"Umm, Kii-san and I, are dating?"
Since I was so surprised, I ended up saying what was in my mind without thinking. Then, Kii-san opened her eyes wide, as if she heard something unexpected.
"Eh… we are dating, right?"
I was surprised even more when she repeated what I said for confirmation. Her seeking confirmation means that to her, us dating is an obvious fact.
Kii-san and I are dating. I finally got my mind around the statement and gathered all her actions within my mind. Of course, if you were lovers, you would do things like, sit next to each other on the train, call each other by first name, and speaking to each other in polite speech would feel bad.
However, even though I"ve been able to sort through all the information that I have, I still didn"t understand everything. First of all, it isn"t true that Kii-san and I are dating. If something like that were to happen, there would be no way I would forget.
"Is… that so?"
Not understanding anything, I looked at Kii-san with a surprised expression and once again asked in a weak voice.
Then, our eyes meet. Kii-san had a miserable expression, one that no one would want anyone else seeing. You"re asking me to argue against a face like that?
"I-I mean, Yoshiki-kun, didn"t you ask, please go out with me?"
"W-when?"
"During our first year of elementary school. We went to the restroom together at the joint athletic festival. You asked then."
"First year of elementary school…"
This is bad, I don"t remember anything at all. During the joint athletic festival, I was only focused on my own event.
After seeing that I couldn"t remember anything, tears began to well up in Kii-san"s eyes.
"You don"t remember? I had forgotten where the restroom was and you told me, please go out with me."
Ah, ahhh~, I think I remember a little bit of it now. If I remember correctly, I found a girl that had forgotten where the restrooms were and I wanted to tell her to follow me, but I changed the nuance of that line, and ended up saying, "Please go out with me". At around that time, I was watching a romance drama and I saw the main character saying something along the lines of, "Go out with me", and so I wanted to try saying it once.
Thinking back on it, I did say "Please go out with me". I guess, if Kii-san was also watching the same romance drama at that time, and took what I said as going out as lovers, then it wouldn"t be weird…
No, it"s still weird. After all, would a normal person really believe that you would become lovers just by saying those lines? Even if it is just first grade, isn"t that a little too naive? Not only that, she"s been holding on to that relationship for so long.
"Umm, it is true that I said, Please go out with me, but I didn"t mean it as in to become lovers… How should I say this… you and I, are probably not actually dating…"
The polite speech that I had stopped using recently just resurfaced. Probably, she thinks that I"ve been pulling her along this whole entire time. It is true that I had a part in her misunderstanding, though. Of course, finding out that she thinks that we were dating for ten years, rather than joy, I was feeling fear from that realization.
However, when I saw the supposedly scary Kii-san was now crying. Her expression had collapsed to a point that I have never seen before.
This is bad. I made a girl cry. What should I when this happens?
I thought about it, but an answer didn"t come to me in the end, so all I could do was stay silent and not do anything.
"What is this. I look like an idiot…"
Wiping her tears with her hands, she spoke with a soft voice. Seeing her face like that, a feeling of pity rose up within me. Clearly, she is feeling terrible right now.
"That"s true. To be honest, you look like a huge fool. But I was even more of an idiot. Because of me, Kii-san"s rose-colored life was disturbed. I don"t think you should be going out with someone like me, but rather someone who is a lot cooler…"
I feel like I committed a heavy crime. Although it was a mistake, I ended up limiting Kii-san since she was "going out" with me. The most important thing is that because of it, she ended up rejecting a lot of confessions. If she wasn"t actually "going out" with me, she probably could have had a lot more romantic experiences.
However, nothing can be done about the past. Now, there is only one thing I can do.
"That"s why, you don"t have to think of me anymore, Kii-san. You can fall in love more freely."
When I told this to Kii-san, who had stopped crying, pursed her lips. It looked like she was pouting.
"Then, it"s fine if I fall in love freely?"
"Yes, that"s right."
"I can also confess freely?"
"Of course."
"Then, please go out, with me."
"…Really?"
"Really."
"Eh, umm, there"s no way that Kii-san likes me."
"I do, what"s wrong with that?"
"No, I mean we don"t really talk that much to each other, and I never did anything for you to like me…"
"When I confessed to you, my heart started beating faster. I have definitely fallen in love."
In reply to my words, Kii-san rebuked it quickly and sharply. During that time, her face was completely red.
"And, what are you going to do? Your reply?"
If I"m shown such a face, then my answer is already decided.
"Yeah, let"s date."