We are almost caught up to manga. I am so excited. Here is chapter 28
Title: Content of Satou’s messages
I started to text with Satou-san.
The messages are always sent from her after eight o’clock in the evening. This is because Satou-san’s house always has a set time of 6:30 p.m. for dinner and 7:00 p.m. for bathing, and it is always after that time. I feel restless at those times. I’m waiting in front of my study desk in my room with my face in an open reference book. I check my phone instantly when it rings.
Her sentences are always long.
‘Yamaguchi-kun, thank you. I had forgotten all about my geology homework, so you helped me out. I think it’s time to do it now, so I’ll do my best. I hope you’ll come meet with me tomorrow to check my answers. Also, I’m watching the drama Yamaguchi-kun talked about starting this week. It was really interesting. It’s hard not to fall asleep when I’m up late, but it’s really interesting and I want to see the rest of it, so I’ll do my best. You’re no stranger to staying up late, aren’t you, Yamaguchi? I’m so jealous of you. I have to go to sleep at nine o’clock, so I don’t get to stay up late to watch shows. It’s been a waste of time, isn’t it? I’ll pay attention to the late shows from now on. I’ll be in touch with you soon. From Satou.’
She sent me a tightly packed message with no breaks. It’s hard to read. I’ll be in touch with you soon. Even if it’s so, can’t I do something about it? It’s very typical of Satou-san that she doesn’t use emoticons or slang, but I wonder why she doesn’t use punctuation. Well, it’s okay that the messaging is working. I was wondering what I’d do if she sent me everything in hiragana, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I’m not sure if it’s because of the guy from Hokkaido, but it’s not that bad.
Anyway, we have a new way to interact. We talked during the daytime at school and during recess or something, and communicated by cell phone at night. By doing so, I was able to learn a lot about Satou-san. Satou-san’s family has four family members and she is an only child. She lives with her mother, grandfather, and grandmother, and her grandparents go to bed early, so that is why Satou-san does not stay up late. I heard that she and her mother lived in another town until junior high school. She had moved to this town when she started high school. She told me that she wasn’t sure if she would be able to make friends, but now she enjoys going to school every day. She told me she wasn’t sure what she was going to do after graduation, but she was going to look for a job. She gave me a text that brought a wry smile to my face, saying, ‘I have to graduate first’. But I don’t think there’s any way she won’t be able to graduate. No matter how much you think you’re going to be able to do so, even if you’re Satou-san. She rarely talked to the person she likes. Only once in a while was there a time that she had contacted her. They’ve only been able to exchange bland stories at the moment. When talking about it, Satou-san’s writing seemed to be somewhat sluggish, and I was relieved. I’m a horrible guy, I think to myself.
She doesn’t know the truth about me. And I’m not ready to tell her. It’s not fair to keep a secret from her, but once you tell her, it’s the end of our current relationship. I’m not sure that Satou-san will ever accept love from a person from another world. I had to close the distance between us before that. Sometimes I think. Can I make her happier than the ‘person she loves’ who is making her feel uneasy? I have nothing. The words she said to me are not yet powerful enough to attract her herself. Still, the reason I believe her words is because there is nothing else to help me. And now I’m deceiving her. –It’s not just a matter of time before you get to the point where you’re going to be able to get the job done. I can’t even imagine what Satou-san would look like if she knew.
But no matter how much I pondered, no matter how many times I went around in circles, at the end of the day I could only find one answer. I like Satou-san. I wouldn’t make her anxious. I don’t know if that will lead to her happiness or not, but I just had a feeling that I could do anything to make her feel less anxious.
The correspondence doesn’t last very long. Satou-san is really slow to type a reply. So if she contacts me, I reply to her, and she sends me back the reply, it’s over. Unless it’s something really urgent, I send my replies to the next day. For me, I’m so grateful that I have an excuse to contact her the next day. I don’t know how long this kind of communication can continue. If we change seats next time, it will be difficult to talk in the classroom, and it might be annoying if we communicate too often. That’s why I cherished this time more than anything else. The time I spent waiting for Satou-san to contact me, waiting for me to respond and then waiting for her reply to arrive was definitely worth it.
‘Yamaguchi-kun, thank you for telling me. That drama was based on a manga, wasn’t it? I didn’t know it was based on a manga. It’s nice of you to lend them to me, but isn’t it hard to bring them? Try to bring it when you don’t have a lot of books. Thank you so much. Yamaguchi-kun has good grades and knows a lot about dramas and manga, which is great. It’s a lot of fun to talk to you. I hope you’ll teach me more about it. I’ll see you at school tomorrow. I’ll be in touch with you. Message from Satou.’
I reread the second text she sent me a few times and put my phone on my desk. That’s it for today. I’m sad, but I’m happy that we were able to talk. We’ll see each other again at school tomorrow, so that’s a good thing. With my face in place, I turn my attention back to my reference book. I’ve been in a very bad mood to study lately, but that doesn’t mean I can be lazy, studying is what students are for.
Suddenly, my phone rang. The only notification sound I received was from Satou-san, so I was taken aback when I guessed it was her. It was unusual to receive a third text in one night. This has never happened before. And I hadn’t even responded to her earlier message. ‘Are you still awake, Yamaguchi-kun? If I could, I’d like to call you, if that’s okay with you?’ Satou-san asked. I hadn’t called her since she gave me her phone number. What does that mean today? I wondered if something was wrong. I responded immediately. ‘It’s okay, I’ll call you. You want me to call you?’ After about five minutes, Sato-san sent a reply. Thank you, Yamaguchi-kun. I’ll be calling you
Not long after that, I received my first phone call from Satou-san.
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