17 Shoko Nishimiya's Confession

Several of them continued on toward the udon shop when a voice suddenly called out from behind.

“Kyosuke! That cake looks so delicious!”

Kyosuke Hojo turned around. Sakuraryo Yamanouchi was standing in front of the glass display window of the dessert shop they had just passed, staring blankly at the cakes inside. A glimmer of drool had even appeared at the corner of her mouth.

He walked over and saw a mirror-glazed mousse cake. A yellow planet had been painted across its black base, while a tiny winged fairy danced through the design. Whether it actually tasted good was impossible to know, but it certainly looked beautiful.

“No. That cake completely exceeds the maximum amount of sugar you can consume in one sitting.” Kyosuke rejected Sakuraryo without mercy.

“Look, this is my medical examination report from the day before yesterday. I’m perfectly healthy! The doctor said there are hardly any girls in all of Japan as healthy as me!”

As though she had anticipated Kyosuke’s answer, Sakuraryo swiftly pulled a medical report from the pocket of her overalls.

“Please.”

While Kyosuke examined the report, Sakuraryo wrapped herself around his arm and began shamelessly pleading with him.

After accompanying Sakuraryo to the hospital countless times over the years, Kyosuke was perfectly familiar with all the various figures on a medical examination report. After taking a look, he found that Sakuraryo was indeed exceptionally healthy. She had no pancreatic problems, and was not even in a state of sub-health.

The soft sensation against his arm made his heart itch as though a cat were scratching it. This kind of half-hidden, half-revealing temptation was especially tormenting. He almost wanted to pull her into his arms and punish her immediately.

“All right, all right. But you can’t eat any other desserts for the rest of this month.”

Kyosuke gave in. Sometimes, even he felt that he was far too strict with Sakuraryo.

While other girls could happily shop with their friends, drink coffee, and enjoy desserts, she could only stand by and watch them longingly. And all because of the inexplicable demands of her childhood friend.

They entered the shop, paid for the cake, and came back out with it.

“Then are we still going to eat udon?” Kyosuke asked the girls as he carried the cake.

“How could we eat udon after having cake? We’d gain weight! Kyosuke, you really don’t understand girls at all.” Sakuraryo’s eyes never left the cake.

“Then let’s all eat at Shoko and Naoka’s place. We happen to have some barley tea ready. It’ll help cleanse our palates after the cake,” Shoko said gently.

Naoka Ueno naturally had no objections either, so the group headed to the girls’ residence.

It was slightly smaller than Kyosuke’s apartment. However, they slept directly on bedding spread over the tatami mats, and there was no kitchen, so the place actually appeared a little more spacious than his apartment.

In the living room, they sat around a low table.

Kyosuke placed the cake on the table. Thanks to his impressive arm strength and control, the cake had not shifted at all despite Sakuraryo’s repeated attempts to interfere along the way. The design remained perfectly intact.

Kyosuke picked up the cake knife, while Sakuraryo excitedly waved a small fork beside him.

“A little more. Just a little more!” she whispered.

Ignoring Sakuraryo’s greedy hopes, Kyosuke considered the matter carefully and cut her the section containing the little fairy.

“Ah, I wanted more.” Sakuraryo complained as she stared at the tiny piece of cake on her plate.

He then cut the planet section for Naoka and a golden star for Shoko.

Afterward, everyone fell briefly silent and began enjoying the cake.

Looking at the slice on her plate and the beautiful star resting upon it, Shoko smiled happily.

Udon or cake, it did not matter. All she wanted was to stay with Kyosuke and everyone else, enjoying the time they spent together. Even if they did nothing at all, merely hearing Kyosuke’s voice was enough to make her happy.

Now, simply watching Kyosuke eat his cake in small bites had already filled her heart with happiness.

To her, hearing Kyosuke’s voice and every word he spoke gave her a dreamlike feeling, something so beautiful it seemed almost unreal.

Whenever that happened, Shoko would remember Kyosuke taking her hand and pressing it against his face, teaching her how to pronounce each sound one syllable at a time. Again and again, no matter how she failed to produce the correct pronunciation, he never grew impatient. He would only furrow his brow, think of another method, and continue teaching her.

