"You're… awake?"
When he opened his eyes, the first thing Haruto saw was a pair of knees covered by an apricot-colored skirt. Dazed, staring blankly at the knees in front of him, his mind struggled to piece things together. Bit by bit, he sat up—and finally registered the somewhat familiar face.
"Ugh... mm… whew…"
Raising a hand to his forehead, he slowly collected his thoughts. His foggy brain gradually began to recall what had happened. He turned his gaze toward the girl beside him, then looked around at the unfamiliar room.
Seeing him sigh softly, the girl bit her lip and wordlessly offered him a towel.
"Are you… okay?"
"Not really. I got careless. Where are your parents?"
He had come to their home under the guise of being thanked—a gesture of gratitude that had been uncomfortably insistent. But he couldn't ignore the cold, dismissive way Yuna's parents treated her.
When they arrived at the house, he was met with an overly enthusiastic welcome. So warm it felt suffocating.
Before he even had time to properly respond, Yuna's mother had already left—leaving her daughter alone to "entertain" him, with the excuse that she was going to buy groceries from the nearby shopping street.
Haruto hadn't been able to understand how any parent could so easily leave their daughter alone with a boy they'd just met.
Looking at the nervous girl beside him, he hadn't voiced his inner discomfort. Instead, he kept a neutral expression and talked lightly—just ordinary things, small talk. Through it, he learned a bit about her.
But it was all surface-level—nothing deeper, nothing about her home life.
They talked until her mother returned and prepared a lavish dinner, clearly meant to impress. Not long after, Yuna's father came home too. He didn't seem surprised by Haruto's presence—he just greeted him with a smile and went off to rest.
Up to that point, things still felt manageable.
But once dinner began, things began to turn.
Yuna's father brought out some fruit wine—fragrant and sweet. Cup after cup was poured for Haruto.
"It's just juice," he was told.
Haruto wasn't completely ignorant when it came to alcohol. He knew this type of wine well—on the surface, the alcohol content wasn't high.
But he forgot—he wasn't that man from the future anymore. He wasn't the adult whose body had grown used to alcohol. He was back in a teenage body, one that had never truly drunk before.
Cup after cup, he downed it. And halfway through the meal, his cheeks were already burning.
By the time dinner ended, he realized something was off. That fruit wine wasn't as harmless as it seemed. Beneath the sweetness, the alcohol was far stronger than he'd expected.
With no tolerance left, his body couldn't handle it.
As he tried to leave, he staggered and nearly fell.
Yuna had hurriedly caught him.
At her parents' suggestion, he was brought to her room to lie down. After that, everything went dark...
And when he woke again—it was to the sight of the girl who had stayed by his side.
"They went to work."
Yuna's face held little emotion as she answered. Even though she was talking about her own parents, there was no warmth—only numbness. She'd long since stopped expecting care from them.
"They left their daughter home alone with a strange boy?"
Haruto didn't even know what to say. He rubbed his temples and sighed.
"It's… already daytime?"
"Yeah. Morning."
He wiped his face with the towel. The mild scent lingering on it helped him shake off the fog, but his hangover wasn't gone yet.
"It's been… a whole night, huh?"
He buried his face in the towel for a moment before handing it back and slowly getting to his feet. The room was unfamiliar. The girl knelt beside him.
"The bathroom is…"
Blushing, Yuna led him to the bathroom door. He stepped inside, and she stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do.
Ten minutes passed.
Water flowed from the tap—splashing, rinsing, calming.
Finally, Haruto emerged. He glanced at her again. The bandage on her cheek had been removed. Though still red and swollen, it looked better than yesterday.
He raised a hand, hesitating.
Yuna didn't flinch. Her lashes quivered. She closed her eyes—
But Haruto didn't touch her. His hand hovered in midair… and then dropped.
"Your face… is it alright now?"
"It doesn't hurt anymore."
Opening her eyes, she saw his hand fall away. A flicker of disappointment crossed her face.
They returned to the living room. Yuna poured him a cup of tea.
"So… what were your parents trying to do?"
Haruto asked directly now. He could sense the emotional distance between Yuna and her parents. Her shy demeanor and fragile voice made him feel he might be able to get some real answers.
She lowered her head and stared at the tea.
After a moment of hesitation, she glanced up at him, eyes darting away.
"Probably... to avoid attracting suspicion from the neighbors."
"Suspicion?"
"My parents care a lot about appearances. If I had come home last night with bruises and no explanation, people would definitely start gossiping. But with you by my side, it looks like I just had an accident. It won't stir up the wrong kind of talk."
He understood now.
If someone had seen Yuna returning home covered in bruises, alone, the rumors would've started instantly.
"So... to avoid rumors like 'Something happened to the girl from the Kobe family,' they invited me to your house?"
"...I think so."
"And your father—why did he keep pushing alcohol on me?"
"I… don't know."
She bit her lip again and lowered her gaze.
But the truth was, she had overheard something last night.
