Love Story in College

Chapter 17

(Mrs ..)

"… ngh …"

In the middle of his bed, Banri opened his eyes.

Linda, said.

Almost in shock, he slowly felt around his cheeks the heat of the long breath he let out.

Did he see a dream?

The warm remains had dripped from the core of his body into his stomach, but the sense after calling out to him was too obvious. His heart is still beating.

The towel blanket that covered his head felt moist due to his night sweats. In the thin darkness, overwhelmed by the scent of his own body, he realized that he was curled up and digging deep like an animal inside a deep burrow.

As if he was turning himself, he stuck his head out and at the same time, his cell phone alarm went off by his bedside. That's morning.

The world before his eyes: his familiar one-room apartment.

Own room to stay alone. The interior, an idiot beige color and white, of wood.

When he did, Banri thought 'terrible chaos.' Not yet emerged from his bed, only his eyes were moving. Where there will be television screens, there are still open notebook computers, half-empty PET bottles and snack bags. And disposable chopsticks. Not wanting his hands dirty, Banri ate potato chips with chopsticks. And because washing chopsticks for potato chips was troublesome, he used the disposable chopsticks they had set up by the cash register at the convenience store for the benefit of the people who bought box lunches, with the words "Please use chopsticks! " So far, he has never rejected it.

Everything he couldn't get rid of was scattered aimlessly around the middle pillow: chargers, chewing gum, some bags, purses, comics, discarded socks, nose-blowing wipes, and so on, finger-wiped tissue, tissue that is somehow contaminated at the formation of galaxies, and in other alternate universes are discarded clothes, lectures, loose papers, and so on, and other things are put through the mail slot.

And stretched across the floor, parallelogram.

It was the shadow of the bench.

In the north and south, through the gaps in the yellow curtains the morning lights shone, cutting a straight line, and in them the dust in the air could be seen floating, dancing on the beams. He thought: this is the morning world. The sunlight is brilliant. The weather today will be good again.

It was time he had to get up and go to the first period.

But, far from waking up, he couldn't, as long as he could stop the cell phone alarm. Banri remained lying still, his chest moving up and down with his short breath.

His outstretched arms felt heavy, his legs lacked strength, and he was unable to take off his blanket. The back of his head was buried in a pillow, he kept staring at the ceiling.

The morning light on the other side of her eyelashes was dazzling. Frowning with eyebrows that had not been taken care of since the trim he had received the previous month, Banri still held the sound of the alarm shrill.

In Tokyo, July has arrived.

Three months have passed since he came to Tokyo.

The stickiness of his skin must be due to the heat of the night.

Still lying on the bed soaked with heat and sweat, Banri pressed the back of his hand against his forehead. Her forehead felt hot and sticky, and when touched, her body felt uneasy.

He wondered what happened last night, where he was going.

Is it all — dreams?

Blinking his eyes in the warm, humid summer morning, Banri somehow lifted his bangs from where they stuck to his forehead. He didn't think it was all a dream. It was impossible, he felt.

As proof that it was not a dream, her lips were throbbing painfully in time with her heartbeat. With the overwhelming heat and swelling, he could not close his mouth very tightly. With all due respect, one thing is Ikariya, the other Matsumoto Seichou, otherwise, lips this big are considered beautiful in the tribal environment. After all, even he understood that the swelling was obvious.

Last night, Banri fell down in the middle of his room.

He cut his lips, banging his mouth against the floor quite hard. It was very bloody, but still, he was lucky his front teeth were not broken, and he had to believe it was the way he fell.

While trembling in pain and shock, he could do nothing more in any case than press hard on the wound with a tissue. The bleeding had dripped all the way to his chin, but he felt that rushing to the hospital emergency room would be a bit overwhelming, and hesitant about what to do, he said, he once again entered a trance like a sleep.

There were traces of blood here and there on the towel that lay on his pillow. And on the sheets. And on the front of the shirt. And in the scattered tissue as well, there is a color of dry blood.

Then,

"Linda!"

"… ngh …"

— Like a high-pitched scream, the phone alarm still goes off.

Crying and shouting like an invisible person, his voice was extremely painful to his ears.

With all his might, Banri closed his eyes. Somehow it seems very difficult to grab the phone with his right hand and turn off the alarm. It seemed, he got out of bed as if he was rolling it over.

But on the wooden floor, there was no strength on his knees, his body folded like an old man, just like that. He can't enforce himself. He has no power to support himself.

Squatting on the floor with his hands and kneeling, with an attitude as if he were bowing down in worship, covering his face with a hand that had dropped his cell phone, and,

"… Why, like this …"

He groans.

And then, like that, that — flashback is the only thing you can call it, it experiences a huge wave of explosive feelings.

What's happening to him now? What happens at night? He doesn't understand it exactly. Banri only understood that last night, for a while, his former self had awakened in his body.

A few hours ago, in the middle of the night, Tada Banri from before lost his memory suddenly and definitely woke up from sleep and was here in this body.

He remembered it was like a fish jumping out of water, thinking, "Aah! I'm back! To my body!" Who would have thought that, or seen as a core personality was clearly no longer there, that it was this body, this, or rather this body that thought like that was something that only he could understand.

It was every emotion that came to him at once: surprise and joy, confusion, confusion and disappointment. They are all one thing.

