Part-1 Ch-04 Ep-04

 After we left the bookstore and had walked for a while, a light patter of rain began to fall.

When I asked, “What should we do?”, she replied, “Hmm, it’s only a drizzle, so want to walk a bit?”, so we hurried toward home. Since there was no sign that the rain would ease, we stayed as much as possible under the eaves, walking for a short stretch, then taking shelter, walking again, then taking shelter again.

“Isn’t it kind of getting stronger?”

“…Yeah, it is.”

What had begun as small drops soon turned into large ones, and before long it was pouring down in a torrent so heavy that the expression “as if a bucket had been overturned” was perfectly fitting.

This is hopeless, I thought, and we ran toward Maki’s house, which was the closest of our two homes.

By the time water was dripping from the ends of our hair, Maki’s house finally came into view.

As soon as we stepped into the entryway, she said, “Wait a second,” and went to fetch some towels. She herself was completely drenched, so droplets had fallen in a trail along the hallway.

“Here,” she said, handing me the towel she had hurried to get, and when I accepted it there in the entrance, I froze.

Today, she had been wearing a white blouse, and the wet fabric clung tightly to her skin, faintly revealing the color and outline of her underwear.

I regretted having made her run around in that condition.

“Maki, you’re soaked. Don’t worry about me, go take a shower first.”

Even with someone of the same sex, I hardly knew where to look. Maybe it was the heroine effect, but this girl had developed quite generously.

“That may be true, but Mari, you’re soaking wet too? …Ah, if that’s the case, want to take a shower together?”

I intended to refuse immediately, yet I felt uncomfortable entering the house in this state, and truthfully my wet hair and clothes felt unpleasant.

“Ah… then I guess I will.”

And so, for some reason, I ended up showering together with Maki, who wore a full, delighted smile, and she also lent me some clothes to change into.

Afterward, with her cheeks slightly flushed, Maki asked, “Will you… stay over tonight?”, and as I answered, “No, I’ll go home when the rain stops, and even if it doesn’t, if it’s not too late my parents can pick me up…”, her expression began to fall, so I gave in and said, “Actually, maybe I’ll stay…”

Am I spoiling her too much?

Yes, I’m definitely spoiling her too much.

I questioned myself.

“Mom should be home soon, so I’ll let her know! Ah, I’ll call your mom too!”

No, wait, why even my parents— I tried to stop her, but she had already left the room with her phone in hand.

Well, it has been a while since we’ve done something like this, so I guess it’s fine, I thought, and once Maki returned, we began planning out the rest of our summer break. It reminded me of the sleepovers we had when we were children, and the nostalgia mixed with excitement made me enjoy the time as well.

And although we did make plans together, most of the remaining vacation days ended up filled with things to do with Maki.

I scheduled outings with our classmates, and I managed to squeeze in some plans with Kagami-kun and the others, yet in the end Maki still spent the majority of her time with me as we carried out our plans.

In this way, without forming any noticeable connections with any of the story’s capture targets, we played together just as we always did, and our summer vacation came to an end.

End of Chapter 4.