Prologue
Hospital
“Mr. Yamada, here’s your medical card. Take care.”
“Thank you very much.”
I, Taiyō Yamada, had been hospitalized until today because of a minor accident.
After finishing the discharge paperwork and receiving my medical card at reception, my hospital stay finally came to an end.
I really caused a lot of trouble for a lot of people.
As a second-year high school student at the beginning of August, losing my summer vacation to a hospital stay was a serious blow.
It’s not like I had anything special planned, but… it still feels like a loss.
Of course, it wasn’t all bad. There were things I gained only because I had to be hospitalized.
Beyond the automatic doors at the hospital entrance, a girl was waiting for me.
I stepped through the doors and called out to her. Her chestnut hair, long enough to brush her back, swayed gently as she walked toward me.
“Taiyō-san, congratulations on your discharge!”
That radiant smile hit me in the chest with such force, it felt like I might end up hospitalized again.
Big, round double-lidded eyes framed by a perfectly balanced face.
Skin as fair as if it glowed, so beautiful that everyone passing by couldn’t help but stare.
Even her voice is beautiful. She’s smart, too, and that silky chestnut hair is so clean and pure.
She’s truly the definition of a girl blessed with both talent and beauty.
Her name is Tsukiyo Kaminagi—she’s my best friend’s little sister and also my own friend, one year below me in school.
She’s an angelically kind girl who came all the way to see me off from the hospital even though I’m just an unremarkable guy.
And she even brought flowers—she’s a goddess!
“Thanks, little sis. These are begonias, aren’t they? You’ve got great taste. They’re beautiful.”
“I’m glad you like them. But I’m surprised you recognized them.”
“I had so much free time in the hospital that I ended up reading a ton of books.”
“They’re a get-well gift! Please stay healthy, okay?”
The red begonias were tied together in a neat bouquet and beautifully wrapped.
I call her “little sis” because it would feel weird to call her by her family name when I call her brother by his first name—and, more than that, I’m embarrassed to call a girl by her first name.
Her smile really is dazzling. It’s almost blinding.
“Are you going anywhere after this?”
“Yes, we’re all going shopping.”
Her friends were waiting for her behind her. One of them noticed me looking and waved.
Since I knew them too, I gave a shy little wave back.
It’s awkward waving at girls, you know?
“It’s a bit cooler today. Have fun.”
“…Taiyō-san, you’re really okay now, right?”
It had been about a three-week hospitalization, but my body had recovered completely.
“Yeah, thanks to you visiting me. Let me treat you sometime. My treat—and your brother’s.”
“My brother is fine with that, but it feels like too much…”
“No, no. You came almost every day; if I don’t do something in return, I’ll get punished by fate.”
“What are you saying? I was only—”
“Ah—looks like I forgot something. I’ll just go grab it. Thanks for coming with me! Go have fun!”
“Ah, honestly!”
I apologized for abruptly cutting off our conversation and headed back into the hospital.
Of course, I hadn’t actually forgotten anything; I just felt the conversation was going to loop endlessly, so I forced an exit.
She’s just too kind.
I’ll go home once she and her friends are gone.
I ducked into the nearby men’s restroom to kill time.
While I was doing my business, I heard a voice from outside.
That clear, river-like voice…
“…Yeah, that’s right.”
It was her voice.
She was coming closer, talking with the friends she’d been with earlier.
She really was so cute just now.
Just knowing a girl like that feels like winning at life.
“Taiyō-san is really too kind…”
Huh. Are they talking about me?
Or maybe she’s secretly calling me creepy.
If she said that, I think I’d just die on the spot.
Curious, I moved closer to the window to listen.
Maybe I could catch a little more of their conversation.
“You know… I think I might have…”
Her voice was gentle, lingering pleasantly in my ears.
“…fallen for Taiyō-san.”
Huh—?
After that, her voice faded away.
She must have moved farther off.
But more importantly…
She said she likes me?
Did I mishear?
No, but…
They call her “the Kaguya-hime of our school,” and she gets confessed to by tons of people every day, rejecting them all—that girl likes me…?
No way.
Would a girl like her fall for someone as ordinary as me?
No, probably she just meant “like” as in affection between friends.
After all, I’m her brother’s best friend.
That’s probably it.
Still… the begonia’s flower language means “one-sided love.” No way, right?
I left the restroom and leaned against the wall.
I didn’t want anyone to see…
…this face, bright red as it was.
From that day on, the story of me, Taiyō Yamada, and Tsukiyo Kaminagi began.
