“That’s right! I was supposed to meet up with him!” Panicked, she pulled out her cellphone, intending to apologize for being late, but then… “Huh? Hold on, who was I waiting for?”
In the image on her phone’s home screen, she now stood alone. The man who had been hugging her from behind disappeared from the picture.
Elsewhere in the city, Reo was riding on an underground elevator, a picture in his hand, as the image of Markiss slowly faded from the frame. “Humans sure are foolish. Their ties to one another are so fragile, but they cling to them anyway.”
Mabu listened quietly as a robotic voice announced, “Call incoming from the Empire. Call incoming from the Empire.”
The two immediately took a knee as they faced a pillar with a heart symbol on it.
“How otterly strange. There’s been a sharp decline in the amount of Desire Energy you’ve been sending us lately. I don’t doubt your loyalty, but I must remind you that betraying the Empire means death.”
Mabu kept his expression obedient and regretful as he replied, “Our most humble apologies. Meddlers have appeared.”
“Otterly unbelievable. I don’t want to hear your excuses. Endeavor to provide more.”
“As you say,” Reo replied with superficial courtesy, and the transmission ended.
Scene 4
“UNFORTUNATELY, today’s Wishing Plate is silver once again, ribbit.”
Enta accepted the dish, a cold sweat beading on his skin.
“Hey, Enta,” Kazuki called over, “about that kiss…”
“Huh?! U-uh, about that…!”
As Enta scrambled desperately to form a coherent reply, Toi stood in the background, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but here. Considering the price Enta paid for their victory, he didn’t even entertain the idea of stealing the plate from him.
Kazuki, on the other hand, seemed completely indifferent. “I’m not really bothered by it. I’m guessing you lost a bet with someone on the team, right? That’s why you did all those things? It’s got nothing to do with me since I’m not on the team anymore anyway.”
Those words triggered something in Enta. “It absolutely does have something to do with you!” Once the words had been spoken, they couldn’t be taken back. Enta felt his stomach tie itself in knots. “You’re all I think about. I know the reason that you quit the soccer club and stopped smiling isn’t something I can fix. But the two of us playing soccer together meant everything to me! That’s why I thought it was my turn to finally… Aw, shoot!”
If he said any more, he might burst into tears. Enta decided to stop resisting and just get it over with. He put the friendship bracelet on top of the silver plate and held it out toward the other boy. “I love you! Be my partner—be a part of the Golden Duo with me for life!” He bent his head down, but he could still hear Kazuki gulp.
Finally, it’ll all be over. I can cut off my feelings and be rid of them once and for all…!
Kazuki reached out his hand and gently took the plate from him. “I understand how you feel now.”
Enta lifted his chin, shocked to find Kazuki smiling as he only ever did in Enta’s dreams.
“We’ll be the Golden Duo ’til death do us part.”
“K-Kazuki…!”
Kazuki inched forward toward Enta, the new friendship bracelet now tied around his foot. Enta mirrored his movement and took a step closer as well. Everything around them seemed to fade away, as if a spotlight had fallen on just the two of them. Kazuki reached out and placed a hand on Enta’s shoulder, gripping it tightly. Enta softly closed his eyes, lifting himself up on the balls of his feet to get closer. Their lips inched closer, closer—
“Kiss, kiss, ribbit~! ♡”
His eyes flew open to the sight of Keppi’s face. It was so close it was swallowing up his vision.
“Mmmwaah! I stole your kiss, ribbit!”
“Agh! Gyehhh!” Enta ran from the blushing Keppi and began emptying the contents of his stomach onto the ground.
Toi, who watched the whole thing from beginning to end, wore an expression on his face that almost seemed to say, See? I told you that KISS is the devil.
“Enta? What’s wrong?” The real Kazuki was preoccupied with writing a message to Haruka and completely missed the whole thing.
“Huh?! Uh, er, it’s nothing!” I knew it, Enta thought. I knew it was just another one of my delusions!
“Your clothes are all torn up too,” Kazuki noticed. “Did something happen?”
“Huh? Oh, this? I just took a bad fall, that’s all!”
“You really are a klutz, aren’t you, Enta?”
“Yeah, I sure am! Aha, ha ha ha!” he exclaimed with a dry laugh. Kazuki’s indifference both saved him and brought him crashing back down to reality countless times before. This time was no exception, and Enta elected to take advantage of his friend’s obliviousness to drop the matter.
Toi stared at Enta’s face and noticed something. Out of nowhere, a rat appeared on top of the silver plate Enta was holding.
“Meep, meep, meep!” It chomped down on the friendship bracelet and scurried away at a blinding speed, jetting into one of the drainage ducts that lined the streets.
A few seconds too late, Enta pathetically shouted into the duct after the little thief. “Wait! Aaah!!”
Scene 5
AS HARUKA SAT on a bench waiting, Enta approached.
It was a Sunday. Normally, Enta would do his morning practice at their secret spot before going to meet Haruka. This time, however, he had a glum look on his face. He plopped down on the bench and spat out, “Ugh, it’s no use. It’s pointless! Nothing I say seems to reach Kazuki at all.”
Haruka watched anxiously as the older boy raged on. “I mean, I’ve always known that, I just pretended I didn’t. But now I feel like a sumo wrestler doing a match all by myself—pathetic!” Enta lifted himself back to his feet, raising his arms up in the air as if he were about to stretch, the expression on his face no longer visible to Haruka. “I give up. I can’t do this. I’m not going to bother trying to get him back, and I’m not going to expect anything from him—”
“Enta?”
“Hm?” Enta glanced back to find Haruka holding his palm out toward him. Resting in the boy’s tiny hand was a slightly worn-out friendship bracelet.
“That bracelet…”
“I snuck it out of the trash. It’s the one Kazu-chan tried to throw away.” Haruka reached out and tucked the friendship bracelet into Enta’s hand. “I can’t keep up with him anymore, so…would you be the one to return it to him someday?”
“Huh, wait, no! I don’t have…” The right to, he intended to say, but he hesitated as he dropped himself back onto the bench. His feelings for Kazuki hadn’t changed; they were strong and impossible to get rid of. But Enta just proclaimed he was giving up his position as Kazuki’s best friend, and it made him anxious to consider accepting this bracelet and everything that went along with it.
“Everything will be okay!” Haruka said with a grin. “You two are the Golden Duo, right?”
Ever since Kazuki rejected him using those same words, Enta had been waiting for someone to say that to him. He closed his fist tight around the bracelet. Is it really okay for me to keep trying? he wondered. No, there’s no way I could ever really give up. After all, we are the Golden Duo!
“Thanks, Haruka!”
“Ehehe!”
As the two of them smiled at each other, a voice called in the distance. “Haruka! It’s time to come in!” They looked up to see Haruka’s mother waving her hand.
“Okay!” Enta called back energetically, lifting himself back off the bench.
“I had a really good dream today,” said Haruka.
“Really?” Enta asked as he unfolded the wheelchair propped up behind the bench. He helped Haruka settle onto it.
“Thanks for always doing this, Enta-kun,” said the boy’s mother.
Ever since Haruka lost his ability to walk, Enta unfailingly showed up every Sunday to accompany him to physical therapy.
“It’s my pleasure,” Enta replied to her before turning back to Haruka. “So, what kind of dream was it?”
“I hopped onto a huge Nyantaro and rode her all the way out to space. Then I met the prince of the stars!”
“Ha ha ha, what kind of dream is that?!”
And so that Sunday afternoon went by quietly like all the others before it.