CH 25

[Arisa’s POV]

It has been a while since I had gotten significantly closer to Hayato-kun. 

The time when there was no longer a sense of hesitation in approaching him and talking to him at school, Aina and I were suddenly called over by two of his friends. 

Whenever we are summoned by boys like this, they always confess their feelings for us, and we wondered if it was the same for them. We had heard about them from Hayato-kun from time to time, and he had told us that they were his good friends whom he cherished.

“I wonder what they want?”

“No idea.”

When we went to the rooftop, they were there waiting for us.

“Let me get straight to the point. You guys are not approaching Hayato to trick him, are you?”

We rolled our eyes for a moment at their question, but nodded in affirmation as if it were obvious! When we asked them why they thought that, they answered without hiding.

It seemed they had been wondering why we were approaching Hayato when we had never been involved with him at all in the past.

They thought that we might be doing something wrong to him, or that we were approaching him with wrong intentions.

All we want is let him drown in our love, that’s for sure, but we have no intention of troubling him with anything bad. I couldn’t tell them the details, but they seemed to be relieved once we talked a little.

“I don’t know what happened between you guys… but Hayato seems to be having a lot of fun lately. Somehow he laughs a lot.”

“Though in front of us he usually smiles, but nowadays he looks happy, I don’t know how to say it. It’s as if something that he had been missing just came back to him.”

Hayato-kun seeks the warmth of a family.

He stood up for himself even though he lost his father and his mother, and was left all alone. But the void left by the loss of his family cannot be filled, and a loneliness that will never go away covers Hayato’s heart.

“… You guys really care about Hayato-kun, don’t you?”

They nodded at Aina’s question.

“Well, yeah. We weren’t really this close to talk to begin with thought. I’m a serious Otaku, and this guy’s had it rough.”

“I guess so. I had no friends because I had been in constant fights since middle school.”

Heh, that’s something I didn’t know.

The guy with glasses was an otaku, and the guy with a round-cropped head was a delinquent, which normally would not bother me, but the fact that they were Hayato-kun’s friends piqued my interest more than a little. And apparently it was the same for Aina.

“When we were freshmen, this guy and I were all alone with no friends. It was Hayato who approached us.”

“That’s right. I thought he was a jerk when he suddenly told me it was lonely being alone, and look at us now… we’ve become such good friends.”

“So that’s what happened.”

Unusual… that Aina is interested in it.

Well, I guess I’m interested too because I can learn about Hayato-kun’s past self.

I feel the same way, so I listen to what they have to say.

“With Hayato at the center, I, an Otaku, and this guy, a Delinquent, got together. To be honest, I felt like we were like water and oil, but strangely enough, we got along well. The stories of his fights became like a heroic tale, and he even started cosplaying with me now that he knew my hobbies.”

“No, wait, I didn’t go that far!”

He coughed and went back to his story.

“Well, that’s how we came together. And on such a day we decided to go to his house to play. There, we found out that Hayato’s parents were no longer in this world.”

“… That’s right.”

The story of Hayato’s family is no longer irrelevant to us. That is why, as much as they were saddened, Aina and I too are saddened.

“We still have our mother and father alive. But that guy… Even though his… he’s still got such a smile on his face, and I thought what a strong guy he was, knowing that he was all alone.”

“At my age, I’m a bit of a rebel, and sometimes I think my parents are a bit depressing. But he tells us to take care of our family, you know? I’ve come to cherish my parents more and more, thanks to his words.”

I think that’s true…

If it were just a friend, I would probably just say, “Yes, yes, that’s right,” when someone mentions my family. But when someone in Hayato’s situation says something like that to you, there is no way you can just let it go.

“That guy thanked us for caring about him because he doesn’t have parents, and I was like, what’s he talking about? It’s natural for us to care about him, since it was Hayato himself who brought us together in the first place. Because of him we became friends and we are laughing and having a good time now.”

I felt that his words were filled with a lot of feelings.

I sensed his gratitude to Hayato and his wish for him to be happy.

“Recently, Hayato seems to be enjoying talking with you guys. I can see that he is happy. That’s why we’re… Um, I’m sorry. I’m not quite sure what to say.”

I chuckled as he said this while scratching his head.

In short, they too had always been concerned about Hayato. They had been thinking about him, who lost his family. If that is the case, then there is only one thing that I can say to reassure them.

“We want to support Hayato-kun. I can’t tell you much about how we met, but we won’t let him be alone anymore… we’ll always be there for him.”

I looked at Aina and she nodded.

“Yes. That’s how much we love Hayato-kun. That’s why we want to stay by his side, and we will never let him feel lonely anymore.”

They were naturally surprised that I said “we” instead of “me.” Still, they smiled and bowed their heads, as if they understood how we felt.

“Then please… Please stay by his side.”

Aina and I nodded at his words.

People around us accepted our change, but they, Hayato’s closest friends, wondered about the change, even if only a little. This was a surprising feeling, but I longed a little to have friends who felt that much for me.

They looked up at me and, perhaps having lost some of their nervousness, began to talk about things casually.

“Well. If it’s good for him, I can’t say anything about it. Though it might be a bit rough on him.”

“I was so surprised. I didn’t think he was going to take the most beautiful sisters of this school.”

We giggled even though we are by no means strangers.

I’ve given it a lot of thought, but it’s true that being loved by me, Aina, and my mother may be a bit of a challenge. I still intend to drag him down into the swamp of love, though.

“But I’m glad you told us the truth. At first I thought you guys were up to something. And this guy even said, he wouldn’t let you get away with it if you did, even if it made him look bad.”

“D-don’t say that!”

… Fufu, Hayato-kun is really thought of by many people.

This event will be the end of the story of how the two of us were called together.

And this encounter changed us all a little.

Within our uncommon feelings for Hayato-kun, there exists an unstoppable love. As I said to Hayato, it is not that there was not something dark about it.

But after hearing their story, our feelings for Hayato grew even stronger.

There was indeed a dark and heavy love.

However, we both declared to them. We promised them that we would never make Hayato-kun sad, that we would never make him feel lonely, and that we would always stay by his side.

In a sense, the promise we made to them has further strengthened our feelings for Hayato.

[Hayato’s POV]

“So that’s what happened…”

I was happy that they cared so much about me, even though we are usually just fooling around with each other.

“The promise I made to them also helped to strengthen our feelings.”

“That’s right. Since we made a promise to your friends, we have no choice but to let you drown in us now, don’t we? Now I’ll say it again… I love you, Hayato-kun.”

“Aah, that’s not fair, Aina… I love you too, Hayato-kun.”

I probably had a crush on these girls for a long time now.

Since I didn’t want them to leave me, I kept unconsciously reaching out for their warmth. I was just too cowardly to admit it… I, I want to be with them. I want them to stay with me forever.

“I want you to… always be there for me… I don’t want you to leave me.”

“Yeah. I’ll always be with you.”

“Un. I’ll always be with you.”

The two of them hugged me with a soft touch.

I can no longer escape from their warmth. I’m already caught by these girls… or maybe I wanted them to catch me. Drowning in love… I see, this is indeed a scary thing. Because it’s so warm and reassuring.

“Me too… I love you both.”

“!?”

“Fuwa?”

I love them… so I said it out loud.

I can’t stay away from these girls anymore… I’m completely drowned in them. I chose to drown in the love of these girls that I can never get out of again.