Regarding what Kotomi Izumi and Yui Yuigahama had just said, Yukino Yukinoshita raised an eyebrow. She had long known that Kotomi and Yui were dating, so she had been wondering whether she should treat their words with half belief and half doubt.
But after thinking it over, Yukino felt that even if she started taking that half-believing, half-doubting attitude now, it wouldn't really change anything.
After all, even if Kotomi and Yui were lying to her, it was probably just because they didn't want her to hear their sweet, affectionate exchange from earlier.
"You two really like chatting about such pointless topics. Is it actually fun?"
Thinking this, Yukino shrugged and spoke as if she were complaining, teasing the two of them.
She had already decided that, at least while they were in Kyoto, she would just play dumb and pretend she didn't know Kotomi and Yui were in a relationship.
Maybe if she kept pretending long enough, she might even start to believe it herself—that Kotomi and Yui weren't dating at all—and then she could pursue Kotomi without any psychological burden, even snatching her away from Yui.
"It's fine."
Holding Yui Yuigahama's small hand, Kotomi Izumi quickened her pace and walked up beside Yukino, smiling as she said,
"I think when you're chatting with someone you lo... a friend, what matters isn't just the topic. The process of chatting is important too. Even if the topic is meaningless or boring, as long as you're talking together, that alone is enough."
"Mm-hmm!"
Even though she didn't fully understand, as long as Kotomi said it, Yui instinctively believed it must be right and meaningful. She nodded vigorously—no matter when, she was always Kotomi's biggest fan! Are you two really just friends? If that were true, how nice that would be. At least I wouldn't feel this jealous of Yui right now... Yukino Yukinoshita thought bitterly to herself.
After a while, Yukino finally spoke again,
"I took a bit of time to think about what you said, Kotomi. It actually makes some sense."
"Right~" Kotomi Izumi grinned smugly, then continued, "But now's not the time to discuss whether what I said makes sense. Look—the worship hall is just ahead. Let's go."
After arriving at the worship hall.
"By the way, Yukino, what wish are you planning to make?" Kotomi Izumi asked.
"If I told you, would it still come true?"
Yukino Yukinoshita shot back, then tossed a five-yen coin into the offering box.
"Maybe it really would come true." Kotomi Izumi said with a playful smile. She was genuinely curious about what Yukino's wish might be.
"If you know the answer directly, life loses a lot of its fun. Since you're so curious, why not use that 'number one brain in all of Tokyo' of yours to guess?"
After saying that, Yukino Yukinoshita clapped twice and closed her eyes to make her wish.
At that moment, Yui Yuigahama also tossed a five-yen coin into the offering box, clapped twice, and closed her eyes, beginning her own wish.
Kotomi Izumi, however, took out her wallet and pulled out a 500-yen coin she had prepared in advance.
Five-yen coins are especially popular in Japan.
This is because in Japanese pronunciation, the word for "five yen" sounds very similar to the word for "fate" or "connection." That's why when people visit shrines or temples, they like to toss in five-yen coins, hoping to form a connection with the gods and receive blessings. Students might not have much money in their wallets, but office workers often keep a five-yen coin that they don't spend, praying for continuous financial luck.
However, students sometimes rely on five-yen coins as well.
After all, for young boys and girls who don't know how to confess their budding feelings, one of them might give the other a five-yen coin as a subtle hint of affection, hoping that fate will bring them together as lovers.
A single five-yen coin might become the "matchmaker" that leads to a relationship.
Kotomi Izumi's thinking was simple: if a five-yen coin represents forming a bond, then a 500-yen coin—one hundred times that amount—should represent one hundred times the power of connection, right?!
Although this idea had no basis in any legend or story and was purely something she made up on the spot, the more she thought about it, the more convincing it seemed. So she decided to try it—by tossing a 500-yen coin into the offering box!
After all, this time at the shrine, Kotomi Izumi genuinely wanted her wish to come true.
She also knew very well that her wish might be a little difficult to achieve.
