Publishedat 27th of June 2019 05:51:38 AMChapter 53
A Rainy Day
The rainy season was now in full swing, with the terribly hot days continuing on . Today as well, the whole day had high amounts of humidity . The clouds had worked hard until after school, before finally allowing rain to come down . I was stuck with no way out . The forecast had said that it was just going to be cloudy, so I hadn’t brought an umbrella .
“What am I going to do?”
Pichon, pichon, I spoke to myself while watching the raindrops falling onto the roof . On a day where it looks like it’s going to rain, Hiiragi-chan usually drives to work . Maybe she would give me a ride home, but I don’t know when she gets off of work .
“Nii-san? Did you forget your umbrella?”
When I turned around, Sana was there .
“Rather than forgetting, I just thought that it wasn’t going to rain, so I didn’t bring it with me . ”
“Is that so…”
After fishing around inside her bag, she took out a fancy foldable umbrella with a bunny shaped handle .
Is this an elementary school excursion or something?
“Sana only packed one foldable umbrella, but if Nii-san really insists, then I would have no choice but to let you join in . ”
“I won’t insist on it, now hurry up and go home . It might rain even harder in a bit, you know?”
“Y-you’re quite stubborn, Nii-san . If you really want to join, you should just honestly say that you do . ”
“Bye . Sana . I’ll go home when the rain gets lighter . ”
“Eh, wa—waaai… Mou, Nii-san is going to get soaked . Also, get home safe, okay!?”
So you’re going to pray for my safety still?
Fuun, fuming from her nose, Sana took the bunny-chan umbrella which was common among elementary school girls, opened it up, and went home while taking large steps .
You know, a woman in her thirties wouldn’t be able to use that umbrella . Foldable umbrellas are normally for just a single person to use . If I join you under it, you’ll be the one completely soaked .
Guess I’ll go to the library to kill some time .
I turned around and was walking down the hall when I saw Hiiragi-chan carrying some doc.u.ments under her arm walking towards me .
“Seiji-kun, is something wrong?”
“Aaah, I have something to do in the library . ”
“Looking up something? You’re quite studious as usual . ”
Hiiragi-chan showed me her teacher smile .
Seeing her smile normally is great, but her teacher smile at school is another thing altogether .
“No, well, the rain is coming down pretty hard right now, so I was planning on staying until the rain died down a bit . ”
“You didn’t bring an umbrella? Well, I didn’t bring one either . ”
I explained to her the same thing that I told Sana, and Hiiragi-chan accepted it .
She glanced at the watch on her left hand .
“Well, I still have time… wait for a little bit!”
She ran off and returned with a black umbrella .
“Here, it’s the umbrella that’s always left in the staff room . ”
“No, I can’t use it . There’s probably other teachers that didn’t bring an umbrella . My house isn’t that far, you see, I just need to wait for the rain to die down a bit . ”
“I see I see… Then, how about I send Seiji-kun home . ”
“By car?”
“Nope . Today I came on bike . So, it’ll be on foot . ”
Hiiragi-chan made the proposal as if she was looking forward to it a lot . Sending me home on foot? And, Hiiragi-chan doesn’t have an umbrella of her own… And, there’s only one usable umbrella .
“Let’s go let’s go ♪”
She was happily bouncing around . I was waiting by the back gate, which we had designated as our meeting spot, until Hiragi-chan appeared with the black umbrella .
“Come come, come in . It might be a little cramped for two people though . ”
“So that’s how it is…”
I decided to join her, and ended up sharing the umbrella with Hiiragi-chan . It seems that’s why she had purposely decided to meet at the back gate .
“You know, I’ve always longed to do this~ Sharing an umbrella with the person I like . ”
“Just like an elementary schooler . ”
“Eh!? Like an elementary schooler!?”
Hiiragi-chan’s expression was one of complete shock .
“I-is this the so called ge-generation gap . ”
“Once you get to high school, I feel like you wouldn’t necessarily long to do it . ”
“That’s not true . Even Sanchan, she asked you too, right? To share an umbrella . ”
“You were watching…? I don’t really think she wanted to share an umbrella though…”
At a close distance, where our shoulders were touching, Hiiragi-chan brought her face closer to me . She touched her lips to my cheek .
“Hey, if we do this on the—”
“There’s an umbrella hiding us, so it’s safe . Sanchan, she might’ve intended to kiss you like that…”
“She won’t . Who do you think my little sister is anyways?”
