Chapter 567: The Bell of Fate Rings

Chapter 567: The Bell of Fate Rings

“That spinning thing,” Himekoji said, his voice firm.

“What’s wrong? I’m spinning too right now.” Kasumigaoka gradually stopped, her wet hair clinging to her cheeks, her soaked clothes sticking to her body, highlighting her exaggeratedly graceful curves.

A puddle spread across the floor, another spreading across her face.

“Is it alright… to lie?”

She asked Himekoji.

“It is,” Himekoji nodded.

Amidst the rising cold wind, he picked up a dry towel and extended his hand, trying to give it to Kasumigaoka.

Kasumigaoka took a step back.

“Then why… do you look so sad right now?” Kasumigaoka gazed at Himekoji, smiling with pity.

Yes, their expressions made it seem like Himekoji was the one who confessed and got rejected.

“This is just how my face looks. People often say that.” Himekoji lowered his head, stepped closer again, and stubbornly pressed the towel into Kasumigaoka’s hand.

Kasumigaoka grabbed the towel and simultaneously caught Himekoji’s hand.

“I don’t believe you,” she said.

Kasumigaoka held the towel Himekoji had given her, rose onto her tiptoes, and dabbed at his dripping hair. “Unless… you smile for me. Then I’ll believe you.”

“Huh.”

Himekoji smiled as asked—lips sealed tight, face stiff, only the corners of his mouth lifting ever so slightly.

Kasumigaoka recognized that smile. Himekoji’s trademark defense, his “keep away” smile meant to build walls and push people out. A smile named “rejection.”

A scaredy-cat afraid of happiness really would make that face.

Kasumigaoka didn’t expose him.

She pushed Himekoji to sit on the floor, then quietly stayed behind him like a guardian, slowly wiping away every trace of moisture on him.

“Hey… someday, you’ll smile a truly happy smile too, won’t you? For whom would it be?”

Himekoji didn’t answer back then.

Now, he had no face to answer.

He had really smiled from the heart—for Mashiro, for Nanami, for Imouto, for Yukinoshita, for Rikka and the Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye.

Only then did Himekoji remember he had never truly smiled properly in front of Kasumigaoka.

All he had ever shown her was his fear, retreat, and pain.

Because Kasumigaoka was the first to know his secret, he selfishly made her his shelter.

He thought no matter how selfish, how reckless he was, he’d always be forgiven. That whatever wrong he did, whatever mess he made, Kasumigaoka would accept him.

What hurt Himekoji most—Kasumigaoka had truly accepted him like that, from beginning to end.

The kinder she was, the more boldly and carelessly he acted.

Why did he treat her like this? Why?

Pushing through layer after layer of fog in his heart led to an answer that choked him with shame.

Because he liked her.

To be liked by a cowardly, immature pervert who only knew how to run and hide—Kasumigaoka Utaha was truly unlucky.

Loving Kasumigaoka first only hurt her the most.

That kind of liking really was disgusting.

If only he’d realized sooner. If only he had faced himself honestly sooner. If only…

No! It wasn’t too late now!

Sitting in the taxi back from the airport, Himekoji gathered his courage and dialed the number.

No answer.

He called again. Still nothing.

Again and again and again.

Same result.

Bad luck kept coming—traffic jammed along the ride. Himekoji anxiously tapped his leg. When would the road clear?

“Driver, stop here! Thanks!”

Himekoji shoved a messy pile of cash into the driver’s hand and leaped out. Right now, running was far faster than waiting.

Need to see her, need to see her, need to see her!

As long as this feeling burned, he could sprint endlessly.

Gasping, drenched in sweat, he looked like he’d been pulled from water. Soaked—just like that day he’d fallen for her.

Arrival: Kasumigaoka Utaha’s home.

Himekoji pressed the doorbell.

His breath rasped like bellows pulling air. After just moments standing there, sweat pooled into a wet stain around his feet.

“Senpai…”

His throat burned sandpaper raw. But no answer came from behind the door.

He kept pressing, pressing—an unmistakable noise pollution.

Finally, his phone buzzed with a text reply:

“Hime-hime-kun, right now, I’m not quite up for seeing you, okay?”

Wrapped in oversized pajamas, Kasumigaoka slumped lifelessly in an office chair. No sleep, no inspiration—24 hours staring blankly at a computer without writing one word. Dark circles hung heavy under her eyes.

Only layers of makeup could help now, so she refused him.

Using her bare toes, she gave a light push on the floor; the chair slowly spun her around.

Spinning… spinning… it had become her instinct.

She didn’t know why Himekoji suddenly sought her out, but giving that reply would likely make him leave.

He always left.

But the doorbell kept ringing! Noise warfare?

That’s dishonest.

Reluctantly, she pressed the intercom button. Lazily, her voice floated through, “Hime-hime-kun, I said already. I don’t want to see you for now.”

“I need to see you!” His voice came out dry and harsh, shriveled like burned paper—flames smothered.

“I don’t wanna see you~” Kasumigaoka yawned.

Seeing him would mean admitting defeat to Yukinoshita. That’d sting too much.

She was here first!

“My desire to see you is greater than your desire not to see me. So please… let me inside!”

Pause on the other end.

“Huh? Since when is that how it works?”

Then, he changed reasons.

“I like you! Because I like you, Senpai! I must see you!”

PONG!

Something crashed over the speaker. “Ouch… ouch…”—the muffled yelp confirmed a clumsy fall.

“Eh? What happened? Are you okay, Kasumi Utako Sensei?”

“N-not nothing…” Kasumigaoka Utaha rubbed her hip after falling off the swivel chair, then froze. Pain no longer mattered: “N-no! That’s not important! You just said…”

“Yep! I like you!”

Answering before she could properly ask.

“N-no… That’s not what you said last time.” Kasumigaoka pressed a palm to her head, dizzied by unreality.

“Because I lied.”

“So that one is a lie?”

“No—the last one was a lie. And the one before that. And the one before that…”

“Then… without lying, tell me once.”

“Alright.” Himekoji vowed with his hand raised, though she couldn’t see inside.

Kasumigaoka Utaha stood up, reached to the windowsill, and delicately took down a paper wish tag. Fingertips gently brushed the paper.

“ They say… when two people who love each other fall for one another, the bell of fate rings loudly. That day… did you hear it?”

No lies allowed. He’d sworn.

So Himekoji answered plainly: “No.”

“…Really?”

Her disappointment poured raw through the speaker. Himekoji rushed to add:

“Because… because my love for you was silent!”

The stronger he liked her, the fiercer he denied, the more desperate he hid it!

“Wait! Or maybe… fate’s bell had already chimed its song long before that day by the water!”

“It’s ringing now! Warning me! If I don’t seize this chance… the Senpai I love will slip through my fingers…”

Himekoji spilled the words rapidly now—

“I won’t let that happen.”

“Can’t let it!”

“I forbid it.”

“Because … I vow … I do love you.”

…

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