was, sitting on the swing, looking gloomy as she gazed into the distance.

“It certainly is a big package…”

At Harune-chan’s feet lay a large Boston bag.

According to the stories I’d heard from Touka-san, she was planning to run away from home.

The reason for her escape was her reluctance to play the violin at tomorrow’s birthday party.

It seemed that, like in Touka-san’s timeline, she had similar plans for running away.

This time, I have two tasks to do: prevent Harune-chan from running away and convince her to play the violin at the birthday party tomorrow.

I had to clear both of these missions starting from now.

Preventing her from running away wasn’t that complicated.

I just had to contact Himegi-san about it.

The real challenge lay in getting her to play the violin at the birthday party tomorrow.

“For now, let’s start by introducing myself to my future sister-in-law…”

I casually took a seat on the empty swing next to her, pretending it was just a coincidence.

Then, with a smile on my face, I attempted the first contact with my future sister-in-law.

“Hello, the weather is really——Hey! Put that personal alarm back in your pocket!”

(TN: Self-defense alarm.)

What a kid! Without any hesitation, she tried to pull the string of that personal alarm.

I hate to say this about myself, but I don’t think I looked that suspicious.

“I’ve been told to sound the personal alarm if a stranger talks to me!”

“Oh, really? That’s an excellent safety precaution…”

“By the way, who are you, Onē-sa——no, Onīsan?”

Hey, did she determine my gender by looking at my pants?

That’s kinda hurtful.

Anyway, right now, it’s more important to show that I’m not a suspicious person.

“For now, I’m not a suspicious person. Look, this uniform, you recognize it, right?”

“It’s the same school uniform as Touka-neesan’s.”

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m actually in the same class as your Onēsan.”

“Could it be that you’re the favorite guy that Touka-neesan talks about a lot lately?”

“Huh? Himegi-san talks about me a lot?”

What’s this? I’m curious!

I definitely want to know the full details of that conversation!

“Onī-san, may I ask your full name?”

“Ouji.”

“…When introducing yourself to someone, you should use your full name.”

“…Ouji… Hakuba…”

“That was a long pause.”

“I was hoping you’d understand from just the name…”

“So, Onī-san, you’re the friend who will perform magic tricks at tomorrow’s birthday party?”

“I’m glad you believe me.”

“Do you have something to say to Harune?”

“No, I just happened to see you and thought I’d say hello.”

I offered a casual excuse since I couldn’t reveal my true purpose.

“I see…”

With that, Harune-chan let out a sigh.

“That’s a big sigh…”

“…Even elementary school students have big worries.”

“I see. So, is that why you’re running away from home?”

“W-What?”

“Just looking at that bag makes it pretty obvious.”

“…You really are a magician. Quite observant.”

Even if she had realized I found out she was trying to run away from home, she showed no signs of fleeing.

It seemed she understood that she couldn’t escape if I wanted to stop her.

“Are you going to contact Touka-nee?”

“It’s still early in the evening, so I think I’m the only one who knows that Harune-chan ran away. So, I believe the best way to handle this is for you to go back home on your own.”

“Will you keep Harune’s running away a secret?”

“Of course.”

“…Thank you.”

“But before that, tell me the reason for your runaway.”

“…At the recent violin recital, Harune experienced a major failure for the first time.”

” …… “

“Since then, she hasn’t been able to play well no matter what.”

Harune began to speak with a pained expression.

It seemed that she had experienced despair and fear for the first time due to that failure.

Currently, she was in a deep slump.

“If she’s going through such a hard time, Harune doesn’t want to touch the violin again…”

“I see…”

“Have you never wanted to escape from pressure?”

“Unfortunately, due to my personality, I’m immune to nervousness.”

Besides, I rarely fail in magic tricks.

I wish I could tell you something that would help her…

“Ah! Although it’s not magic, I had a major failure recently.”

“A major failure?”

“Yes, I confessed my love to your sister, and she instantly rejected me.”

“…Ah, I’m sorry about that.”

“No need to apologize. Well, at that time, I did wish I could turn back time, but…”

To be honest, I didn’t want to dwell too much on what happened back then.

“But I think it was good to be able to convey my true feelings, and there were many things I could learn from it.”

“Many things, you say…”

“Though it’s sad, people often learn more from their failures. The important thing is to reflect and use those lessons in the future.”

“So, Onī-san, you haven’t given up?”

“No, I haven’t. To avoid regrets… I’m definitely going to confess to Himegi-san again.”

“To avoid regrets…”

Harune’s eyes wavered at my words.

I’m sure there was inner turmoil in her heart right now.

The reason she couldn’t perform was simply her fear of failure.

In other words, there was no choice but to either remove that fear or confront it.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the means to remove her fear right now.

So, the words I could offer to Harune were…

“Then, how about this? If I fail at the magic trick tomorrow, I’ll confess to Himegi-san right there.”

“Huh?”

“Even I might not perform well due to fear of failing if I have to perform under that condition.”

It wasn’t a flattering proposal, but this was the only thing I could do for her.

“What do you think? Since I’ll also be confronting my fear, how about you give it another try, Harune-chan?”

In response to my words, Harune crossed her arms and began to agonize.

“I want to add one more condition.”

“One more?”

“Yes. If you accept this condition, Harune’ll do her best.”

“What’s that condition?”

“Tomorrow, you have to listen to everything Harune says.”

“…Then I’ll also add one more condition.”

I explained the additional condition to Harune.

“Ah, I see. You’re making Touka-neechan do that.”

“Since I think she might refuse, I want you to support me when the time comes.”

“I understand. Harune will accept that condition.”

“Alright, then no running away.”

“I won’t run away. If you succeed in the magic trick tomorrow, I will definitely play the violin.”

And so, the two of us secretly made a pact.

For now, I managed to prevent her from running away.

Harune then called her private driver using her smartphone.

The driver arrived at the park in about five minutes, and Harune bowed her head slightly to me before heading home.

“Well, you can come out now. It’s safe.”

I called out to Touka-san, who had been hiding in the shadows.

“…Did you find out?”

Touka-san stuck out her tongue, looking somewhat embarrassed.

She approached me and sat down on the swing where Harune had been earlier.

“Thank you. With this, I’ve achieved one of my goals.”

“That depends on the outcome tomorrow.”

If I fail at the magic trick, she might not play the violin.

It was a heavy responsibility to bear.

“Well, that’s not a problem. After all, my husband’s magic is the best in the world.”

“I appreciate the compliment.”

“It’s not a compliment. Your magic truly brings happiness to people.”

I could see from her expression that there was no doubt in her words, and I realized that Future Me was trusted by her.

I wondered if one day I could also earn Himegi-san’s trust…

“I’ll do my best to live up to Touka-san’s expectations.”

“Hehehe. Do your best, husband.”

Husband, huh… It didn’t sound bad at all.

“However, I also wanted to see Harune play with my own eyes.”

“I see. So tomorrow, Touka-san will enter the unknown.”

“Yes, from here on, it’s a world I don’t know.”

“Aren’t you afraid?”

“I’m fine. How about you, Hakuba-kun?”

“I’m a little anxious. Can I really be a support for Harune-chan?”

“There’s no problem. In my timeline, you saved Harune.”

I see. So Future Me really saved that troubled girl… If that’s the case, then I can’t afford to lose.

“Shall we go home then?”

“Yes, let’s go back.”

Maybe I was taking things somewhat easy.

Who would have thought that the birthday party would turn into such chaos for me——At that time, I could never have imagined it.