It's time to end.

The two woke up from their beds after a moment.

The paper in Shiina's hand, on which layers of paint were repeatedly added, had disappeared.

All that was left was a "new" blank piece of paper as if it had never been used at all.

When Shiina put down the paper, Narumi Yu saw two lines of tears on the girl's white and tender cheeks.

"Don't look at ......"

In a panic, the girl picked up the painting of Kawakami's mother-in-law and Taro Jiro, and covered her face again, only a high school textbook away from the canvas.

'Sorry......'

Narumi said to the girl in her heart.

"Do you want to see this picture?" When he spoke, he changed an irrelevant sentence.

……

……

"Hmmm......"

The girl replied weakly and softly.

This time, the two of them succeeded in entering the painting, but time stood still, frozen in what was painted on the picture, and the young Taro Jiro lay quietly in the nest.

After about ten minutes, the two were pulled back to reality by force majeure.

"I'm going to find Kawakami's mother-in-law." Narumi glanced at the already dark sky outside the window, and looked back at Shiina Weiyang, who was not in a state, "Will you go again tomorrow afternoon?" ”

"Hmm......" The girl turned her back and nodded.

Narumi sat up, consciously walked out of Shiina Miyo's room, and gently closed the door.

At seven o'clock in the evening, Shiina's mother may have encountered some problems at work and has not yet returned home.

He walked into the kitchen and simply made dinner for two.

"Shiina-kuwa......"

Through the door, Narumi Yu stood outside and whispered to the girl in the bedroom.

"Huh?"

The volume of the voice was probably the volume at which the girl was cheering himself on the second floor when he was standing downstairs.

"Auntie...... Auntie she hasn't come back yet, I made dinner, put it in the pot, remember to come down and eat. ”

"Hmmm......"

After doing this, Narumi Yu walked out of Shiinaya.

Standing on the streets of the residential area at night, looking at the street lights that were already lit on the other side of the street, I let out a long breath.

Slowed down and walked far under the streetlights.

……

Clang~

On the deserted street at night, in the vending machine, the sound of cans falling.

For the past month or two, Yu Narumi, who has been dealing with vending machines every day, knows this sound well.

But this time, there was no muffled sound of football playing during training in the football club on the field, no chatter from passing students, and no chirps from branches.

Quiet and lonely night, without all kinds of noise interference, the sound of drinks falling is crisp and good, and there is a feeling of loneliness and loneliness.

Whew~

The pull tab is pulled open, and a small bubble of the soda bubbles emerges from the mouth of the can, which then quickly dissipates.

Tilting his head into his mouth brought him a little lucidity.

"Ha ......"

Narumi leaned her body against the vending machine and looked up at the night sky where the clouds blocked the stars.

Talking to himself like a self-deprecating one,

"It's disgusting...... Narumi San. ”

He stayed like this for about five minutes, until a middle-aged man, who had just come home from work, walked up to the vending machine and bought a can of coffee, and then he got up to leave.

When passing by the convenience store, he took the opportunity to buy a soda for Yayoi Aki and threw the can into the garbage bin of the convenience store.

The can was a green apple-flavored soda, so sour that he wondered if it wasn't sweetened, but he ended up drinking it.

I swore to the soda girl March 7 that I would never buy it again.

I bought it with Yayoi Aki's soda, and a can of the same coffee that the middle-aged man had taken out of the vending machine.

I took a sip, it was bitter, and I went home and added some sugar to it and drank it again.

……

……

"Welcome home, Narumi-san."

Yayoi Aki, who was standing on the balcony, ran to open the door for him as soon as he saw him, and took out the panda slippers from the shoe cabinet.

"The rice is almost cold, I'll go and heat it up."

"Thank you......"

He handed the soda to Yayoi Akiza, freed one hand, and put on slippers on his left foot.

"Didn't you buy it at noon today?"

"It's tomorrow."

"Oh......"

Late at night after drinking a can of coffee, Narumi Yu lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling in a daze, self-inflicted.

Strings of memories pop up in my head.

Thinking of the teacher in the countryside of Imabetsu Town, he took him in until he graduated from junior high school; The girl who was still willing to play with him after thinking that she had become an orphan was said to have been admitted to a high school in Kyoto, but her score was not enough to come to Tokyo.

I also thought of my promise to my deceased father to "be admitted to the University of Tokyo", and I studied hard every day.

From the time he was alone, until he was in a car accident on the street near the Arakawa Ward Office in Tokyo, he confessed to it.

All I have in mind is to learn one thing, interpersonal relationships, and exchanges with classmates and teachers seem to completely conform to human inertia and grow blindly and wantonly.

Now it seems that maybe he was really free at that time, and he only did what he wanted to do.

Unlike him, who suddenly freed up a lot of time because of the system, he is getting farther and farther away from "freedom".

“……”

Really not sleepy, Narumi simply sat down at the desk and opened the notebook.

Continue watching the anime he talked about with Yayoi Akihaya before.

[I hate gentle girls, just a greeting when you meet, you will care, just send a text message and your heart will be restless.] ]

[On the day I called, I smiled slightly when I looked at the call log.] ]

[But I know that it is her gentleness, and that she who is gentle to me is just as gentle as others.] ]

[I almost forgot about it, if the truth is always cruel, then the lie must be gentle.] ]

[So gentleness is a lie, always looking forward to it, I don't know when I gave up looking forward to it.] ]

[A well-trained lonely person will not be fooled a second time, a strong man who has been through a hundred battles, and I am the strongest when it comes to the number of defeats in battle, so I will always hate gentle girls.] ]

A monologue of the protagonist's indifference and loneliness came from the headphones.

Yu Narumi exited the full screen and gave "Spring Things" a score of 10.

Then he laughed.

A monologue that resonates with him - he once misunderstood the kindness of gentle girls to him.

But now, unconsciously, he has also become the gentle person he hates......

"Imadegawa Mulberry ......"

He thought again about the girl he had met after the amnesia, who was also in loneliness.

Thinking of the meeting between the two of them, thinking of what Imadegawa Chisaka said to him in the midst of the white mist.

"I understand...... Why did you say that to me. ”

"Indeed, as you say, I am now unconsciously drifting away from the freedom I seek......"

"But, Imadegawa-san,"

"I'm now,"

"How do you get out of the cage......