Chapter 370: I Like You, So I’m Giving You the Choice
Chapter 370: I Like You, So I’m Giving You the Choice
The final school bell rang.
Himekoji instinctively looked over at Nanami at the next desk.
The girl was packing her bag. Was she getting ready to leave?
To go to the Seiyuu audition.
Please let it go smoothly.
This was Nanami’s thing, yet Himekoji almost felt more nervous than her. The closer it got, the wilder his heart beat.
…
“Hey hey, Akio, what are you staring at?”
“Huh?”
Snapping back to attention, his eyes focused on nothing.
Only a tidy desk and a neatly placed chair remained.
Had Nanami already left?
The loud voice chattering beside him was Tobe.
This guy became friendly easily. Ever since the School Trip, he’d stubbornly stuck to Himekoji like glue.
“Wanna play soccer this afternoon?”
Tobe rubbed his hands together with a grin, crowding into Himekoji’s space.
“Huh? Uh, probably not.”
Himekoji still struggled with too much enthusiasm, especially from other guys.
“Seriously? But I promised Hayato and the others I’d drag you along!”
“Sorry, maybe next time?”
“You’ve seemed kinda strange lately.”
Tobe suddenly narrowed his eyes, suspiciously looking him over.
“Have I? You’re imagining things.”
Himekoji let out an empty chuckle, keeping his face calm.
Inside though, his heart dropped.
Was it really that obvious?
Could even dense Tobe see it?
“Definitely! The past few days, you’ve been spacey and listless. Haven’t you been pushing yourself too hard?”
“Pushing myself?”
Himekoji didn’t catch Tobe’s meaning at first.
“Look, some things… well, it’s better to let it out than bottle it up.”
“Huh?”
Himekoji got more confused, not understanding what Tobe was talking about.
“And honestly, a not-weird Himekoji is just weird. Ha ha ha! So, really, don’t force yourself to hold back. Here’s a secret – right now, lots of girls in our class actually wish that the Pervert would do creepy things to them!”
“Hold back? Do creepy things?”
Hearing that, Himekoji finally understood.
Was Tobe saying he hadn’t been perverted these past few days?
Hey, wait… yeah, that was true…
The troublesome System hadn’t popped up for quite a while.
What was going on?!
“Himekoji-kun.”
Just as Himekoji wanted to figure this out, Nanami’s voice suddenly called him from the Classroom doorway.
The girl had packed her bag, but paused just before leaving.
“Himekoji-kun, could I ask you one last thing today?”
“What?”
His thoughts from before faded instantly.
Himekoji didn’t realize Nanami was becoming his top priority.
“Could you practice one more scene with me before the audition? Just one scene, I promise.”
She held up one finger exactly, watching him anxiously.
He couldn’t refuse at all.
It was legitimately useful. Wasn’t it like sharpening your spear right before the battle? It still helps!
If there was any chance it might help her even a little, he wouldn’t hesitate.
“Okay.”
He agreed without a second thought, leaving Tobe behind.
Himekoji followed her.
“Hey hey hey! Akio, wait! When’s next soccer? At least set a date!”
…
“Where should we practice?”
“How about there?”
Nanami pointed to the gray dome of the school theater.
It was really close. They arrived in moments.
Unexpectedly, the theater doors weren’t locked.
Slowly pushing open the door, they stepped inside.
The entire theater was empty. Just the two of them.
Nanami faced the screen, slowly walking down the steps. With the lights off, only the beam from the doorway lit the space.
She walked within that single beam of light.
She looked beautiful.
Himekoji stared dazedly at her back. He kept gazing until Nanami had actually stopped. Only then did he snap out of it and catch up.
“Hmm…”
In the theater with just them, even breathing sounded uniquely hollow.
“Okay, let’s practice one last time.”
Nanami turned around, resting both hands lightly over her heart to manage her overflowing nerves.
“Which scene do you want to practice?”
Himekoji asked.
“In the front… where the confession begins.”
“I know.”
To focus, Himekoji closed his eyes for a moment.
This made it easier to face his emotions. He wouldn’t panic so easily just because his eyes accidentally met Nanami’s.
Usually, it took a long time to prepare and build up the right feeling before practice. But today, Himekoji managed this step surprisingly quickly and easily.
It felt like his heart was already ready.
No—maybe it really was ready—
After the audition, he would give Nanami his answer.
Like the boy and girl in the play, the two of them had their very own promise.
So it felt almost like playing himself.
He slipped into the role without effort.
Himekoji slowly opened his eyes. Nanami still stood before the screen, bathed in the lone beam of light inside the theater.
Just like light itself.
No—Nanami was light.
His line came out almost without thinking.
“You said you had something sudden to tell me… what is it?”
He’d practiced countless times. And today, his condition was unexpectedly good. So there shouldn’t be anything unnatural about it.
At Himekoji’s voice, Nanami lifted her head slightly. Her eyes moved from bottom to top, meeting his.
“Well… it’s quite important, I guess.”
Even though it was a line they’d repeated endlessly, heard countless times—that very first word Nanami said still made Himekoji’s heart stutter strangely.