"I want to go back with Linda!"

That's all Tada Banri asked for.

Mom doesn't matter, dad doesn't matter, home doesn't matter. At that time just a moment ago when Banri was trying his hardest to run and go home, it was just about a woman.

The woman, who was officially called Hayashida Nana but answered 'Linda', from a chewy body, was previously her girlfriend, and now her club is senior, and now, therefore, with it, is,

"… ng, .. ng"

With it.

— Each breath as if his heart was squeezed and squeezed.

He wondered what kind of mechanism it was.

Cowering, his body spinning, Banri tried repeatedly to somehow get a good breath. He tried to calm himself down and return to himself, to breathe slowly and get it out. But his lungs and stomach stiffened as if he was shivering, his chest squeezing firmly as if afraid of something, and he could not make them work together. Half in a state of panic, on the verge of suffocating, but also on the verge of hyperventilation, Banri shook his diaphragm awkwardly and rubbed his forehead against the floor.

She thought, wanting to escape reality, and that she seemed to be quite an 'interested woman.' He had seen from television that it was a custom somewhere in Asia. It is said that they will go crazy at funerals, wailing intentionally, in a form called 'Sakura'. While watching the professional women do their jobs, screaming and crying in an almost trance-like state, Banri thought, "If I tried it, I would probably do it backwards." He was actually in such a condition right now, making his back rise and fall violently. As he was being struck by hypersonic waves, every cell of his body was on the verge of collapse from the ferocity with which they were made to tremble.

Already, he's completely porridge.

He thought of his normal form.

He's known for a long time now that the person who before him lost his memory has a crush on Linda.

Just by looking at the smiling face next to Linda in the photo, that was of course the proof, alone. He told himself the man was in love. You're fully open, you, I mean me.

And now Banri, meeting Linda-senpai once again, having become a student, without even knowing the situation to the fullest, from the very beginning felt the woman was worthy of care. As much as inside and outside, and when it became clear, as he learned more about the past, he was already grateful, from the bottom of his heart, for his support in his being, he said, and as far as Banri is concerned, Linda has been a "special person" for a long time.

If she doesn't meet and fall in love with Kaga Kouko, it's not strange if she goes crazy with a second crush on Linda now.

He even knew it was how he would think.

But that's all.

Nonetheless.

No more than one night, or rather for a while, no, maybe for just a few seconds, his previous self, from before he lost his memory, had returned to his body.

Obviously it was a situation where the feeling when she started running for Linda's side, the strong attachment she definitely had, was built longer and a lot of sharing experience, she said, it had been installed into him at this moment.

In the heart of Banri who was now welcoming that morning, words were forcefully spoken, "I want to go back!" being plucked from his body as if in desperate longing remained there, even though his memory had not returned.

Really, he wanted to say 'What the hell is this?' He wanted to ask someone.

In just one night, most of his heart had been stolen.

(I wonder what Linda is doing right now?) (Will he think of me?) (What does Linda think of me, I wonder?) (What do I think about Linda?)

— Really, he feels like he's been stolen.

He became unable to think of anything normal, other things. Surprisingly, the core of his mind had turned into mush. Separately, Banri thought of his own problems. Although he was never the type to call himself intelligent, all things considered, his current situation was really bad.

Looking like a cat sitting on top of a fence, he raised his shocked face in both hands. He doesn't understand the meaning. She realized that when Linda was here, she wished for no reason for it. He really doesn't understand what it means.

Looking at the stool, he thought. It would be better if Linda sat there. Looking at the kitchen, he thought. It would be better if he was in the kitchen. He looked at the window and thought. It would be better if he was by the window. Here, by my side, it would be nice if Linda was here now. And then, even this pain, this empty heart, will all be resolved.

What he said …

All he needed to stab himself was sharpness, but he was too blunt. Just beat him viciously with the back of a heavy kitchen knife, but it didn't cut!

… He won't fool himself, not even joke. It was like he was drifting.

He was in over his head, all his thoughts, emotions, even himself becoming a torrent, forming a whirlpool that revolved around a single woman named Linda. Whatever he did, he couldn't get out of this whirlpool. Not even breathing, trying to fight back, he was so far unable to return to his normal movements. Cramming and filling exploded, like a balloon soaring to its limit, he was at the end of a rope, and could not stretch a little more.

He did very well with ordinary difficulties. He remembered the face of his ex. Even so, the problems of former Tada Banri, everything: his studies, sitting for exams, taking part in club activities, hanging out with his other friends, all when the circumstances are touched by emotions for a woman, he said, it is something hidden from him.

(.. I failed the exam because of things like that ..)

He talks to himself like it's someone else's problem, but even so, he thinks that the face in the photo, laughing where you can see the teeth behind his mouth, is, obviously feel good about a lot of things.

(Or better.).

Photograph.

Suddenly, there was a cold chill on his back.

Of course, he could not rule out this matter. She realizes that she has no idea where the photo was taken from her face with Linda. To be sure, it had disappeared from where it should be, and given the situation, he could only think 'someone' had found it and taken it away.

And that 'someone', did it turn into a 'boyfriend' …

"… Ah, ah, ah …! Enough already!"

"Gruesome, terrible, terrible, I am terrible, I am the worst, I must die, or rather not think, or at least think properly," Banri said as if in prayer, wagging his hair with his hands and getting up and coming down with excitement.

