ECPW Chapter 10

Cosmos

Posted by April Fox, ? Views, Released on November 30, 2024

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VOLUME 3 — AUTUMN

Chapter 10: Cosmos

The summer vacation, which lasted for a month and a half, passed by in the blink of an eye. Today marks the beginning of a new semester.

Standing on the train platform at a time that has become familiar to me, I find myself thinking about unnecessary things.

The wind brushing against my cheeks still carries remnants of the summer heat, leading my thoughts back to those summer nights.

[See you after summer break, on the train.]

After that message, I never heard from Senpai throughout the summer vacation.

It’s only been about five days, so it’s not particularly worrying compared to before the summer break.

Still, those mere five days feel long. Perhaps it’s because I’ve suddenly grown so close to my senpai this summer vacation.

(…Well, I guess ‘suddenly’ is a bit of an exaggeration. We only went to the festival together.)

As I think to myself, a self-deprecating smile involuntarily forms on my lips, and I bow my head. Suddenly, a familiar pair of shoes appears beside my own feet.

“…Good morning.”

“…!”

A sweet, melodious voice. I lift my head in surprise to see my beloved Itsuki-senpai, whom I haven’t seen in five days. I find myself blinking repeatedly.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Even though it’s only been five days.”

“…”

Senpai’s casual words make my heart skip a beat.

After all, it’s been a while. I feel like I’m not the only one who felt that just five days seemed like a long time.

“Did you manage to make up with your childhood friend?”

Senpai asks with a gentle tone, and I can’t help but feel like he already knows the answer.

I nod in response to Senpai’s question and said, “Thank you,” just with my mouth. Senpai then reaches out to gently touch my hair—

—but withdraws his hand before touching my head, saying, “I’m glad,” with a quiet smile and squinted eyes.

──Senpai’s casual gesture makes my heart flutter.

But before I can voice my anxiety, the train arrives at the platform, seemingly as if it had been predicted.

Slipping through the bustling crowd, and the two of us sat down in the usual seats.

In front of us were familiar office workers and students.

As I watch them, it dawns on me again that today marks the beginning of another school year. I realize just how little time I have left with Senpai, a third-year high school student.

Itsuki-senpai is about to take entrance exams, and with his outstanding abilities, he’s almost guaranteed to pass with a recommendation. He will be able to finish the exam one step ahead of other applicants by the end of the second semester at the earliest.

Given Senpai’s nature, I’m sure he’ll pass without any difficulty.

In fact, he jokes about how he’d be in trouble if he couldn’t keep up with studying after passing the exams…

At first glance, the lifestyle of Senpai gives off the impression of being well-mannered, well-rounded, and well-endowed.

But I know that it’s all thanks to the effort Senpai has put in up until now.

In this short period of time, I’ve come to realize that Senpai is someone who doesn’t show his efforts on the surface.

First and foremost, the reason Senpai studies at the library is to save on electricity bills at home.

Apparently, his allowance from their father, which was meant to cover their high school expenses, included some extra money for entertainment.

But Senpai hasn’t touched a penny of it.

Instead, he was saving it as potential future college tuition fees, and only used the money he earned from his part-time job for personal expenses.

Senpai also mentioned casually in conversation that he work part-time at a convenience store, where they receive leftover bentos, to save money.

I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult it must be to balance such a part-time job, school life, and even study at the level required for medical school entrance exams .

But Senpai wakes up early to come to school in order to study in a quiet classroom, library, or resource room.

Through such consistent efforts, Senpai’s preparations for the exams have come together.

The more I learn about Senpai, the more I can’t help but respect his hidden efforts and thoughtfulness.

(…But when I think about it like this, there’s really not much time left.)

By the time you’re a third-year student, the days of going to school decrease significantly once the second semester ends and the third semester begins.

Unless there are significant exceptions, I imagine it’ll be the same for Senpai’s school.

So, when I think about it, I’ll only be able to go to school with Senpai for about three and a half more months.

There really isn’t much time left to spend this peaceful morning time with my senpai.

Thinking about that, my emotions sink even further, and my nose starts to sting.

It’s lonely, but there’s nothing I can do about it.

After all, just being able to be with Senpai feels like a dream.

It’s just like waking up from a dream.

It’s just returning to the life before I met Senpai.

Knowing that, my chest tightens with pain. I feel like crying when I think that once Senpai graduates, everything, including my connection with him, will disappear.

I feel so pathetic that I want to cry.

Involuntarily, I sniffled and tightened my grip on the hand resting on my knee.

And then—

“…”

Senpai, sitting next to me, suddenly grabbed my hand.

“Since the morning, I didn’t want to have this conversation, but are you willing to listen?”

When I lifted my head, Senpai looked at me with furrowed brows and a sorrowful expression on his face.

The air around Senpai, filled with transience, changed my mood of depression to one of impatience.

Timidly nodding to Senpai, who was looking straight into my eyes, he softly uttered “Thank you,” and slowly began to speak.

“As I mentioned before, I was a despicable guy who had quite ambiguous relationships with girls and even justified it to myself.”

It was the day Senpai first confided in me about the wounds in his heart.

He must be referring to that day when he vented his frustration.

“I can easily make a move on girls. Even now, if it’s not Shiori, I wouldn’t hesitate.”

“I absolutely won’t do it with someone I’m not used to this kind of thing.”

“As your childhood friend said, it’s all true that I played around with girls. That’s why I can’t deny anything, and I’m terribly tainted and unworthy of someone as pure as Shiori.”

— Pure, like me?

“I’m prepared to be looked down upon by Shiori. So if Shiori thinks I’m even a little bit of a bother… I want her to tell me honestly.”

Senpai… Senpai doesn’t… understand anything.

“It’s too late to regret my past actions now. But I accept that everything was my fault, and I’m not trying to make excuses. So—“

“(I…)”

“Huh?”

“(I’m not the kind of person you think I am.)”

Grasping Senpai’s delicate fingers as if to reciprocate the overlapping hands.

Perhaps I surprised him with my sudden action since Senpai stopped moving and looked at me.

I responded with an ambiguous smile, then took out my phone and put my feelings into words.

“(To tell you the truth, I was shocked, and even now… I’m still shocked. When I first heard that from Renji, I told him it was definitely a lie and we fought. I believed in you from the bottom of my heart.)”

“Shiori…”

“(Honestly, I think it’s despicable. Senpai’s vague relationships… I can’t understand them, and I don’t even want to understand them.)”

“Okay…”

“(But, Senpai, you regret it now, right? You’ve decided you’ll never do it again, You’ve made up your mind, haven’t you?)”

Senpai, with a deeply serious expression, nodded once.

Seeing that, my expression softened and began typing again on the phone.

“(In that case, that’s enough. I won’t say anything else)”

“But…”

“(Because Senpai seems to regret it now. Besides, even if I heard it now, I couldn’t possibly look down on Senpai. …I don’t think I could.)”

“….”

“(But, please promise me)”

“Promise?”

“(Yes. Promise me that you’ll never do such a thing again. Because… someday, when Senpai seriously falls in love with someone, or gets a girlfriend, you’ll definitely regret it again, so you must never repeat it.)”

“…Yeah.”

With Senpai’s words as a cue, I quietly put away my phone.

Then, I looked up again.

Senpai was looking at me, inexplicably furrowing his brows in a melancholic manner. I can’t help but tilt his head to the side.

Then, seeing me like that, Senpai gave a small smile this time, said “Thank you” again. And at the same time.

The train once again slid smoothly into the station where our school was located.

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