--I never thought that Hijiri would know about the marriage.
(Th-Th-He knew and acted so calmly...!)
I thought I would be more confused.
After all, if your younger sister suddenly said to you, "Please marry this person!", it would probably just be troubling for most people.
What's more, the other person is just an ordinary, normal person like me.
Maybe if they were good-looking or a talented person, they would be happy.
However, even if my beloved sister introduced me to her, I doubt she would have any feelings for someone with no particular characteristics.
In fact, I even thought they would be annoying me.
But I think Hijiri has always treated me normally.
Even though it was our first meeting, he never reacted negatively. In fact, he was very friendly... That's why I assumed he didn't know about the marriage talk, so I was really surprised by what he said earlier.
About ten minutes had passed since Kiyoshi left the classroom.
However, I was so shaken up that I couldn't move from my seat.
(So that means... you've been watching me all this time?)
It was the same earlier.
I had a vague feeling that he was staring at me a lot...or that he was the type of person who was looking me in the eye.
It seems that Hijiri-san was trying to understand what kind of person I was.
Regardless of appearance or ability, he properly assessed my humanity...and I felt like he accepted me.
"--You don't need to worry too much about what Hime-chan says. I'd be happy if you started off as normal friends without being too self-conscious about it."
The words he said as he left kept repeating in my head.
(So it didn't leave a bad impression, right...?)
Is it correct to think that this is a positive word?
It's possible that I'm misunderstanding or overthinking things... but having seen the Hoshimiya sisters' personalities up close, I fully understand that there is no ulterior motive behind their words.
That made my heart pound.
(Th-When you say that, it makes me even more conscious of it.)
Kiyoshi said he wanted us to start off as normal friends.
Does that mean that there's a possibility that they might become more than friends one day?
(Me, with Hijiri-san...)
Beyond that, he couldn't even put his thoughts into words.
To even think about becoming lovers, let alone say it, is presumptuous.
But if that were to happen, I think that would be a wonderful thing.
(Well, let's calm down for now... Hijiri-san also said that he didn't want me to be too self-conscious about it.)
I understand that it's best to just keep your usual attitude.
But that's impossible. No man could remain calm after being told something like that by such a beautiful woman.
So, okay... let's stop thinking about it.
Thinking about it won't lead to any answers, so I think it's best to leave it aside for now.
To be honest, I still don't really understand my own feelings.
I'll think about my feelings towards Kiyoshi again sometime...once we've become closer, I'll think about it again carefully.
Once I made that decision, I finally calmed down.
"...I have to go home."
It's already late.
As the sun was beginning to sink, I quickly got up from my seat.