Himegi-san a Bride from the Future Begs Me to Confess My Love to Her Again - Volume 2 Chapter 3.5

The Story Created by Me and the Princess 5

“Natsumi Onee-chan! I finished the puzzle!”

What the little girl showed us was a jigsaw puzzle.

Yes, it was a puzzle of a certain famous character that you can find anywhere.

The girl is happy that she’s completed it, but looking closely, one piece is missing.

“There’s a piece missing, you know?”

I hesitated whether to say it or not, but I pointed out to the girl that it wasn’t complete.

Then, the girl said to me with a smile,

“I lost it, so it’s complete like this! Ah, Onii-chan, can you perform magic and produce the missing piece?”

“Sorry, I’m not a wizard, so I can’t produce the missing piece, okay?”

“I see. Onee-chan, thanks for always reading me picture books. This is in return for the sunflower you gave me yesterday!”

The girl gives the puzzle to Natsumi-san as a gift.

“Thank you.”

“Yes!”

Perhaps satisfied with seeing the smile of her beloved Natsumi-san, the girl scampered back to where she came from.

Natsumi-san was looking at the incomplete jigsaw puzzle with an affectionate face.

Yesterday, I had a trivial conversation on the phone with my grandmother, who was bedridden with back pain.

Over the smartphone, the voice of the grandmother was always cheerful.

She seemed extremely happy with the good news about the newborn grandchildren.

In the end, the grandmother muttered, ‘I wish I could have shown the newborn grandchildren to Grandpa as well.’

Those words made me feel lonely.

If my grandfather were alive, he’d probably be moved to tears at the birth of a new family member.

If he were alive, he’d be overjoyed to see how much I’ve grown.

If he were alive, would he make a big fuss watching my magic tricks?

Such impossibilities crossed my mind.

Surely, Touka-san must have felt something similar.

The person you most want to celebrate with you is not by your side.

In a way, it might be a curse…

“About the answer earlier…”

“Huh?”

“The question about whether knowing the future after you’ve died is complicated or not…”

” ….. “

“The little girl from earlier, she’s going to have a difficult surgery in a few months. Yes, a surgery that she could potentially die from.”

“…I didn’t know that.”

“By the time the results are known, I think I won’t be in this world anymore. All I could do was worry. That’s when Touka from the future came. According to Touka, it seems the surgery is successful. Yes, six years later, she’s still doing fine and attending elementary school.”

“I see…”

“Saying it’s not complicated would be a lie… but my angel brought me good news from the future. That alone is enough for me.”

She’s an amazing person; a truly extraordinary individual.

Even in times like this, she prioritizes other people’s problems over her own worries.

With that in mind, I felt even more respect for this great person.

“Onee-san, you’re too considerate of others. You’ll give yourself a hole in your stomach at this rate.”

“Hehehe… I’ll have to be careful then.”

I’ll never forget it.

The conversation I had with her today.

Her lovely profile as she stands beside me, wearing a contented smile…

“But still, I have many regrets. I wanted to become a children’s book author and have little angels read my stories.”

“Was that your dream, to become a children’s book author?”

“Yes, believe it or not, I had the highest grades in art at school!”

“I would have liked to read them, too.”

I couldn’t say, ‘Let’s make a picture book now.’

Natsumi-san herself must understand her own physical condition well.

And above all, she’d realize there’s no time left for creating art.

“I’m ready.”

From the hospital room, I heard Touka-san’s voice.

Is it my imagination? Her voice sounded slightly shaky.

“Ah! I must see my angel in all her glory with my own eyes! Come on, Hakuba-kun—follow me!”

“Okay.”

And so, we opened the door to Natsumi-san’s hospital room.

“—Here she iss! Our goddess has descendedd——!!!”

“Natsumi-san, be quiet!” “Nee-san, shut up!”

We warned Natsumi-san, who was overly excited and raised her voice too loud.

If she gets too excited, she’ll start coughing again, so we wish she’d tone it down.

Well, I can’t blame Natsumi-san for getting excited.

Touka-san in a wedding dress really is a force to be reckoned with.

“Uh, umm… You two are surprisingly in sync. But more importantly… Wowza! Wowza! It’s really a wedding dress!”

Seeing her, I felt a sense of nostalgia.

When I saw Touka-san in a wedding dress in our living room at home, I was so surprised that my legs gave way.

Right now, that Touka-san was fidgeting and unusually bashful.

Perhaps showing her grand appearance in front of her sister was something special and embarrassing for her.

“By the way, are you staying in that hoodie, Hakuba-kun?”

“Well, inside this top hat, I have a tuxedo.”

Saying this, I show the inside of the top hat to Natsumi-san.

“There’s nothing in there?”

Then, I pull out a tuxedo from the top hat.

“Whoa! Magic, it’s magic!”

Natsumi-san is surprised as a tuxedo emerges from the top hat.

I then head toward the curtain by the window without bringing my tuxedo.

“Hakuba-kun, you forgot your tuxedo?”

“Ah, my bad. …Come here, Tuxedo-kun!”

I command the tuxedo to come to me.

“——Eh? Wha? What?… The tuxedo is floating in the air!”

Just as Natsumi-san said, the tuxedo defied gravity and floated in the air.

I beckoned to the floating tuxedo.

“Wow! Wohoo! Hakuba-kun, you have the ability to manipulate clothes!”

“Well, I’m known as the floating student at school, so making things float is something I excel at.”

(TN: 浮いている. A wordplay. It can figuratively mean not fitting in with a group, and it can literally mean the action of floating, as in an object floating. )

I catch the approaching tuxedo and hide behind the curtain.

Then——

“…Ta-daa!”

“Wow! More magic! In just a few seconds, he’s changed into a tuxedo!”

Natsumi-san claps her hands in applause.

It was my first attempt to do such magic, but seeing her so pleased made me feel it was the right decision to take the challenge.

“Hehehe… Nee-san, isn’t my husband amazing?”

“Indeed, it was a cool magic trick.”

“My magic ends here. Today’s stars are Touka-san and Natsumi-san.”

Saying this, I take a white smartphone out of my pocket.

“Now, both of you line up, let’s take a picture.”

At my words, Touka-san hesitantly moves to stand next to Natsumi-san.

Somehow, today’s Touka-san reminds me of Himegi-san.

Maybe she reverts to her old self when she’s with her sister…