Translator: newton
“…anyway, today you should rest. Please remember to stay hydrated and wipe off sweat. There’s a washbasin with towels over here, please use them to dry yourself off.”
After the meal, Mahiru prepared an unopened sports drink, a washbasin with towels, and a spare cooling pad, and placed them on the side table.
Staying over at the house of someone you just met (of the opposite gender too) was something you shouldn’t do normally, so Amane was thankful for these selfless actions.
While Amane was staring, Mahiru madde sure to confirm that there was nothing wrong.
(i’m stunned that she’s doing this so dutifully)
Although Amane still had many choice remarks to make, he eventually got used to Mahiru’s gracefulness, and a smirk appeared on his face.
(we’ve just met and she’s already this courteous)
Perhaps he wouldn’t get involved with her further than this, and him being taken care of was just by chance.
“Yeah, I won’t keep in touch with her, so I might as well humour her this one time,” he thought.
The medicine seemed to have worked. It didn’t do much for his fatigue, but his fever dropped a little. In a brief moment of being awake, he started thinking.
“Hey, can you listen to me for a sec?”
“What is it?”
Mahiru, who had set up important things, turned around.
“Why were you on a swing in the rain? Did you get dumped or something?”
The event in question was the one that led up to Amane being nursed to health.
Why was Mahiru there, in the middle of the rain, swaying on a swing?
Somehow, she looked like a lost child, and so he gave her an umbrella out of worry.
But he still didn’t know why she was there.
It seemed like she was waiting for someone, so it would be naive to think of her as having been dumped, but then again, Mahiru did look sad enough at that moment, as if drowning.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have a boyfriend and I don’t plan on getting one either.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Anyway, why do you assume that I’m dating someone?”
“You seem like you’ve dated one or two guys before.”
If you were to ask Amane, he’d say that Mahiru was a kindhearted girl with a strong personality, but apparently that wasn’t all.
Mahiru was a pretty, elegant, and humble girl. Her angelic beauty attracted eyes and fascinated people.
On top of that, she was top of her class and was adept at sports, and, as Amane found out that day, was good at cooking. All the more reasons to be popular.
He’d heard bits and pieces of conversation about her, and he knew that a number of his classmates were attracted to her.
That’s why he jumped to the conclusion that she was dating someone.
As the words “one or two guys” were spoken, Mahiru’s expression tensed up.
“I don’t have one, and to me, having one would be unreasonable. There’s totally no way.”
Her gaze was so cold as to cause shivers, and so when she rebuked Amane, he immediately knew that he stepped on a landmine.
It might have been due to his cold, but he felt as if the atmosphere was cold. The room felt cold and heartless.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean that. I apologize.”
“No, I’m the one who should be sorry. I was caught up in the heat of the moment.”
However, as he lowered his head, the tension in the room disappeared.
The “heat of the moment” in question seemed to be just the air in the room rather than the situation itself, but he decided not to point that out.
“…anyway, it really wasn’t like that that time, I just wanted to cool off. I’m sorry I got you worried, which got you this cold.”
“It’s alright. I did it of my own choice anyways. In fact, I got troubled just because I was selfish, due to my guilt and shame. I’ll only concern myself with you this much, Shiina.”
Mahiru, feeling a bit guilty as she heard Amane talk, blinked and looked around Amane, thinking to herself.
She was curious about “only concerning himself with her this much”.
“I don’t really have any reason to interact with you. I’m not going to talk to you just because you’re the school angel. Did you think I was obligated to do that for you because of that?”
Amane smiled wryly at Mahiru, who averted her eyes a bit.
Rather than being self-conscious, this is what happened.
Currying favour with a pretty girl to get involved with her might have been something possible.
Mahiru seemed to have experienced that several times, so it’s also something she was wary of on that rainy day. She was on edge in an act of self-defense, so you couldn’t really blame her.
“You’re fussy, aren’t you. Worrying about a guy you don’t even like.”
“I guess you could say that.”
“I knew it.”
The fact that Mahiru went along with that was a little interesting.
A mature, angelic honor student could still like, dislike, and worry. Amane felt a bit closer to her.
Mahiru seemed to have misspoken, so she glared at Amane with a slight grudge, who had taken advantage of this to gloat over her.
Above all, that proved that Mahiru was a human capable of actual emotion.
“Don’t you think that’s good? It’s kind of reassuring. Somehow, the fact that an angel could be this average is troublesome.”
“Stop calling me that.”
Apparently being called an angel was embarrasing, and so the harsh glare continued.
That was interesting too, Amane laughed to himself.
“Well, I don’t have anything to do with you at all, so I won’t go out of my way to interact with you.”
After Amane said that, Mahiru widened her eyes in slight astonishment, and then smiled bitterly.
While Amane was lying in bed, he remembered the day he returned home, when he passed by a downcast Mahiru.
The medicine he took was working, but after all that he’d been through, he just wanted to sleep.
He closed his eyes and thought about what happened a while ago.
He refused to let anyone believe that the angel (an insult) treated him. He refused to admit it to anyone.
What happened then was Amane and Mahiru’s own secret.
The secret felt strangely tingly. On his own judgment though, he decided against telling anyone about it, as it would be troublesome. (tl note: くすぐったく感じてしまう – felt ticklish (without meaning to). probably along the lines of “butterflies in stomach” or “this secret is too juicy to keep”. probably the latter based on context)
From the next day onwards, they would know each other.
Having said that, Amane slowly sank into sleep.
