Near a train station, a beautiful girl with white hair was sitting on a public bench. In her arms, she held a small Ryunosuke, barely three years old.
The white-haired girl wore her long hair pulled back in a ponytail, a style that called to mind Raiden Shogun, Raiden Ei herself. In terms of sheer beauty, she was easily her equal. It was difficult to believe that a woman this stunning was Ryunosuke's mother, let alone that she had ended up with someone like his father. It made no sense by any reasonable measure.
She spoke to the small child in her arms. "Remember this, Ryuu-chan. If you ever find yourself in the middle of an uncontrollable situation with multiple women, prioritize the one you care about most and focus on making things right with her first. That will never lead you wrong."
"Mom, I don't want to learn things like this! What's the point of any of this?" Little Ryunosuke pushed back with everything he had against his mother's relentless instruction. She spent all day reciting things he didn't understand, as though she were reading from some kind of sacred text.
Back to the present.
Ryunosuke had pulled Itsuki into a hug on pure reflex, driven by some instinct that had been installed in him long before he understood what it was. But it had only made things worse. An unnecessary misunderstanding had been born.
Now Itsuki was sitting across from him with a sulky pout and puffed-out cheeks, looking entirely too endearing for his peace of mind. Miku and Yotsuba were on either side of her, and Ichika and Nino had come as well. The combined weight of their collective stares pressed down on Ryunosuke like something physical.
Nino crossed her arms and planted her foot on the table. "Are you genuinely saying you forgot, or are you just pretending? You absolute jerk!"
Both Nino and Ichika had figured it out by now. Miku and Yotsuba had told them everything, that Ryunosuke was the boy they had all met when they were children.
For Nino in particular, her feelings were in complete turmoil. She had already told herself she was giving up on him, and then it turned out he was the boy from her childhood. But the problem was that he already had a girlfriend.
She had nowhere to put her feelings except her anger.
(Why couldn't you have waited just a little longer for us!)
Ichika, as the eldest, attempted to smooth things over. "Ahahaha! Well, this is a shame. I never expected you'd already have someone. In that case, let's just treat the childhood promise as though it never happened. It was a pretty silly thing anyway, five of us saying we'd all marry you. That was just children being children. Don't take it seriously."
She waved her hand as though it truly didn't matter, though letting go of it was harder than she made it look.
Miku stayed quiet. Her anger wasn't about him having a girlfriend. It was about the fact that he had forgotten them entirely.
Ten years was a long time. There was no reasonable expectation that someone should hold onto a childhood promise and wait without any certainty. Miku knew that. But she still couldn't accept losing to someone named Arisu without feeling something about it.
Yotsuba looked quietly devastated. Her green ribbon hung limp against her hair. She wasn't ready to give up yet and opened her mouth to say something, but the words stuck in her throat. Tears began to spill down her cheeks.
Itsuki immediately reached into her bag and pulled out a tissue for her. Seeing Yotsuba crying, the other four sisters turned to look at Ryunosuke with expressions that could have peeled paint.
Ryunosuke raised both hands above his head. He felt genuinely wronged.
He truly remembered nothing.
(Ryunosuke, you little child from the past, what exactly did you go around doing? And now I'm the one who has to answer for it!)
The Nakano sisters gathered themselves and began to take Yotsuba away. Before leaving, they delivered one final word: "From this point on, we have no connection to you. Treat the old promise as though it never existed. It was just the past. Don't take it seriously."
Yotsuba wanted to stay and say more, but her sisters had her firmly by the hands. Ryunosuke wanted to stop them, but he felt he had no right to, and so he lowered his arms and let them go. He sat down heavily in his chair, at a loss for what to do next.
Then Hiyori crossed his mind. He was on his feet immediately.
"This is bad. Shiina is probably still angry with me."
He didn't stop to think it through; he just went. The other girls would have to wait. The person directly in front of him came first.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
Ryunosuke went to the library where they usually spent time together, but she wasn't there. As it turned out, Hiyori was still in her dormitory room. She had no interest in reading today.
She was lying face down on her bed, thoughts going in circles. She felt deeply sad, and deeply wronged. If it had only been Arisu, she might have been able to find a way to accept it. But why were there so many others? No matter how large she tried to make her heart, this was too much.
She wanted to be angry at Ryunosuke, but she couldn't manage it.
(I really am a hopeless fool. Even knowing he's like this, I still want to be with him.)
Hiyori felt almost unhinged for wanting to forgive him. She had shut herself in her room and was trying to hide from what she knew was true.
Ryunosuke arrived at the door to her room. If she wasn't at the library on a day off, she had to be in her room. He hesitated, then knocked softly, without calling out. He was afraid that if she heard his voice, she simply wouldn't open the door.
At the sound of the knock, Hiyori looked through the peephole. He briefly considered covering it with his hand, then decided against it. Running away was embarrassing. He had to face this directly. He closed his eyes and waited.
Hiyori looked at him through the peephole. She didn't explode with anger. Instead, she slowly leaned back against the door, turned so her back was to it, and slid down until she was crouching on the floor. She cried without making a sound.
Hearing the soft sounds from the other side, Ryunosuke wanted to say something, but nothing came. He leaned his back against the door as well and stayed there in silence, keeping her company the only way he could.
Time passed.
The sun went down and the moon came up. Ryunosuke had been there for four or five hours without moving. He was afraid that if he left, she would never forgive him. So he stayed through the night, without food, bearing the weight of what he had done.
The next morning, Hiyori opened the door to leave for school. Her eyes were swollen and her face was drawn from a sleepless night. When the door swung open, Ryunosuke made the effort to push himself upright.
"Hey. Rough night?" he said.
Hiyori managed a thin smile. "Same as you."
Ryunosuke stepped forward to hold her, and she pulled back on instinct.
He went still. "You still haven't forgiven me?"
Hiyori said nothing. The answer was plain.
Ryunosuke laughed, a rueful sound. "Can you at least tell me whether we're continuing or ending things? Please, give me a clear answer. You're torturing me like this. I've been waiting here a full day and night. Look at these dark circles. I look like a panda."
Hiyori couldn't stop the small laugh that escaped her, though she clamped down on it immediately and put her serious face back on. "You think waiting one day and night is enough to earn forgiveness after making me suffer like this? Wait two more days. Maybe then I'll consider it."
Ryunosuke took her at her word. He reached for his phone to call Chabashira Sae and request two days of leave from school. Hiyori immediately went for his arm. "Wait, wait! You're actually going to call?!"
He caught her hand before she could grab the phone and smiled. "Have you forgiven me yet?"
Hiyori's face flushed. She pulled her hand back. "No!"
She turned her face away, still not ready to give in. This time Ryunosuke carefully wrapped his arms around her from behind.
She didn't pull away.
He let out a slow breath of relief and said quietly near her ear, "What do I have to do for you to forgive me?"
Hiyori stated her terms. "From now on, Saturdays and Sundays belong to me. No matter what, you come and spend those two days with me."
Ryunosuke agreed immediately, without hesitation, as long as it meant being forgiven. Even if it meant his weekends were gone entirely from now on. Hiyori felt satisfied that she had secured a monopoly over his rest days, and at last she forgave him.