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[AI CENSORSHIP BLOCKED THIS CHUNK - RAW ENGLISH RETAINED]

“Otherwise”—Nanase licked her lip lasciviously—“I’ll throw you down right here and have my wicked way with you. ”

“Man-eater.”

“Do you want to stay the night, Nanase?”

“Don’t go putting words in my mouth!”

I looked at Nanase, who was cracking up, and realized that all the thoughts whirling in my head seemed to have quieted down.

In the eyes of the adults, we really are all just kids, I guess.

So what was wrong with acting childish? Being a bit wild and impulsive?

“Thanks, Nanase.”

“Uh-huh.”

She was still lightly smushing my cheeks together. I knew I looked bizarre, but I didn’t care. I just kept staring at that beautiful face.

“Ah, looks like I gave some damning ammunition to the worst possible person…”

Someone’s faint sigh disappeared into the night sky of the countryside town.

Fwish. Clack.

Fwish. Clack.

The following day, Saturday. Early morning, fiveAM.

Bathed in the first light of sunrise, I was practicing pitching.

It reminded me of my baseball practice days. Of course, we didn’t get up quite this early. But the memory was pleasant.

Fwish. Clack.

Fwish. Clack.

For the past few minutes, I’d been picking up tiny stones—you wouldn’t even really call them pebbles—and throwing them against my target.

Fwish. Clack.

Fwish. Clack.

I was glad it was early morning on a weekend.

If anyone saw me right now, they might think I was up to no good.

Fwish. Clack.

Fwish. Clack.

I’d been at it for around twenty minutes or so.

But finally, I was getting the result I wanted.

The second-floor window rattled open.

A sleepy head emerged, and when the person saw who it was, I sucked in a big breath.

“A new dayyy-ayyy has dawned!”

I started singing the song that goes along with the calisthenics program they play on the radio.

Asuka stared at me blankly for about ten seconds, still trying to process what was happening. Then…

“Huh? …Yeek!”

Quickly smoothing down her bedhead hair, she wrapped her arms protectively around the front of her satin pajamas and ducked below the window frame.

After another ten seconds or so, her head popped back up again, and she peeked down at me. She was still flattening her hair with her hand.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

The morning was so still, not even a single car had come by. I could hear Asuka perfectly without her even needing to raise her voice.

She still appeared to be in a state of panic, and I couldn’t help snorting with laughter.

“I told you this day would come, right? I said I’d ask you on a date by standing beneath your window and singing the radio calisthenics song.”

“But…the other day…I told you…”

“It hasn’t taken me my whole life up until now to realize that, when a girl tells you good-bye, what she really means is for you to chase after her.” I faced the window and stretched out my hand.

“Come down, Asuka. I’ve come to spirit you away.”

Asuka looked like she was going to cry for a second, then she seemed to swallow it back. She lowered her head for a moment, then, as if gathering her resolve, she met my gaze and held it.

“Half an hour! Or it might be a bit longer. Wait for me in the park over there!”

That was all she said, then she closed the window briskly.

I quietly fist-pumped.

When Asuka said good-bye that time, shetucked her hair behind her left ear, you see.

I bought a black coffee at the vending machine and sat down on a bench in the nearby park, within sight of Asuka’s house.

I started grinning, wondering what I thought I was doing.

I thought I was acting childish and impulsive, but perhaps I was going too far.

Last night, after I made up my mind to take Asuka to Tokyo, I hurried to Fukui Station. But after buying the tickets, I remembered I didn’t know Asuka’s LINE address or phone number.

I had taken her home many times, so I knew her house and the approximate location of her bedroom. But I couldn’t exactly ring the doorbell and say, “Excuse me, I’m just borrowing your daughter for a bit.”

That left only the old-school method.

Still, the risk of being discovered was too high while her parents were awake. Even worse, a neighbor might spot me and raise the alarm.

It takes about three hours by train to go from Fukui to Tokyo anyway. I wanted to leave plenty of time to return before nightfall, so I planned to set off first thing in the morning.

I pulled the tab on my can of coffee and took a slurp.

I guess I really am an idiot, just like Nanase said.

I wasn’t used to getting up this early, so before long, I found myself nodding off on the bench.

“…Hello?”

Someone tapped me on the shoulder, calling out to me.

I dragged my heavy eyelids open, and…

“Good morning.”

…a beautiful girl was standing there in a pure-white dress, smiling beside me.

“Asuka…”

For a moment, I felt like I was on the verge of rememberingsomething, but the memory slipped away, too vague and indistinct to grab hold of.

“Good morning. You look great.”

Asuka scratched her cheek bashfully. “Is it too much? I may have gone overboard.”

“Not at all. You look like you stepped out of a dream about a young boy and girl.”

“Really?”

“If it wasn’t for the residual bedhead, you’d look perfect.”

“What? No! But I thought I fixed it?!”

“Just kidding.”

“Hmph!”

She was wearing a sort of old-fashioned white dress, the kind that might make you think,In this day and age?But she looked great in it, like something out of an old portrait.

That looks amazing on you, just as I thought.

I remembered a fragment of a conversation we’d had.

Asuka stood up and faced me. Her skirt blew around just a little, as if portending the coming of a far-off summer’s tale.

“Will you spirit me away now?”

She held out her hand, smiling softly, and I took it and gripped it tight so I wouldn’t lose sight of her.