If she only tossed in a five-yen coin, and if a god really existed, then seeing her make such a big wish with such a small offering—wouldn't they just refuse to help her altogether...
To show her sincerity, Kotomi Izumi deliberately upgraded her offering from five yen to 500 yen!
After tossing the 500-yen coin into the offering box, Kotomi Izumi clapped twice, slowly closed her eyes, and made her wish in her heart:
"Dear God, please bless my love life so that it goes smoothly! I know I'm a greedy person. Even though I already have Megumi, I still accepted Yui's confession and became her girlfriend. Even though I already have Megumi and Yui, I still find myself liking many other girls.
"Maybe choosing just one of them seriously would be the right thing to do.
"But I don't want to do that. Liking someone means liking them. Not liking someone means not liking them. Asking me to give up so many girls who like me—and whom I also like—just to choose one... I can't do it!
"I'm greedy. I want them all!
"I may be affectionate, but I'm not careless. As long as I like them, I won't let any of them down! I'll make every one of them happy!
"Getting them to understand and accept each other and live together peacefully might be extremely difficult. Just thinking about how hard it will be already gives me a headache.
"But even so, I still want to do it!
"Because I love them. I don't want to give up any of them!
"So please, dear God, even if you can't make my multi-relationship love life completely smooth, at least... could there be fewer dramatic confrontations?"
After sincerely making her first wish, Kotomi Izumi tossed a second 500-yen coin into the offering box.
Then, she clapped twice again and closed her eyes once more.
"Dear God, please also bless Kazumi. Let her stay safe and wake up as soon as possible. And please bless me as well, so that I can complete the request she entrusted to me before she fell into her slumber. Help me find a way to awaken her quickly and reunite with her soon.
"If I can only make one wish, then please cancel my previous wish and keep only this one.
"Because for the previous wish, I still have quite a bit of confidence. Even without relying on a wish, I believe I can succeed.
"But when it comes to waking Kazumi, I don't have much confidence. Even now, I'm still completely at a loss about the request she gave me before she fell asleep.
"'Kotomi, I hope you can find me. Find... the real me.'
"I don't know when I'll be able to complete this request.
"But...
"I... really miss her."
After making this second wish, Kotomi Izumi didn't know how long she stood there with her eyes closed. She only felt as if time around her had stopped flowing.
"Miss, how long are you going to stand there?"
Only when someone behind her urged her did Kotomi Izumi gradually come back to her senses. She hurriedly stepped away from her spot and apologetically said to the auntie waiting in line behind her,
"Sorry, I got lost in thought just now."
"Honestly, when you make a wish, you have to focus wholeheartedly. If you're not sincere, the gods might not listen to your wish."
"Haha..."
Kotomi Izumi gave an awkward laugh. After leaving the worship hall, she asked Yukino and Yui,
"Why didn't you two call out to me just now?"
"We did. Yui was shaking your arm and calling your name, but you didn't respond at all—it was like your soul had drifted off to paradise. Then I tried pulling you away, but your feet were like they were nailed to the ground. If you hadn't snapped out of it in time, we were about to call an ambulance."
As Yukino Yukinoshita spoke, she looked Kotomi up and down.
Even though Kotomi didn't say anything, Yukino felt that the way she had looked in the worship hall was probably related to whatever she had been keeping in her heart.
Just like the heavy emotions that had flickered in her eyes earlier.
But what kind of matter could weigh on Kotomi so much? Yukino Yukinoshita was extremely curious, yet she couldn't come up with an answer.
"Kotomi, if you're feeling unwell, let's go to the hospital right now," Yui Yuigahama said with concern.
"I'm fine, really, I'm fine."
Kotomi Izumi quickly reassured her, then apologized,
"But I'm really sorry. I was the one who suggested coming to Kiyomizu-dera, yet along the way I kept getting distracted by my thoughts."
"I'm curious about what you've been thinking about, Kotomi, but if you wanted us to know, you would've told us already. Since you haven't, it means you don't want us to know yet."
