At first, Yui Yuigahama had still been feeling a little sour because Kotomi Izumi had wrapped her arms around Yukino Yukinoshita right in front of her and whispered secrets to her.
It was like the vinegar in a tiny jar had been set over a flame, bubbling and gurgling nonstop.
It wasn't until Kotomi had hugged her just now that the jealousy in Yui's heart had faded a little.
And at this very moment, when she heard Kotomi ask whether she wanted to take a bath together, that last trace of jealousy in Yui's heart vanished in an instant, as if it had dissolved into thin air. In its place, what spread through her heart was the sweet happiness and shy anticipation of something wonderful.
Kotomi had already asked if she wanted to bathe together. What was there to hesitate about? Of course—yes!
"Yes!"
"Hehe, I was just teasing you~"
The moment Yui Yuigahama said the word "yes," Kotomi's playful "I was just teasing you" followed immediately after.
"Mm..."
Just seconds ago, Yui had been brimming with excitement. Now, after hearing Kotomi say that, she instantly looked like a little puppy caught in a rainstorm, drenched and dejected, lowering her head in pitiful disappointment.
Kotomi didn't say anything more. She turned around to get her change of clothes, preparing to head to the bathroom in a bit.
Beside her, Yukino Yukinoshita glanced at Yui, who looked utterly crestfallen.
When she had heard Kotomi ask Yui if she wanted to bathe together—and seen the joy on Yui's face when she immediately agreed—Yukino had found it unbearably irritating, both to her ears and her eyes.
But now, knowing that the "bath together" comment had just been a joke, Yukino suddenly no longer found it so irritating. It was as if a massive stone had slowly disappeared from her heart.
How ugly of me... this mindset of mine... Yukino mocked herself inwardly, yet she still couldn't stop the small surge of happiness she felt over the fact that Kotomi wouldn't actually be bathing with Yui.
It was as though a monster deep within her heart was roaring:
The only person who can bathe with Kotomi is me! Not just bathing—sleeping together, eating together, living together—everything we do together, I want to monopolize it all. No one else is allowed to touch what's mine!
That was what her heart was saying. Yet when she saw Yui's disappointed expression over not being able to bathe with Kotomi, Yukino still couldn't help but speak up for her.
"Kotomi, you really are such a child."
"Bleh, I am! I am! If I'm really a child, then you two have to dote on me properly~"
Kotomi stuck out her little tongue like a girl who hadn't even graduated from kindergarten yet.
"Hurry up and go take your shower!" Yukino said loudly, exasperated.
"Hehehe, off to shower~"
After saying that, Kotomi walked into the bathroom. Before closing the door, she even poked her little head back out and said to Yukino and Yui:
"See that switch on the wall with the window pattern on it? Just tap it lightly, and the frosted glass next to the bathtub will turn into clear glass so you can see inside. The curtain over it will open automatically too. While I'm showering, you two can press that switch, you know~"
Yukino Yukinoshita: "Huh? There's actually a switch like that?! How do you even know that?!"
Kotomi Izumi: "I saw it in a little movie before, so I know."
Yukino Yukinoshita: "What's a little movie?"
Kotomi Izumi: "Not telling you. If I explain it properly, you little tigress will pounce on me and beat me up."
Yukino Yukinoshita: "Who are you calling a little tigress?!"
Bang!
Kotomi shut the bathroom door directly, refusing to continue bickering with Yukino.
Meanwhile, during Kotomi and Yukino's squabbling, Yui Yuigahama's gaze had been subtly drifting toward the switch Kotomi mentioned on the wall. She looked very much like she wanted to press it.
"Honestly, sometimes Kotomi really is such a child..."
Yukino sighed helplessly. When Kotomi showed this childish side of her personality, Yukino truly had no way to deal with her.
After all, Kotomi's face was really thick. If she wanted to, she could easily resort to shameless pestering tactics.
