Golden Time:Volume1 Chapter5

Status: Incomplete

7% completed (estimated)

   

Golden Time 1: Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Tada Banri has spotted me.

Being made fun of in a strangely confused moment in time while that long-missed seductive bell was ringing, while gasping in pain, Banri certainly saw me that day. And I saw him too.

The present and the past connecting in the middle of that bridge, Banri and I, our eyes met for only a moment. Mine, or possibly Banri's, maybe both side's mistake in vision, a bad guess, an accidental misunderstanding, a mysterious illusion, a common daydream, what he thought didn't matter. Nothing mattered.

Anyway, the memory of that moment in my past certainly exists. This phenomenon, whatever you might call it, as far as I'm concerned, is real.

* * *

Serenely, Kouko said she was trying to collect the objective facts.

"To summarize them, Mitsuo and I are bound by fate. That is to say, it's been proven over and over again."

With a thump, she put a big paper bag from a department store, packed full of stuff, on the table in front of Banri. The table shaking and creaking from the weight, an older gentleman next to them, an espresso in one hand, briefly looked towards them. "Excuse me...", Banri bowing his head in a working class sort of way.

A little before three in the afternoon, walking from campus a short distance to the café--- which had now become outrageously memorable, the shop where they served café-au-lait in bowls. Thinking that perhaps they shouldn't go there a second time, they peeked into other cafes but found them completely full, and they finally settled down here, where they thought they might be able to have a quiet conversation.

"If I can pile up enough objective truth before his eyes, I think even Mitsuo would not be able to avoid his responsibility. ...And you could say, being a little law-school-ish would good right now, eh?"

Holding her bowl in both hands, sipping café-au-lait as if it were soup, Kouko could be seen smiling.

Taking his bowl in both hands like she was, Banri stared at her.

"...I couldn't get out even though I'd had enough of the lecture."

As if asking "What was that?", Kouko raised one of her beautifully cared-for eyebrows and looked back at Banri's eyes.

Between deep red lips, a line of pure white teeth. Smooth cheeks. The skin about her eyes was stretched smoothly. From her slim fingers, neatly manicured, to the line from her hips to her crossed legs, she was perfect in every way. Calmly returning her café-au-lait bowl to it's saucer, she looked out the window, elegantly composed.

Since that "worst day", when they'd escaped their awful situation, four days had passed. Having taken a break, it seemed that Kouko had gotten back on her feet. However.

"Well then, Kaga-san, are you really feeling better now? With how you were feeling Wednesday and all, not attending and looking like you were going to fail the class! All the first years but you have been getting perfect attendance."

"I just had to have a little time. Alone, by myself, thinking. And I arrived at a conclusion that of course I did the right thing. It wasn't a mistake. It was just right. ...As long as I keep to my plans, things will have to work out!"

Finally up to the task, even if only in front of Banri, as if acting the part of "the Perfect Kaga Kouko", she slowly raised her chin and smiled with her whole face. He could not discover even one flaw, not one spot on her creamy white throat.

With Kouko at long last back to school, just like that, Banri was even more high spirited than he had been worried before.

Wounded by Yanagisawa's cold attitude, confused by Chinami's entry into the fray, and along the way, embarrassed by the Extras, he had felt that she must certainly have been feeling down. Those four days, Banri had been really worried about Kouko. The day before, he had even called out to Linda when he spotted her in the lobby, and while leaving out the details, consulted with her about what to do about Kouko.

Linda said to Banri, "She seems to be lost, because she's so clumsy at it she's ashamed to join the Extras. Pressuring her won't do any good. But, it would be boring without a partner.", nodding to him. "And then, if Kouko was so inclined, of course they would be happy, she would always be welcome, and it's OK if she's a bit confused up until when she agrees to join.", she said. Simply calling Kouko to be his partner, just that much was making Banri feel strangely embarrassed.

"What were you thinking about? There's no mistaking Mitsuo and I are bound together, just not completely yet. There's proof, such that nobody can evade, perfect proof."

Kouko was stubborn to the end.

Her straight-blown hair spilled right down her back, held by a hairband wrapped in a deep gray and purple satin design. In her dark brown hair, it really looked pretty. Then,

"I am right!"

<~~7% Completed~~>

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