Around the time the color drained from the receptionist’s face and she started reaching for the phone on her desk, I grabbed Chifuyu by the hand, rattled off an excuse, and fled into the park at top speed.
“Come on, Chifuyu... What were you thinking?” I emphatically whispered. “We promised that we’d pretend to be siblings when we’re out in public, didn’t we?”
“Mngh...” Chifuyu grumbled. She didn’t seem satisfied at all. “But I’m not your sister.”
I didn’t know how to reply to that, and the look of bitter frustration on her face tugged fiercely at my heartstrings. Still, there was no way that a high school boy dating an elementary school girl would receive anything other than a poor reception. The only legal prohibitions regarding this sort of thing were about adults being in relationships with minors, apparently, so two minors like us dating wouldn’t technically be an issue in that regard, but the people around us most definitely wouldn’t look upon our relationship anywhere near favorably. I would, without question, be written off as a lolicon scumbag.
That was exactly why only an extremely small number of people knew about our relationship. If I could’ve had my way, I would’ve loved to have been more open about the two of us being together, but society, its rules, and the world at large disagreed. Moreover...
“Sorry, Andou... I’m being selfish.”
...Chifuyu herself was no longer immature enough to not understand all of that.
“Let’s just put up with it for a little longer, okay, Chifuyu?” I said as I patted her gently on the head.
“How long is a little?” asked Chifuyu.
“Uh... Until you’re in middle school, or somewhere around there, I guess? Actually, no...that’s probably out too, on second thought. It might be a better idea to wait till you’re in high school after all...”
“That’s...really long.”
“I-I mean, sure, but considering we’ll be together forever, I’m sure it’ll feel like it goes by in the blink of an eye!”
“Together forever?”
“Yeah. A six-year age gap will feel like nothing before you know it.”
“Together forever...”
A faint blush spread across Chifuyu’s cheeks as she muttered quietly to herself, savoring the sound of those two words. I got the sense that she was fantasizing about something for a moment, but before long, a trace of anxiety came across her face.
“Hey, Andou...?” Chifuyu murmured. “Will you mind when I’m an adult?”
“Huh...? Wh-What’s that mean?” I asked.
“Will you still love me when I’m not a grade schooler?”
“Will I— Of course I will,” I said. I asserted it very definitively. “I’m pretty sure I already said this back during the cultural festival, but I’m not a lolicon. Remember?”
Lolicon: an abbreviation of the term “lolita complex.” Per its original meaning, it referred to individuals who are sexually attracted to immature girls from the ages of nine to fourteen. That attraction was not a permanent one—the moment a girl became a woman, a lolicon’s love for her would vanish into nothingness.
“I don’t love you because you’re a grade schooler, Chifuyu. I love you because you’re you.”
“Yeah...I know,” Chifuyu said with a little nod. “I’ll put up with it. Us dating can be a secret until I’m a bit older.”
“Great. Thanks, Chifuyu.”
“Hey, Andou?” Chifuyu said, gazing up at me as she fidgeted with the hem of her outfit. “I want a reward for being patient.”
“A reward...?”
“A kiss.”
“Pff!” I did a spit take. Chifuyu, meanwhile, was still staring straight at me. “W-Wait a second...”
“I want a kiss, Andou. Here and now.”
“A-Are you serious...?”
“Yeah. You haven’t done it even once since the first time...”
“Okay, but, I mean, that was, well, you know...”
“Do you hate me?”
“O-Of course I don’t! I don’t... But, like...”
“If you don’t kiss me now, we’re through.”
“Wha—?!”
“We’re through. I made up my mind. If you don’t kiss me right now, we’re breaking up.”
Chifuyu doubled down on her absurd demand, and I had no clue what I was even supposed to do anymore. I quickly glanced around the vicinity. We’d just passed through the entryway to the park, and while there were a decent number of people around, most of them were focused on hurrying in toward the attractions, so nobody was paying any real attention to us.
Could this actually work out...? Nooope, nope nope nope, hold it right there. Whether or not you’d get away with it isn’t the question here! There’s definitely something wrong with this! Why should I have to kiss her in a place like this? It’d be downright embarrassing, for one thing, and I was hoping that our first kiss after we started dating would be somewhere a little more, you know, romantic... But then again, maybe being decisive and just going for it would be the manly thing to do here? Is that what she wants from me?
At the end of my bout of mental anguish, I finally decided to resolve myself and do what had to be done. But then...
“Kidding,” said Chifuyu. Then she stuck out her tongue at me.
I blinked. “Huh?”
“I was kidding. I didn’t mean any of it. I was just teasing you.”
“...”
“I wouldn’t kiss you in a place like this. I’m not that stupid.”
