Chapter 29
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Volume 1: First Performance: A Tragic Love Story Of A Young Lady And Spring Cherry Blossoms
Chapter 29: The Cross-Dressing Boy Is Crying In A Girl’s Arms
“Wa-Wait, no, Honoka-san!! Th-that’s…!”
“Hehe, Onee-sama? You can’t run away~!”
“W-wait, seriously, please wait――――――”
“Gotcha!”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!”
With a loud explosion sound effect, the Game Character on the TV screen explodes into pieces.
Afterwards, the screen went dark, and the words
“2P Honoka WIN” were displayed.
Seeing this, Honoka, who was sitting next to me, pumps her fist in the air with a joyful expression.
“I did it~!! I beat Onee-sama~!!!!”
Holding the game controller in one hand, Honoka laughs gleefully, her voice full with excitement.
Looking at her, I furrow my eyebrows and speak up.
“Honoka-san, you’re really good at games, aren’t you? I’ve hardly ever played games, so it’s tough just learning the controls.”
“Hehe, I love games~”
Saying this, she pulls out various kinds of game software from the shelf and lines them up in front of me.
“In addition to the Smash Bros. game we just played, I have all sorts of genres~ This one’s a shooting game with anthropomorphized squids, and this is the classic RPG, ‘Dragon Fantasy XVII’. Oh, let’s play this next, Onee-sama!! It just came out last month, and I haven’t played it yet either, the latest horror game! ‘Resident Evil 4’ Remake!!!!”
As she says this, she shows me the package of a horror game with a creepy zombie illustration on it.
I force a strained smile, take the game from her, and while staring at the package illustration, I open my mouth.
“W-well, um, I’m not really good with horror… Are you good with that kind of thing, Honoka-san?”
“I love it~!! I’m a huge fan of horror movies too~!!!!”
“I-Is that so? That’s… surprising…”
As I read the game description written on the back of the zombie-illustrated game package, Honoka lets out a small laugh and speaks to me.
“What do you usually do for fun, Onee-sama? Any hobbies?”
“I’m not sure if I have anything that could be called a hobby… I didn’t have much free time growing up. If I had to say, maybe cooking and reading.”
“You didn’t have much free time growing up…?”
“Yes. My father was strict… He made me learn various things from a young age. Piano, violin, horseback riding, flower arranging, martial arts, painting… It was a crazy amount of lessons. I was tied down with lessons all day long, except for when I was sleeping or eating. Now that I think about it, it might have been close to abuse.”
“Onee-sama…”
“But my father who imposed such hardship on me… suddenly lost interest in me. And then he left the house, abandoning my sister and me. At that moment, I felt an overwhelming sense of emptiness… I didn’t know what to do with myself anymore. I just stood there, utterly dazed.”
I became an actor because I wanted to make my sick mother smile.
My father, recognizing my talent, pushed me to become a top-class actor, making me take various lessons.
But my mother passed away, and I was so shocked that I forgot how to act. My father abandoned me and left the house.
What remained was just me, who had lost everything, a former child prodigy turned ordinary, and my little sister, who was starving for family love.
At that moment, I gave up on loving anyone other than my sister.
I gave up on trusting anyone else beside my sister with all of my heart.
I decided that everyone except for Rurika was an enemy.
And yet――――――.
[And yet, why am I here in Honoka-san’s house right now…? I decided back then that I wouldn’t rely on anyone anymore, that I would live alone from now on…]
It must be because of my weakness.
When my heart was weakened, I happened to have this kind girl Honoka nearby, and I ended up leaning on her.
Even though she doesn’t know that I’m actually a boy… I took advantage of her kindness and ended up coming to her house.
I’m… a terrible person.
“…Sigh. At this point, I don’t care about anything anymore. I don’t care about Karen, the Hananomiya family, or my father anymore. I might as well just take Rurika and run far away. There’s no reason for me to keep going along with them.”
I let out a sigh and meet Honoka’s gaze.
Then, quietly, I begin to speak.
“―――――――Honoka-san. I’m sorry, but the truth is, I…”
“It’s okay, Onee-sama.”
“Huh…?”
Just as I was about to confess my true identity to Honoka.
She suddenly hugged me gently.
Then, as she softly stroked my head, Honoka began speaking in a tender, soothing voice, as if comforting a child.
“I can tell that you were about to tell me something important, Onee-sama. But the look on your face as you tried to say it… You looked like you were about to cry, like it was so painful that you couldn’t bear it. I have good intuition. If you told me that secret, Onee-sama, you’d try to disappear from my life, wouldn’t you?”
“…That’s…”
“In that case, you don’t have to say anything. I don’t want to know your secret, Onee-sama… So please, continue to share school life with me from now on, Onee-sama.”
“Ugh, uuuuuuuhh…!!!!!”
“I’m not very smart. So I don’t understand what happened to you, Onee-sama. But… you went through something really painful today, didn’t you? I can tell.”
“Sniff, it’s not that I went through something painful… I’m… fine…”
“It’s okay, you don’t have to hold it in. It’s just the two of us here in this room, right? So… why don’t you put down that heavy burden you’ve been carrying? Okay…?”
Seeing her gently smiling at me, I couldn’t help but see my mother’s face on her.
At that moment, as if a dam had burst, I couldn’t stop my tears.
I hugged Honoka and cried out loudly.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!! Uwaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!”
As I wept, Honoka softly patted my back and repeatedly said, “It’s okay, I’m here.”
In her warm embrace, I… I let out all the emotions I had been holding in, along with my tears.
In the arms of this kind girl, I had become nothing more than a sobbing child.
