Chapter 429: Lending You Half
Chapter 429: Lending You Half
“What did you say? What is really beautiful?”
Yukinoshita covered the torn part of her sleeve, sensed danger, and stepped back.
“Your… oh no, night! The night, of course. Isn’t it beautiful?”
Himekoji firmly held down the struggling Hikari in his arms while seriously covering his lie with a straight face.
Pretending to be thoughtful, he looked up towards the window at the end of the hallway, shaking his head as if marveling.
“Look, this moon, these stars, these shadows…”
It actually sounded somewhat convincing.
Suspicious but half-believing, Yukinoshita glanced towards the window after Himekoji. Unsurprisingly—
She discovered Himekoji was, once again, spouting nonsense and lies!
Because, the sun hadn’t even set yet!
Forget about the moon, stars, or shadows.
So—
“It’s not dark yet!”
Oh no, it really wasn’t dark…
Did Yukinoshita even catch this tiny flaw?
As expected of Yukinoshita!
Actually, Himekoji had already noticed this embarrassing problem even before Yukinoshita spoke.
But he was stuck now…
He couldn’t just confess to Yukinoshita, could he?
Say to her outright—
“Well… your armpit is so beautiful, way more attractive than your chest. Can I let me…”
Ahem!
If he really did that, he’d probably be dead the moment he opened his mouth.
Himekoji was young; he didn’t want to die yet.
Just as Himekoji was racking his brains, trying to figure out how to continue lying his way out of this, he suddenly heard a loud thunderclap outside.
“BOOM!”
Himekoji quickly looked out the window, and his eyes lit up.
Outside, dark clouds were rolling in, heavy and oppressive.
It was like help arrived just when he needed it!
“Look! It’s dark now! It got dark!”
Himekoji was overjoyed.
“Huh?”
This sudden, unexpected weather completely stunned Yukinoshita. She stood there dumbfounded, blinking several times before reluctantly accepting this ridiculous reality.
She had just said it wasn’t dark, and immediately, it got dark…
What kind of thing was this?!
First her sleeve got torn, now suddenly rain… It felt like she was having a streak of bad luck, like someone was targeting her. Yukinoshita frowned in annoyance.
And then, seeing Himekoji holding Hikari, looking incredibly pleased with himself like he’d won something right in front of her—Yukinoshita, of course, got even more annoyed!
“This darkness isn’t because you said it was dark!”
She retorted immediately, her face showing displeasure.
“Same thing, same thing.”
Himekoji waved it off dismissively.
“I saw it get dark and mistakenly thought night had come. Isn’t that understandable?”
“It’s only just dark now!”
“It happened almost at the same time. Why be so particular? Don’t be like an old marketplace auntie, haggling over every little thing. That’s just no fun.”
For some reason, seeing Yukinoshita flustered gave Himekoji a strange feeling of satisfaction.
Although he faintly sensed this satisfaction was twisted and weird, Himekoji couldn’t stop it.
He wanted to tease Yukinoshita more.
He wanted to immerse himself deeper into that feeling of satisfaction.
“Look, this moon… ugh! Look, this rain, these clouds, this thunder! How beautiful!”
Himekoji threw himself into it, putting on an exaggerated performance while secretly watching Yukinoshita’s reaction.
Unfortunately, he didn’t get to see the expression he wanted.
Yukinoshita just slowly took a deep breath and then returned to her usual calm, detached self.
“So, did you bring an umbrella?”
Her voice was cool again.
“Of course I did. Could it be you didn’t? If you want, I could lend you mine? If you beg me nicely, I might even consider it.”
Himekoji said this deliberately while shifting his position to hold Hikari, freeing one hand to dig into his school bag.
“Umbrella, umbrella, umbrella…”
He muttered as he searched, the image of his umbrella naturally forming in his mind.
Then, in an instant, a fragment of something both familiar and unfamiliar flashed by. Himekoji froze completely.
What was that fragment?
It seemed like it was about someone.
Who?
He couldn’t remember at all…
It was like a chunk had been forcibly ripped out of his memory.
An inexplicable horror, a terror of his memories being tampered with, washed over him. He had no proof, but he was certain that fleeting image wasn’t just his imagination or a mistake.
“Hmph, what’s wrong? Can’t find your umbrella?”
Yukinoshita’s voice seemed to reach him from far away yet close, snapping Himekoji out of his daze.
In that brief moment, a cold sweat had broken out on Himekoji’s back.
“Huh? Oh… yeah. Where is it?”
He finally managed to shake off that eerie feeling.
Himekoji had no idea what that strange sensation had been all about. With no clue, he had no choice but to push all related doubts to the back of his mind for now.
His head still felt a bit fuzzy. Himekoji replied to Yukinoshita purely on instinct.
