Secretly Holding Hands with You Behind Our Friends’ Back. Falling in Love That Cannot Be Told to Anyone - Volume 2

Chapter 2 – Hometown (Part 2)

“With my guitar… I reach for your heart~♪」Jreng…

Narushima-san turned into a happy person when she was with her. She’s really a different person now.

After we returned to our respective apartments, we rode our bicycles around town at sunset.

Since Narushima-san didn’t have a bicycle, she rode behind me. She kept singing an original song with a happy atmosphere.

Since she was going to be the accompanist for the class choir, she wanted to pick up her guitar at her parents’ house, so she asked me to take her.

I avoid being alone with her as much as possible, but this time I couldn’t resist.

“It’s okay if I come with you, but wouldn’t it be faster if you took the train?” she asked.

“After all, I’m glad you’re carrying me on your back.”

How could she say that so easily?

“My ‘Neo Junya Ekstra’ is not your free taxi, you know?”

“Koga-kun’s is also mine, and everything I have is mine.”

“Basic Gaianism. Or should I say Judaism? You’re such a bully.”

“But my heart and my body belong only to Koga-kun! That’s the Narushima teaching!”

Narushima-san behind me wrapped her arms around my waist and hugged me tightly.

Her big chest pressed against my back and I almost lost control.

“By the way…”

I didn’t want the atmosphere to become awkward, so I changed the subject.

“Narushima-san sucks at playing guitar in front of an audience, so you turned down the band’s invitation, right?”

“Yes. But I’m actually a very nervous person.”

“Shintarou told you that too, right? So wouldn’t it be better if you refused to be a choir accompanist?”

“Hmm. I’ve been wanting to play the guitar for a long time too, so I guess it’s okay if I just play for the class performance. But Seiran-kun aside, forming a band with someone you don’t know very well is scary~pyon. I can’t possibly stand on a stage like that~pyon.”

“Stop that weird ending. It sounds disgusting.”

A residential area with several similar buildings, this was Narushima-san’s parents’ house.

We rode an old elevator with nostalgic round buttons to the 5th floor of a middle-class building. Narushima-san stopped in the middle of the hallway, which was lit by sunlight from the west.

“This is where I, Narushima Yoru, spent my childhood.”

I already knew that. Even though she didn’t tell me, I was already here.

Narushima-san put the key in the keyhole and opened the door.

“Sorry to interrupt.”

Since the door was locked, I thought someone was there, so I entered through the front door.

“Ara.”

A person in a black camisole peered out of the living room.

She was in her twenties, her long black hair was disheveled, and the camisole she was wearing showed a glimpse of her large chest through the slit.

I’ve met her before. She’s Narushima-san’s older sister.

But she didn’t react at all when her older sister came after a long absence, didn’t even greet her, and went right back to hiding in the living room.

“Daddy won’t be home until the evening. Mom, she wasn’t there from the beginning, so don’t be shy.”

Narushima-san also didn’t seem to care about her older nsister’s behavior.

To the right of the entrance was Narushima-san’s room, and she led me there.

There was a TV with nothing on it, an empty bookshelf, and a shabby bed by the window. It looked like the apartment she lived in now had been given to her not too long ago. There were still posters of Western and Japanese bands on the walls, showing Narushima-san’s old tastes.

And in the corner of the room, an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar were leaning against each other. It was a little dusty.

Narushima-san took a cloth out of the cupboard and handed it to me.

“Sorry, but could you use this to clean the guitar? I’m going to make some coffee.”

“Hey, that girls from earlier…”

“Yeah, that’s my older sister. Ah, I’m not too familiar with her.”

Narushima-san looked away from her, scratching his head, and smiled wryly.

“The reason I started living independently is because my older sister came back to this house. It seems he broke up with his boyfriend.”

Because her older sister moved back home? Even though she is still in the first grade of high school, she decided to live independently for such a simple reason?

Well, there are a lot of other possibilities that can’t be understood by someone who doesn’t have siblings like me.

Narushima-san left the room to make coffee, and I cleaned the guitar as she asked.

Then she said.

“Hey, you’re the one who came here before, right?」

Narushima-san’s older sister stood at the door.

“Ah, yes. I’m sorry I didn’t greet you earlier.”

As I bowed, Older sister Narushima-san gave me an ignorant smile.

“It looks like you’re Yoru’s boyfriend, right?”

“You’re wrong. I told you before, didn’t I?》”

“And how is the child at school?》”

“How is she? She’s normal like everyone else… Maybe not, but she’s okay. We also play a lot together.”

