“…I’m sorry… I got carried away…”
“Don’t apologize. I got carried away earlier too.”
“…We’re somehow similar, aren’t we?”
“Yeah, I felt that too.”
With the tears subsided, Ippei returned to his usual refreshing and cool demeanor, though not quite as before. And we both showed each other our moments of being overwhelmed.
Being able to get carried away is proof that we can express our true feelings from the heart. Even in our moments of being overwhelmed, it’s an act made possible because there’s someone who genuinely accepts those feelings.
Maybe that’s the kind of relationship we have now. Despite thinking it’s a forbidden love and that we shouldn’t fall for each other, our hearts are still honest when looking at you.
Then, I want to know more about you.
Regardless of what awaits us after knowing, I want to be by your side. I won’t hide these feelings anymore.
“Why are you spending time with them?”
“Then why do you think I’m spending time with them?”
“You’re answering a question with another question… I don’t know. I just wouldn’t want to spend time with someone I don’t like.”
“Haha! That’s so like you, Yuta-san.”
“What?! Are you making fun of me again!?”
“I’m not! …I just felt a bit jealous, that’s all.”
“Why…?”
The time had finally come to unravel the last mystery of why I was spending time with them. To Ippei’s question, to which I answered “I don’t know,” there came a response that I could never have anticipated.
“As you know, Yuta-san…”
“Yeah, you mentioned it earlier.”
“…Because of who I am, everything in my life has been laid out by my parents from the start.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“…Yeah…”
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“The company I work for now is a food company that my parents favor, and I’m sure you’ve definitely heard of it. I oversee various branches there, so I understand everything, even down to the details of that warehouse.”
Simply amazing. Despite being younger than me, he’s been given more weighty responsibilities and duties, and even though he must be busy, he probably still finds time to do his job efficiently and dedicates time for me.
“Everything was going smoothly up to this point. I was doing well at work, establishing my own presence. But just when I thought everything was going well, my heart became entangled with something unnecessary.”
“Could it be…?”
“Yes, that’s exactly it… You can probably guess, right? As you suspect, my parents and the company president colluded behind the scenes and introduced me to the president’s daughter…”
“…No way…”
“Yeah… But when I think about it, it wasn’t for my sake at all. They were working behind the scenes to secure a successor, to continue the lineage and the Kisaragi family name… And the president also introduced his daughter to me to protect his company.”
Where did you leave your true heart?
Burdened with the fate of not being able to love the person you truly love and having to walk a path that isn’t truly yours, where did you leave your true feelings…
“Why… can’t I love women…? But I can’t tell my parents that. Because they strongly dislike relationships between men. Even though we can have children together, even if we’re both men…”
Children can be born between men and men.
But with such a prominent family, maybe societal expectations come into play as well. It’s a world I can’t possibly understand, yet Ippei lives in it.
“Despite my constrained feelings, they seemed to have fallen for me at first sight. They did so much for me, and somehow we ended up spending time together in the same space.”
“Ippei… you…”
“This must be what a normal life is like. If I continue like this, everything will be fine. My parents, the company, and even they will be happy… That’s what I kept telling myself.”
Why do you confine yourself like that…?
Why do you sacrifice yourself to that extent…?
No, something is wrong. Ippei, you’re not like that. The Ippei by my side called this space “happiness,” didn’t you?
“I tried my best to engage in nighttime activities, but it just doesn’t work out. It’s impossible for me… because I love men…”
“Ippei…”
“I reached my limit… The place I go back to is a space where I can’t love them, but they love me. But still, I can’t escape from the fate that’s been decided for me.”
“What should I do… What is happiness? What should I be satisfied with… That’s what I was thinking when I met…”
[Yuta-san, it was you…]
“The first day…”
“Yes… I’ll never forget that day.”
I, who only sought to be enveloped in pleasure, met Ippei and fell in love. His feelings, on the contrary, were to be fulfilled by someone with his true feelings.
“You never know who you’ll meet; that’s the thing about message boards. There’s also the danger of meeting someone you shouldn’t meet.”
“…Because you might get caught, right?”
“Yes… That’s why I couldn’t bring myself to use it. I was afraid and anxious about what might happen… But on that day, I had a fight with my girlfriend; things weren’t going well at work for some reason, and I just couldn’t set my feelings straight.”
“…Yeah, there are times like that…”
Your burden was too heavy, so you struggled without being able to consult anyone, without being able to express these feelings to anyone…
You’re strong… But in reality, you have the same weaknesses as eveRyone else. You’ve hidden that weakness and come this far…
“So, at the moment when I was about to post with the resolve that I might lose something, one post caught my eye.”
[Far… 175-63-26 Near A-Mart]
“The moment I saw that, I immediately wanted to meet. With the profile matching the numbers I was looking for and being near A-Mart, I couldn’t help but think that person might be right next to me, clutching my phone nervously.”
“Uh, Ippei… S-Sorry for being serious… It’s embarrassing…”
“I-I’m embarrassed too… But I won’t let my guard down until we meet. I was prepared to run away if it didn’t work out…”
[The moment I met you… It was the first time I felt my heart race for someone.]
I understand what this “heart racing” feeling is. It’s the same feeling I had when I first met Ippei.
I fell in love with you at first sight.
I wanted to be enveloped by you.
And, you wanted me too.
“Ippei, you…”
“The only one who calls me ‘you’ is Yuta-san.”
“S-Sorry…”
“I don’t mind, so please don’t stop?”
“Y-Yeah…”
[Only Yuta-san.]
It was a pleasant sound. It felt like I was receiving something special from you. And you didn’t refuse it…
“And the pleasure was amazing too. It’s embarrassing, but I’ve never felt so fulfilled, both emotionally and physically.”
“That’s… Yeah, I feel the same…”
“…It’s still embarrassing, isn’t it…”
“Yeah, embarrassing…”
“But the moment it ended, I felt strangely sad… Even though I was so happy… Maybe there won’t be another chance…”
An encounter on a makeshift message board.
Even if it’s love at first sight, if it’s unrequited, this encounter doesn’t easily lead to a connection.
“Yet, Yuta-san was kind and said he wanted to meet again. He even gave me his contact information. I was incredibly happy, looking forward to meeting him again…”
“I… I…”
“Ippei, it’s enough… You don’t have to say any more…”
“I’m sorry… I’m truly sorry…”
The events that followed are already clearly conveyed in my heart. While I was feeling guilty about whether I should continue this relationship, you were struggling with the fear of the significant loss if we were discovered and didn’t want to hurt me, and you continued to hold onto your feelings. Here, everything finally comes together.
I finally got to know your true feelings. The true feelings between you and me have finally overlapped after a long time.