“You really forgot? You already loaned your umbrella to Hikigaya, didn’t you?”
“Huh? Oh…”
Himekoji remembered—yes, there really was such a thing back then.
All his attention had been on Hikari at that moment, when Hikigaya asked to borrow his umbrella.
He remembered the sky didn’t look like rain was coming at all, so he had agreed without much thought…
But the umbrella he lent to Hikigaya was not the same as the flashes he’d just seen in his mind.
That much, Himekoji was certain about.
“Right, let’s go.”
Yukinoshita pulled her umbrella neatly from her bag, gave Himekoji a glance, and then walked ahead alone.
Noticing that, Himekoji had to stop his thoughts and quickly followed.
…
They walked without speaking. Before he knew it, they had reached the entrance hall of the school building.
Outside, heavy rain poured down with a splash. Inside, students in small groups took out umbrellas together as they passed the two.
Then, Yukinoshita, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped and turned to look at Himekoji.
No, more precisely, she was looking at Hikari in Himekoji’s arms.
“It’ll get wet going with you like that.”
Though she spoke seriously, the tiny flicker of shyness and embarrassment in Yukinoshita’s eyes gave away a bit of how she really felt.
Oh right, she had her eye on Hikari all along…
Himekoji understood.
“Here.”
Himekoji walked forward and handed Hikari over to her without hesitation.
“R-really? Are you sure?”
Her tone might make you think she was reluctant, but her movements said otherwise. The moment Himekoji held out Hikari, Yukinoshita happily clutched the cat tightly against her chest.
“Meow meow…~”
Hikari, however, after rubbing against a certain part of Yukinoshita and nuzzling there, looked disappointed and disgusted…
“Hikari will be in your care tonight.”
After saying that, Himekoji tightened his collar and prepared to charge into the curtain of rain.
The rain was heavy, but that was fine as long as he ran fast enough.
And Himekoji was good at running; he ran very fast.
“Off I go.”
As he spoke, he raised one foot, ready to run.
But as soon as Himekoji stepped forward, someone suddenly grabbed his wrist.
He turned his head and met Yukinoshita’s utterly exasperated expression.
“What are you doing?”
She asked him.
“Going home?”
Himekoji answered.
He was baffled, completely unable to understand why Yukinoshita would stop him.
Was she going to make him wait until the rain stopped?
But Himekoji didn’t like waiting.
Besides, the rain didn’t look like it would stop anytime soon.
“You’ll just… get drenched?”
“What else would I do?”
“Use an umbrella.”
Yukinoshita wore an expression that clearly said she couldn’t believe this.
“My umbrella is with Hikigaya.”
“There’s still my umbrella?”
“Eh? You’ll lend it to me?”
“Mhm.”
“But… what will you do?”
“I didn’t say I’d lend you all of it!”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Himekoji just got more and more confused.
“You…! Do I really have to spell it out for you?”
“Huh? Wh-what do you mean now?”
Himekoji genuinely didn’t understand…
Uh oh, looking at Yukinoshita’s expression now, she seemed angry…
His lips pressed together, feeling deeply wronged. He had no clue how he’d managed to upset her this time.
But anyway, whenever Yukinoshita got angry, things always became exceptionally terrifying…
That was an undeniable fact.
Himekoji lowered his eyes, staring fixedly at the tip of his own nose, ready to quietly endure her anger.
Then…
“Let’s go.”
A faint, fragrant scent suddenly drifted by.
Yukinoshita, holding Hikari in her right arm and an umbrella in her left, pressed herself close to Himekoji without giving him any warning.
Close… she was so close…
The only other time she’d willingly been this near was when they hugged during that School Trip!
He stiffened automatically, afraid that moving even slightly might brush against Yukinoshita.
If mistaken for taking advantage of her… as a known pervert, he knew he’d never explain himself clearly.
“W-we’re walking… like this?”
“Well? Do you see another way?”
“The umbrella…”
“I’m lending you half.”
Lending him half?
Did that mean…
Sharing her umbrella?
Could it be…?
“My apartment building has a ban on pets.”
Before Himekoji’s thoughts could spiral further, Yukinoshita offered her own explanation.
“Oh… right…”
“Mhm… So we’re just delivering Hikari home. I just happen to be walking along beside you. Don’t overthink it.”
“O-okay, that makes sense.”
Side by side under the single umbrella, the two figures stepped into the curtain of rain.
The heavy downpour was shut out.
Forgetting an umbrella happened often enough.
But this was the first time someone else held an umbrella over Himekoji.
…
“Are you really going to make me hold this up alone the whole time?”
“Huh?”
“Your turn!”
Yukinoshita moved her tired, aching arm with obvious displeasure, signaling for Himekoji to take over.
“O-okay.”
Well, holding the umbrella for someone… that was also a first.
…
…