Yukino's skin was thin, and thin skin naturally couldn't defeat thick skin.
Kotomi knew that very well. That was precisely why, every time she wanted to tease Yukino—or realized Yukino was trying to tease her—she would fully unleash her shamelessness. If she didn't succeed in teasing Yukino until her face turned red, she simply wouldn't stop.
When it came to Yukino, Kotomi's mindset was a bit like that of a primary school boy who loved pulling the braids of the girls in his class. She knew that pulling their braids would make them angry, but it was exactly because she wanted to see them angry, wanted them to chase after her to hit her, that she did it.
By the way, when Kotomi was in primary school, her favorite thing to do was pull girls' hair. Long hair, single ponytails, twin tails—none of them were spared.
After getting addicted to pulling girls' hair, Kotomi eventually grew dissatisfied with targeting only girls with long hair.
So her targets expanded from long-haired girls to include short-haired girls as well.
However, what left a deep impression on Kotomi was that, even though she had pulled the hair of many girls in primary school, very few of them actually got angry. On the contrary, every time she pulled someone's hair, they would seize the chance to grab her into a hug and rub her cheeks all over.
There was only one girl who had truly gotten angry because Kotomi pulled her hair. Although Kotomi's memory of her appearance and name had grown a little blurry over time, she still clearly remembered that when she had first pulled that girl's hair, the girl hadn't been angry at all. They had even become friends.
In second grade, after learning that it was Kotomi's birthday, that girl had specially prepared a birthday present for her.
What was the gift? Kotomi still remembered it clearly. It was a red hair tie.
When the girl gave the red hair tie to Kotomi, she had said this:
"Little Kotomi, once your hair grows longer, you have to wear the hair tie I gave you every day! That way, even if we graduate from primary school and don't end up in the same middle school, as long as I see a girl with white hair wearing a red hair tie in a crowd, I'll recognize you right away."
Kotomi had agreed. After going home, she asked her mother to help her put on the hair tie.
When she saw herself in the mirror wearing the red hair tie, Kotomi realized that even without growing her hair long, wearing the hair tie with short hair still made her universe-level cute!
And so, she gave up on the idea of growing her hair long.
After receiving a gift from someone, you must give one in return.
That was what her parents had taught Kotomi and Aimi.
After receiving the red hair tie as a gift, Kotomi looked for an opportunity in the days that followed to casually probe for that girl's birthday.
As for how she asked...
Kotomi only remembered that she had taken an orange she had just peeled, from which she had eaten only one segment, walked up to the girl, and asked:
"Do you want some orange?"
"Yes!"
"Then tell me when your birthday is."
"December 2nd!"
"Here."
"Thanks! By the way, Kotomi, why are you so generous today? In the past, it was impossible to get even a bite from you, and now you're actually giving me an orange? Did the sun rise in the west this morning? Ah—so sour!!!"
And just like that, Kotomi learned that the girl's birthday was December 2nd every year.
And the girl, in turn, remembered that Kotomi had given her an orange so sour it almost melted her teeth.
Even though her memory of the girl had grown blurry—her appearance and name already difficult to recall—Kotomi still clearly remembered her birthday: December 2nd.
On December 2nd that year, Kotomi gave the girl a metal hair clip decorated with cherry blossoms and a little rabbit.
When handing over the rabbit hair clip, Kotomi had blushed and whispered softly:
"When I went to buy this clip, I noticed that a lot of the accessories in the shop were sold in matching pairs for couples... Would you be my girlfriend?"
"Pfft... Silly Kotomi, what kind of excuse is that? I think you just wanted me to be your girlfriend and made up that whole reason on the spot. That must've been hard for you."
"Hehehe."
"I don't want to be your girlfriend!"
"Huh? Why? Every time we play together, you always find a chance to secretly kiss me. I really like it when you sneak kisses..."
"Because I want to be your wife!"
Later, in fifth grade, the girl had to transfer schools because of her mother's job.
