Little Kotomi looked at the little bear biscuit in her hand, then at the little girl standing before her, beads of sweat sliding down her small face. Her mouth hung slightly open, as if she wanted to say something.
Just then, the girl with the cane walked over. She glanced at the last little bear biscuit in Kotomi's hand, then at the little girl standing in front of her. Stepping forward, she spoke to Kotomi—but her tone sounded more like a declaration of sovereignty, a warning directed at the other girl.
"Kotomi, why are you still standing here? Were you waiting for me? Haha, let's go home together. Oh, right, right—you see this? A big sister wearing a mascot costume just gave me a promotional poster. It says Tokyo is opening a Doll Fantasy Castle theme park! Since tomorrow's already the holiday, let's find a day and have my cousin take the two of us there to play!"
As she spoke, the cane girl took Kotomi's small hand.
The little girl opposite them panicked at once.
"Y-You're not allowed to hold her hand! Little Kotomi is my girlfriend!"
The cane girl froze for a moment. When she looked at the little girl again, her gaze instantly darkened—like a young lion cub warning another cub not to come any closer. She gripped her cane so tightly it nearly cracked.
Ever since she transferred to this kindergarten, she had often seen this girl sticking to Kotomi. But since Kotomi had already agreed to marry her, she hadn't taken it seriously.
Yet now this girl dared to be so brazen, declaring in front of her that Kotomi was her wife?!
The cane girl suddenly felt as if a heavy hat had been placed on her head. She wasn't someone who could be bullied. Faced with such arrogance, how could she possibly swallow her anger?
She yanked Kotomi into her arms and demanded loudly,
"Your girlfriend? Keep dreaming. Kotomi has been my wife for ages! We made a promise back in middle class! There's no room for you between us!"
"Huh? What are you talking about? Kotomi agreed to be my girlfriend back in junior class! Kotomi, tell her, didn't you?"
"Y-Yes…"
"How unfortunate. In middle class, I proposed to Kotomi, and she already agreed to marry me. Isn't that right, wife?"
The cane girl asked with a smile that refused to yield. The dark look she cast at the other girl instantly softened when she turned to Kotomi.
"Y-Yes…"
Kotomi nodded carefully.
Although she had already graduated from kindergarten, she still didn't know what dating meant. She didn't know what "girlfriend" meant. She didn't know what "marry me" meant.
She only saw that the little girl who had always given her bear biscuits now looked as though she were about to cry, and Kotomi felt utterly at a loss.
In her memory, throughout those three years of kindergarten, that girl's face had always carried a happy smile. Sometimes Kotomi would even wonder privately why she could laugh so happily every single day at kindergarten.
She hadn't figured out why that smile had always been so bright—yet now, seeing tears brimming in the girl's eyes, she couldn't understand why that happiness had vanished.
Is it… because of me?
Kotomi didn't understand. She understood nothing.
Compared to other graduating children, she seemed to have no real concept of the world at all. She still couldn't even speak a complete sentence clearly.
"D-Don't cry… I'll give you fruit candy… If that's not enough, I'll split my bear biscuit with you…"
Carefully, she took out the fruit candy the cane girl had given her earlier and tried to offer one to the girl in front of her.
The little girl stared blankly at the fruit candy in Kotomi's hand.
Almost every day, the cane girl would receive praise from the teachers for her good performance, and naturally, she would get fruit candy. Yet she had never seen the cane girl eat it. Instead, she often saw Kotomi happily eating the candy.
In that instant, the little girl understood.
Every time she had asked Kotomi to walk home together, and Kotomi had shaken her head—it must have been to wait for the cane girl to give her fruit candy.
And the reason the cane girl could speak so confidently—"Kotomi has long been my wife"—must be because she had used fruit candy to lure Kotomi into agreeing.
"So that's it… I was dumped a long time ago… Between little bear biscuits and fruit candy, you're choosing fruit candy, aren't you?"
Tears overflowed uncontrollably from the little girl's eyes as she looked at Kotomi, as though asking her—or perhaps speaking to herself.
"I… y-you eat candy? Once you finish it, it's sweet… you won't feel sad anymore…"
Kotomi's words came out flustered and unclear. She didn't know what was happening.
She only knew that the girl who had given her bear biscuits for three whole years was very, very sad right now.