For now, the world is a giant slalom. Raising his voice foolishly, "Eh !?" Unable to bear it, he fell to the ground once more, like Bambi.

His vision kept turning, as if he was riding a merry-go-round. And then, even though he intended to sit straight, of his own volition, his body quickly went to one side. Had he realized it, it was as if he was suffering from motion sickness, with nausea coming out of his stomach.

He's in terrible shape.

Frowning silently, Banri sat recklessly, sideways with both hands on the floor, propping up a body that appeared to have collapsed. Was his condition bad because of the wound on his lips, which had been throbbing in pain the entire time? Could it be that bad? He considered going to the bathroom to check the mirror and see how bad his face was, but without strength in his limbs, of course, he could not stand or walk.

Frustrated, Banri inched, almost crawling, to a low table in the middle of the room kneeling. She remembers the beautiful mirror Kouko gave her. Holding her desperately, clinging onto her like she was drowning, she examined her face.

Explained in the mirror,

"Ooh …!?"

The cursed and ugly face was revealed.

Apa....he gasped in silence for a moment. It feels like he's the one they don't call "Porco Rosso."

His first impression of the wound on his lips was that it was worse than he had ever imagined. His entire lower lip was swollen like an overripe berry. Her lips should be split along the lines in the form of the letter 'Y'. Scratched with dark dried blood, fresh enough to make people want to look away, they are very swollen. The area that had been crushed was purple bruises. You could call it elegant, but such elegance in the past was only allowed for emperors — stop, I can't bear to joke about it now.

The swelling she wanted to avoid her eyes stretched from around her chin to her cheeks, all the way to her eyes. Banri's face swelled up to five times larger than usual.

His eyes closed like a brash newborn, his sweaty and slippery skin gleaming strangely, breathing through his nose while letting his lips droop recklessly, unwilling to admit that this was his own face, he said, and it would be reborn seven times, he had thrown a straight and plain ball. Catching him would be annoying.

And his face is not a normal color. Red flushed and swollen, if she tried to hold her cheeks or forehead, hot, as if they were on fire. Come to think of it, isn't it too hot where she just touched her forehead?

"In other words ... do I have a fever?"

Dizziness, bad feeling, and now a fever face. He did not have a thermometer to examine it, but his current state was quite evident.

As she calmed down and examined how she felt, more than the heat of the morning in July, she felt a chill seeping from her bone marrow. Now he's shivering.

Banri, somehow propping his body against the wall, staggers into the bathroom for now. He managed to overcome it, sitting as if it was collapsing, but when it came time to leave, he crawled. Like this, if her hair was long, she would be like Sadako.

It quickly fell to the floor once again, unable to get up and on its own accord pulled about 70% of its pants, he thought. This is, maybe, really, too much in the physical sense. He won't be able to get better on his own. He felt that as time went on he would only get worse.

There must be a clinic that specializes in internal medicine in the neighborhood. He remembers seeing one while walking around.

Waking up somehow, he finished pulling the remaining 30% of his pants. Grabbing his wallet (insurance card in it), his cell phone, and the house key, and pulling a few house shorts near his lower body, Banri staggers towards the door.

Cramming his wobbly legs into the slippers and opening the door, he exited into the outer corridor. The sunlight instantly dazzled his eyes. The door lock did not want to be set, and he pressed the door button repeatedly with the key, but to no avail. Almost sitting there, he managed to set the lock after several tries. Start walking, start walking,

"… Aaa …"

Dizziness. That's useless, of course. The world is once again a merry-go-round.

He fell to the side as if his feet were kicked out from underneath him, hitting the door a bit hard. He slumped to the floor, unable to get back up at that moment.

The next apartment, come to think of it, was no stranger. Banri hit the door repeatedly with his weak fists.

Before long, the sound of footsteps came into Banri's ears through the door, their owner not trying to hide his displeasure. The door that opened furiously was only stopped by Banri's fallen head.

"You're noisy!"

His voice was low and crude, echoing as if from the depths of hell, but,

"…Well?"

He seemed to immediately realize that the pitiful creature that had fallen on his doorstep was his lower-class neighbor.

In Banri's barely open eyes, whether by chance or not, there was a perfect scene, looking up from a downward angle at the figure standing there impressively at the door.

He simply did not look at the skin too white with his gaze, over and over, up and down, as if he was licking his entire body. He felt extremely ill even if he thought about it, he would not be able to control the movement of his eyeballs.

On top of his slim body, he was wearing a black shirt of skull and crossbones. His bare toenails were painted jet black as well. No matter how evil he was, there were white thighs, shins and childish ankles. Ankle bones like a shell. If he looked up once more, it was also black .. he was somehow wearing boxer pants like a man.

He wondered if he would be trampled to death, without hesitation, would he say something like, "Wouldn't there be a thong hanging on the porch when I saw the day before? Why isn't it there?" Since he understood that much, Banri turned his head limp to the side, turning his eyes away from the pants.

Feeling irritated, his pouting brows were extremely thin. Without makeup, her face was like a beautiful child. The jet-black hair that fell around his chin looked strangely lifeless. She looked unfeminine, her body was too small and skinny.

Holding a cigarette pinched at his fingertip, he quietly inhaled a mouthful. You can hear a small flame burning. As if she wanted her lungs to get wet with nicotine, closing her thin lips for a while, not breathing, NANA-senpai looked at Banri.