While stepping out of her room briefly to grab a towel, she had passed by her parents' door—just as they were speaking:
"No mistake—that outfit alone is from a well-known brand. Just his clothes must be worth several hundred thousand yen. No way he's from some ordinary family."
"Even so… would his parents agree?"
"We'll worry about that later. What happened today has already 'tainted' Yuna. If we can have her develop some kind of relationship with this Miyamizu boy, she won't have to worry about her future anymore."
"Yuna doesn't... understand these things. She might not even know how to seize this kind of opportunity?"
"Then we'll have to find a way to create an opportunity. Once something happens between the two of them, that boy—what was his name, Miyamizu?—doesn't look like the irresponsible type. I'm sure it'll work out."
"You're thinking of marrying Yuna off already?"
"She's already at the legal age. The law permits it—so what's wrong with settling down a little earlier?"
Hearing those cold, calculated conversations through the crack in her parents' bedroom door, Yuna had felt nothing but deep confusion, pain, and helplessness.
Why… Why were they so willing to push her onto a boy she had just met?
But…
Then she remembered Haruto—how he had appeared the moment she was in danger, how genuinely concerned he had been.
Her hands, resting lightly on her knees, slowly moved to cover her stomach. Her lips quivered, and after a long pause, she gave him the answer she didn't believe herself:
"…I-I don't know."
Haruto could sense that Yuna was hiding something. But since he had no proof, and didn't want to press her further, he let it go.
He was feeling clearer by now, so he politely said goodbye and left the Kobe household.
Just before he stepped out the door, Yuna had stopped him, nervously asking if they could exchange contact information.
Haruto had considered declining—but when he saw the way she bit her lip, eyes full of anxious hope, and remembered how cold her parents were—he fell silent… and gave her his number.
He originally thought of heading back to his apartment, but after checking his phone, he realized:
"…Looks like I had something today, didn't I?"
He hadn't checked his messages all morning.
There were two.
One from Sekai: "Are you asleep yet?"
And one from Yuka:
a photo of a simple home-cooked meal—likely something she made for herself last night.
She often sent casual updates like that. It had become a kind of wordless rhythm between the two of them.
Haruto snapped a picture of the street around him and replied to Yuka's message with it.
"The day feels… like something's supposed to happen."
The alcohol wasn't fully out of his system yet. Standing by the roadside, Haruto squinted at the passing cars, trying to remember if anything important had slipped his mind.
"Did I forget something?"
Instead of thinking about it too hard, he simply started walking toward the cram school. Whatever it was—if it was really important—he'd remember eventually.
When he arrived, he was slightly later than usual, which caught Tsubota's attention.
"Something happen?"
"Because of a party, I woke up a little late this morning, so I'm late."
"I see. Well then, go work on the next set of problems—I've got someone else to tutor right now."
"Got it."
He stayed at the cram school through the morning. When lunch came, and he headed down to eat, his phone buzzed in his pocket.
It was a message from Eriri.
Seeing it, Haruto suddenly remembered what he had promised her.
"Ah—right. That was supposed to be today, huh?"
He pressed a palm to his forehead. So this was what had been bothering him all morning.
With a long sigh, he ordered some ramen, scarfed it down, and messaged Tsubota:
"I have something this afternoon and tomorrow. I won't be able to make it."
Afterward, he left the area, flagged a taxi, and gave the driver the address for the Sawamura household.
When he arrived at the familiar front gate, he paused.
No need to reflect or get sentimental—he'd already prepared himself mentally for this.
Heart complicated but firm, he raised his hand and rang the bell.
"Have you been waiting long? For that Miyamizu boy?"
"Mm."
In the living room, Sayuri looked toward her daughter, who was still waiting by the window, clearly hoping to catch sight of Haruto.
She felt a twinge of concern. Her daughter… seemed to have fallen seriously for him this time.
"But doesn't he already have someone he's dating?"
"…Why do you ask?"
Eriri turned her gaze toward her mother. She wasn't sure where Sayuri had gotten that information, and it made her uneasy.
"Oh, just a little curious about the kind of boy my daughter's fallen for. So I looked into him a bit. He's quite popular, you know."
"That's just because of his looks. Those girls don't really know who he is."
"Oh? And you do, then? You know the real him?"
Faced with her mother's calm gaze, Eriri fell silent.
She might know Haruto better than those other girls…
But not better than her mother did.
Or—thankfully—so she believed.
It was probably for the best… that Sayuri didn't remember the past.
Because Eriri did.
But why?
Even she didn't know.
She turned her head away and didn't answer.
At exactly 12:46 p.m., the doorbell finally rang.
Eriri sprang to her feet and hurried toward the entrance.
Sayuri remained on the sofa, sipping her tea and quietly watching her daughter's back.
Was her daughter really suited for someone like that boy?
From what she'd learned, Haruto wasn't just any ordinary student.
"Well… no one grows without a few heartbreaks. Let's see how it goes."
~~~~~~~~~~
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