When Kotomi learned that she would be leaving, she felt sad for a long time and also strangely lost, unsure of how she should say goodbye before the girl left.
On the day before the transfer, Kotomi had originally planned to hug the girl and cry properly with her.
But from the moment she arrived at school that morning, the girl's emotions had been calm. While saying goodbye to teachers and classmates, a faint smile had remained on her lips the entire time.
Is this how you're supposed to face parting—act as if it's nothing, smile like it's ordinary? Kotomi wondered, not knowing how to handle the farewell.
After school, she ran up behind the girl and decided to pull her hair one last time, just like always. Thinking that she might never get to pull it again, Kotomi deliberately tugged harder than usual, causing the rabbit hair clip in the girl's black hair to fall to the ground.
The girl stopped and turned around.
When Kotomi saw the expression on her face, she froze.
The girl who had been calm all day, smiling faintly the whole time, now had tears streaming down her cheeks.
Kotomi thought she must have pulled too hard and hurt her. She was just about to apologize when the girl suddenly cried out:
"The reason I could say goodbye to the teachers and classmates so calmly today is because I never really cared about them in the first place. My personality is actually very arrogant. I've just always hidden it well.
"But I can't stay calm when it comes to saying goodbye to you, Kotomi... I don't know when it started, but your name, your voice, your face—they're all branded into my heart.
"Ever since I found out I had to transfer, I've been hiding under my blanket every night and crying. There's only one reason—I don't want to be separated from you!
"I didn't know how to say goodbye because I don't want to part from you. So today I pretended to be indifferent, as if it didn't matter. That way, when I said goodbye to you, I wouldn't cry. My acting is really good—but when I was saying goodbye to you just now, there were several times I almost couldn't keep up the act.
"I clenched my teeth, desperately suppressing the urge to hug you and cry, forcing myself to act calm while saying goodbye. The moment I finished the last word, I felt that if I said even one more, I would break down and cling to you."
At this point, the girl bent down to pick up the rabbit hair clip from the ground. Wiping her tears with her small arm, she puffed out her cheeks angrily and said:
"Damn it. I've always been extremely confident in my acting, but you ruined my 'performance' this time. It makes me so mad. Kotomi, do you just love bullying me that much?
"From the time I was little until now, you're the only one who's ever pulled my hair.
"You liked pulling it before, and now, just as I was about to walk out of the school gate and complete this perfectly calm 'performance,' you made me fail.
"I held back my tears for so long when I was saying goodbye to you, and you still made me cry.
"You like bullying me, huh? Fine. Then I'm going to bully you too."
Pointing at Kotomi, the girl declared word by word:
"I will never be your wife in this lifetime! I'm never going to marry you!"
With that, she clutched the rabbit hair clip tightly in her hand and ran out of the school in tears.
Left standing there, Kotomi burst into sobs.
One reason she cried was because starting tomorrow, she would never see that girl again, never pull her hair again.
The other reason was because of those words the girl had just said: "I will never be your wife in this lifetime! I'm never going to marry you!"
Back in primary school, Kotomi had pulled the hair of many girls. Later, she had focused almost exclusively on that girl, tugging at her hair countless times. The girl had never gotten angry before.
But that last time, she had.
She had cried because Kotomi pulled her hair—but what truly made her want to cry wasn't the hair-pulling itself. It was that after transferring schools, it would be difficult to see Kotomi again, and even more difficult to ever have her hair pulled by Kotomi again.
...
Kotomi turned on the shower, letting the warm water cascade over her short white hair.
Taking a hot shower before bed always felt especially comfortable—both during the shower and afterward.
Just now, she had involuntarily recalled that girl she had met in primary school. The girl had once given her a red hair tie, and she had given the girl a rabbit hair clip in return.
She wondered whether that girl had kept the rabbit hair clip.
As for the red hair tie the girl had given her, Kotomi had always kept it. Occasionally, she would even wear it in her hair.
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