At this moment, smoke came out from his mouth.

"What are you doing?"

"… I, in trouble …"

In the rain! A failure! The abandoned dog! It seems like such a situation.

"NANA-senpai …?"

Banri looked at the person beside him, filled with many thoughts and feelings.

"Seriously, you're a really good person! … You, right !?"

"Your face really pisses me off."

The voice was very grumpy, it could go on, "You want me to give you bindi by burning cigarettes?"

Whether it was due to his bad temper, smoking, his band or all of the above, NANA-senpai's low and rough sound quality, for no apparent reason, was easy on his ears. Perhaps his sense of hearing is overheating, but it seems that Banri falls into the same category as the sonar that resonates in the depths of the ocean.

NANA-senpai held Banri's elbow firmly and helped lift her shaky body. He also held a plastic bag from the pharmacy with antibiotics prescribed for him, so he would not drop it.

If you look at them up close, they may be a little .. No, a very suspicious couple. A very grumpy punk woman with a pale face and a very ugly looking man (with a big bandage in this mouth) with hasty glittering eyes. But from an outsider's point of view, under the clear and pleasant morning sky, they just walked together hand in hand.

The sidewalks of the red and dull gray pavers are combined into a checkered pattern conveying them from the clinic to the combined station and shopping district, and proceeding to the apartment building where Banri and NANA-senpai live. A row of densely leafed ginkgo trees, casting dark lacy shadows around their feet.

He looked at his watch as they left the pharmacy, and it was now only ninety-thirty, but the sunlight coming down from above was already roasting their skin. Crickets are not heard yet. But, he had a feeling that in this hot wind, they would raise the volume very hard at any time.

Move her uncomfortable mouth carefully, Banri,

"Really, thank you very much .. I think I misunderstood you, NANA-senpai …"

Staring at NANA-senpai, she tried sincerely to convey her gratitude.

If he stood upright, Banri would actually be about ten centimeters taller, but in his current weak foot condition, Banri's nose rose to around NANA-senpai's shoulder.

The answer is a cold snort. Without frowning his narrow chin for Banri's sake, perhaps wanting a cigarette, he licked his lips with the tip of his tongue.

"NANA-senpai, in the wilderness of Tokyo, put up a bold front so as not to be underestimated, has completely forgotten the good and gentle ways of neighborly love, really, not even receiving the Unagi pie bought by me and my mother, just someone from Kawaguchi, who transformed the city into an extreme cosplayer … "

She may not have any black makeup around her eyes, but her gaze was quite sharp and cold as she stared back at Banri, exasperated.

"I'm not from Kawaguchi! And I'm not a cosplayer."

"Ah, excuse me .. but, err, or is it Kami-Nakazato?"

He snarled "Wa-ra-bi," completely like a wild animal in a cage.

But still. What to do in this strange situation?

NANA-senpai, who once tore down Banri and Kouko with a guitar, has a trendy and very loud poetry reading place (though she is not too sure of it). And what brought Banri was his shaky condition to the clinic. He wondered who in the world could imagine this scene.

At the very least, it was an incredible, shocking and heartwarming moment. He thought he just wanted to get help in standing up, but he really did not expect to receive so much.

The clinic was smaller than he thought, and was only five minutes away from the apartment they were staying in, but even though he had to wait quite a while, it took him time to check and treat it, he said, and it even took time to get it. The medicine from the nearest pharmacy, NANA-senpai accompanied him without a cigarette. Even more than that: when he did not have enough money to pay the bills, he even lent money to him.

Since he had the impression this person was truly frightening, and extremely dangerous, someone who should not be expected to be nice to him, it had made him even more touched. It felt like he was a wild dog scabby in the rain who was randomly assisted by someone.

"… I will never forget my debt to you, my whole life!"

Nor will I forget him from Warabi, Banri thought of the greater Tokyo and northeastern Japan roadmap while pondering deeply.

"Silent. Look, don't stagger. Walk straight, pig face."

Still wearing black, worn and torn night clothes in some places, and tired jersey pants, her flip-flops flapping, NANA-senpai put her hands under her arms and, with her,

Still wearing black, worn and torn night clothes in some places, and tired jersey pants, her flip-flops flapping, NANA-senpai put her hands under her arms and, with her,

"Ugh, everything's wet! … Sweat the arm!"

As if completely disgusted, he twisted his pale face and looked unwell. Heh, Banri laughed, though,

"It's sweat-arm!"

To a man with a fever, he was strangely tense. Making his eyes sparkle like a newborn, while staring at 'a really soft regret.' Shamelessly gripping and hugging her, perhaps thinking of foreign things like 'the substance called bra is not really needed in this human life.'

"Hey, what's wrong with you!"

"It's sweat-arm!"

"No, no! That's a sign they're telling us about!"

"It looks like my lip sores are starting to fester, and I'm feverish."

"… Hm. That's how it looks. Well, at first glance it looks pretty bad. … Maybe you got hit?"

"Huh? Indeed indeed. Me, me. It's from me to me."

"Shut up and be quiet."

"Watcha will, do …"

"Shut up and shut up, or I'll kill you."