“So… Hmm, is that so? That child, finally able to make good friends…”

Although it was faint, it seemed like she was smiling with relief.

Seeing her again, she really does look like Narushima-san.

It’s just that her older sister has a calmer, more mature demeanor, or rather, she’s more beautiful. Right now she’s not wearing any makeup, but when she puts it on and fixes her hair, I think she’ll enchant the people around her.

When Narushima-san gets older, will she be this beautiful──?

“Onee-chan!”

A younger sister returned with a tray containing two cups of coffee.

I don’t know why she was so angry──or you could say a look at her face was filled with a hateful expression. Her hand holding the tray was shaking, and the coffee on it was shaking too.

“Why are you talking to Koga-kun…”

“No problem, right? I was just asking a little bit about your school life.”

“That’s really all…? You didn’t think of anything weird, did you…?”

What does strange mean?

“Of course. The wound in my heart hasn’t healed yet, and he’s younger than me anyway.”

“No, Onee-chan, really don’t. Please don’t get close to Koga-kun.”

I don’t know why Narushima-san was crying.

Her older sister looked at her for a while and then smiled.

“You really are my younger sister.”

「!?」

Narushima-san’s face immediately stiffened.

“You’re Koga-kun, right? From now on, get along with Yoru.”

Her older sister said this to me and then quickly left the room.

On the other hand, Narushima-san was still frozen with a look as if she wanted to cry.

“Narushima-san?”

My voice seemed to be a nullifying spell, and then Narushima-san moved again.

“Ah, yes… Ahaha, I’m sorry.”

While improving the atmosphere, she placed a tray on the carpet of the table-less room.

Since I thought it was strange that they didn’t get along at all, I asked her.

“I know it’s not a good idea to ask too many questions, but did something happen between you and your older sister?”

“Yes. Many things happened. As my older sister said, we are indeed sisters, and when I think about it, I feel a little scared… My older sister then had the same feelings I have now.”

That last part, she was just talking to herself.

Then she looked directly at me.

“Hey, Koga-kun. No matter what happens, I will always like you. Even if you like someone other than me, that feeling won’t change, but… just my older sister. I just don’t want my older sister to take Koga-kun away… just thinking about it… already scares me.”

“What are you talking about?”

Narushima-san wiped the corners of her eyes with a finger.

“The thing is, Koga-kun must think that my older sister is very beautiful. You must think so.”

“No, that’s…”

“I don’t want to.”

“I haven’t said anything yet.”

Finally, Narushima-san cried loudly.

“I don’t want to. I’m afraid. It turns out that liking someone is that scary. When my older sister took Totchi-niichan away from me by force, it must have felt like this…”

Wait, who is Totchi-niichan?

I don’t really understand it, but when I see Narushima-san sobbing and wiping her hands like that, I can’t stand it. I thought it was a very complicated thing.

“I think Narushima-san’s older sister is very beautiful.”

“No, no! Stop it! I don’t want to hear it!”

“And I wonder if Narushima-san will be so beautiful one day.”

“No, no! ────eh?”

“That’s all I think about. That’s really all it is.”

Please understand if I say something like that, but that’s really all I think about.

Then Narushima-san wiped his eyes.

“Ufufu…”

Looks like she’s very happy. A very predictable person indeed.

“You can praise me more, you know. You can also say that you like me.”

“Cleaning the guitar like this is enough, right?”

“Don’t ignore me! I’ll break your back!”

Scary… Well, she’s back to her usual self, so it’s okay.

So the reason she took the trouble to bring me to her house was because she was too scared to go alone since her brother was there.

After that, Narushima-san didn’t talk to her older sister at all.

So I won’t ask unnecessary questions.

“I haven’t touched an electric guitar for a long time.”

Narushima-san was sitting on her old bed, holding an electric guitar with a cool blue and white body.

“Hey, try playing something.”

“Hmm. I haven’t played in a while, so maybe my fingers are a little weak now.”

As she said that, she held one string in her right hand and strummed all six strings at once.

The fingers of her left hand held the neck of the guitar and played the keys.

The sound of the intro to a song by a famous band came out of the amplifier.

Narushima-san’s fingers danced on the neck of the guitar so fast that I couldn’t tell which finger was holding which string.

Even so, the melody coming out of the amp sounded very stable, as if it were magic.

Then Narushima-san stopped the song at just the right place.

「… You’re really good.”

“Ufufu. Thank you, but in my opinion, my current game is so-so.”

“That sounds disgusting.”