It was the same line, yet somehow different.
Nervousness and unease, fear and shyness…
All mixed together. Just one sentence was enough to rip away every bit of Himekoji’s calm.
“I’ve… I’ve had something I wanted to tell you for a long time.”
Nanami spoke each word, each syllable, carefully—as if trying to gather all her feelings into one spot.
Each word, each syllable, seeped slowly into Himekoji’s body.
“I see…”
His consciousness felt like it was drifting away. His mouth moved mechanically, continuing the script.
“Yeah, I…”
The slight rise in Nanami’s tone, the tremble in her voice, sent all the girl’s messy emotions crashing into him—along with her tension.
“I’ve always… always…”
Nanami was desperately fighting her own timid self.
Even though she’d confessed once on the Ferris Wheel, saying it again still didn’t feel natural or calm.
This wasn’t something she could get better at with practice.
Because Nanami’s feelings for Himekoji were new every single day. Deeper, stronger than the day before.
Every day was different. She loved him differently every day.
“…I’ve always liked you. I really like you!”
After a short pause, Nanami finally scraped together the last shreds of her courage and pushed the words out.
The instant he heard them, Himekoji’s skin went bumpy all over, like an electric shock shot through his body.
Every nerve reacted in panic. All the pores on his body opened wide, sweat starting to seep out. His heart pounded so hard he thought it might explode—like an engine roaring wildly inside his chest.
His mouth opened instinctively, dumbly.
He definitely knew this line. He understood the emotion he needed to say.
But—
“I’m the same. I feel the same way. I also…”
The most important part… he still couldn’t say it.
Why?
Hadn’t he already prepared himself?
“Himekoji?”
“Uh… uhh…”
“You only said half your line.”
It was Nanami who seemed to have shaken off her previous nervousness, as if a shadow had finally left her.
“Ah… y-yeah.”
Himekoji answered in a fluster.
The script was clear. The next line should be “I’ve liked you for a long time too.”
“Sorry. I think I got overwhelmed by Aoyama’s acting… couldn’t react in time,” he finally managed to blurt out an excuse he could kind of accept.
“Was my acting really that good?”
“Absolutely! Great. Amazing! Your best yet! Just like being confessed to for real. With that, the audition will definitely…”
“It was a real confession.”
Himekoji’s flustered, rapid-fire explanation was cut off by Nanami’s quiet voice.
“Huh… huh?”
“It’s real.”
This time, she said it almost to herself, closing her eyes.
“That confession on the Ferris Wheel… it was too sudden? Too rushed? An on-the-spot thing. So I always wanted to make up for it with a proper one.”
Nanami’s voice echoed through the empty theater.
……
This one felt pretty sudden and rushed too!
That’s what he thought. But what came out was only two words.
“… Aoyama.”
Nanami pressed her lips together and looked straight at Himekoji.
Her gaze held a mix of resolve, unease… deep inside her eyes swirled emotions as powerful as rolling waves. Looking closely, Nanami’s legs were trembling. Half her fear showed plainly on her face.
But even so, Nanami had no intention of keeping what came next buried inside.
“I like you more than anyone, Himekoji!”
Inside the theater that held only the two of them, the words shot straight into Himekoji’s brain—for one brief moment, he mistook it for thunder.
“…”
He momentarily lost his words, leaving only the silence of his breathing and heartbeat.
And that silence was shattered once again by Nanami.
“Sorry, I said the wrong thing.”
“Huh?”
Feeling confused and startled, he spoke out awkwardly.
However, his confusion and surprise lasted less than half a second.
“I really like you, Himekoji!”
It was a pure confession in Kansai dialect, coming from Nanami.
It hit Himekoji right in the heart like an arrow.
Himekoji felt as if his legs were giving way.
Of course, it was just an illusion; he was still standing right where he’d been, but it felt unreal.
His feet went numb, his knees felt weak, and he was light-headed.
“Ah~~~ I said it.”
Nanami gazed up at the theater ceiling, murmuring softly to herself.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, keeping her head raised.
“Wh-why are you apologizing?”
Himekoji’s voice came out weak and soft, nothing like him.
“Because we agreed to save all this for after the audition… but I couldn’t hold back.”
“Aoyama—”
“Shh!”
Just as Himekoji was about to speak, Nanami made a shushing gesture.
“Same as last time, don’t give me your answer now.”
“Because the audition is next.”
“Of course, that’s only one reason. The other reason is that I want you to think it over carefully, Himekoji.”
“Think about what?”
Himekoji was being pulled along by Nanami’s pace.
Under the girl’s constant push, his mind lost all ability to think on its own.
“Actually, I know, Himekoji… you might still like someone else.”
He still liked someone else?
Wait!
What did that mean?
Nanami gave Himekoji no time to react at all, and her next words came right out,
“But I let you choose.”
She smiled and looked steadily at Himekoji, her voice firm.
…
So what if you liked someone else?
I let you choose.
Her liking you was open and honest.
Unafraid of challenges.
I like you, so I give you the choice.
…
…