“Huh? Wh-Why are you staring at me?”
“...It’s nothing.” Ibusuki looked surprised, but I couldn’t say anything to her. Well, there’s probably no point in pursuing it any further anyway. It’s all just a guess, and even if it were correct, there’s no reason to read too much into it without being asked to by the person in question. I mean, right now I’m in no position to be butting into anyone else’s love life.
“Well, I understand where you’re coming from, Ibusuki. Just let him off the hook with that public execution by self-introduction stuff, okay? It probably won’t work out the way you intend it to, and if you mess up it’ll cause some serious damage to Ura.”
“Hmm. Yeah, you’re right. I was taking some drastic measures.”
Looks like she was aware of what she was doing.
“Anyway, please take it easy on Ura and make it a fun school festival, okay?”
“Yeah, of course. But why are you acting like you’re not involved? You need to enjoy yourself too, Momota.”
“My class isn’t really that motivated. Besides...”
“Besides?”
“...To be honest, I have more important things to worry about,” I complained, and Ibusuki got a look on her face like she guessed what was going on.
“More important things... Are you talking about Orihara-san?”
“Y-Yeah.”
“No way. Did something happen? Oh no... Did you guys break up or something?”
“No, it’s nothing like that. You see...”
Presently, we changed locations to a less populated area, the landing of a flight of stairs.
After hearing my story, Ibusuki had a really difficult expression on her face. “Orihara-san’s older sister becoming your step-mom is a pretty big twist. A breakup story would have been easier to understand than that...”
“...You’ve got that right.” I had to agree with her. I was living quite the rare life, and it was hard to guess what’s going to come next.
“So, it’s pretty much decided that your dad and Orihara-san’s sister are going to get married and that you’re going to have a little brother or sister?”
“Yeah.”
“Also... Orihara-san’s sister is opposed to your and Orihara-san’s relationship?”
“Yep.”
“Th-That’s quite the problem,” Ibusuki said, sounding truly puzzled.
“You’re telling me. Seriously I don’t know what to do,” I said back to her with a sigh.
Ibusuki looked at me suspiciously. “Hmm? Despite what you’re saying...you seem pretty casual about it.”
“Huh?”
“It’s like you’re troubled, but you’re not depressed about it.”
“Oh... Well, that’s probably true. I’m in trouble, but I know what I want to do.” It’s like, I’m facing difficulties, but I’m not at a loss about them, and I know what I have to do. Also, I can only see the path that I have to take. The other day, we made our decision at that love hotel...although, if it were possible, I would have liked to have made that decision at a place that wasn’t a love hotel.
“I don’t have the option of breaking up with Orihara-san. No matter who’s opposed to us, all we can do is try to persuade them somehow.”
“...” Ibusuki looked taken aback. “I-It’s like...you’re so straightforward about it I’m getting embarrassed just from listening to you, Momota.”
“...Shut up.”
“Ha ha ha. Well, I don’t feel like making fun of you when you speak so straightforwardly like that.” Ibusuki then nodded like she was satisfied with something. “You really are the man who’s loved Orihara-san a million times.”
The man who’s loved a million times? I’ve heard of the cat who’s lived a million times, but not this.
“Did you forget? You know, at the amusement park when we...w-went on a date,” Ibusuki said awkwardly. “In the Ferris wheel, you said, ‘Even if I could redo my life a million times, I’d want to fall in love with Orihara-san,’ right?”
“Yeah.” I did say that. We were inside of the Ferris wheel where we had a view of the sunset. I had refused Ibusuki’s confession for the second time, and when she asked me what I would have done if she had confessed to me before I met Orihara-san, that was how I’d answered her.
“I don’t know what the past me would have chosen. Myself right now, however... Even if I could redo my life a million times, I’d want to fall in love with Orihara-san.”
When I think back on it, I feel like I said some pretty embarrassing things. However, it’s how I really felt, and even now that feeling hasn’t changed. Life is a series of choices, or maybe you could say that the series of choices you make is your life. Real life isn’t like a game. There are no save points, there are no second go-throughs, and your choices can’t be redone. That’s why choices are precious. Even if I could go back and redo the past, I’d still choose Orihara-san. No matter how many times I could redo my life, this one choice now is the one I want to cherish. That’s what I feel from the bottom of my heart. However, it could be...
“...It might not be good enough to just choose,” I said, and Ibusuki tilted her head.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“No, I’m just talking to myself,” I said and shook my head slightly, and Ibusuki gave me a strange look.
“Well, that’s fine. I think it’s for the best if you two don’t break up,” she said, taking us back on topic. “It doesn’t look like I can do anything, but...I’m rooting for you guys in my heart.”
“That’s more than enough.”
“It’d be nice if somehow things get solved and Orihara-san could come to the school festival next month.”
“...I don’t think that’s a good idea. If Orihara-san came here, then our relationship would be...”
“Really? It’s fine if you guys don’t act like a couple, right? You should just say you brought along an acquaintance. Our school festival by and large allows outside attendance.”
“...You’re probably right.” In a way, I had overlooked that part. I had just decided it would be suicide to bring Orihara-san to a school event and hadn’t even thought about inviting her in the first place. However, if I were to just act like, “She’s an acquaintance, so what?” it might be okay.
“How about you just say she’s a relative? Wait... If your dad and her sister are going to get married, then doesn’t that mean you two will be relatives?”
“What?!” That’s something else I overlooked... I had so many other things on my mind that I didn’t realize it, but... That’s right. If my dad and Kisaki-san get married, then that means...
“Orihara-san and I are going to be relatives?”
“There you go. Now she can come to the school festival no problem. I mean, you guys really are relatives, and there’s nothing unnatural about relatives doing stuff together,” Ibusuki said like she had come up with a great idea.
I’m not that optimistic, but I do think I could learn a little from her positive thinking.
Up until now, whenever Orihara-san and I have met up in public, we’ve always agreed to pretend we’re related if we ran into someone we knew. Who would have thought that we’re actually going to become relatives? Talk about truth coming from a lie. If I think really positively about it, then that means that we’ll be able to date even more openly from now on. It wouldn’t be a lie since we’re really relatives now.
“If Orihara-san is able to make it, come hang out at our maid cafe. Right now, we’re thinking up a way of having it be where even our customers can change into maid outfits. You might be able to see Orihara-san in a maid outfit, you know?”
“Oh...” Orihara-san in a maid outfit, huh? That’s definitely got to have some tremendous destructive power. If Ura is going to be managing things, then it’ll probably be a maid uniform with a less flirtatious design. The area around the bust won’t be unnaturally exposed, and the skirt won’t be unnaturally short. It’ll be a very orthodox maid uniform with the modesty of a handmaid. However, in the case of Orihara-san, no matter how wholesomely or purely she’s dressed, some of her aggressive charm will probably overflow. Like her breasts, or her breasts. Or maybe even her breasts.
“Well, Urano is totally against it though, so it looks like it’s not going to happen. He said, ‘We can’t do that when we don’t even know what kinds of body types the customers will have. Just how many sizes are you planning on preparing?’ I do feel like he has a point...”
“...Oh, I see.”
“D-Don’t look so disappointed!” Ibusuki said with a disgusted expression.
It looks like Orihara-san in a maid outfit will only be a reality in my imagination...