“What I mean by normal is that I play the song the way it should be played. For example, I don’t know what’s fun about playing like this.”

Then Narushima-san played the same song again, still moving her fingers as if by magic. I’ve never paid attention to a guitarist’s hands before, even if it’s just through videos, but apparently just looking at them feels good.

After finishing the song, Narushima-san looked at me and asked. “Hey.”

“What’s “hey”?”

“This time, I’m not going to just copy the song, I’m going to change it a little bit. This is going to be my version of the song, and I’m going to play it my way. Doing that is also one of the ways I enjoy music.”

“Hmm?”

Narushima-san said she changed the song a bit, but to be honest, I don’t know what changes she made. I guess it sounds no different than the first one.

“So you think there’s no advantage to adding changes that only certain people know about?”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“It doesn’t really matter anyway. It’s all up to the player. The point is, whether I believe it or not, maybe my song won’t reach the listener. But at least I feel good when I play it freely.”

“So what you’re saying is that it doesn’t matter if your song doesn’t reach the person you’re trying to reach?”

“Yes. If it gets through, I’ll be very happy. But the most important thing for me is to be able to play it the way I want to. In a way, it’s just my personal selfishness. I’m satisfied with that. Don’t you think it’s the same as love?”

「… I don’t really understand. Is it okay if your love doesn’t reach the person you’re aiming at?”

“Yes. That’s why I said I’m happy when it’s transmitted. But even if it’s not conveyed, the most important thing is whether you put your feelings into it or not. When I was with Koga-kun, I always treated you with all my feelings. But even so, I am satisfied.”

“Is that so…”

Narushima-san looked straight at me, and her gaze was so painful that I looked away.

“Hey, what’s your favorite song, Koga-kun? If I know the song, I’ll play it for you with all my heart.”

“The song I like… What is it…”

I thought for a moment, then I found it easily.

“Ah, that’s it. Tsuki to Herodias.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you were a Meher fan.”

Ah, she knows, apparently. Her knowledge, it turned out, was extensive as well.

“Really? The male-female duo band formed by El Cid, the producer of Vocaloid. That song is popular right now.”

“That’s right, that’s right! The song, the video and the animation are really cool! And most importantly, the lyrics written by El Cid are really God-like!”

My favorite song by this band is “Gunjo Aoiro”.

I first heard it in the summer of the 3rd grade.

At that time, me, Seiran, and Shintarou made a crazy plan to ride our bikes as far as we could, and we ended up coming home late at night. Then we went to a family restaurant that we met on the way, and we talked about many things.

Then the song started playing in the restaurant.

It was a naive and painful song about a child’s youth. When I asked Seiran: “What song is that?” he replied: “It’s the song “Gunjo Aoiro” by the band Tsuki to Heroodias.

For me, that song was written on the first page of my stupid and painful youth spent with my friends, and it became a very memorable song.

“So from then on I became a fan of Tsuki to Herodias. Oh yeah, if I’m not mistaken, there will be a live performance at the CD store in front of the station. I’ll have to remember that.”

I checked the information on my phone again. I had already written down the date of the concert on the calendar in my phone.

“Ufufu, so that’s it…”

Narushima-san laughed when she heard my recollection, then slightly changed the position of his guitar.

“Gunjo Aoiro” by Tsuki to Herodias. I haven’t heard it much, so I don’t really know the arrangement, but it’s something like this, right?”

As she said that, she started to play the intro part.

Even though she hasn’t heard it much, she can play it without notes, so she’s really good.

Also, Narushima-san’s guitar playing is very soothing, and I think I can understand the arrangement a little bit and incorporate the feeling she said earlier.

Maybe that’s why when I heard Narushima-san’s guitar playing, my memories of that day came back vividly.

Shintarou, Seiran… You really are my best friends.

I can’t betray you.

As long as you’re here, I won’t fall in love…

“Hey, Koga-kun. Sing while I play.”

“Give it to me. Fukai yozora niiii~♪ aaaa~♪♪」

“That’s how bad you are at singing?」

And my singing stopped immediately.

“Don’t you know I’m pitch blind? We’ve been to karaoke together several times.”

“Yes. I did know, but… never mind. Sorry, carry on.”

Narushima-san resumed playing her guitar….Then she stopped again.

「…….」

She seemed to be thinking about something, looking at the tiles while still holding the guitar.

“What the hell are you doing? I was in the middle of singing. Please keep playing.”

She looked at me, then smiled.

“Next time. If it really is a song that is precious to Koga-kun, I should practice it again so that I can really put my feelings into it, and then I’ll play it for you again.”