Chapter 6: Epilogue

The next morning, when I got off at the station closest to school as usual, Byakuya was sitting quietly nearby.

“Yo. Byakuya. Thanks for the other day. I was actually just thinking about heading there right now; you wanna come with?”

“Meow.”

“I see, I see. …Heave-ho.”

Scooping up Byakuya, who had rubbed affectionately against my legs, I headed to Kagura Neko Shrine while fluffing him.

In the precinct, Nekohime-sama stood with her arms crossed self-importantly, her tail swishing back and forth.

“Nekohime-sama, thank you for the other day. You really saved me.”

Even though it was a paid service.

“Umu. You may be at ease. Raise your head.”

“It’s raised. From the very beginning.”

“Fumu. And? Today, what is that… um…”

Nekohime-sama was restlessly stealing glances at the plastic bag I was holding. I set the Byakuya I was carrying down and offered the plastic bag to Nekohime-sama.

“This is a gift of gratitude.”

“Let’s see here? Oh! Mufufu. This is it, this is it.”

She really took a liking to Churu, huh…

After packing the plastic bag full of words of admiration for a while, Nekohime-sama suddenly turned back to me and lowered her eyebrows as if exasperated.

“Be that as it may, while things happened to work out this time, there is no telling what will happen next. Therefore, make absolutely certain you do not ignore my warnings from now on.”

“Yes… I’m sorry…”

“…Also… well, um… I suppose I might have said a bit too much the other day as well. I cannot say I do not understand your desire to not hurt someone precious to you.”

“Nekohime-sama…”

“But do not make the mistake of thinking you should put your own life in danger to save another, you hear? If you die, it could very well become a matter of my own responsibility. Be very careful, understand? Do you hear me?”

“Yes. I’ll carve it into my heart.”

“Umu. As long as you understand.”

As I was leaving, Nekohime-sama said this:

“That ridiculous ability of yours will also disappear once you graduate from school. You just have to endure until then.”

“…It’s true that an ability where you can hear the inner voices of the opposite sex but die if you get confessed to is ridiculous. …But you know, Nekohime-sama. I can’t bring myself to hate this ability all that much.”

“Mu? Why is that?”

“Because thanks to this ability, I was able to become friends with Ayano again.”

“…Fumu. Well, it is not entirely impossible to look at it that way. But never forget that it is a dangerous ability. If you ever find yourself in trouble, you may come to me.”

“Thank you very much. I’m relying on you, Nekohime-sama.”

“Umu.”

And with that, I left Kagura Neko Shrine behind.

Before homeroom started. The classroom.

When I arrived at my desk, from the seat right next to mine, Ayano directed a sharp glare at me.

“…Good morning, Kota. “Huh? I totally thought Ko-chan went to school ahead of me… I wonder why he’s later than me? Was he making a detour somewhere? Fufufu. But, I was able to greet him normally again today. I’ve gotten pretty used to talking with Ko-chan.” “

Isn’t there anything she can do about that fierce expression?

“Morning, Ayano. Are you feeling better already? Sorry about a lot of things yesterday…”

“My body is fine now. …A-Also, please forget about that matter… “To think I’d lose my mind like that just finding out Ko-chan saw my notebook… I was so embarrassed I couldn’t sleep well last night… But, he didn’t realize that I love him, so it’s fine!” “

Yeah. Right.

As I sat down, Mizuki, who was sitting in front of me, turned around.

“Morning, Kota.”

“Morning. …Oh, right. There’s something I want to give you.”

“Something you want to give me?”

I handed Mizuki the massive pile of photos entrusted to me by Amamiya-sensei, still inside the brown envelope I had prepared beforehand.

Mizuki peered inside with deep interest, then furrowed his brows with an “Ugh!”

“Wh-What is this?!”

“Actually, I ran into the culprit who was secretly taking photos of you…”

“Eh?! Wh-Who was it?!”

