My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As Expected

Page 682

"Never mind what I'm wearing... let's go."

"Hmm. Whose gift should we choose first?"

"Ah—I'll buy yours first."

"Oh, okay. That's settled then."

Kawasaki and I looked at the map of the shopping center.

"Upon closer inspection, this place is indeed very large."

Kawasaki was a little surprised.

"Of course. And this place has a long history; it's said to be the first LaLaport in Japan."

I proudly showed off my knowledge.

"Wow—that's amazing."

Kawasaki seemed genuinely impressed, and I also felt a great sense of accomplishment for sharing this knowledge.

"Since there are so many stores, it might be better to wander around and go into any store you like instead of choosing one."

"You're right. Let's just wander around then."

Kawasaki and I stepped out.

After walking for about thirty minutes, I stopped for a moment.

"What's wrong?"

"take a break."

As expected of one of Japan's top shopping centers, it's enormous, and it's quite tiring to browse through all the stores.

"Kawasaki, are you tired? You don't look well."

"Hmm? Hmm... I'm not tired."

She said that, but her expression was a little melancholy. Maybe she wasn't actually feeling well, and was only reluctantly going because of that previous incident (the World Sister Battle). But even if I told her not to force herself if she wasn't feeling well, what if she went into battle mode and snapped at me, "What? I'm not feeling unwell. I'm actually feeling great. Don't assume you know me, okay? Should we check if I'm feeling unwell now?"... As for what kind of image Kawasaki has formed in my mind, I'll leave that aside for now.

With that in mind, it's best to pick out the gifts as soon as possible.

"Okay, let's go then."

"Um."

We set off again. Not long after, we saw a shop called "Liv".

"Ah—this is pretty good, isn't it?"

It's a shop that sells black tea.

Does your mother drink black tea?

"Ah—I feel like drinking, but I also feel like not drinking."

"To drink or not to drink? Oh well, I think it would make a great Mother's Day gift."

Oh, I see. I would never have thought of giving that as a gift. I told the shop assistant my budget and asked him to help me choose tea.

The shop assistant selected the Mahe Brothers Classic Canned Tea. Halfway through his introduction, I transformed into a robot who could only say "hahaha" and "yeah," barely managing to get through it and buy the can of tea.

"Thank you for coming!"

I glanced at the polite shop assistant who bowed to us, and walked out of the store.

"Thanks, Kawasaki. I would never have thought of sending this by myself."

"I hope your mom will be happy."

"Okay, now let's go pick out a gift for your sister."

"……Um."

Kawasaki remained listless. Her tone was noticeably different from usual, so it seemed I had no choice but to speak.

"...If you're not feeling well, would you like to go home?"

"Eh? What?"

The unexpected problem made Kawasaki a little flustered.

"You haven't seemed very energetic today, so let's talk about it another day. Don't worry, since you've already helped me pick out a gift, I'll definitely help you pick one out next time. I won't just stand you up after buying my own gift."

"...I feel perfectly fine."

"'The body doesn't exist'?"

"...Let's find a shop to sit down."

Kawasaki said those words and walked straight ahead.

"Hey, wait a minute."

I followed him, completely bewildered.

Kawasaki and I walked a short distance to the café in the south wing. It was crowded, but luckily there was a two-seater available, so we didn't have to wait for a table.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. Here's your coffee and lemon tea."

I added a ton of sugar to my coffee. How much to make it MAX sweetness? I glanced at Kawasaki; she was quietly sipping her lemon tea. It seems she really likes black tea; the gift she just chose was also black tea.

"So...why are you so listless?"

Kawasaki lowered his gaze slightly in response to my question.

"Jingjing's kindergarten has goldfish."

"Goldfish. I know, I know, kindergartens keep goldfish."

"Jingjing loves that goldfish very much."

"Yes, that's normal."

"That child was very gentle and loved the goldfish very much."

Kawasaki showed a slightly happy expression, but it quickly turned into sadness.

"So... it's sad when you die."

After hearing Kawasaki's words, I roughly guessed what was going on. Oh, I see.