"Ma-n, NANA-senpai .. You can't stand it very much, or should I say smoky …"

Being loaned a shoulder is a good thing. Therefore, Banri, who was stuck at the time, saw the bones in his shirt getting sharper, trying to push his nose into his slender shoulder.

"… And besides, wow, watched very closely under the eyes of NANA-senpai, a terrible bear .. eek!"

Since there was no point in arguing, he took out a handful of hairs on top of his head as if it was a bundle of straw and tore them apart. But isn't that so? It's too late to think he got carried away with things. Growing from the pain in his scalp that twisted his still painful mouth, Banri was in the hands of NANA-senpai, unable to make a sound. And in that way, without a shoulder being lent to him a second time, he was dragged back by the silent NANA-senpai, by the hair of his head, and arrived back to the apartment.

"Listen, just stand up."

Throwing into the entrance as if he was thrown, pushed into the elevator and then left it, he said,

"Go."

Just one word. Then like a condemned criminal from a time before human rights were simply thrown off a cliff, he was kicked in the ass with sandals. Not the surest even at the best of times, Banri falls easily, and,

"What, aren't you a bit evil !? Treating my wounded like this .. just when I thought you were really good, you suddenly got cold .. huh !? Definitely it's called 'tsunderation' ', where you are mentally prepared by being dragged by the nose … "

"Shut up."

"… Even if it was Linda-senpai, then she would definitely be good to me …!"

"That's great, isn't it? Linda, catch!"

Grabbing the back of the neck, he was once again pushed away. Stumbling forward and sticking to the corridor wall,

"God…"

That guy, it's right there.

Feeling like he was halfway through the spirit test, the name belonged to that person …

"… Ngh …"

Not saying anything more, not even greeting for now, Banri just dropped his jaw in surprise.

The man crouched down before Banri's eyes, peeked at his terrible gaze, and then looked at NANA-senpai's face.

"Jeez, NANA-senpai .. vent your anger by defeating your neighbor Tada Banri …?"

"He's an idiot, maybe. I don't know. He's not my type."

Seems like she desperately wants to have a cigarette in her mouth, NANA-senpai restlessly fiddled with the 100 yen match in her hand.

"This guy did it himself, and suddenly came asking for help. That's all."

I'm out of cigarettes.

Saying it was empty, NANA-senpai immediately withdrew to her own apartment.

The door was closed with disappointment, which was left behind, Banri and,

"She didn't listen when I told her she had to quit smoking. I mean, I was surprised. What, what to do? Suddenly from NANA-senpai came an email saying 'I will take Tada Banri to the clinic . ' It's been a shock, leaving college I've come here now, but, I mean, are you okay? Really, what's going on here? Are you hurt? "

"…"

"… Tada Banri? Can you stand up?"

"…"

"…"

— Him. Linda.

When I was in trouble, he came running.

And now, he's here.

He'shere.

Somehow having gotten to where she looked like she was crying, Banri covered her face in a hurry.

* * *

Taking Banri to bed, Linda leaves the room once, but returns in just ten minutes.

"I'm back…"

Urks

"I mean, I'm sorry once again for this distraction."

His body buried in a blanket, Banri resisted the urge to jump.

In Linda's hand was a white bag from the convenience store, and a yellow one from the drugstore. He lifted them up for Banri to see.

"You didn't eat anything before you took the medicine, did you? Hows it? Does anything look good here?"

Kneeling by his bedside, he was a bit close. Too close.

Pretending to act in a daze due to his fever — is by no means an unusual behavior — Banri closed his eyes and turned his face to the wall, dying of exhaustion.

Linda pulled one after another out of a plastic bag to show him: sports drinks, toast ripped so he could eat it. And then with yogurt, some cold packs.

"What about that?"

Kneeling to his face, he looked,

"… Oh, and here it is!"

He twisted his upper body and as soon as he lifted it, he took out a coldpack. Laughing crazily as he did so, he opened the package and pressed it against his forehead. With her head back to the pillow like that, she slowly looked at Linda's cheeks.

"What's wrong with you, Tada Banri? The way you act …"

"Ehee, what do you mean !?"

"… You're acting weird."

"Eh !? Whaddya mean, what !?"

"… So, what's going on here, really …"

In fact, the trembling Banri restlessly could not honestly say what Linda's expression was. With what kind of face, with what kind of eyes, what strange behavior he saw inside him, he had no idea.

She's confused. And then worry. She's confused. She's tense. Like that, bouncing all over, he desperately tried just to keep his expression blank. That's the best he can do.

In his own way, for now, it seems like he is trying to get back to the carefree mood he had during that time he just spent time with NANA-senpai — huh, but.

"I don't know what kind of face I have to show."

It was the trademark expression of his good friend, Two Dimensions. Like the time too many bills together were paid for him, when he was given a share of a companion meal in the school cafeteria, when the tray was cleaned for him quickly, when he had been carried water through, and so on. At such times, the man would often have his hair thrown forward around his face, and would have said it in a flat voice, playing the role of Ayanami Rei. When this is happening, Banri will think, "Should I laugh?" but unable to say the words, it would only smile faintly. He could even laugh, "That's not true! That's horrible!" in such a cliche, and Banri is now completely in such a state of mind.

What kind of face should she show in front of Linda, she had no idea.

So far, she was the face she thought she wanted to see. He was the one he thought he wanted to be with. Somewhere in his heart, he must have thought, "I want to go back, I want to go back." In just one night, he suddenly became like this.