Kotomi didn't know how to comfort people. She only knew that whenever she felt unhappy, she ate candy. So she held out both her beloved bear biscuit and the fruit candy, hoping the girl would stop being sad.
The little girl reached out her hand—but not to accept the candy.
If it had been any other day, she would have happily taken just one fruit candy, leaving the bear biscuit and another piece of candy behind. And when she chose, she always paid attention—not to pick her own favorite flavor, but to leave Kotomi's favorite flavor for her.
But now—
Smack!
The fruit candy in Kotomi's hand was knocked to the ground.
Her little hand stung. She clutched it, tears welling in her innocent eyes from the pain, looking at the girl in confusion.
After knocking the candy away, the little girl finally broke down, crying out as she glared at Kotomi:
"You heartless flirt!!!"
After shouting, she scratched Kotomi's face.
She was angry—truly angry—but when she actually struck, she didn't use much force. The moment she saw tears spring to Kotomi's eyes from the pain in her hand, her own heart softened. She scolded herself over and over in her mind.
Why did I make her cry?! Don't I know she's afraid of pain?!
Her fingernails left a few shallow marks on Kotomi's cheek.
After yelling and scratching her, the little girl who had given Kotomi bear biscuits for three years ran off without looking back.
She ran while crying—fast. The cane girl tried to chase her with her cane, but couldn't catch up.
To outsiders, the frozen Kotomi and the crying girl running away might have looked like close friends unable to accept the pain of graduation.
Kotomi's childhood memories were fragmented. Some parts of kindergarten remained vivid. Others were lost.
For instance, she could no longer remember the name or face of the little girl who gave her bear biscuits. Nor could she clearly recall the name or appearance of the cane girl who gave her fruit candy.
It felt as though the memory existed in her heart, yet had been thickly scribbled over with crayon.
She could sense that it had once been there—but she couldn't recall it clearly. Not now.
Thinking back on that three-year "relationship" she hadn't even realized at the time, Kotomi felt both nostalgic and faintly helpless, smiling to herself.
She had been so innocent.
She hadn't known what "girlfriend" meant. She hadn't known what "marry me" meant.
She had foolishly thought that being able to eat both bear biscuits and fruit candy every day was a great deal.
And so, without realizing it, she had become the bear-biscuit girl's girlfriend—and the cane girl's fiancée at the same time.
She still remembered that the bear-biscuit girl had left those nail marks on her left cheek.
Despite how furious she had looked while crying, when she actually scratched Kotomi, she couldn't bring herself to hurt her badly. Kotomi had only felt pain for a moment. Before the girl had even run out of her sight, the sting had already faded.
There had been no scar.
But that childhood experience left Kotomi with a very vivid understanding of what it felt like to be scratched in the face by a girl.
She just didn't know which high school that bear-biscuit girl now attended.
Kotomi had started elementary school a year later than most, so the bear-biscuit girl should now be in her second year of high school.
"Kotomi?"
Yukino Yukinoshita asked softly, noticing that Kotomi had fallen silent.
Was she upset because Yukino wouldn't let her wear the strapless backless evening gown?
But Yukino truly didn't want her to wear it. A strapless backless gown meant exposing most of her back. The mere thought of others seeing Kotomi's flawless back made Yukino so angry she nearly went mad.
She would rather wrap Kotomi in several layers of down jackets until she looked like a ball than let her wear such a gown.
Even if you want to wear it, you can only wear it for me to see!!!
Yukino almost wanted to shout that at the top of her lungs—regardless of the sleeping Yui Yuigahama nearby.
Even she hadn't realized how easily her emotions were being stirred by Kotomi.
"Ah… sorry. I suddenly got a little hungry and drifted off, thinking about which brand of bear biscuits I loved most when I was little."
Kotomi smiled lightly.
"You're hungry?"
Yukino was speechless.
She had thought that after witnessing Kotomi's appetite for so long, she wouldn't be surprised anymore. Clearly, she had been wrong. Kotomi could truly eat an astonishing amount.
If possible, Yukino would shrink herself down like a tiny dwarf and travel into Kotomi's body just to see how she managed it.
Though she wasn't studying medicine, Yukino suddenly found herself deeply interested in human anatomy.
More precisely—Kotomi's anatomy.
"Kotomi…"
Yukino's tone suddenly turned serious.
"Hm? What is it?"
Kotomi blinked curiously.
