Episode 21: She Really Was a Goddess After All

「Um… Senpai, let me say something too.」

「Yes. You had something you wanted to tell me, right?」

Now it was my turn.

「Yeah… this is probably going to sound like some big sob story, but I want to be honest with you. If we’re going to keep being friends, I want to tell you the truth.」

Honestly, I’m terrified that you’ll be disappointed in me once I say this.

But you shared so much with me, Senpai, so I have to tell you.

I looked her straight in the eyes, steeled my resolve, and started talking.

「Did you know that I’m an outcast in my class?」

「I wouldn’t have gone as far as ‘outcast’… but after what happened on the rooftop when we first met, I figured you were having some trouble in class.」

Senpai nodded slightly as she answered.

I’d hinted at it before.

And if I’m always alone, anyone would notice whether they wanted to or not.

「Regarding my class now, it’s not like anyone actually did anything to me at first. It was more that I just couldn’t fit in… or rather, I was still hung up on middle school and started out just hating everyone in the class.」

There are a lot of things about middle school I can’t say, and things I don’t want to say.

But I can’t explain this without touching on it at least a little.

「Your time in middle school?」

「Yeah. Right at the start of my third year, I got into some trouble and ended up alone. I didn’t think I did anything wrong, but I was still the one who got isolated. After that, I was ignored and left out of everything.」

「I had no idea…」

「The people in my class now are just like the ones back then. That’s why I couldn’t stand them, and they hated me back. That’s how I ended up being made fun of on the rooftop.」

「……」

Senpai listened in silence.

I could tell she was really taking it in, never once looking away from me.

And now came the part I was afraid to talk about.

「The rest of the class started going along with the vibe those idiots created, which made me hate the place even more. In the end, I was isolated again. I didn’t want to be with them anyway, so I just ran away from the classroom. The flower beds were just the place I happened to run to. Even the watering… at first, I only did it because I had nothing else to do.」

「The thing with your grandmother was also just something I happened to see. While I did feel like I couldn’t just leave her, I was also driven by this obsessive feeling that people would look down on me if I didn’t help. And the reason I didn’t listen to you properly and ran away… in the end, that was just me being twisted up in my own inferiority complex, feeling like no one would ever truly look at me.」

I probably didn’t need to be this honest.

But Senpai had said those things to me.

If that’s the case, I want to be honest with her.

「So, even though you praised me for all those things, the truth is…」

「My opinion of Takanashi-san isn’t going to change just because I heard that, you know?」

Senpai, who had been listening in silence all this time, finally spoke.

Honestly, I was prepared for her to be disappointed, but the words she said were as surprising as they were a relief.

「I told you that I believe in you. Besides, including what you said about middle school, I feel like we’re actually quite similar in some ways.」

That was something I’d felt a bit myself while listening to her story.

It seemed she had also felt a connection in what I’d said.

「The flower beds, Obaa-chan, that little girl… no matter what the trigger was, Takanashi-san, you took action. That is where you’re already different. And it wasn’t like you were doing it against your will, right? I think that’s your kindness. The same goes for today. You were avoiding me, yet you still came to help me, didn’t you?」

I never expected her to take it so positively.

I didn’t think she’d hate me, but I was prepared for her to be let down or disappointed.

The relief was so great that all the tension I’d been holding just snapped.

「No matter what you say, Takanashi-san, I believe in you, and I accept you. So, my opinion will not change. Do you understand?」

「……Yes……… yes…」

Before I knew it, I was crying.

The fact that she was really looking at me.

The fact that she felt this way about me.

The fact that she believed in me completely.

The person I’d been seeking, searching for all this time, had finally appeared.

I was just so happy…

Senpai stepped closer and began to stroke my head.

「Fufu… so this is what it feels like to stroke someone’s head…」

「Sen… pai…」

Senpai wore a gentle smile, continuing to stroke my head as she spoke.

「I never got an answer to my question from before. I’ll ask you one more time… from here on out… could we continue to be on good terms?」

「Yes… of course.」

「I’m glad. Then, I look forward to spending more time with you.」

And until I stopped crying, Senpai kept stroking my head, smiling like a Goddess…