At this point, Yui Yuigahama smiled and gently patted Kotomi's head.
"But if you feel tired, you can always talk to me or act spoiled, okay?"
Kotomi Izumi was momentarily stunned when Yui took the initiative to pat her head. Then she reached out with both hands, grabbed Yui's cheeks, and said with a smile,
"Just for a moment, it feels like I'm the one being protected by you, Dango. For a silly little dango to get this bold, even making me blush—I'm definitely going to give your cheeks a good squeeze!"
"Wah—s-sorry!"
After saying that, Yui Yuigahama couldn't help but laugh as well. Although she didn't know what Kotomi had been thinking about earlier to make her feel down, at least after this bit of playful banter, Kotomi's mood had improved quite a bit.
If Kotomi was happy, then Yui felt she would definitely be happy too.
"You two should watch your step," Yukino Yukinoshita reminded them coolly.
She knew that Kotomi and Yui were dating.
She also knew that Yui was trying to comfort Kotomi in her own way.
If such sweet daily interactions only existed in romance novels, she could read them over and over without getting tired of them. Sometimes, after not reading for a while, she would even feel the urge to start from the beginning again.
But this wasn't a novel—the sweetness between Kotomi and Yui was happening right in front of her.
That was why Yukino Yukinoshita only found it dazzling—and infuriatingly envious.
But what could she do about that envy? All she could do was interrupt them like this, even though she knew that before long, the two of them would be whispering sweetly to each other again.
Thinking this, Yukino Yukinoshita let out a self-mocking laugh in her heart.
Dazzling... I'm just jealous. Jealous that Yui can comfort Kotomi right now.
By the time they returned to the torii gate of the shrine, the sky had already begun to darken.
"Let me check the time," Kotomi Izumi said as she took out her phone. "Ah, it's almost 6 PM. Should we keep walking around and look at the night view of Kiyomizu-dera, or head back to the inn?"
"Let's go back. It's starting to get a bit cold," Yukino Yukinoshita said.
"I'll go with whatever Kotomi decides," Yui Yuigahama replied.
"Then let's head back."
Kotomi Izumi had already been planning to return to Harugamo Inn anyway. With her homebody personality, spending most of the day outside like today was already a rare occurrence.
...
8 PM.
After dinner and a relaxing soak in the hot springs.
Kotomi Izumi lay comfortably on the futon, stretching her little feet contentedly.
"By the way, what time is our return ticket back to Chiba tomorrow?" Yukino Yukinoshita asked while drying her hair.
"It should be in the morning? No, maybe the afternoon... ah, I can't remember, I forgot..."
Hugging her blanket, Kotomi murmured softly, looking like she was about to fall asleep.
"You were the one who booked the tickets. At the very least, you should remember the departure date and time. Forget it, I'll check for you. Where did you put the return tickets?" Yukino Yukinoshita said helplessly.
"In the outer pocket of my handbag. Those three tickets are our return Shinkansen tickets."
"I'll look..."
Yukino Yukinoshita picked up Kotomi's handbag and searched the outer pocket. Before long, she found the three Shinkansen tickets Kotomi had mentioned.
"Ah, found them. Let me check the departure time... midnight 12... huh? Why are all your tickets booked so late? And I remember when you showed us the return tickets before, it definitely wasn't midnight."
"Hehe, because the tickets we originally booked were canceled due to the weather. These are newly booked ones."
"I see."
Yukino Yukinoshita nodded and didn't think much of it. At this time of year, it was perfectly normal for trains or flights to be canceled due to weather. So she continued to look at the date.
"The date is... wait, the departure date on the return ticket is today?!"
"Huh?"
Hearing this, Kotomi Izumi suddenly sat up and grabbed the three tickets from Yukino's hand.
After confirming that she hadn't misread the departure date, Kotomi Izumi looked up at Yukino and gave an embarrassed smile.
"Hehehe~"
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