With a solemn expression, Yukino said slowly,
"If one day, amidst thunder and lightning, you suddenly transformed into an alien, I wouldn't be that surprised. With your appetite, it's not hard to imagine you as an alien from the Gluttony Galaxy, disguising yourself as a human and infiltrating Earth."
Kotomi stared at her blankly, utterly dumbfounded.
Then she began taking deep breaths—big, exaggerated ones.
Not because she was about to transform into an alien. She wasn't an alien at all!
If she were, she wouldn't have spent her childhood obsessively rereading The World's Ten Greatest Unsolved Mysteries, believing even the obviously fabricated stories inside.
As a child, she had often wondered whether aliens truly existed.
Now, she was simply both exasperated and amused by Yukino's imagination.
"I mean, everyone gets the urge for a midnight snack sometimes. I just eat a little more than average, and you've already decided I'm an alien in disguise? If I really were an alien, I'd have revealed my true form by now, stuffed you into a sack, and tied you up on my Kotomi Treasure UFO!"
"Ah, how frightening."
Yukino responded calmly, her face betraying no fear whatsoever.
"Hmph. Scared now, aren't you? Heh heh heh!"
They joked for a while longer before exchanging smiles.
"Is it almost one in the morning?" Kotomi asked.
"Ten minutes to one," Yukino replied after glancing at her dimmed phone screen.
"You don't look sleepy at all. I always thought you were the type to wash up and sleep by one like a good child."
"Regrettably, I'm not that good of a child. Every night at ten, I only start deciding what to read. Should I browse Kindle or read a physical book? Before bed, I still prefer reading on my tablet."
"Really? I hardly ever see you browsing Kindle. Since you said you like the feeling of reading physical books, I thought you didn't like it."
"I do love holding a physical book. But Kindle is convenient. If there's a book I can't find in stores, I'll buy the digital version first. If I like it after reading, I'll purchase a physical copy to collect. After all, I bought the tablet specifically for Kindle. If I don't use it, it'd be a waste."
She added meaningfully,
"The tablet I use for reading Kindle stays at home. It's not as if I can bring it to school. Since you rarely visit my house, of course you wouldn't see me reading there."
Kotomi froze for a few seconds—then leaned closer with a grin.
"Yukino, can I interpret that as you inviting me over?"
"Interpret it however you like… You're too close…"
The icy composure Yukino had maintained shattered instantly as Kotomi leaned in. Her cheeks flushed as she lowered her head and gently pushed Kotomi away.
Though she said "too close," there was hardly any strength in her push. It felt more like she was lightly touching Kotomi's stomach.
Kotomi couldn't help but find it amusing.
Just as she was about to tease her further—
"Mmm… Kotomi… try this… it's really tasty… heehee…"
Yui's voice drifted from behind them.
Both Kotomi and Yukino were startled like frightened birds and instantly lay down at lightning speed.
Kotomi's brain immediately constructed an excuse: Yui, you might not believe this, but Yukino watched a horror movie last night and is still too scared to sleep alone. I had no choice but to let her sleep beside me.
After mentally rehearsing it and finding no flaws, she turned proactively toward Yui.
Only to see Yui still sound asleep.
She had just been talking in her sleep.
Now that they calmed down, they realized what she had said—but in that moment of panic, neither of them had truly processed it.
"That was… a little thrilling," Kotomi exhaled.
"You look like you've done something guilty," Yukino said with a small smile once her heartbeat steadied.
"You're one to talk. You lay down at the exact same time I did."
"I was afraid we'd wake her."
"Oh?"
"Hehe."
After resting quietly for a while, Kotomi finally asked,
"Back to the topic. When I said I wanted to wear that strapless backless evening gown, why did you react so strongly and shout 'No'?"
Yukino hesitated.
She knew perfectly well why—she was jealous.
But she wasn't Kotomi's girlfriend. She had no right to claim jealousy.
Only the sleeping Yui had that right.
Yukino couldn't bring herself to confess.
Instead, she forced out an explanation.
"I don't want you to wear it because… it's cold. Yes, that's right. It's cold.
It's already snowing. Winter has come early.
When the Japanese preliminaries of the Brahms International Piano Competition begin, it'll be December—the coldest time of winter. Are you confident you won't catch a cold wearing such a gown?"
After saying it, Yukino felt rather satisfied with her answer.
She hadn't admitted jealousy, yet she sounded caring.
Hm. I'm actually quite good at this.
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