An empty expression, or something like that, he could not show. In many ways, it is a gift.

"Hey you .. is this just a strange febrile mistake? Are you really okay?"

"Hey you .. is this just a strange febrile mistake? Are you really okay?"

Linda muttered suspiciously, unscrewing the sports drink lid and holding out a bottle to him. That cold bottle, Banri's muggy room, sweaty wet. At that moment, the droplets drip …

"Anyway, drink. I brought you straws too."

— A drop of water falls, flowing from Linda's fingertips to her wrist.

Upon seeing that, or rather realizing that he had seen it, he felt ashamed at how his gaze was attached to those drops of clear water as it went smoothly on his skin. He couldn't take his eyes off her.

"…"

Unable to say anything more, Banri could not hold his head. He covered his eyes as if he was separating like that, not saying a word. His face was red, his breathing was difficult. He's like a kid. He was one sad savage beast, having forgotten how to speak. A very embarrassed creature.

Already unable to just pretend and laugh loosely, his swollen face pulsed with heat. If Linda saw him, she couldn't help but die.

Without a television, the room was small, and in a quiet place, Banri desperately tried to hide the sound of his breathing. "Say something quickly, Linda," she girly prayed for help from above. Please do something, anything. Destroy this silence for me. In a closed room like this, with no hidden shadows, where people can show their feelings openly.

Linda put the straw into the mouth of the bottle she was holding in her hand and,

"Mm-mm"

With a jolt of his chin, he told her to drink. His eyes were partially closed like cat eyes, his face like that. Acting as if he is older than her.

Banri saw it and did as he was told, as if greedily, biting the hay. He finished it without speaking or even thinking, in any case he did what he should. Completely engrossed, he sucked in a cold drink and gulped it down, eyes closed, as if attached to every sensation as it passed by.

But as soon as he drank a mouthful, Banri realized how dry his throat was. A sweet and cold drink that he did not think specifically about craving, and when he realized that he wanted it the most, he practically drank it in one gulp.

Unbeknownst to him, his body was already dying of thirst and yearning for something moist.

Looking at Banri, who was taking an instinctive breath,

"That's great, drink, drink. All right, will we have this next?"

Linda took an empty PET bottle, and gave him some yogurt. Opening the lid halfway through, he stuffed the straw he had just used into the hole and, uh, put the,

"You can suck this too; it seems like your mouth doesn't hurt that much. It's a little weird, but no one can see you."

Banri can't bear to say things like 'you seem to be watching me.' Doing what Linda told him, he started sucking plain yogurt through a straw. When she pursed her swollen lips, the pain spread there but still, it might be painful to eat them normally with a spoon. The bandage was also a hindrance, and maybe it was all dirty.

"Can you arrange bread?"

Banri, the straw still holding her mouth, quickly shook her head to the side and with her eyes kept Linda from tearing the other bag. As you might expect, he doesn't think he's ready to chew on something solid.

"I understand. Well, when you're done drinking it, there's your cure. Err, where does it end?"

Was this? Linda turned her body and grabbed, grabbing the pharmaceutical bag she found on the table. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, her slumped head hiding her eyes, she began to read the printed instructions on the prescribed medicines. The air coming in through the now-empty yogurt straw made a strange sound.

On her white, cosmetic-free skin, her long, natural eyelashes formed a fan-like shadow, she said,

"…Ah,"

— Like that, finally.

Finally, today, Banri felt he could stare directly into Linda's face, honestly, for the first time. He finally knows. Linda, who wears a light blue jersey, matching dark blue tunic, and skinny jeans. His little lap was slender and also round elegantly.

Banri squeezed his voice.

"… Thank you, Linda …"

"Hmm?"

She muttered so softly, Linda probably didn't even hear it. A soft smile floated on her lips, her two beautiful eyes opened, Linda raised her face. Turn to that face, though,

"… Thank you very much, Linda-senpai. Because get out and check out this mess."

Confused, Banri disguised his expression. He took the time to make a sister-class face. Not the face of a classmate with unrequited love.

Linda's laughter rose gently, and the skin around her eyes wrinkled.

"What, very formal? It's okay like that. Looks like I told you I'd do anything to help you."

"No, but .. I even got you truant."

"But it's okay. I'm doing fine. Because you are Banri, I am Linda. So, this much support is only natural."

In a playful way, Linda pricks her index finger at Banri, making it clear who she means.

"So, don't think about anything else while you're spoiled by me who's gentle."

You are Banri …

When he tried to laugh back, a sharp pain ran through his lips and they became stiff.

(. You're different.)

The soaring pain felt terrifying, as if it was piercing his heart. You have changed. That's how his inner voice is.

Putting it into words and getting it out of the mouth was difficult, and therefore saying nothing, Banri silently stared at the end of Linda's chin.

He's not the "Banri" who called Linda.

Even when inheriting Banri's feelings, his current self was transformed into something inferior, he felt. Before he lost his memory. The self from which memories are lost. And then, the feelings towards Linda were passed on to this self. He felt that each of them had a separate existence. He thought to himself, I've completely changed.

Therefore, Tada Banri is being watched by Linda now, even though she is a man that Linda does not know, she is,

"Do you understand?"

