At any rate, having vented all my emotions and regained my composure, I began to think of how I could go about apologizing to Lady Chouko.
Should I bake snacks and meet up with her another day, or was it better to go sooner? I lifted my face to ask Aritomo what she thought, and our eyes immediately met.
“Ari...”
“Urara!”
It had been a while since she’d interrupted me like that, but today it felt different somehow.
“You know, I... No matter what, I’ll always be your ally.”
Yes. I intended to do the same as long as I could...so what brought this on all of a sudden?
“So? A-Are you going to confess?”
Didn’t she mean “apologize”? For some reason, her face was red.
“Aw, come on! Why are you so calm? Haven’t you figured it out?!”
Why was the person who had calmed me down now asking why I was so calm? Figured what out?
“Um...what exactly should I have figured out?”
“What?!” Aritomo shouted and clambered to her feet so loudly, she surprised even the café owner. But she had no concept of how loud she was and merely continued speaking. “You like her, don’t you?! Tsukuyomi?! She’s your love interest!”
...Huh? ...What? WHAAAT?!
“L-L-Like... Wha? Me? Chouko? Huh?”
Aritomo nodded vigorously, yet her face held not a hint of jest.
To be fair, I did “like” her, but...
“As a love interest?” I repeated.
“So you don’t?”
Having her ask me point-blank like that left me feeling bewildered. I didn’t think it was just...admiration I felt. Lady Chouko was incredible, but I didn’t admire her in the sense of wanting to become like her. She wasn’t my role model.
I was sure that no matter where she went or what she did, Lady Chouko would always be the focus of attention. That wasn’t true for me.
That was true for my past life as well. I always felt so awkward amid that sparkling society. Every time my mother mentioned my being a possible candidate for the second prince, my chest began to sting. The reason I dreamed so desperately of becoming a commoner was so that I could live a quiet life.
Which was why I was beginning to think I needed a little space from Lady Chouko.
She was a celestial being. In my past life, I would have avoided her at all costs. But somehow, I always wanted to be with her. Could this be...could it be...
“Is this love?” I asked, more to myself than Aritomo.
I wasn’t sure.
It wasn’t just the fact that we were both girls, but also the fact that I didn’t even understand my own feelings. I was always taught that noblewomen had no need of love. It was how I had been raised.
The gloom in my heart hardened, as if it were bound up by string. And though I should have been calm, I began to feel goose bumps running along my skin.
Seeing me like this, Aritomo abruptly apologized. “I shouldn’t have brought it up so suddenly. It seems to really be bothering you.”
“No, I’m sorry for not being more forthcoming.”
Aritomo seemed mildly embarrassed as she scratched her head. “It’s just, well, I’ve never had much luck with love, in this life or my last.”
She apologized again. The world she came from in her past life shared many similarities with this one. Considering I had been born and raised a sheltered noble, she surely was more knowledgeable about love than I was.
After shaking her head, she groaned and spoke in a hushed tone. “You know, I was hospitalized for most of my past life. I hardly ever even got to go to school. I was just stuck in the hospital, playing otome games. You truly are my first friend, and this really is the first time I’ve been able to talk about romance with anyone.”
This was the first time I’d heard anything about Aritomo’s past life. Everyone really does have their own challenges and circumstances.
It also helped me understand why she hadn’t realized that Shimozuru was falling for her.
And that the otome game world had been everything to Aritomo.
I, too, had things about my past life that I was more hesitant to talk about than telling her I was nobility in another world. And that there was a reason I couldn’t fathom love. We both sighed in unison and exchanged a glance.
“It looks like we’re both newbs when it comes to love.”
“It certainly does.”
It felt so strange that the two of us, both with past lives, had been thrust into an otome game world together. I might have my past life memories, but beyond my education, they don’t seem to be very useful.
“But I’m having fun,” Aritomo said. “Much more than I was before.”
“Before? You mean your past life?”
She waved off my question, laughing. “I mean before I met you, Urara.”
My heart filled with warmth. My feelings for Aritomo were a little different from those I had for Lady Chouko. Perhaps Aritomo felt the same way about me.
“I feel the same way, Aritomo.”
She smiled back at me but also knit her brows together.
“What is it?”
“Hmm... Ah, nothing, it’s just...”
“Go on.”
She hesitated a bit before finally, seemingly resolving herself, speaking. “Could you please...call me by my first name?”
My heart pounded. She had a point. We were friends after all.
Our first meeting might never have hinted that we would become friends, but now, she was the best friend I had. My one true friend.
“Shizuku. This has been fun.”
It surprised me how naturally Aritomo’s—no, Shizuku’s name welled up from the bottom of my heart and fell from my lips.
We glanced at each other and burst into giggles.
I ordered another café au lait, and we chatted away the remainder of the day.