Chapter 40: Distance…

Daiki got sick and didn’t wake up until morning after he returned home.

Thanks to a good night’s sleep, he was feeling much better.

When he woke up, he went to the living room.

“Daiki, are you all right?

Are you feeling better?”

His mother and Tsukasa were worried about him.

“I slept well, so I feel a whole lot better! Thank you!”

He told them and went to take a shower.

After a refreshing shower and a light breakfast, Daiki returned to his room and checked his cell phone.

Yesterday, he had received messages from everyone since he had not been able to respond at all.

He had a message from Wakaba, too, but he didn’t know what to say to her, so he decided to think about it after replying to everyone else.

He had decided to support them, but it was still hard for him.

“Don’t regret it…”

His father’s words came to mind.

“Regret…”

He lamented to himself.

No matter how much he thought about it, he could not come up with an answer.

But now that he had decided to support them, he couldn’t interfere.

“I guess Wakaba likes Shiraishi too, since they walk hand in hand…”

Recalling yesterday, he decided to keep his distance from them.

Little by little, distance himself from them.

They are not even dating, but maybe the distance between Daiki and Wakaba was too close.

He thought it would be better if they were just normal friends.

When they do meet, they don’t see each other except when they are with other people, and they don’t see each other at school because they don’t go to school together.

So, he thought, it would be better if he could be as close to her as normal friends are.

That way, he would not get in Wakaba’s way.

Even if Wakaba got romantically involved with Shiraishi, he thought that ordinary friends could congratulate her.

Once again, he had made up his mind.

Asking Wakaba would solve the problem, but subconsciously, he thought in a direction that would not hurt him.

Instead of doing it for Wakaba’s sake, his defensive instincts kicked in for his own sake.

Until now, he has always acted as if he could be normal if only he could endure himself.

Daiki again chose to act by suppressing his feelings this time.

After replying to Wakaba with a minimal reply, he lay down on his bed and lost himself in his thoughts.

Wakaba had club activities in the morning, so she woke up early in the morning to get ready.

She checked her cell phone, but there was still no reply from Daiki.

“I wonder if Daiki is okay…?”

She was worried about Daiki, but she couldn’t miss the club activities, so she went out to school.

The club activities were over only in the morning, so she changed her clothes quickly and checked her cell phone.

Daiki had written back to her.

“I’m feeling better!

I’m sorry for worrying you!”

was the only message.

Wakaba was relieved, so she immediately wrote

“I’m glad you’re feeling better!

We didn’t get to play together at all yesterday.

Let’s go on a ride together next time!”

She sent a message

The reply came immediately.

“Thank you! I guess so!”

The reply was more curt than usual.

Maybe it had been like this before, but Wakaba was curious because she had the feeling that he had been somewhat avoiding her since yesterday.

It may be a misunderstanding, but I’m curious.

Wakaba couldn’t ask Daiki either.

They both have similar bad habits.

“Next time our schedules work out, we’ll definitely go!”

And she sends a message.

“Got it!”

and the reply was still very curt.

Wakaba began to think more and more.

Wakaba herself did not know what to do.

The vacation was over and Golden Week was over.

Daiki went back to his father and Wakaba spent her days in agony.

School started again, and Daiki was talking with his high school friends about where they went on vacation.

The girls, including Shion, also talked together.

Shion said she was going to her grandparents’ house with her family, so she said she spent her vacation as planned.

Everyone else said the same thing, and they talked about how they wanted to hang out together next year.

First, as they had said before the Golden Week vacations, they decided to arrange a day when they could all have a day off together.

Daiki wanted to change his mind and was glad to have something to look forward to.

Shion was also happy about it.

On the day off, everyone decided to go have fun after school since those who had club activities could not come.

On days off from club activities, everybody went to facilities where they could play karaoke, bowling, arcade games, and various other games.

After bowling with everyone else, they decided to go to the places they wanted to play.

Daiki went to a game center and played UFO catcher.

Since Shion was with him, he tried his best to get the stuffed animal she wanted, but he couldn’t. Instead, he got a stuffed animal that wasn’t very cute.

Shion was happy to get the stuffed animal that Daiki had given her, and she put it in a bag and held it with both hands, looking very happy.

Daiki was also relieved that he was able to make her happy.

After that, everyone continued to have fun together and it was getting late, so they decided to go home together.

That day they broke up, saying that they would make time to come back and visit again.