Volume 1 - CH 54

—beep—beep—beep

Every morning I wake up to the familiar sound.

With my eyes closed, I search for my phone in a groping state to stop the ringing alarm.

Suddenly, I touch something soft in my hand.

Holding that soft something, my brain starts to wake up and I open my eyes with a groan.

What comes into view is Himekawa, who has a slight sleeping habit.

She is sitting on the side of the bed, and I had a feeling she was looking at me, smiling.

Then, when I turned my eyes to my own hand, I saw that I was holding Himekawa’s hand.

Apparently, he had placed his hand on the bed.

All at once, my brain was awakened.

I move my hand, which was holding Himekawa’s hand, to my phone and stop the alarm that is still ringing.

“Oh, good morning.”

I call out to Himekawa, still under the covers, a little nervous.

“Good morning. Are you in any pain?”

In the dimly lit room, Himekawa’s cute voice comes into my ear.

If I had a voice like this whispering in my ear every morning, I would…

“I have very little pain. How long have you been there?”

“Just a few minutes ago. I was sure you would wake up at the same time as usual.”

Himekawa gets up, opens the curtains, and light comes into the room.

I’m a little tired, probably because I was a little late yesterday.

“Please take it easy today. I’ll do the morning preparations.”

Himekawa begins to fold the futon.

By “morning preparations”, she probably means breakfast.

I have to stop her from doing that!

‘No, I’ll do it with you. Breakfast should be easy.”

I get up and head to the bathroom with Himekawa, who has finished folding the futon.

I wash my face and gargle. When I look in the mirror, I see Himekawa and I standing side by side. I look at myself in the mirror and feel uncomfortable with my hair.

I look at Himekawa.

Himekawa was fixing her hair with a comb and fixing her bed hair.

“I’m going to go change my clothes.”

“I’m going to get ready for breakfast after I change.”

“I understand. Please don’t be too hard on yourself.”

Himekawa ran up the stairs.

It would probably take me 20 minutes to get back to my room.

I walked quickly to my room and changed my clothes while protecting my slightly sore fingers.

I open my schoolbag and check today’s schedule.

Good, no problem! Well, breakfast is ready!

I hurry to the kitchen and find Himekawa already there.

Isn’t she early? Maybe I took too long?

“What would you like this morning?”

Himekawa is wearing an apron over her uniform.

She is quick to get ready and is already on standby.

But she looks good in an apron.

“Uh, can I have some toast and fruit yogurt today?”

“That’s pretty easy. Do you want to cook an egg?”

“Well, I could at least fry an egg.”

“Then, I’ll do the toast, and you do the rest, right?”

Himekawa opened the refrigerator and prepared eggs and yogurt.

I prepare bread and canned fruit from the tea chest.

Himekawa only does the cooking. I just bake the bread and mix the yogurt and canned fruit.

Perfect. I can complete today’s mission without any problem.

I put the bread in the toaster and set the timer.

Then, I put the yogurt in a bowl and try to open the can of fruit.

A can opener in my right hand and a fruit can in my left hand. Huh?　Could it be difficult with these fingers?

When I was a little confused, Himekawa gently supported my right hand.

“Can you open it with this?”

“Sorry…”

Himekawa’s chest touches my arm slightly.

I open the fruit can without thinking, trying not to show any signs of being upset.

Himekawa probably doesn’t notice.

If I say something here, Himekawa might feel offended.

“It’s terrible to touch a girl’s breasts!”

“I can’t believe you were thinking that!”

And so on. Okay, let’s not say anything and pretend it didn’t happen.

“All you have to do now is stir them up. The eggs will cook on their own.”

—

In front of me is toast with a nice smell of browning. Yogurt mixed with just the right amount of fruit.

And a fried egg with the yolk disintegrated and cooked in the shape of a bloodstain.

“It’s strange, isn’t it? Why is it shaped like this?…”

“It may not look like it, but it tastes good, okay?”

We had breakfast right away.

Himekawa’s fried egg looks tragic, but the taste is fine.

She’s steadily improving, Sensei is very happy!

“The taste is fine, but please show me how to make fried eggs next time.”

“Yes, I’ll show you how to make fried eggs next time.”

Thus breakfast time passed, and I had more time to spare because I didn’t do my daily jogging.

“It’s a little early, but do you want to go to school?”

“Yes, it’s earlier than usual, so shall we both go to school today?”

“Why? Can’t we go separately?”

A situation that is not mutually beneficial. Moreover, it might be troublesome.

If that’s the case, we should just go to school separately from the beginning.

Why should we take the risk here?

“If something happens on the way to school, it would be a big problem, wouldn’t it? We’ll be fine since we arrive at school earlier than usual. I don’t think it will be as you imagine, Tendo-kun.”

Without hearing my reply, Himekawa leaves the room and brings her schoolbag.

This is what you call a forced event. Well, we’re way ahead of time, and it’s at least okay for today.

“Well, let’s get going.”

“Yes, let’s go. Shall we go?

We both go to school together for the first time.

We leave the same house, go to the same school, and go to the same class.

I am a little embarrassed, but also happy.

I wonder what Himekawa thinks about it.

Himekawa said yesterday that she was having fun.

I’m having a lot of fun too.

I was worried at first, but now I’m having fun.

Should I tell her this in words?

I opened the front door and closed the lock.

“”I’m off!””

Our day begins now.

Tomorrow will surely start the same way.

But I want to cherish every day I spend with Himekawa.

Because today is irreplaceable and comes only once.

“All right, let’s do our best for another day!”

“Let’s do our best!”

And then we started walking toward the station.