The Best Friend of the Person I Like is Secretly Approaching Me - Chapter 32

Chapter 32

The promised day has finally arrived.

The meeting place is the closest station for both Seko-kun and me.

The area in front of the station is adorned with lights, visually conveying that today is Christmas.

Normally, my dad would drive me to my destination, but we decided to meet at the closest station for today.

After all, it feels more like a date that way.

The station isn’t particularly large, but it’s airy.

Even inside the station, the cold air steals away my body heat. But it doesn’t bother me.

I catch a glimpse of myself reflected in the window of a nearby shop.

I’m wearing a black knit top and a white coat over it, and a black beret on my head. I have on checkered shorts, and I’m wearing black tights to guard against the cold and minimize exposed skin.

Almost my entire outfit was chosen by Saki.

While I’ve recently become interested in fashion, I couldn’t reach a high level all of a sudden, so I had Saki help me.

It’s a bit embarrassing to have my little sister in elementary school assist me though.

Usually, I only wear long skirts or denim.

I bought these shorts the other day when I went shopping with Haru.

Although Haru doesn’t usually wear skirts, she bought short that day.

Seeing her do that made me feel like I should try something new too, so I bought these.

All of this is for today.

I take out a hand mirror from my pouch to check if my makeup has faded.

Then I take out some lip gloss and lightly apply it to bring some moisture to my lips.

Just in case something happens——

My heart is pounding so fast.

I want him to come quickly, but at the same time, I wish for a little more time to prepare myself emotionally.

These conflicting feelings are raging within me.

Despite my conflicted feelings, time moves on as usual, and as the time for our appointment nears, he inevitably shows up.

“Hey, Yosaki. You’re early as usual. Sorry to keep you waiting in the cold.”

Seko-kun appears, his eyebrows slightly lowered in a somewhat apologetic manner.

He’s never late for our meeting time. In fact, he’s always there a good amount ahead of time.

It’s just that I was even earlier.

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s go.”

Meeting up isn’t the goal here.

Eager to head into town, my response came out a bit rushed. It reminds me of a similar exchange we had before.

When I said, ‘I just got here too,’ he was thrilled and said, ‘It’s like a date!’ It left quite an impression on me.

…I feel like I slightly missed out on something.

Does he even recognize today’s outing as a date?

A newfound anxiety crosses my mind that perhaps I’m the only one who thinks it’s a date, while he might just consider it like any other day.

I want him to have at least some impression that it’s a date.

So, after passing through the ticket gates and moving a little further, I took action.

“Seko-kun.”

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“I’m actually terrible with directions. I’ve never taken the train alone. Just like Saki before.”

“Ah, yeah. I kind of guessed that.”

“I-I see. Then this will be quick. Here.”

“…Here?”

As I extend my right hand in front of him, he looks back and forth between my hand and my face, a question mark hovering over his head.

“I want to hold hands.”

“…What!? Wh-what’s this all of a sudden?”

“Didn’t I say earlier? I’m as directionally challenged as Saki. So, Seko-kun, remember what you did when you took the train with the lost Saki?”

“Yeah, I remember, but Saki is like a little sister, and Yosaki, you’re a classmate, so…”

“I don’t like age discrimination.”

“We’re the same age, right!?”

“…is it not okay?”

My hand hanging in the air starts to feel cold, and my mood begins to sink a little.

Perhaps that’s why a feeble voice escaped me, a voice I wouldn’t normally use.

Then, Seko-kun, who had been flustered until a moment ago, seems to make up his mind.

His expression changes, and he grabs my outstretched right hand.

“…Well, today is that kind of day, and it’s not like it’ll attract much attention.”

“Ah…”

The words ‘today is that kind of day’ that came out of his mouth imply that he, too, recognizes today as Christmas, as a day for lovers.

I unconsciously tighten my grip on his hand.

And then I realized even if I squeezed with all my might, this hand would never be crushed.

Feeling the firmness of his hand, I was reminded once again that he was a man.

I decided to throw away my embarrassment today.

That’s why I even confessed to being directionally challenged.

In the end, it seemed like Seko-kun had already figured it out——

Right now, we’re holding hands, our palms touching and fingers crossed.

It’s different from how the other couples around us are holding hands.

I just need to push through a bit more. I can do it today.

“Seko-kun, I’m not comfortable with the way we’re holding hands. Let’s change it.”

With that, I adjust the angle of my wrist and slide my fingers in between his.

Instantly, his body tenses.

“Yosaki, you’re kind of bold today——”

Seko-kun says this while looking off into the distance.

I chuckle and reply,

“Fufu, today is that kind of day after all.”

I can feel his body tensing up even more through our entwined hands.

I was cold just a few moments ago, but now I’m starting to feel warm from the inside out.

“Oh, by the way,”

Seko-kun says, showing a mischievous grin.

“Your outfit today really suits you. You look gorgeous.”

I quickly realized that he must have thought I was teasing him and said that to try to get back at me.