I let out a long, looong sigh as I slumped to the ground on the spot, too exhausted to remain upright.
Yeah. Okay. She really does hold the reins in this relationship, no question about it.
“We can kiss some other time,” Chifuyu muttered in a quiet, somehow suggestive tone before holding her arms out toward me. “Hey, Andou? I’ll wait for the kiss, so for now, carry me.”
“C-Carry you?”
“Yeah. Carry me.”
“I mean, sure, I guess.”
“I’ll be your sister today, and that means you have to spoil me like a real older brother would. So...carry me,” Chifuyu said, blushing slightly once more.
She was acting far too cute for me to deny her request, so I scooped her up in my arms without a second thought. “Alley-oop!” I grunted.
“Is this okay? Am I heavy?” asked Chifuyu.
“Nah, it’s fine. You’re super light.”
“Good. Hee hee!” Chifuyu giggled.
I could feel her breath on my neck, which was a weirdly ticklish sensation. I felt her not particularly substantial weight in my arms, as well, and while that involved touching her waist and rear end as a matter of course, it didn’t feel weird in the way you might expect. Mostly, I just keenly felt how precious she was to me—a feeling that filled my heart to its brim.
“Okay, Andou. Full speed ahead.”
“You got it! We’re gonna have a blast today, Chifuyu!”
“Yeah!”
And so, I set off into the water park with my beloved girlfriend in my arms.
Honestly...is it really okay for me to be this happy? I wondered, saying a silent prayer that this wouldn’t all turn out to be just a dream.
Thousand Winters Route: The End
About a year had passed since we’d fought our final battle. It was the decisive clash between me and Kiryuu—the ultimate showdown between Guiltia Sin Jurai and Kiryuu Heldkaiser Luci-First. That battle was truly the culmination of everything that had happened in our story up to that point...and it was a climax that defied description, no matter how hard I tried.
Words could not do it justice. Prose could never depict it. It was such an outlandishly over-the-top battle that your only choice would be to describe it in a brief, vague summary form, or otherwise to cut the scene entirely and only discuss it in retrospect. It was a battle the likes of which had never been seen before and would likely never be seen again. The chances of another conflict even remotely living up to it were simply nonexistent.
Seriously, though, what a fight! Looking back now that it was all over, it almost felt like the whole thing—my battle with Kiryuu, the Spirit War’s existence on the whole, the fact that we had ever possessed absurdly potent supernatural powers, all of it—had been a dream.
Anyway, that was all over now, and another year had come and gone. All sorts of stuff had happened during that year...and over the course of it, I’d started going out with a certain girl.
“Thanks for waiting, Juu!”
“No problem. Shall we?”
“Sure!”
It was a summer vacation afternoon, and I’d just met up with Hatoko at her house. We were on our way to a nearby park for what you’d probably describe as a hike or a picnic, depending on your perspective. It wasn’t much of a destination, and we wouldn’t have to travel far at all to get there, but technically, this was still our very first date.
“It’s such a nice day out, isn’t it?” Hatoko said as we walked along the hiking trail by the riverside.
“It is, yeah. Oh, right—I can carry that,” I added, reaching for the bag Hatoko was holding.
“O-Oh, no, it’s fine! It’s not that heavy,” Hatoko protested.
“Come on, just hand it over. Think about how lame it looks for a guy to be walking empty-handed with a girl who’s carrying a bunch of stuff.”
“Well, umm... Okay, then. Thanks,” Hatoko said as she handed me her bag. As she passed it to me, our hands happened to touch for just a moment...
“Ah!”
“Gah!”
...and we both jerked away reflexively with a pair of startled yelps.
“S-Sorry,” I said.
“N-No, I’m sorry too,” replied Hatoko.
“Right... Wait, what’re you even apologizing for?”
“Well, what are you apologizing for, Juu?”
“Oh. Fair enough...”
“Yeah...”
That rapid-fire exchange was followed by a few seconds of silence...
“Pff!”
“Ha ha ha ha!”
...after which both of us burst into spontaneous laughter.
“Ha ha—I guess we’re really not used to this, are we?” I said.
“We sure aren’t,” Hatoko agreed.
Hatoko and I had met when we were little kids, and we’d been together ever since. We’d gone out together plenty of times, and we’d been close enough for our hands to brush against each other on many occasions as well. Now, however, it only took the slightest touch for both of us to end up getting all awkward. We’d been closer to each other than anyone else for ages, but somehow, every little thing we did together felt fresh and new now.
“By the way, Hatoko,” I said, “have you, y’know...told your parents about us?”
“No, not yet... What about you, Juu?”
“Nah...me either.”