The Love of My Childhood Friend, Who Has Overcome a Terminally Ill Diagnosis, Is Overwhelming
Kanade, who had shown me her belly, left my house after we finished dinner.
After walking her to the station, I returned to my room alone and immersed myself in my studies.
Normally, I would have kept studying like this until bedtime, but… today, around 11:00, my smartphone—which I’d left on my desk—started ringing, so I paused for a moment.
“Hello?”
“Oh, Atsushi. Good evening.”
When I answered the call, it was Takagaki’s voice I heard.
“Good evening. What’s up at this hour?”
“What? Did my call bother you?”
“Hm? Not really, though.”
“……Hmm.”
I turned on the speakerphone and went back to studying.
“So, how did it go?”
“Hmm?”
“About Kanade.”
“Oh, right.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I left you to deal with that hassle.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“……Atsushi, you’re studying right now, aren’t you?”
“Hmm—”
“Hey. Don’t try to concentrate on your studies while you’re on the phone with me. You’ve been giving me half-hearted answers this whole time, and we’re not getting anywhere.”
Takagaki’s voice sounded a little annoyed.
“Sorry, sorry. …What were we talking about again?”
“Sigh. Seriously, this guy. You weren’t listening to a single word I said.”
“I said I’m sorry.”
“…These days, everyone’s always talking about multitasking and all that, but if you keep doing things like that—dividing your focus by doing other tasks at the same time—you’ll end up doing everything half-heartedly, so be careful.”
“…That was a really specific topic to bring up out of the blue.”
It sounded like a story based on Takagaki’s own experience.
“Well, I’ll be fine.”
‘No way. This call was supposed to be over in five minutes. You’ve been giving me half-hearted answers, and with all the small talk, we’ve already been on the line for three minutes.’
“……”
Takagaki is so sharp in situations like this—just like a nagging Stepsister
……Wait, the way she’s lecturing me sounds a bit like the principal during an evacuation drill, doesn’t it?
“Sorry. I’ll focus properly on this call for a bit.”
‘…You’re surprisingly easy to reason with, aren’t you?’
Takagaki-san’s voice sounded slightly impressed.
‘Ahem. So, did you manage to invite Kanade to the beach?’
Clearing her throat once, Takagaki-san asked me again.
“Ah, yeah. I managed to pull it off somehow.”
‘I see. In that case… I’m glad. I’m glad you got to go to the beach with Kanade.”
“Yeah. I’m really looking forward to it. …And of course, I’m also looking forward to going with you and Kadokura-san.”
“You idiot! If you keep saying things like that…”
My phone started vibrating.
“Oh. It’s a call from Kanade.”
Judging by the notification, it seemed Kanade—who had just gotten home a little while ago—was calling.
“Hiii…”
After playing Takagaki-san’s frightened voice, my phone vibrated twice, then three times in a row.
It seemed Kanade had been calling me repeatedly.
“Hahaha. I’m getting a ton of call notifications from Kanade.”
“How can you even laugh about this?”
“Huh? Well, it’s the same old thing, after all.”
“……I don’t think you should just accept that as normal.”
Is that so?
“Why don’t you answer Kanade’s call?”
“Huh? Sure. You were the one who called me first, after all.”
“That’s exactly why I told you to stop doing that.”
Why?
“……If you keep this up, Kanade’s going to dump you someday.”
“……Dump me?”
“It means she’ll be taken by another guy.”
“…Hahaha. Well, I guess that can’t be helped.”
“Huh? …Is that really okay with you?”
“I mean… Kanade’s a really attractive girl. It’s only natural that lots of people like her. The fact that she’s hanging out with me right now is the abnormal part.”
I gave a wry smile.
“That’s why I’m going to prove I can become the kind of guy who’ll always be by Kanade’s side.”
The moment I said that, the phone notifications on my smartphone stopped.
“…So, well, even if she goes off with someone else for a while, as long as she ends up by my side in the end, that’s fine with me.”
“Oh, okay. Now that I know Kanade-chan can go to the beach, I’m done here. I’m hanging up.”
I heard the electronic tone—beep, beep—coming from my phone.
…I guess I’ll call Kanade back for now.
“Oh, Kanade’s calling again.”
Well, well—it’s perfect timing, as if she planned it.
Maiasa