Accidentally in Love (Complete) [Hikigaya x Miura] [OreGairu]

The Day of the Festival

...

I...

I was such a fool.

I watched the two of them finally break away from their kiss after some time, pausing to look at each other as if all of life's troubles had suddenly vanished into thin air. A long, quiet moment passed before Yukinoshita finally opened her mouth to speak.

"Hey, Hayama..."

"Hm?"

"Try not to call me every afternoon next time, okay?"

"Haha, sorry. I couldn't help it. I wanted to see you."

"I wanted to see you too. But I hardly spend much time with the others in the Service Club as it is. We'll find other chances to see each other, I'm sure."

"Okay. I know how important your friends are to you."

"And... one more thing. Are you... free... next week?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Do you... want to go to the aquarium with me? After the festival is over?"

"The aquarium? I thought you were planning to go with your friends in the Service Club."

"Yes, well... I don't think Hikigaya-kun wanted to go anyway. He didn't seem very interested when I asked him. That left Yuigahama-san and I, so I wanted to take the opportunity to finally reveal we're dating to her on the trip. I'll let Hikigaya-kun know about it later."

"Then of course I can go with you. No problem at all."

"...Thanks, Hayama. I knew I could count on you."

I don't remember what happened after that. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I tried to find all kinds of reasons to believe otherwise. I tried to find any kind of excuse not to think what I was thinking, any kind of reason to believe something else besides the one thing I didn't want to admit in my mind. But that moment, for sure, was when everything changed. That moment would burn itself into my memory ever since.

Because that was the moment that would remind me how much of a fool I was—for ever thinking I could've believed in that lie called 'romance'.

The day of the festival was finally here, and I was standing in Miura's rehearsal room a few hours before the opening ceremony was about to start. The children of her play were to be dressed and looked after by another supervisor that day, so we were the only two people in the room. Miura looked anxious. She had practiced intensely for that moment over the past month, skipping time with friends and even personal time at home just to make sure she didn't make any mistakes on the big day. That performance meant a lot to her, and she wanted to do it right. But, beneath that, I could tell, was an even deeper anxiety—one that had nothing to do with the performance she had been working on this whole time.