Author: Inaida Sou
Translator: A wild Kei of ChocoCats
Proofreader: The super cool Cinnamon-san

Thank you to our lovely Impostor for the Ko-fi!

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● 55 DAYS AGO

(This is Makoto’s POV)

Please read this at ChocoCats.

From the beginning, I had no intention of going to a homestay. Riding a plane all the way and sacrificing sleep time just to listen to the explanation of the importance of cultural exchanges, even as a joke, was foolish.

If I had time to do that, it would be more useful to carry on with the plan to get Mai. That was my thought.

That’s why, I pretended to be sick, and on the day of the event, I purposely told one of the parents the routes where fatal accidents occur frequently, and created a space where I could be together with Mai. When one of them came back, the parent was surprised to find Mai not going to school, but when I explained that I had her take days off because Mai might have an infection, that parent was easily convinced.

It didn’t take much time and effort for me to deceive them, but I was worried that it would be troublesome in the future.

That’s why today, I acted as if my health had improved with a slightly better complexion. Or rather, there was no abnormal physical condition from the very beginning. I showed them indirectly that I had returned to my normal condition, and convinced the parents this time it was Mai who was not feeling well, so we went to the hospital together in the morning.

Both parents weren’t there because of work. I randomly described the symptoms that corresponded to a common cold and was prescribed medicine. Because the medicine must be taken after a meal, we ended up having lunch in the cafe inside the hospital.

“Onii-chan, can you taste it properly? Do you know what’s in it…?”

“I know. It’s salmon and spinach, right?”

“Alright then…”

I hadn’t eaten since morning, so I ate risotto, and Mai looked at me with a worried look on her face while eating a hot dog. Before long, maybe because she was thirsty, she cautiously reached for the iced coffee and made a face like it was the end of the world when she sipped it.

Previously, when I was ordering coffee, Mai said, “You shouldn’t drink coffee because you have a cold, right? It’s bitter.” and switched my coffee with her apple juice. I read the medicine precautions, wondering if the medicine can be drunk with coffee, and as a result of running to the medicine delivery counter, I was drinking Mai’s apple juice.

“Wanna change?”

“It’s okay… because it’s a wall that I have to overcome someday…”

And Mai drank the coffee I ordered with a gloomy face.

“Hey, can you really taste if it’s sweet or bitter? It’s good that you now have some appetite, but it’s not because you can’t really taste anything, does it?”

“Yeah. It’s sweet.”

The apple juice I got from Mai was sweet. But in spite of its numbing sweetness, it wasn’t too unpleasant.

Please read this at ChocoCats.

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After having lunch, I took a detour on our way home. There was an art museum near the hospital. Mai was looking at me suspiciously, and I thought she was suspecting me of feigning sickness, but it turned out she was worried that I was overdoing myself.

Please read this at ChocoCats.

Mai said, “Inside the art museum, you have to walk, you know?” no matter how I saw it, she was so worried about me. Instead of feeling guilty, I was just happy. Rather than finding it silly for being easily deceived, there was a strong sense of satisfaction that I was inside Mai’s head.

The contents of the exhibition in the museum that we saw were paintings from the medical treatment points of view, and there were works such as patients undergoing treatment and even works that were drawn for later studies lined up.

Back then, I would have been excited to see any part of a living body being cut, and I would have been thrilled by the vivid colour that overflowed from there. And yet, I couldn’t feel excited over that as I used to feel in the past. It was just paintings of body parts, it looked just like the humans and animals walking around.

“Hey, was the exhibition interesting? How is your body?”

Mai tilted her head at the café inside the building, where we were allowed to talk. I couldn’t say that I didn’t get anything out of it at all, so I gave a curt reply, “some of it”.

“As expected, you are still feeling unwell, aren’t you? Let’s go home?”

“No, I was the one who decided to go, but I think it was a complicated world even for me.”

“Huh…”

Mai made a dubious face. If it was before, I would reply “it was very interesting”. Because the common answer to such grotesque works is either that or “it was scary”.

In my personal opinion, I might have thought it was “beautiful”. But now it feels no different from the guardrails around here.

“How about Mai?”

“Maybe I should draw pictures. I learnt a lot from looking at them.”

“Are you aiming to become a painter?”

“No, but humans are creatures that aim high.”

And yet, the blood colour of Mai’s lips that said such stupid things, the colour of her skin that was exposed from the hem of her clothes, and her fluttering black hair were incredibly vivid.

“Somehow you looked like you had fun, but what? You went to a cafe in the end?”

“Well…”

Maybe I’ve really changed. I didn’t get anything meaningful from an exhibit that I was sure if it was me before, I would have been satisfied with. And instead, at a café near the museum, the void inside me was instantly filled by looking at Mai, who was gazing with shining eyes at the cream-filled cakes that would give me heartburn with just one look.

Please read this at ChocoCats.

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Please read this at ChocoCats.

Perhaps because we stopped by the cafe in the art museum, when we went out, it was already evening. Mai said, “don’t you feel like eating ice cream when you have a fever?” and went to the convenience store to buy ice cream, and when we got home, Mai tried to put me to sleep but it was still 3 pm.

In the end, I told her that I won’t be able to sleep at night if I sleep now, so the two of us sat on the sofa in the living room, turned on the TV randomly, and absentmindedly watched a rerun of a foreign movie.

“I wonder if all the characters will die. What do you think, Onii-chan?”

“Won’t one person survive? Even if everyone dies in this situation, it would still be an emotional ending, right?”

The movie wasn’t interesting at all. A typical, templated ensemble story. But even though it was certainly boring, holding hands with Mai made me confusedly feel like I was spending time in an extraordinarily meaningful way.

“Who will survive? I guess it’s the baby.”

“Is that what you think? A child?”

While talking nonsense, I intentionally touched Mai’s hand, wondering if there was something in it. Mai said, “It’s ticklish” while trying to let go, so I hurriedly gripped her tighter.

“What, are you tired of the movie already? Do you want to arm wrestle?”

“I can’t see the movie.”

As I said that, Mai turned her attention to the TV again.

Mai’s hands were slightly softer and whiter than my own skin, but there was no particular difference other than that. I wanted to pull off this arm, but not to the point that I wished to keep it all to myself and feel satisfied with that. After touching and confirming everything, I continued watching the boring movie with Mai.

Please read this at ChocoCats.

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T/N: Hello, as usual, Makoto’s POV chapter is always so hard to understand, and there are a lot of things I was unsure of. It’s still unchecked by Cinnamon-san, so I’m very sorry if it’s confusing, I did my best TwT I will update it as soon as Cinnamon-san’s done proofreading it!

Update 31/10/20: Happy Halloween, and it’s updated with Cinnamon-san’s edit. It was really confusing that I had to take out my college books to find some explanation for Makoto’s words… So I hope you guys enjoy our hard work!

Also, a bit heads up, the next chapter will be late, I already put the reason at TOC, so please read it there, thank you for your understanding and have a great day!

See you in the next chapter!

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