“A super big brocon . ”
“…”
Putting aside the super big part, I can’t really deny the brocon part .
“I was a little bit jealous of you two when I was watching, but then you didn’t go back with her . And so, I thought in front of the troubled Seiji-kun, Haruksan could appear quite gallantly . ”
From start to finish, she was watching the whole time .
“I see . And so, you decided to send me home while sharing an umbrella . ”
“It’s not that far, so I could probably send you back and then come back to work . ”
Potsu, potsu, the sound of the raindrops smashing into the top of the umbrella could be heard . Since even the sound of the rain hitting the ground was really loud, the distance between us naturally closed in order to listen to what the other person was saying .
“Seiji-kun, your shoulder is getting wet . ”
Hiiragi-chan then tilted the umbrella towards me .
“Eh . Aaah . It’s fine . It’s only this much . I’m just going to go home and change anyways . ”
“No . You’ll catch a cold . ”
I lost to her pushing and so the umbrella tilted my direction . Inevitably, the umbrella became unable to cover Hiiragi-chan’s side fully .
“Haruksan, you’re getting wet . ”
“Just this much is fine . ”
“It’s bad for a girl’s body to get cold . ”
Or, so someone told me . Why it’s bad, I don’t really know though .
“Then, then, let’s get closer together?”
She wrapped her arm around mine, and so we walked with intertwined arms . No one will recognize us due to the umbrella, and since it’s raining, there’s probably not that many people around . We probably won’t be found out .
“It hasn’t been like this since our date in the city, right?”
“Really?”
“That’s—myaa!? I stepped in a puddle by accident… now, my leg is all wet…”
Hiiragi-chan’s mouth formed a frown .
I guess she had already thought up to sharing the umbrella and linking arms while doing it, but I guess she isn’t the type to really plan this far ahead . However, even after getting soaked by the rain, and getting her shoe stuck in a puddle, Hiiragi-chan still looked like she was enjoying it all .
“Going home with the person I love like this, has always been one of my dreams . Just once would have been fine . Sorry, for being so forceful about it . ”
“It’s okay . I was troubled since I didn’t have an umbrella after all . Rather, it seems like it was just perfect . ”
Now that I think about it, I don’t really know much about Hiiragi-chan’s past . From what Natsumi-chan said last time, let alone a boyfriend, she didn’t have any males that she was even close with, if I remember correctly .
“Haruksan, when you were a student, were you popular?”
“Eeeh? Not popular, not at all . ”
“Really…? Among the boys, Hiiragi-sensei is admired by all as an Onee-san character though . ”
“Heeeh, is that so? So that means, the person that everyone admires was secretly stolen away by Seiji-kun . ”
“That’s how it is . ”
“But you know, that makes me kind of happy . ”
Heheh, Hiiragi-chan giggled .
“If I look like I would be popular, despite my own self-a.s.sessment, that means in Seiji-kun’s eyes, I’m quite attractive, right?”
Right, right? Hiiragi-chan used her elbow to poke my sides .
“If that wasn’t the case, then I wouldn’t have fallen in love . ”
“——— … M-mouuuu, Seiji-kun, you Italian!”
I told you, I’m j.a.panese .
As we got closer and closer to my house, Hiiragi-chan’s footsteps became heavier . Reluctant to let me go, she put a little more force into her arm that was entwined with my .
“…”
The amount of speaking lessened as she glanced at me from the side with her lips closed in a lonely manner .
“Why don’t we take a slight detour?”
“No, it’s okay . I-I need to go back to school since I still have work . ”
Though she said that, her footsteps got a little lighter . It was easy to read Hiiragi-chan as her expression suddenly became brighter .
We weren’t really going anywhere, just taking a walk nearby . Having returned to our original state, we engaged in random conversations here and there . It seems that we can do normal couple like things on rainy days like this .
“Is something wrong?”
I shook my head as Hiiragi-chan turned to look at me .
“Mou, I’ve been so wet, that the skin on my foot, is probably wrinkly by now…”
“Don’t mind it . ”
“If that’s the case, no matter how wet we get, it’ll all be the same…”
Mufufu, laughing like that, Hiiragi-chan jumped into a puddle . The splash flew towards me .
“Uwah!? ——So childish!”
“Ahahahahah . ”
However, just walking back together under the same umbrella was enough to be happy with .