“That’s… well, it’s better if you don’t know. I made them promise never to take secret photos again, and I got the photos they took back like this… so if possible, I’d like you not to blame the culprit too much, Mizuki…”

“R-Really…? Well, if you say so, Kota… “…But, thank goodness. I was actually a little worried about it…” “

Mizuki turned back to face me properly and said,

“Thank you, Kota! Thanks to you, I can commute to school with peace of mind!”

“Yeah.”

Having finished his thanks, Mizuki suddenly raised his voice as if remembering something, his face twisting in dissatisfaction.

“Ah, right! Hey, listen to this, Kota!”

“What is it?”

“The other day, there was an autograph session for Takeko Utani-sensei at a nearby bookstore! I had no idea at all! Ugh… I wanted… Utani-sensei’s autograph…”

While I was soothing Mizuki, who complained and grumbled for a while, snippets of inner voice reached me from Ayano sitting next to me.

“Saionji-kun is a fan of mine… Come to think of it, he might have mentioned something like that before… Back then… Saiko-san had been constantly telling me to fix my writing because it resembled Ichika Kaidou’s, but I couldn’t fix it well and was getting irritated… So when Saionji-kun told me my writing was similar to Ichika Kaidou’s, I got mad… and took it out on him… Looking back on it now, I might have been the worst… I wonder if he’ll forgive me if I apologize for that…”

After thinking sluggishly about such things, Ayano finally made up her mind, stood up from her seat, and approached Mizuki, who was slumped over my desk.

“Saionji-kun, do you have a minute?”

At Ayano’s sudden arrival, Mizuki’s body stiffened with a jolt.

“Eh? Um… Yumemigasaki-san? “Wh-What do I do! She’s glaring at me so hard! Did I do something wrong again?!” “

“…An autograph.”

“A-An autograph…?”

Ayano averted her eyes, looking a little embarrassed.

“…………I have a spare signed copy of Takeko Utani’s book at home, so I’ll give you one next time.”

“…Eh? Eh?! No way! Really?!”

“Yes. Also… the other day, when you picked up my notebook, I’m sorry for having such a bad attitude. I’m reflecting on it. …Um… thank you for picking up my notebook. “Also, for telling me about Ko-chan…” “

“Y-Yeah. You’re welcome. Thank you too. “What’s gotten into Yumemigasaki-san so suddenly? Could it be she doesn’t actually hate me that much?” “

My mind-reading ability isn’t omnipotent. Even if I can hear the inner voices of the opposite sex, it only conveys what they’re thinking at that exact moment.

A little less than two years left until I graduate high school and this ability disappears. To survive safely until then, honestly, I have to admit I lack experience.

…But well, in the end, Ayano is the only one who holds any special affection for me, so maybe I don’t need to be so overly stressed about it.

I highly doubt the number of weirdos who would fall in love with me besides Ayano is going to increase, anyway…

At any rate, I will spend my remaining two-ish years peacefully, safely graduate from school, and reclaim a proper, normal life.

Suddenly, I shifted my eyes to Ayano sitting in the seat next to me.

If I raise Ayano’s affection any more than this, Nekohime-sama will probably get mad at me again, but… I still have to say this one thing, at least…

“Hey, Ayano.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“…When I Think of You on the Coastline, it was incredibly interesting.”

“…Is that so. Thank you.”

Answering without changing her expression, Ayano’s inner voice came flooding in one after another.

“YAAAAAAAAAAY! KO-CHAN FINALLY PRAISED MEEEEE! AHH, JEEZ! WHAT DO I DO! I’M SO HAPPY I’M GOING TO START GRINNING AGAIN!”

Her energy is through the roof…

“Fufufu. Even so… I’m so glad Ko-chan didn’t find out about THAT.”

That? You mean the fact that you love me?

I already know that, though…

“…I’m so glad he didn’t find out that I love Ko-chan so much that I can only turn my delusions about him into novels.”

…Eh?! Wait a minute! Does that mean the protagonist and the heroine in ‘When I Think of You on the Coastline’ are me and Ayano?! That couple that was flirting the entire time?!

“Kota? What’s wrong? You have a weird look on your face.”

Just how much do you love me!

The End