"Did that goldfish die?"

"...Yeah, that's right."

She said the goldfish died yesterday. Jingjing was depressed after returning from kindergarten and couldn't eat. That night, as she went to bed, she cried and asked Kawasaki, "Will everyone die and disappear?"

"I didn't tell her properly... I feel frustrated thinking that Jingjing is still sad at this time."

"This is an obstacle that everyone will encounter."

As long as one lives in this world, one will inevitably encounter such troubles someday. And how to explain this phenomenon to a troubled child is also a problem that the elderly will inevitably face.

"How should I tell her...?"

Seeing Kawasaki being so docile, it's clear she really loves her younger sister. I consider myself to love Komachi just as much; as someone who cherishes their younger sister, I want to do something for her, but I don't know how.

"That's right."

I suddenly remembered that Komachi had experienced something similar before. When her pet turtle at school died, she witnessed its passing and was terrified. I remember that time…

"It seems like I bought her picture books to read."

"Picture book?"

"Yes, Komachi experienced the same thing. My parents bought her picture books back then. They had themes like 'Life is a cycle' and 'We'll meet again.'"

"Picture books. Indeed, picture books are written in a way that even children can understand."

She rested her chin on her hand, sighed, and appeared inexplicably mature.

Then, I had an idea.

"Should we give that type of picture book as a gift?"

"Gift?"

"A birthday present. A gift that teaches the meaning of life through picture books. I think Jingjing will be very happy, right?"

Kawasaki nodded repeatedly, agreeing with my suggestion.

Do you remember the title of that picture book?

"I don't remember. It was a long time ago, I can't quite recall it."

"Okay, let's go."

As soon as he finished speaking, Kawasaki immediately picked up his things and walked out of the coffee shop.

"Wait, wait, we haven't paid the bill yet."

I quickly finished my coffee, paid the bill, and caught up with Kawasaki.

After looking at the floor map, Kawasaki and I headed to the bookstore on the second floor of the North Wing. The bookstore inside the shopping mall was particularly large. We found the picture book section and went straight there.

The picture book section is bigger than I imagined.

"Here? There are quite a few books."

"Does the title remind you which picture book you gave your sister?"

"I don't know. Let's just go through it first."

We checked the titles of the picture books one by one. I thought that seeing the content might help me remember them, so I picked up the picture book and flipped through it.

However, I didn't see the picture book that Komachi was looking at at the time.

Which one? Which one exactly? Remember me!

"Do you remember?"

Kawasaki asked in a soft tone, trying to avoid putting pressure on me.

"Ah—I don't know. I haven't seen any books that look like them."

"Yeah?"

Kawasaki gave a brief response, and we silently flipped through the picture book again.

After spending quite some time flipping through all the picture books, at least the picture books I remembered did not exist in this store.

"I'm sorry, Kawasaki."

"It's okay, maybe this bookstore just doesn't have them. You don't need to apologize. It's quite a pleasure to see so many picture books."

That statement sounds like it's trying to comfort me, but it makes my conscience uneasy. I've read several books on the theme of "life," so I could easily choose one, but would that really be enough?

I was thinking. It was a picture book I showed to Komachi back then. I remember she laughed at the illustrations because her drawing skills weren't very good.

Memories of that time. Komachi was intently looking at that picture book in the living room.

That's right. The reason she was so focused was... because the protagonist was a girl named "Komachi." Her own situation was similar to that of the girl with the same name, which made her deeply fascinated by that work.

Thinking about this, I felt something was amiss.

"Isn't that too much of a coincidence?"

"What's wrong?"

Kawasaki stared at me as I fell into deep thought.

"I remember the main character in that picture book was named Komachi, and the story was about her pet dying. But isn't that too similar to Komachi's situation? Is it really that coincidental?"

Was it really a fabricated story I made up?

"……maybe."

Kawasaki murmured.

"Maybe that picture book doesn't even exist."

"what?"

I couldn't understand what she meant and looked puzzled.

"Kawasaki, what are you talking about? If it doesn't exist, how would I remember that picture book?"