Smiling with her head tilted to one side, as if to calm her down, Linda who was standing almost certainly did not feel such things.

Not quite healed, the remnants of his fever make Banri's breath feels very painful. Linda's back is slender, slender and flexible, as she searches for a glass in an open kitchen cabinet. His naked ankles. A clear shadow of his Achille tendon. Banri ruffled his hair with his hands.

"… Argh …"

"Hm? What's?"

Automatically sighing, Linda returned to Banri's side, a deer. Pouring water into the glass, he returned to the side of the bed with his bare feet.

"What did you say?"

Give her water, give her,

"… Well, err ... NANA-senpai, she was suddenly being nice to me …"

While avoiding the question with those words, Linda nodded, saying, "Yes, yes, yes, right."

"That's how she is. Yet the appearance of that person, he really took care of you. You feel he has helped a lot of people like me. Despite her appearance, she not only ignored the person who was in trouble. Yeah, it's medicine. This and this, one tablet each. "

Put them in his palm and watch to make sure Banri drinks it,

"Here we go."

Linda said in a tone of voice as if she was training a dog, then she nodded. Taking back the glass once more, he stood up, taking it back to the sink for her.

Grabbing a bench in the corner of the kitchen, he pulled it up and sat down, then proceeded to look around the room, as if observing it, it was as if he was slowly picking up and counting each and every single thing in the room.

The look of her hair in the summer sun that pierced through the glass was the soft gray color of the squirrel's fur mixed with brown. His cheeks too, they looked sparkling white. Or rather, in a light voice, he spoke beside Banri's bed.

"Oh yeah, that's it. What are you doing dating NANA-senpai? Did you probably know NANA-senpai from before you knew you were a neighbor?"

"Ah .., well, I just found out he's my neighbor since yesterday, but my first meeting,"

First meeting …

He offered me a cigarette.

When we went to a cafe for a bowl of cafe-au-lait.

Crying for being banished by Yanagisawa, Kaga Kouko.

Kaga-san's chat.

Banri's perfect girlfriend now.

— What am I doing?

"…In the rain!"

Suddenly in a voice like shouting,

"Didn't he look like a stray dog in the rain !? He's a cunning dog, isn't he !? Like that!"

"…Huh?"

Linda stared back blankly, confusedly, at Banri and the faint words she spoke.

"No, but about NANA-senpai! See, even though he was very scary at first glance, in reality didn't he like that stray dog in the rain …!? Did you get what I wanted to say !? "

"… Ah, that kind of thing."

"After starting out with the negative impression, I came to have a strange opinion of him! Isn't that so !?"

Banri continued to raise his voice in despair. On the verge of suffocating, pitiful gasps, she did not wait for Linda's answer, if only to be able to hide her nervousness and shock, she said,

"Although I feel that you have always been kind to me, naturally, NANA-senpai has a feeling of 'a little good' which is very rare, more incredible for her!"

Banri continued to raise his voice in despair. On the verge of suffocating, pitiful gasps, she did not wait for Linda's answer, if only to be able to hide her nervousness and shock, she said,

"Although I feel that you have always been kind to me, naturally, NANA-senpai has a feeling of 'a little good' which is very rare, more incredible for her!"

"What's? Are you overreacting? Do you feel full now?"

"I'm washed away! I'm excited!"

Trying to laugh like a total fool,

"… Pfft!"

For a moment, he forgot about the wound on his lips. The wound was stinging, it felt like splitting once again, Banri reflexively turned his face to cover his mouth.

"Banri!"

"…"

He showed his palm like one of the temple guard images to Linda, who got up from the bench as if jumping, indicating that she did not need to come.

"Haha, I'm fine."

"You idiot; that's enough. What are you kidding me for?"

"… It seems I'm already high. Though I think my fever is to blame."

"I wish…"

Linda's voice sounded a bit disgusted, but she was really pampering Banri. His smile was filled with gentleness, he absolutely would not hurt Banri's feelings.

For Banri, it was scary.

"I want to go back to Linda's place!"

Even knowing how strong the feelings he brought, and what he expected, were terrifying. He wondered what would happen in the world, what it would take to satisfy him. Like his throat when he wanted water, what would he try to drink?

He also thought of the place he wanted to be. Where he wants something, and is ready to try to grab his hand, but who may not be there to take his hand. So that's. From the beginning he himself wanted to go back there, but there was no promise to wait for him there. He had to make sure to get a clear word about it.

But even so, she wondered why Linda was being nice to him like this. Does he miss her? Was it trauma from losing her once?

Does he not understand that he is someone he does not know?

Once again in a fashion of not saying anything, Banri slowly closed his eyes. She felt Linda's anxious look on her eyelid area.

"I sent a message to Ko-ko-chan earlier. He'll be here soon."

"… Aah …"

It was as if the tip of his memory melted out of focus.

Banri's girlfriend. Kouko Kaga. After being able to get her unrequited love finally, finally, turning towards him, she was to him a completely different lover.

To himself here now, he looked like someone he had somehow met in a dream. Really, it was like he was wondering: is this a real person? He doesn't feel real, doesn't feel like reality,

"… I want to see it …"

Practically unconscious. Those are the words that come out of his mouth. His tongue did not have a touch sweet enough to leave an impression.

