Mandarin Orange, Kotatsu, And A Found Cat

, but I didn’t want to interrupt her, so I asked her about the details of her dream.
It was a dream, so it was abstract and incoherent in places, but at least it wasn’t a good one to wake up from.

If I had a dream in which I was in her case, it would be inevitable that I would feel depressed for a day.
And from her point of view, it must have been incomparably more painful than mine.

I don’t know anything about her past.
Maybe if I asked, she would tell me.
But if she has even the slightest negative feeling about her past memories, I don’t want to force her to remember them.

Maybe the reason why Mashiro’s dream made her so anxious was due in no small part to her past that I didn’t know about.

“…And it made me feel helplessly bitter.”
“If I had had the same dream, I would have felt the same way.”

I tried my best not to hurt Mashiro with my words, but her expression didn’t improve much.

“I also knew that Satou-san would say that to me.
And yet, I couldn’t help but feel anxious…”
“Mashiro…”
“I know I can trust you, Satou-san…And yet.”

After hearing Mashiro’s words to that point, I finally understood why she looked so sad.
Perhaps it wasn’t just the content of the dream that was directly pushing her over the edge, but her own anxious mind that was hurting her.

Just as I trust Mashiro, Mashiro also trusts me.
And yet, she must have felt that she had betrayed her trust in me by getting anxious over a single dream.

And once again, I realize that Mashiro was really just a girl in the truest sense of the word.
Just a girl, sensitive and vulnerable.
I hadn’t understood that because I had always been in the position of being spoiled.

“But I am happy for you.”
“…Eh?”

At my words, she turned to me with a puzzled look on her face.
I continued to speak without averting my eyes from her.

“Mashiro is very important to me.
It may not have been long since we met, but you are more important to me than anyone else in this world.”

Mashiro might think that I’m exaggerating, but I felt that way without a doubt.
My own family was important, and of course, my friends like Sakakibara were also important to me.
But the most important person is most closely related to me in my life now is Mashiro.”

“You don’t want me to leave you.
How can I not be happy?”
“Satou-san…”

I felt a little embarrassed after saying all this, so I turned to her and smirked.
She still had a gloomy expression on her face, as if she hadn’t completely gotten rid of her apologetic look, but the light was starting to come back a little more than before.

“So don’t give me that look.
I’d be more worried if Mashiro wasn’t smiling at me.”

I said, then gently patted Mashiro’s head.
She doesn’t say a word and just lets me do my thing.
I always let her spoil me, so I want her to be pampered by someone as she should be at her age.
And if that someone is me.
If that’s what she wants, I couldn’t be happier.

“…Satou-san, can we have lunch a little later today?”
“No problem.”
“Well, can I stay like this a little longer…?”
“Yes, with pleasure.”