正在阅读 Adachi and Shimamura

章节 12

2. The night before christmas 3. "I've typed in the message." 5. "All that's left now is sending it." 6. "Is saying that I'm looking forward to it putting too much emphasis on it? Is she going to think that I'm weird?" 7. "Should I really send this to her?" 8. "Still..." 9. "There are only a few minutes left till the day changes."

1. Even so... 2. I'm definitely going to regret it if I don't send it. 3. Here goes! 4. "Haa..."

1. I wonder, is shima-mura going to reply? 2. The image of her standing alongside nagafuji just keeps coming back into my mind. 3. Whenever it does, I feel my heart growing cloudy. It's so painful. 4. It's from shima-mura! 5. "!"

1. "!? "Y"!? What the heck is that supposed to mean!?" 3. If we were talking, even a reply like this would be filled with emotion, emotion that would carry over. 4. This is exactly why I hate texting. 5. Yet, when texting, all you get are words, dry and devoid of any real meaning. 6. That is all to say, I want to hear shimamura's voice. 7. "Well, I suppose that..." 8. "I'll get to hear it a lot tomorrow." 9. I want to know her better.

1. I might not have been late, but it came at a cost. 2. In front of the information centre at the mall 3. "I need to go to sleep!" 4. As a result, now I can't stop yawning. 5. I found it difficult to fall asleep after that text last night. 6. Anyhow... 7. I checked the area in front of the christmas tree before coming here, and wow. There were a lot of couples there. 8. I wonder, has shimamura been dreading this day? 9. "..." 10. Hardly any female couples, though...

1. "Shima-mura!" 2. She's early! 3. "Did I keep you wait-ing?" 4. "Adachi!" 5. "Liar!" 6. "No, I just got here." 7. "I was watching you wait for me for the past five minutes from over there." 8. Five minutes? More like fifteen! 9. "Relax, it was a joke." 10. "Sorry that I kept you waiting."

1. "Umm... I was thinking that we could start by going to the arcade on the second floor." 2. "There's an escalator that way." 3. "Now..." 4. "Where will you be taking me?" 5. "Hey." 6. "Adachi." 7. "..." 8. "Huh!?" 9. "Ah!" 10. "Why are you wearing a china dress?" 11. "Huh? What's that?" 12. "There's something that has been bothering me from the moment I saw you." 13. "So, you noticed?" 14. "Oh..."

1. I chose to go with the china dress. 2. Why? Because shimamura once said that it looked cute. 3. I bought fresh new clothes and tried them all out, but in the end... 4. "I wonder if people are going to think that you're trying to pull customers for some strange establishment." 5. "Well, it's more like..." 6. "It looks weird, doesn't it...?" 7. "You definitely look cute in it." 8. "Ah!" 9. "Don't get me wrong. Personally, I think it's great."

1. Shimamura's hand. 2. All things considered, it should be fine for me to grab it, right? 3. I've held it before. Plus, there aren't that many people around. 4. "!?" 5. "Eek!"

1. "I'm so sorry...!" 2. "I'm..." 3. "Ouch, ouch." 4. "!!" 5. Oh crap! I ended up gripping it way too hard! 6. "..." 7. She probably really didn't like it, did she? 8. "I..." 9. "Umm..." 10. What should I do? 11. While she doesn't usually get angry, what I just did... 12. "Hey, umm..." 13. "Ada-chi." 14. I can't bring myself to look at her...

1. "You want to hold hands?" 2. "I'm sorry. I really am." 3. "Don't worry, I'm not hurt." 4. "Can you stop grabbing my hand as if you were a purse snatcher or something?" 5. "If possible, yes..." 6. "..." 7. "..." 8. "Hmm ..." 9. "Well, whatever."

1. Her hand is warm... 2. "Shie-!" 3. "Before you go and grab it, okay?" 4. "From now on, make sure to ask permission first..." 5. "Please, just ignore it..." 6. "Anyway, yeah, got it." 7. "What kind of a reaction is that? How did you even make that sound?" 8. Still... She doesn't mind me doing it? 9. Great. Yet another hurdle to clear for me to hold her hand.

1. ... 2. And yet... 3. "Also, there's no need for you to act like you're in a hurry. It's not like someone else's gonna walk over and snatch my hand away from you." 4. I'm not the only person who walks by her side. 5. That is why... 6. I find myself wanting to take her hand first, even if by force.

1. At the arcade 2. "Hockey, huh? I see." 3. "Alright, let's do it." 4. "I thought we could play air hockey." 5. "Sound good?" 6. It resembles table tennis in more ways than one. If there's a game that's meant for us, this is it. 7. "?" 8. Is she confident that she can beat me? 9. "You can start, adachi." 10. "Hehe."