What had made Shoko persist back then was not merely her longing to speak. It was also the sight of Kyosuke’s serious expression, his lips moving, his small tongue shifting, and his warm breath brushing against her face.

I absolutely must not disappoint him!

With her little face flushed, Shoko told herself this silently.

At the final elementary-school choir competition, they had failed to win. Shoko had actually wanted to cry. She felt that she had wasted all of Kyosuke’s efforts. But then she remembered what he had told her: she had to become strong, rather than merely knowing how to apologize.

In the end, Shoko hid her guilt deep within her heart, pulled herself together, and showed her best side to Kyosuke and her mother.

She knew that both Kyosuke and her mother liked seeing her smile and watching her be happy.

Shoko naturally knew how her two good friends, Sakuraryo and Naoka, felt about Kyosuke. There was nothing strange about so many people liking him; Kyosuke was that outstanding. She did not feel jealous, because she had never imagined being together with him. No matter how normal she might appear now, she always knew that her hearing...

She thought of the father and relatives whose faces she could no longer remember, people her grandmother had only spoken of after Shoko pressed her for answers. Because Shoko had been born with impaired hearing, they had coldly and cruelly forced her mother to divorce, leaving her mother to raise Shoko and Yuzuru alone.

Shoko did not want her own child to suffer through something like that in the future. Kyosuke would never be such a person, of course. But she knew all too well how much misfortune a deaf child could encounter in this world. Not every deaf child would be lucky enough to meet someone like Kyosuke. In that regard, Shoko felt certain that the gods must have taken pity on her, allowing her to meet him.

She did not know whether her hearing impairment was hereditary. Even if it was not, someone like Kyosuke ought to be with someone equally wonderful—not with a person like her, who needed hearing aids even to hear other people speak.

Whether it was Sakuraryo or Naoka, as long as either of them could make Kyosuke happy, Shoko would offer them her blessings.

Shoko separated a piece of cake with her fork, gently lifted it, and placed it in her mouth.

It was so sweet.

With a satisfied smile on her face, Shoko watched Kyosuke and Sakuraryo playfully bickering across from her.

“Ah, let me have one bite of yours. I swear, it’ll absolutely be the last bite.”

Sakuraryo stretched her fork toward the cake on Kyosuke’s plate with all her might.

Unfortunately, Kyosuke pressed one hand against her head, creating an impenetrable defense. No matter how fiercely Sakuraryo struggled, she could not move even one step closer to the cake. All she could do was watch helplessly as Kyosuke ate the last piece.

After they finished the cake, Shoko took the barley tea from the refrigerator.

Sakuraryo downed an entire glass of amber-colored tea in one go and let out a hearty belch.

“Sakuraryo, how many times have I told you not to drink ice-cold water so quickly? It’s bad for your stomach! Hurry and warm yourself with a cushion!”

“I don’t want to. Kyosuke, rub my stomach for me, just like you used to.”

Sakuraryo lay sprawled on the tatami, without even opening her eyes.

“We’re not little third-graders anymore. You’re a girl, you know. How can you ask a boy to rub your stomach?”

“What does it matter? You’re not just any other boy, Kyosuke.”

“Speaking of which, can you still get into school at this hour?”

Kyosuke asked. Unlike the three of them, Shirayuri Academy—known as an academy for young ladies—was a fully boarding school and did not allow students to commute from home.

“Oh no! The cake was too delicious. I completely forgot about that!”

Sakuraryo sprang to her feet.

“See you next time, Shoko and Naoka! I’m leaving first!”

At the entrance, Sakuraryo hurriedly put on her shoes and was about to dash downstairs.

“Hey, Sakuraryo, the strap on your right side has fallen down. I’m leaving too. Goodbye, Shoko and Naoka.”

Seeing that Sakuraryo had not heard him and had already run down to the next floor, Kyosuke quickly said goodbye to Shoko and Naoka, then chased after her.