Feeling fearful to the point that his whole body was shaking, he performed the competitions that Mao had carefully selected for him.
　She scored a soccer penalty kick, or played a rhythm game with a light stick held in both hands....
　I managed to clear the quota imposed on me, and by the time I finally finished, the sun was starting to set.

　Naturally, I'm completely dejected, having exhausted my energy.
　Although I've been resting my body at the coffee shop, one of the mall's tenant stores, my body is screaming to the point where it seems impossible to avoid muscle pains even if it's not tomorrow.

　For that reason, the iced coffee that Mao asked me to order is delicious as it soaks through me like a release from fatigue.
　However, she is also the reason why this happened.....
　Well, as an apology for that, she bought me a cup of coffee, and if anything, lack of daily exercise is probably the cause.

　Even without the matter of the sports day, you should still move your body to some extent on a regular basis.

Are you okay, Kazu-kun?
Somehow. I'm reminded myself that I've got to keep up the momentum, even if I'm physically fit.
That's good. I don't want to see Kazu become as disheveled as his father.
'You can tell that to Mao's father?

　I mean, I don't want to be the one to tell you that.
　But as Mao says, exercise is necessary for maintaining body shape.

''-That's right. Seeing Amana and Amari-san makes me want to meet her somehow.
'It's the same for me. I don't know what to say, but seeing Amana, who loves her mother like that, makes me want to be filial to her.

　When Amana-chan ate the first cookie she ever made, she was so moved by the sight of Amana-chan's tears that the runaway Kuroone-who had been running away from home-returned home with open arms.
　It's been a long time since I've been able to see her.

But every year when I go back to my parents' house, I get so tired of asking myself, 'Do you have a partner to marry? I wish you would stop attacking me, though.
I'll tell my parents...
Does that happen at Kazu's place too?　You're going to be twenty-six now, so you should leave me alone... or maybe it's because I'm going to be twenty-six.

　I know they worry about the future, but it's depressing when they ask me about it every time I see them.
　It's atrocious when the parents are more aggressive than he is.
　In that sense, Watei-san, who is both a parent idiot and an old man idiot, is like the opposite.　

　No, that's pretty depressing too, though.
　

'Since Amana-chan is in the first year of elementary school, I wonder if Amanashi-san was a student marriage?
'Yeah, it looks like. She found out she was pregnant the year she graduated from high school and they got married right away.
'You must have really liked the other person so much to get married so quickly...'

　For a moment, I wondered what she was talking about, but Maou didn't know that Amana wasn't Amana-chan's real mother.
　Although she was the wrong person, Amana-chan was able to be born because of the solid love between Yuna and Tatsuto-san.
　Even though she doesn't know that, Maou's eyes seem to be tinged with envy somehow.

　I suddenly wondered what kind of envy it was.

　Being tied to the person I love?
　Because you have a happiness that you don't have?
　Or is it because you've given up on your feelings, as Amani says?

　Many answers come to mind, but none of them are certain.

　In the first place, even at this moment, I don't see Marao as a love interest.
　The reason I didn't like the awkwardness of the situation is because I refused to be estranged from someone close to me.
　If that's the case, it could be said that Marao's love had no chance of bearing fruit from the start.

　The reason is because I don't have a single thought to respond to the feelings of favor that may be coming from the other side.

　I'm sure they were trying to get you to turn around, but the guy who matters most is not responding like a curtain.
　Can you really say that continuing to think of them in that state of mind is a blessing?
　I don't know.

　In any case, I've never loved someone enough to be that much in love with them.
　There are so many reasons why I'm not interested in love, or I didn't have the right relationship.

　But if I had to pick a primary reason, it would be because I hadn't been a social butterfly in my life.
　It's not that I didn't have any friends, and my relationship with my classmates was good.
　I have no idea how the classmates I met in elementary, middle and high school are doing right now, and the contacts I exchanged without being invited to the reunion are treated as a list of faces and names that don't match.
　If anything, they wouldn't even know I was working as a courier.

　And I never felt particularly sad about it.
　Of course, I don't care about it as much as they do.

　I've only had shallow relationships with people, and I'm not conscious of relationships as deep as love.

　Marao's approach wasn't a waste when she made me not want to cut ties with someone like that, and I think it's great enough to be able to love someone like she does.
　Unlike when I was in school, Amari was right, I was able to face it well when I was troubled.　

　It's because of that reaffirmation that I want to stay with Marao as a colleague.......and a friend.

　So in order for her to be happy like that, I thought, I shouldn't be tied to this guy.

　That's my answer.

　I'm sure what I'm going to do now will be a level of hate.
　I'll take any amount of punishment I can get my hands on.
　If it makes my friend happy, then I'll take the role of the hater with a heart full of hate.

　So while secretly mocking myself, I ask Mao something.

"Nah, Mao.
What is it?

　She comes back to listen to the call with a gentle smile on her face.
　It's as if she doesn't think she'll say enough to ruin it all, even though she's been able to make it up to me.

　But I feel like if I don't say it, nothing will get done.
　Desperately trying to push out my sunny mind, I finally told him.







'The person you're thinking of talking about........is that me?'