But even when he says such things, I can’t believe he would lie.

Before I knew it, my body had become very warm——

***

After that, we take a train and wander aimlessly around the town, which is all decked out for Christmas.

It’s the same outing route we’ve always taken, and I purposely didn’t change it.

I wanted to gauge how my feelings would change now that it’s just Seko-kun and me rather than the three of us including Haru or Saki.

——The result?

I couldn’t have asked for a more fulfilling time.

The biggest factor is that Seko-kun is always conscious of me.

Normally, he tries to engage everyone equally, so his focus tends to be all over the place when we’re walking around town.

Today, however, he focused on only what I like and talked about it.

——It doesn’t stop there.

Because he’s so focused on me, he compliments me in more situations than usual.

When we went to a pasta restaurant for lunch, he said, “Yosaki, you eat so elegantly.”

When I was drawn to a Christmas-themed stuffed animal, he said, “Yosaki, you have such cute tastes.”

And when we were looking at clothes in a boutique, he said, “Yosaki, it seems like everything would suit you.”

And for most of the day, except during meals, he held my hand.

I could feel the warmth emanating from his hand melting my heart.

Finally, we walked along a large street a short distance from the station.

It was lit up brilliantly, filled with so many couples that it seemed like they all had gathered there.

We walked in that couple-filled environment as well.

When we reached the end of the avenue, we stopped and looked up under the largest tree adorned with numerous illuminated ornaments.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Right.”

This tree must be the main attraction of this avenue.

It’s glowing so brilliantly that it leads me to think so.

“Here, take this.”

Seko-kun hands me something.

It’s a bag from a store he’s been holding for a while.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a Christmas gift. We don’t have Santa anymore, so we have to do it ourselves.”

“Ah… can I open it?”

“Of course.”

What I pull out from the bag Seko-kun hands me is the scarf I tried on earlier.

“I chose it because you seemed to like it. What do you think?”

“I’m happy. Thank you so much.”

I quickly wrap the scarf around my neck.

Perhaps because it was purchased as a gift, the tag had already been removed.

Just by wrapping the scarf around my neck, it feels like my body temperature has instantly risen.

“How does it look?”

“Great, it really suits you. It’s a feast for the eyes——definitely worth the gift.”

He says this jokingly, but even I realize that he is trying to make me feel at ease.

“Sorry, I’m not used to exchanging Christmas gifts with friends, so I hadn’t thought of anything. Would it be okay if I prepare something now?”

“It’s okay-it’s okay, I did it on my own. It’s not like I did it expecting something in return. You know, I just want to try being Santa.”

“Fufu, what’s that supposed to mean?”

Sure enough, he covers for my blunder.

But still, I won’t be at ease if things stay like this.

“…listen, you might find it trivial, but I’ve thought of a Christmas gift for you, Seko-kun. Will you hear me out?”

“It’s really okay, but sure, let’s hear it! Can Yosaki come up with a gift that will impress even me, a level-one certified Santa?”

“From now on, I’ll call you ‘Rento-kun’——That’s my Christmas gift to you.”

In an instant, his face turned as red as Santa Claus himself.

He opened and closed his mouth, seemingly frozen.

Seeing that even his ears turned red, a burst of affection for him exploded within me.

I glance around and, whether by miracle or by some gift from Santa, there’s no one else around, even though there were plenty of people just a moment ago.

——Could this be the perfect opportunity for a confession?

The atmosphere between us has reached its peak, and no one else is around.

All the situations I could wish for have lined up perfectly.

All that’s left is to hear him say, ‘Go out with me,’ and for me to reply, ‘Yes.’

Then we could spend more happy moments like today——

I focus my attention on his lips.

His mouth, which has been frozen since earlier, finally opens.

“T-this is embarrassing. I’m not used to being called by my first name, so it’s really awkward for me.”

“Fufu, I hope you like it.”

“Yeah, I’m really happy. But I’m also really embarrassed. It’ll take me some time to get used to it. Oh, that’s right——”

He seems to remember something and takes out his smartphone, continuing to speak.

“Since we’re here, let’s take a photo. It’s all so beautiful.”

“Uh…?”

“I’ll go ask someone around here!”

Saying this, he runs off to someone else enjoying the lights and negotiates to have our photo taken.

Why won’t you confess?

Why do you end up calling other people.?

I was ready to say ‘Yes.’, and I had eliminated all other options…

Why? Why? Why?

“Yosaki, these people are willing to take our picture! Come on, let’s line up.”

“Uh, uhh.”

We stand side by side in front of the tree, smiling at the man holding the smartphone.

When we check the photo, it shows two people who don’t look like a couple——

…fufu, my gift was so shocking that it blew his planned confession away.

He’s such a helpless guy, but that’s also what makes him adorable.

I’ve kept him waiting until now, so it’s my turn to wait. I’ll wait as long as it takes.

Still, the sooner would be better, of course.

——Rento-kun, I like you.