In the amusement park, Kiana held an ice cream cone. Having just gotten off the roller coaster, her expression was perfectly normal as she ate.
Asakura Miyuki, on the other hand, sat on a bench with a deathly pale face, looking like she was about to be sick.
She looked just like someone who gets motion sickness after eating a big meal.
"Are you okay?"
Kiana placed a bottle of cold water she had just bought next to Asakura Miyuki, who managed a nod.
"Thank you, Kiana."
Asakura Miyuki took the water, and Kiana sat down on the bench beside her.
"You'll feel better if you let it out," Kiana suggested, seeing her friend's condition. But Miyuki shook her head, took a small sip of water, and then screwed the cap back on.
She looked at the white-haired girl beside her. Her pure white hair was like moonlight, bringing brightness to the dark night.
This was... her own personal moonlight.
"Kiana-san, you're so kind."
Miyuki recalled the moment in front of the school building when Kiana had wiped the stains off her desk. At that moment, Miyuki felt as though she had fallen in love.
She had fallen in love with this white moonlight.
Kiana flashed a smile. She had a good impression of her new friend. Miyuki treated her to food, and her appearance was the exact type of dignified young lady she admired.
Although I always call myself 'this young lady,' I guess I just don't have that same authentic air as the real deal.
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"By the way, Kiana-san," Asakura Miyuki said, looking at Kiana with a glimmer of hope in her eyes, like a drowning person desperate for a single straw to fall. "Is there someone you like?"
Someone I like?
Kiana froze. For some reason, upon hearing that question, a handsome face materialized in her mind.
Otto Apocalypse.
The man who had forcefully entered her life back in Italy.
The man who had always been so good to her.
However, Kiana looked down at her slightly melting ice cream and shook her head.
"Is that so?" Asakura Miyuki's face broke into a smile, her voice filled with a cheerful leap. Kiana didn't notice the change in her tone; instead, her curiosity was drawn to the small bag Miyuki had been carrying.
"What's in there?" Kiana remembered that Miyuki hadn't brought this bag when they hung out yesterday.
"I made a bento. I hope you'll like it."
"And... there's a gift inside that I want to give you."
After resting for a while, the color had returned to Asakura Miyuki's face. She spoke with a gentle smile.
"A gift?" Kiana asked curiously. She felt her own pockets. She should return the gesture, but she didn't seem to have anything she could give as a gift.
This was a bit of a headache. She'd have to look around the amusement park later for something suitable.
"Yes." Asakura Miyuki's hand rested on the small bag, her gaze soft. Her long, dark hair was like the night sky, seemingly twinkling with stars. "This is a gift that I'm only giving to you."
"Really? What is it? Is it something tasty!?" Kiana's eyes lit up as she asked.
Asakura Miyuki shook her head and stood up, giving Kiana a playful smile.
"For now, let's keep that a secret."
The girls resumed their fun in the amusement park. When the sun was high in the sky, they found a shady spot to rest, and Asakura Miyuki took out the bento she had made and handed it to Kiana.
Kiana took one bite, and her eyes went wide.
"This is way too good!"
"It's just as delicious as something from a restaurant!"
While Otto was enduring unspeakable torture, Kiana was happily devouring a bento made by her friend.
"I also prepared some miso soup." Seeing Kiana eat with such gusto, Asakura Miyuki smiled, pouring the soup from a thermos into a cup and handing it to her.
"Delicious, delicious!"
Kiana hadn't had much formal schooling. When faced with good food, her vocabulary for praise was rather limited.
"Asakura, you're going to be a great wife someday!" Kiana couldn't help but exclaim. A considerate young lady who could cook like this... even she would find her heart moved.
A good wife...
A shadow passed over Asakura Miyuki's eyes. She once had such dreams for herself—that she would fall in love, get married, find a husband who loved her, have children, and live a peaceful life watching the cherry blossoms bloom and fall.
But even such a simple wish could not be granted. Her reality was a grotesque parody.
Her reality had been destroyed. No matter how much she struggled, no matter how hysterical she became, she could not change the fact that she had been defiled.
And after transferring to Senba Academy, even though she was the victim, she was met with filthy rumors. After her body was ravaged, her spirit was being ravaged in this new environment.
She was on the verge of breaking completely.
But thankfully, she met her white moonlight.
"Kiana, tonight... can we stay together?" Asakura Miyuki asked.
Kiana, still eating her bento, thought for a moment and shook her head.
"I have to be home on time, or he'll worry."
Kiana said, recalling Otto's instructions.
Besides, she wanted to go back.
Because she was afraid that if she didn't, Otto would abandon her, just like her dad did.
She didn't want to experience being left without a goodbye ever again.
"I see..." Her expression fell, and Asakura Miyuki gripped her bag tightly.
"Aren't you eating?" Kiana asked, looking at her with some confusion.
Asakura Miyuki shook her head. "I ate a lot this morning."
A huge amount.
Asakura Miyuki quietly waited for Kiana to finish, thinking how happy Kiana looked when she ate.
In the past, she used to wear the same happy expression.
So, where did my life go so wrong?
After Kiana finished, Asakura Miyuki packed up the bento box. She then looked at Kiana, who was standing up and stretching lazily.
"Kiana-san, could you come with me for a moment?" Asakura Miyuki asked.
Kiana didn't think much of it and followed her into a deserted alley in the amusement park. It was remote and quiet, a place no one would pass through.
With her hands in her pockets, Kiana looked curiously at Asakura Miyuki, who took out a small cloth pouch decorated with a cherry blossom pattern from her bag.
"Originally, I wanted to give this to you tonight."
But Kiana had to leave tonight.
"Thank you for saving me last time. You've saved me twice, actually."
Once, when she was nearly crushed by the collapsing school building, and a second time, when she was about to be defiled again.
Asakura Miyuki held the sachet in her hand and offered it to Kiana.
"This sachet is called 'Three-Year Sakura.' An ancient text, the Tales of Konohanasakuya-hime, says that if a girl makes a sachet from the petals of the same cherry tree for three consecutive years at ages 14, 15, and 16, then the Mount Fuji goddess, Konohanasakuya-hime, will bless her love."
"I hope you will accept it."
Kiana looked at the sachet in Asakura Miyuki's hand, feeling conflicted about how to reciprocate the gift.
However, as Kiana was about to take the sachet, Asakura Miyuki looked her right in the eye and said earnestly, "I love you, Kiana."
It was a confession.
Kiana's eyes widened slightly. She had never, ever expected to be confessed to, let alone by another girl.
I thought of you as a good friend, but you actually want me!?
Dark eyes met azure-blue ones. Kiana looked from the sachet to Asakura Miyuki, and her usually nonchalant expression turned serious.
She gave Asakura Miyuki a slight bow.
"I'm sorry, I can't return your feelings."
Kiana decisively rejected her. To string her along like the protagonist of a light novel would be disrespectful to her friend.
"Why..."
"Kiana-san, didn't you say you don't have anyone you like?"
Asakura Miyuki's hand tightened slightly. She bit her lower lip. Her white moonlight had rejected her.
She wanted to cry.
But the tears wouldn't come.
Kiana looked at her friend.
"I don't have anyone I'm in love with right now."
Kiana was telling the truth.
"But... I might have good feelings for someone."
"Or maybe it's not affection, maybe it's just my dependence on him. I don't really understand these things, but the feeling is definitely there."
Otto's face appeared in her mind again.
"If..."
"In a few more years, if this feeling inside me doesn't change..."
"I think... I'd probably be willing to have his children."