Gave Everything Up - V1C13
Thanks to ButterBaron
for donating! Sponsored chapter 3/3.
Volume 1,
Chapter 13: On the Way Home
In the end, I
finished my part-time job an hour earlier than scheduled. I still got paid for
another hour. I really thought that shop wasn't doing okay after all.
"Hisai-san,
I'll be leaving."
"Oh, okay.
Thanks for the hard work."
I said my greetings
to Hisai-san and left the store.
"O-Onii-chan!"
Nana-san followed
soon after.
On the way home, as
I walked next to Nana-san, I remembered Hisai-san's words.
"I want
you to cherish your family."
Hisai-san said so,
but I didn't feel the same way. Rather, I just didn't want to. I felt like this
was what I really intended to do. Maybe I was just being withdrawn, but
still...
"G-good work
on your part-time job."
Nana-san, walking
next to me, put out words of congratulations.
"I'm not tired
at all yet, though."
I really wasn't
feeling worn out. That was only natural. I just worked for a bit and stood at
the cash register.
"...Don't push
yourself too hard, okay?"
...Why was she so
worried about me, huh. You did that. Yet you had been ignoring me before.
"...Yes.
Thanks for your concern."
The truth might be
that if I asked her, I would get the answer. But I didn't want to hear it.
Maybe that's why I was still a kid.
This exchange with
Nana continued, even though it was fragmented. No, to be exact, Nana-san was
the one who kept on talking to me. Before, I used to be in the on the other
end.
Was the person
walking beside me really was that distant?
Her attitude was so
different now that I was doubting that. She was smiling next to me. What was so
exciting about this? I didn't understand.
"Thank you for
bringing me along today."
Rather than bring
you along, you came on you own... I didn't say that out loud.
As you'd expect, I
still have some level of common sense.
"No, no."
Even so, she really
waited until the end of my part-time job. Was she that free? Well, I was fine
either way.
"And I wonder,
if, I can follow you again next time..."
I would have to
object to that after all.
"That's...it
might cause trouble for the store."
If it would cause
too much trouble to the shop, I wouldn't be able to work there anymore. That's
why I had to avoid that.
"Ah, ahaha.
T-that's right, isn't it..."
Why. It was that
look again. Why was she trying to force herself to laugh. Why, why, why!
...Calm down.
"Yes, that's
why I'd like to ask you to do this only for today."
"...Yeah,
sorry."
I didn't really
want her to apologize. It was all fine as long as she didn't get in my way. It
was better for us to not cross paths. Hisai-san told me to cherish my family,
but I thought that was unnecessary. Even if we were family, they were just
strangers to me after all. They were someone who were only related by blood.
Hearts weren’t connected. I didn't need such a shallow family.
I continued walking
without reacting to Nana's words.
Sure enough, I
might not be able to fulfill Hisai-san's request.
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