Chapter 91: Confession

When the waiter brought a new cup of coffee, Masashi didn’t dare to drink it. Instead, he silently observed Naoko, who kept her head lowered across from him.

“Um, could you repeat what you just said? I might have misunderstood,” Masashi said awkwardly after a while.

Naoko slowly lifted her head, glanced at him, and then softly said, “I’m sorry for scaring you. I’ll… leave now.” She stood abruptly and walked toward the exit.

As she passed him, almost instinctively, Masashi grabbed her hand.

Suddenly, he felt something wet drip onto the back of his hand. Looking up, he froze in shock.

“Please… let me go, okay?” Naoko’s tear-filled eyes stared at him as she used her other hand to cover her face, trying to pull away from his grasp.

“Naoko, could you please sit down?” Masashi said earnestly after taking a deep breath.

After a long pause, Naoko finally stopped struggling. She cast him a deeply complicated look before slowly returning to her seat.

“If… and I mean if… I’m not imagining things, your words just now meant that you li—uh, have some feelings for me. Is that correct?” Masashi asked hesitantly, still unused to expressing such sentiments.

Naoko looked at him, then responded in a voice filled with both bitterness and resolve: “Masashi, I… like you. If my words trouble you, I’m sorry. I promise not to bother you again. I’ll… leave now. Please don’t stop me.” She started to rise once more.

This time, Masashi didn’t let her leave. He grabbed her hand firmly, flipped it over to expose her wrist, and placed two fingers on her pulse.

Naoko sighed softly and stopped resisting, allowing him to hold her hand as she watched him in silence.

“When did it start?” Masashi asked after a moment.

Naoko was momentarily confused. “What do you mean?”

“I mean your heart condition,” Masashi clarified, looking directly at her.

“You… how do you know?” Naoko asked in shock.

Masashi sighed. “Maybe you really do have feelings for me, but based on your personality, you wouldn’t have confessed to a high school student so suddenly unless you felt you didn’t have much time left. Am I right, Naoko?”

After hearing his words, Naoko’s face turned pale, and she felt an icy chill spread through her body.

Suddenly, she felt warmth emanating from her hand as Masashi wrapped it tightly between his own.

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said softly.

Those words seemed like a spell. The coldness that enveloped her dissipated instantly, replaced by a comforting warmth that spread from her hand to her heart. At that moment, Naoko realized just how much she relied on this boy.

“A month ago, I was hospitalized after a severe heart attack. The doctors diagnosed my congenital heart disease as worsening. I should have told you—it’s hereditary. My grandmother passed away at 26 from the same condition. The doctors warned me that if the condition continues to deteriorate, I could die suddenly.

“During that attack, I really thought I was going to die. But I survived. While in the hospital, I thought about many things. Mostly, I thought about you. Do you know why I resigned as a teacher and moved to Nagoya?” Naoko looked at him with eyes full of tenderness.

“Was it because of me?” Even an idiot could see the answer from her expression.

“Yes. You were my student, and I’m six years older than you. I was afraid that if I stayed, I wouldn’t be able to suppress my feelings for you. So, I moved to Nagoya to distance myself from you.”

“Honestly, I’m not worth all of this,” Masashi said softly after a moment of silence.

Naoko held his hand tightly with her free hand. “No, Masashi. Nothing I do for you is too much. After over half a month in the hospital, I finally realized that even if I were to die tomorrow, I wouldn’t regret it. But I don’t want to leave this world with regrets, and my greatest regret would be not confessing to you.

I won’t ask anything of you. I just want to stay by your side. Quietly, as long as I can see you, that’s enough. Masashi, will you accept someone like me—someone who could die at any moment?” Her voice was as soft as a dandelion drifting in the summer breeze.

“Please, let me stay by your side, okay?” At that moment, a voice just as tender echoed in his mind, and a refined, gentle face seemed to overlap with the woman in front of him.

For a brief instant, Masashi felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

Naoko’s heart raced as she anxiously watched the boy lost in thought.

If his answer was no, she wasn’t sure she’d have the strength to leave the café.

Would he accept her?

***

Meanwhile, at a department store:

“Aiko, it’s such a rare Sunday. Why didn’t you ask Gennai to come out with you?” Murashima Mami teased with a grin.

“Why are you bringing him up all of a sudden? You’re so annoying!” Aiko pouted.

“Did you two have a fight?” Kogure Ryoko chimed in.

“Of course not! Stop bothering me!” Aiko huffed and walked toward another rack of clothes.

Naturally, the two curious girls weren’t going to let her off that easily. They grabbed their quieter friend, Aikura Ai, and followed her.

“Oh, I see! Gennai must have made some inappropriate request, and that’s why you’re upset, isn’t it?” Ryoko teased with a sly smile.

“What are you talking about?” Aiko frowned.

“Something like asking you to go to a hotel, maybe?” Ryoko grinned mischievously.

“Ridiculous! Of course not!” Aiko’s face turned bright red.

“Wait, could it actually be true? Did Gennai really ask you for that?” Mami looked half-convinced.

Ai, meanwhile, stared at Aiko with a complicated expression.

“It’s not true at all! Do you think someone as dense as him would even think of such a thing?” Aiko retorted angrily.

As she spoke, her anger grew. Other people’s boyfriends argued with their girlfriends over going to hotels, but not him. She had even given him an opportunity to come inside her house, and he didn’t cherish it at all.

Although she hadn’t intended to do anything then, it was at least a chance to grow closer! That infuriating idiot! By the time she realized, she had nearly torn the clothes in her hands out of frustration.