Chapter: 25. The Strange Girl Who Likes Green Hats
“(Good! It’s a sign of confession, I’m finally back in my familiar territory!)”
On the other end of the headphones, Shiraku revived again.
After a series of circumstances that surpassed his understanding, Shiraku felt that he had finally found an opportunity to regain his dignity.
Although Kanade rationally shared Shiraku’s thoughts, his intuition told him that this was not the case.
At this moment, the two were on the terrace outside the banquet hall, where it was not noisy.
The semi-circular balcony was paved with marble, with low, intricately carved railings, entwined with light golden vines and softly glowing, casting delicate patterns against the night.
The surrounding waters of Hawaii lacked urban light, and the stars looked like shards of silver spilled across the sky. The Milky Way stretched across the horizon, sinking into the sea from one end, as if trying to merge night and ocean into one.
In such a quiet and romantic atmosphere, it was indeed the best time for a confession.
In the past, Kanade had experienced many such occasions.
However, this time, when the other party asked this question, he did not feel a sense of eager affection and love.
Since childhood, Kanade had possessed the ability to feel the emotions of others and discern whether their words were lies. Although he had hidden this ability due to his childhood friend, it returned to him after she left.
So he trusted his intuition completely.
No matter how much her words sounded like she was planning to confess to him—at that moment, she did not express love towards him; rather, it was more about worries and anxieties about him, along with feelings of nervousness and unrest.
He could understand the latter emotions to some extent.
After all, every girl preparing to confess would feel nervous and uneasy about the possibility of rejection.
—but why was there a mix of concern for me???
Kanade could not figure it out.
The wind blew in from the distant sea, cool and slightly salty, carrying a hint of plant fragrance mixed with the faint sweetness of fruit wine coming from the banquet hall.
As the wind passed through the tropical plants on one side of the balcony, it stirred a faint rustling sound.
The lights flickered, and the branches cast fuzzy shadows on the ground, intertwining with the delicate movements of the two, forming a tranquil silhouette painting.
In such a dreamy and beautiful environment,
Kanade’s mind raced, and he gradually began to grasp a possibility—
Could it be that this girl really sees me as her son?
Her current emotions express the kind of concern a mother would have for whether her son has found a girlfriend.
Worrying about whether her child fits in and if any girls like him.
Also feeling uneasy about whether her child could be deceived.
It was completely consistent.
At that moment, Kanade felt he had grasped the truth.
However, to his surprise, he found himself not resenting it.
Due to his upbringing and background, he had always felt a rejection and strong reaction to the concept of “parents.” Let alone a girl he had just met suddenly viewing him as a “son.”
Yet at this moment, he felt a sense of familiarity from her—
—Oh no, surely I have some sort of fetish in that regard, right?
Kanade was beginning to want to bury his face in his hands.
Meanwhile, in his headphones, Shiraku’s voice was incessantly coming through:
“(Captain!!! Don’t do anything foolish in this situation!)”
“(Don’t forget your mission, which is to win over Kamishiro Akane’s fondness and use her connection to get to know Professor Amanokawa. If you mess it up here… )”
“(Anyway, in this situation, as the boys pursuing her, even if we lie, we must express that ‘there isn’t anyone,’ that’s what a gentlemanly etiquette calls for—)”
Shiraku seemed very anxious on the other end of the headphones, speaking rapidly like an otaku in a familiar and skilled domain of subculture.
Given that he touted himself as a master in matters of love, this metaphor was incredibly fitting.
Right, right, at such a moment, I should—
「Express that I don’t have a girl I like」
「Tell the girl before me the truth」☆
After a brief silence, Kanade made a choice in his heart.
For some reason, he felt that he should not deceive the girl before him in this place.
Distant sounds of crashing waves could be heard, the tide gently caressed the rocks, like some distant yet gentle breath, silently expanding the sense of space in the entire world.
The two stood beneath the vast and quiet starlight.
Kanade slowly spoke:
“I do.”
“(This is bad—)” Shiraku couldn’t help but let out a lament from the headphones.
“(Captain, are you really an idiot? How can you answer like that when alone with a girl—)” Shiraku hadn’t finished speaking when he fell into an unknown realm.
Because he saw through the camera that the cold and beautiful new girl, upon hearing this answer, showed no sign of disappointment or anger; instead, she couldn’t help but reveal a trace of joy and relief—
Shiraku felt his worldview as a master of emotions was rapidly collapsing.
The expression on his face resembled a cat in the cosmic backdrop.
What kind of woman feels joy and excitement upon hearing that the man she likes has someone he likes??
Shiraku felt he had stumbled upon another possibility—Could it be that this apparently aloof girl actually possesses a… tendency towards green hats!? Does she feel excitement if the boy she likes ends up with other girls?
A startling discovery.
An unacceptable answer.
Shiraku’s brain completely crashed and went offline.
In the time that followed, on the terrace, only Nagino and Kanade remained.
“I used to… no, I’ve always liked a girl, even now.” Kanade said, turning his face to look up at the starry sky.
Under the brilliant and serene night sky, it seemed that only moonlight and starlight flowed gently between them.
“Is, is that so… The fact that Tsuki-chan has always liked her means she must be a very lucky girl…” Nagino’s response was the exact opposite; she lowered her head, hiding her expression in the shadows.
However, her flushed ears still exposed her current feelings.
“No, it’s unfortunate that I let her down…” Kanade didn’t know why he was sharing these thoughts with a girl he had just met.
But as long as he faced her, it seemed he had endless words to say.
Just being quietly listened to made him feel a sense of satisfaction.
This made Kanade feel a sense of “destiny”—At that moment, it seemed he had encountered someone fated to him, even if the other seemed to only want to see him as a son…
He had clearly already met the one girl destined for him in life…
Such a scene made Kanade feel inexplicable disgust—mainly towards himself.
So his tone became lower and filled with self-deprecation:
“She could have been the happiest girl in the world, but because of me, she experienced misfortunes and pains that shouldn’t have been hers, and in the end— I still let her down in her trust and hopes for me…”
“…Perhaps she regrets meeting me? After all, if it weren’t for me, things might have been better—”
“—No!”
Kanade’s words were interrupted by a firm and decisive voice.
This made him turn his head, just in time to meet those bright eyes of the girl—
In those dark eyes, Kanade seemed to vaguely see glimmers of light.
Like countless stars, or like the shattered night sky——
“She would never think like that—”
“Rather, meeting you is the most—”
Just as Kanade was about to grasp the brilliance beneath those eyes;
At the moment Nagino was about to speak her innermost thoughts;
A flicker of red flame in the night stole Kanade’s attention.
A deafening explosion drowned out Nagino’s words.
“(Captain! Emergency! The Star Academy is under attack!)”
The voices of Shiraku and Erika echoed simultaneously in their headphones.
