CH 43

“Then let’s go.”

Mom said, but although Me, Kaede, and Dad were there, one of us was missing.

Hina, who was always eager to go to any event, was not here.

I haven’t seen her since a while ago. I let out a sigh, wondering where she had gone, and then Mom noticed it.

“Hina has already gone ahead with her friends.”

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“Because you seemed to want to know.”

“I didn’t…”

“Ahaha Ren is cute”

Not only Mom, but even Dad was also teasing me by saying such things, so I turned away and looked out the window.

Snow was falling from the sky, illuminated by car lights on the dark night streets, different from the daytime.

“This year it’s gonna snow even more compared to last year”

“That’s right!”

I meant to talk to myself, but I heard a happy voice next to me, so I turned to Kaede and saw her eyes sparkling.

“Snow… do you like it?”

“Yes!”

Kaede’s immediate answer to my question made me look away quickly as she turned her big smile towards me.

Mom, seeing this, was itching to tease us and was glancing at us.

“Fufu, you both really are a good match, I can’t wait for you to come over to our house as his girlfriend.”

“Hey, Mom.”

“Ren? I think I have been thinking that, too. When I look at you two, you look so much like me and Reiko-san did when we first started dating.”

It was embarrassing to hear that from Dad and not from mom.

If it were Mom, I would be able to brush it off as something that happened all the time, but Dad rarely said such things, and My face was gradually getting hotter and hotter.

I desperately told myself that my hot face was due to the car’s heater.

I looked at Kaede next to me, who was as red as an apple up to her ears and covering her face with her hands.

Seeing that Kaede, I couldn’t help but grin. I guess it can’t be helped.

“Alright, We are here”

When Dad said this, Me and Kaede got out of the car, but Him and mom did not get out of the car readily.

“What are you doing? Why don’t you two go?”

“Eh?”

When Mom said such a thing to me, my voice leaked out unexpectedly.

“Eh? Isn’t that right? What are you going to do if you two don’t go together!”

Mom urged me to hurry up and go, so Kaede and I headed off to Shrine together.

It was already strange when a very beautiful girl with beautiful hair and looking really pretty in her kimono was walking next to me.

“Fufu, we’re finally alone together!”

“…Huh? What do you mean?

“What? No! I mean, it’s not that I’m guilty, you know!? I just wanted to go to the Shrine with you.”

Unfair, really unfair, because she said it with her cheeks flushed red and her face slightly lowered in embarrassment.

Too cute.

“A-Ah! Let’s draw a fortune!”

“Hmm? Oh, okay.”

She seemed like a child who couldn’t resist the urge to draw a fortune.

As I walked slowly, she tugged on my arm as if she was telling me to walk faster.

“Ready! Shall we open it?”

“I know.”

(I’ll keep quiet about the fact that I actually almost opened it with that “Ready!”)

“Yosh!”

We both opened our fortunes at the same time, and to our surprise, it was a great fortune.

“I did it! It’s a great fortune! Look at this!”

Yes, it was Kaede who had great fortune. As for me, it was bad fortune.

I did not believe much in fortunes, but when I was shown such a clear bad omen, I was quite distressed.

“Great misfortune … I am seeing it for the first time”

“It’s my first time too.”

“B-But I’m sure something good will happen!”

“Even though it’s a great misfortune? The fortune slip says it’s bad for everything, right?”

Kaede thought for a moment and looked as if she had come up with something.

“Please squat for a moment.”

“Hm? Like this?”

At that moment I felt something soft touch my cheek and when I turned to Kaede, she was covering her lips with her hand shyly.

She kissed me on the cheek. I started to worry that even Kaede could hear my heart pounding when someone I liked did that to me.

“It’s a great misfortune, but it’s a great fortune in terms of love.”

“…Haa, that’s right.”

I hid my reddening face with my hands desperately.

“Ah! Let’s pay a visit this time!”

Saying that, Kaede pulled my arm again. I don’t think I can beat Kaede these days.

On the contrary, I was afraid that I might get back at her.

“Great fortune in love…huh?”

I strongly believed again that I did not believe much in fortune-telling.