1. She's surprisingly bad at this. 2. "How the heck did I beat her...?" 3. "She won the match!!" 4. "Ah!" 5. "Well, I mean..." 6. "It's not like I lied or anything." 7. "Wow, adachi. You totally tricked me." 8. "I lost again. Two wins, four losses..." 9. "Thinking about it, you also won when we played table tennis, didn't you?" 10. "..." 11. "When I'm playing with my sister, I always beat her. You're pretty good at this, adachi." 12. "!" 13. "Strange. It honestly feels like it was just the other day." 14. "Since we last played it." 15. "It's already been four months, huh?"

1. "Hey, adachi." 2. I found it extremely pleasant passing time up there with her, on the second floor of the gym. 3. "Once the sunlight grows stronger ..." 4. "Spring will come." 5. "We'll start our second year..." 6. "Maybe we'll go hang out there again?" 7. To tell you the truth, I'd love that. I'd love to skip class with her and pass the time up there.

1. "If we want, we can come here after school." 2. Yet... 3. "No, let's keep going to class." 4. She wants both of us to pass our exams and then graduate together. 5. I'm sure that shimamura understands that we can't keep skipping class forever. 6. "An a+ answer." 7. "You've become quite the diligent student, adachi." 8. "Still, it's not guaranteed that we'll end up being placed in the same class."

1. Right. Classes will be shuffled around come next semester. 2. Even if neither of us fails the grade, there's still a chance that we end up getting screwed by that system. 3. I also need to be ready in case I don't. It's a real possibility, and I don't want to get depressed if it happens. 4. Starting from today, I'm going to be praying each night before bedtime that I get placed in the same class as her. 5. "Hey, adachi. Let's take a quick break." 6. "Okay, sure." 7. This would be a good moment to give it to her, huh?

1. "Here, shimamura. Take this." 2. "Christmas present..." 3. "It's meant to be a..." 4. "Well, thanks." 5. "Hahaha. I'm glad." 6. "Oh, really?" 7. "You did? How thoughtful of you." 8. "Oh, I... Heard from hino." 9. "Wait, when did we talk about this tea again?" 10. "Ah, it's the brand I've been wanting to try."

1. "Huh?" 2. Still... I really wasn't expecting for the both of us to have thought of this. 3. Huh!? Shimamura got me a present as well!? 4. "You've been a good girl, adachi, so big sis wanted to give you a present." 5. What the...!? 6. "Here." 7. "Thank you..." 8. "Also, here are goggles." 9. "It's a boo- mer- ang." 10. "Sh- shima- mura, what is this...?"

1. "That's why I went to nagafuji for help. Although, it looks like I asked the wrong person." 2. "I really have no eye for choosing presents." 3. "Personally, I was surprised how fun it was to use." 4. "Ahaha. I guess that's an understandable reaction." 5. "Huh?" 6. "Naga- fuji..." 7. When she was with her that time... 8. In that case... 9. "Shima- mura." 10. It was for my sake?

1. "Now then, we should go." 2. "..." 3. "Well, I'm glad that you like it." 4. "Thank you." 5. "I'll treasure this forever." 6. "Ada-chi?" 7. "I... Want to become ..." 8. "Your friend." 9. "Is something wrong?" 10. "Shima-mura...!" 11. "I..." 12. "Huh? I thought we were already friends?" 13. "No, not that level of friends ..."

1. "I want to become..." 2. "your number one friend."

1. "No, I don't "Want to"." 2. "I will become your number one friend." 3. "I'm not sure if I get it, but I do also think it's good to have ambitions." 4. However... 5. I'm sure that... 6. "Right." 7. The fact that we spent christmas together, the specialness of it, that I will remember for the rest of my life. 8. Why? Because my mind has blanked out... 9. The events of today won't end up turning into a pleasant memory. 10. And I barely remember a thing.

2. Shimamura's Thoughts During Christmas 3. I think I also used to exchange christmas presents with hino when we were little. 4. "That's a thing people do?" 5. "I'm going to eat chicken curry." 6. "Will you be doing something on christmas?" 7. "You have a little sister, shimamura?" 8. "For my little sister." 9. "No, not for you!" 10. "... For me!?" 11. "Who are you buying a present for?" 12. "I see." 13. "Presents, huh?" 14. "Sure, I'll come." 15. "If you're free after school, would you mind coming with me to choose the present?" 16. "Ah!" 17. "Yeah, I do. A small one." 18. Did I choose the wrong person to ask for help? 19. I... I won-der... 20. "You and your sister could play with it together." 21. "What about a boomerang?" 22. And yet, this was the result.

4. "Ooh. Tossing a boomerang in a China dress. That's like something from a movie."

2. Going bowling on the weekend, singing a song together at the karaoke. 3. Little by little, the two discover sides of each other that they didn't know existed. 4. Then, as the seasons change, it comes time for Christmas. Adachi prepares a present for Shimamura. 5. Ever so slightly, the distance between the two begins closing.