Chapter 42: Together
#22MotoKanoTogether
Inviting Tachibana-san to my hometown. To her, it must have been an utterly out-of-the-blue invitation. An invitation like that, coming from the opposite s🬀x—there was nothing strange about her finding it suspicious.
“…I’m scared.”
But I had no room to worry about how uneasy Tachibana-san might feel. I simply lowered my gaze.
“…Scared of knowing the truth?”
With a solemn expression, Tachibana-san finally opened her mouth and asked.
The truth.
The reality of what had become of my body.
This bizarre, unbelievable phenomenon happening to me now—it was impossible to accept at face value. If I tried to make sense of it, I couldn’t help but assume something must have happened to my original body.
“No… That’s not it.”
It wasn’t that I was afraid of the truth itself. That wasn’t why I had made such a pathetic request.
“…It’s what will happen to me after I learn the truth.”
Tachibana-san furrowed her brows, unable to grasp what I meant.
“…I’m prepared for this. I know that something terrible has happened to my original body.”
Over and over, countless times, I had imagined the worst. I had spent endless days suffocating under the weight of that anxiety.
That’s why I had steeled myself.
“I’m prepared. So I’m sure I’ll be able to endure it in the moment. I’ll tell myself, ‘This is what I expected,’ and somehow hold it together. …But at some point, I just know—I’ll end up hurting myself. That’s the feeling I can’t shake.”
“So, you mean… you want me to stop you if you do?”
I nodded silently.
I had vaguely thought about it. When I found out the truth, I was sure I’d be able to endure it in the moment. But what if, in a moment of weakness, I did something irreversible? When I thought about it, I couldn’t rule out that possibility.
And if that happened—if I did something irreversible—
That would be the moment I truly became lost.
That’s why I had always known I needed someone to go with me.
Unfortunately, there were only two people I could even consider asking—Kaori and Tachibana-san. Just the two of them.
And if I was going to ask someone to accompany me, I knew I would have to tell them everything.
If I were to break down in my hometown while still in Iori’s body… things would get too complicated.
I couldn’t tell Kaori the truth.
Partly because I wasn’t confident I could explain it well enough. But more than that—how could I possibly tell a mother who had lost her son that her son’s body was now possessed by the soul of her former lover? That kind of cruel truth was something I could never bring myself to say.
That left me with only one option—Tachibana-san.
But even so, what I was asking of her was unbelievably selfish.
What I wanted from her was, essentially, just for her to be there—to keep me from sinking into despair.
For a 35-year-old man to ask a 15-year-old girl for such a thing was undeniably pathetic.
“…I’m sorry for asking something so shameful.”
“It’s not shameful at all.”
“…Even if you have to watch a man twenty years older than you break down in tears?”
I didn’t plan on crying. But I couldn’t guarantee I wouldn’t.
“When I was five, I went to my grandmother’s funeral. The whole time, I stood next to my father, who was the chief mourner, holding his hand and mimicking his every movement. I still remember it vividly. When the sutra chanting began, my father looked at my grandmother’s portrait—and he started to cry. That image is burned into my memory. As a child, I thought adults were like robots. They scold you when you do something bad, praise you when you do something good, work to support their families, and never complain—like machines.”
I had no words.
“I don’t think that idea was entirely wrong. The older I get, the more I find myself hesitating to show my emotions. I think adults gradually stop expressing how they feel, and in the end, they become like robots.”
I understood what she meant.
I had lost count of how many times I had buried my emotions and put on a mask to get through work.
“…But when an adult like that cries, it means they’re truly, deeply hurting. It’s the grief of losing something irreplaceable. The pain of regret that can never be undone. Only then do adults shed tears.”
Tachibana-san, speaking passionately, suddenly seemed to realize how absorbed she had become. She averted her gaze.
“Tears from an adult are something precious. At least, that’s what I believe. I want to grow up to be the kind of adult who can express their emotions properly.”
“…Thank you.”
“It’s nothing.”
After a brief silence, Tachibana-san spoke again.
“So? When are you going to your hometown?”
“Huh?”
“I-I’m saying I’ll go with you.”
She said it in an almost sulky tone, like a stubborn child.
“…I was thinking sometime during spring break. By then, I’ll have saved enough from my part-time job. And since I can’t exactly tell Kaori the real reason for the trip, it won’t seem odd if I’m out of the house for a full day.”
“…But until then, you’ll have to keep dealing with that fear on your own, right?”
Today was January 4th.
If I waited until March, I’d have to endure this crushing anxiety for two whole months.
But given the circumstances, this was the best plan I had.
Worst case, if I needed money sooner… I could dip into Iori’s untouched allowance. But convincing Kaori—who was already overly protective of Iori—to let me stay out overnight? That would be another hurdle entirely.
Tachibana-san, not pressing the issue further, likely understood that.
“…Then, how about this?”
But instead of giving up, she seemed to have come up with an idea.
“…What if we say we’re going on a date?”
“A… date?”
The unexpected suggestion caught me completely off guard.
Tachibana-san’s face turned bright red, like a boiled octopus.
“I-I mean, if we say it’s a date, Kaori-san would have no reason to stop us. She might even be happy about it. And… even if we had to stay overnight, I doubt she’d object.”
I had the urge to ask if she meant that because it would imply something had happened between us—but that felt too much like harassment, so I bit my tongue.
“…Precisely because I’m going with you, I absolutely won’t let us stay overnight. That would be… a crime.”
“I-I mean, that’s not the point! What I’m saying is, if we tell Kaori-san we’re going on a date, she won’t suspect anything, right?”
“…You sure came up with that fast.”
“I-I just thought of it now!”
Tachibana-san’s face turned even redder as she averted her gaze.
But her reasoning was solid. If we framed it as a date, Kaori might actually be happy for Iori and even encourage the trip.
“But… would you really be okay with that?”
“…I suggested it, didn’t I?”
Her tone was sharp, as if challenging me. But her flushed cheeks betrayed her embarrassment.
“…Then, let’s do it.”
When I said that, Tachibana-san let out a deep sigh, as if resigning herself to an inevitable fate.
“…Since we’re going on a date, you should at least ask me properly. Like a man.”
“Tachibana-san, would you go on a date with me?”
“…W-Well, if you insist, I guess I have no choice.”
Blushing deeply, Tachibana-san turned away, trying to act nonchalant.
The gentle smile she showed me at that moment made my heart skip a beat.
For a while after that, despite my age, I found myself flustered by a girl twenty years my junior.