If you call a certain world where Kaga Kouko lives a reality, then she wants him to try and appear before her. But in that case, then everything he could see became muddled by this high fever. He was in a humiliating condition, he felt like he shouldn't be there, and had a guilty conscience as well. What happened just a moment ago, even if it was something he could swear had happened, the color quickly faded. The dream turned pale and disappeared. His dense self found it hard to accept that it happened that way.

Banri's words did not seem to reach Linda's ears, a soft laugh could be heard. To him, the voice that tickled his ears was real.

Banri opened his feverish eyes. Slowly turning her head, she looked at Linda, sitting on the bench.

"Hm? What's up?"

Linda asked, her head tilted to one side.

"Is there anything you want?"

With a bending motion standing silently, stepping on the floor barefoot, he approached Banri. Banri watched steadily. Maybe he thought Linda would blink her eyes as an agreement. In that silent closed room, their eyes met.

Bam! The unlocked door is pushed open so that it bounces back hard. Banri jerks.

He felt the summer breeze, fragrant but filled with brutal heat, blowing into the room at once. It suddenly moved with the air that was previously confined inside.

Cocktail! Cocktail! With loud and sharp, the sound of those high heels made him know that he was coming to the entrance area. "My shoes must be Louboutin or Manolo. Aren't four-inch heels an iron rule? ' — Sweet remembered voice takes a strong grip, as if dragging it from his brain. Banri's eyes were wide open. This sounds like Louboutin. His ears answered, after being fully trained. They were probably her recent favorites, people in deep blue with black satin ribbons. When he casually heard the price, Banri did not say anything for ten seconds.' Oh, he's sure. They're real.

So, the person who stepped into the real world, suddenly crossed his long legs into the space between Banri and Linda's bed,

"… mpf!"

Just like with the tip of the sword.

"… Are you cheating?"

Poking right in front of Banri's nose as if waking him up, there was a bouquet of pink roses.

A bountiful and rich aroma rattled his nose. It was even very aggressive, up, up, up .. up!

"Ka …"

It's really reality.

"a, san …"

Banri, practically dumbfounded, opened his eyes wide. Still lying on the bed, he stiffened.

How, he wondered, could he think that the existence of this person might be something that was not a dream? How could he forget, he wondered?

Something so obvious, the existence of such an extraordinary lover, aaah, after all …

"Good morning, Tada-kun. Even though you have a lover, you are together with others like this. I asked once again, perfectly, are you cheating?"

What's he supposed to do? The rose queen was furious. There is only one option for background music inside Banri's endangered head: Dark Vader's theme. Even though you are C-3PO, the music and characters don't match, so he can't even laugh.

The contours of his cheeks were attracted to perfection. The skin is made of perfect marble. His face was beautifully and perfectly shaped.

Beaming, she is a fun person.

Her almond-shaped eyes, clearly accentuated by jet-black mascara and eyeliner, glistened like stars when they focused on Banri, it glittered like those carnivores that had seen its prey, having the same terrifying glint in its eyes.

He grins. But with perfect.

Her long, wavy hair formed a beautiful milky white skin with a dark brown color. He was wearing a cream satin belt. And white one-piece mini dress all lace with ascot style collar, no slip and high waist. He has an antique Gucci bag hanging by his side, in what Kouko calls 'jackie style. It's not kung fu clothes. She modeled after the classic fashion model personified in Jacqueline, who was originally the wife of a president and, after her murder, the wife of a delivery king. Even if his feet wear rose-patterned sandals (¥ 980) that are bought expressly for their use.

In Banri's current mind, he vividly imagined the setting of their meeting.

That spring morning, getting off the taxi, a perfect woman lifted a bouquet of deep red roses overhead.

Dancing in the deep blue sky, the color of the flower petals.

Scattered on the cheeks of Banri who ate, drops of cold water.

And now, with no room for doubt, in the real space, before Banri's eyes, Kouko once again held up the bouquet of roses above.

Just like that time again, hit — Banri instinctively tried to protect the lower part of his injured face with his hands, but, he,

"…Just kidding."

Kouko threw the raised bouquet of flowers behind her.

Wrapping Banri's ears with his now empty hands, putting one knee on the mattress and bending over half as if jumping onto the bed with him, he planted a big kiss on his hot forehead.

"Uh, oooh …!?"

Without thinking about it, shrugging her shoulders like a little girl, she looked at the trembling Banri, her smiling and pink lips like the opening of a flower bud. There's a lipstick on there right now, right in the middle of her forehead.

Step back a little, Kouko, like a child who finds fault,

"Honestly Tada-kun, what happened to you that you had to go to the hospital? You can't be so reckless when I don't see you."

Lowering his voice, he scolded her like a puppy: Bad!

But one second later, he gave her a perfect smile once again.

"By the way, ever since I came, you have nothing else to worry about, right? You can leave everything to me! For this I am! A woman like me! Exactly right! It's perfect! Because I will handle Tada-kun's nursing! "

And then from the entrance, screeched while picking up the bouquet that Kouko threw back,

"I'll be the next one to get married!"

"No way, I'll get married next!"

Two Dimensions and Mitsuo play the role of a good gay friend. While they were crying lightly, just in case,

"No, I'm getting married …"

When from the bed, Banri raised his hand to try and take part, there was a chorus of "Please, please!"

Linda, sotto voce, asks "... Did you guys come to do a comedy routine?"