Kanakana gave me a proper scolding on my hopelessness. Kanakana did her best to correct my mistakes… Kanakana cried a lot for me.
“— Aah, crying.”
Kanakana had been crying for about ten minutes. She abruptly mumbled a single word, ‘I’m tired….’, and then collapsed into my chest.
“I never thought… I would cry so hard that I would cling to you in tears. Am I a child? … Rather, I cried more than when my first love broke my heart. I feel like I’ve cried for the rest of my life… I might not be able to cry in the future”
“… Etto… That. Kanakana, thank you for everything… I’m sorry for making you cry…”
“…. Really. But… Never mind. Instead, I’ll say this…. I’m having to enjoy Mako’s lap pillow. Free service, service ♡”
In order to let Kanakana rest who’s in a tired mode, I use my own knees as a pillow and put Kanakana’s head on it.
… I was a bit worried that it might be humiliating for Kanakana to have me, the one who rejected her, do something like this, but I’m glad to see that she’s surprisingly happy.
“… Hey, Mako. Do you know the reason… why I confessed to you?”
“Huh…?”
As I was absentmindedly thinking about this, Kanakana who’s on my lap muttered to me. Reason… For her confessing? That… If I think about it…
“Isn’t it… because… you like me…?”
“Un, that’s right. Like you say. I really wanted to tell you how much I like you… Certainly, that’s the main reason.”
“I thought so.”
“… But, I have another… I have another important reason for confessing to you.”
“Eh… Another…?”
I tilt my head and three question marks appear on top of my head, unable to read Kanakana’s intentions. Kanakana looks at me in amusement and continues.
“I, Mako…. I wanted you to have confidence.”
“… Sorry, what do you mean, Kanakana?”
“Mako Tachibana is an amazingly hopeless person who can’t study or do sports at all. On top of that,\ she is an insensitive girl who does not understand a maiden’s love. Furthermore, she is a super siscon, perverted, weirdo, hopeless person who only thinks about her little sister.”
“Ah, un… Even I know that about myself…”
“Un… But, you see. You have a lot of bad points, but also a lot of good points— No, Including all the bad parts… You are a lovely woman, Mako. More than you know yourself…. You’re seriously lovely.”
While saying this, Kanakana lovingly caresses my cheek.
“But, one more… You had a bad point about you. For me, it was something I just couldn’t forgive.”
“… A point you couldn’t forgive…?”
“… Suggesting to yourself that ‘I’m a hopeless person’… Where you deny your own good points.”
“…..ah.”
Kanakana tells me this while having a stern look on her face. This short comment from Kanakana made me feel as if she had grabbed my heart tightly.
‘I hate your self-denial.’
Because that was something that had been pointed out to me by my beloved sister, Koma, during the summer holidays.
“You always have been saying that. You’re immediately humble or you deny praise when someone praises you. Even when your best friend praises you and your sister Koma praises you. ‘No, that’s not true. I’m a hopeless girl.’”
“… Un.”
“Mako, you just recently, too… You said something like this. ‘How could there possibly be someone in the world who would confess to me when I’m such a hopeless girl?’”
…. I feel like I might’ve said it. If I remember… I remember I said something like that the day Koma was confessed by some bastard…
“I was in love with Mako… And I was really angry at you for saying that… It was strange. I wondered why you would deny yourself like that. That’s why I confessed to you. ‘Why does Mako deny herself?’, ‘You have so many wonderful points.’, ‘You’re such a wonderful girl that I’m seriously in love with you.’, I wanted to tell you. I want you to be more confident.”
“….Kanakana”
… Kanakana, you thought so much about me… What do I do, I’m really… I’m really happy to hear it.
“That’s the other reason why I confessed to you… Thanks to Mako’s traumatic story you just told me, the mystery of your bizarrely low self-esteem has been solved. ‘Thanks to me Koma has had to suffer for six years.’—– To be honest, the story didn’t make any sense to me… But, I finally got it. ‘Aah, this is why Mako is so servile.’”
“Un…”
“I’ll give you advice as a good friend on that basis. Mako, this idea of yours— It’s wrong.”
Again with a stern expression, Kanakana speaks to me.
“What exactly was wrong with your behavior six years ago? ‘If only I nursed Koma’, ‘If only I took Koma to the hospital’… That’s what you said, if I remember correctly?”
“… Yeah, I did… But, what about it?”
“You were in primary school at the time, what could you have done. At best, you could have reported to your parents that ‘my little sister has a cold’. And you were properly doing your part… It was your parents who had to take care of Koma in the first place.”
“… That is, that…”
“’It was my fault for not stopping my parents from falling out.’… You also said this. By that logic, your little sister Koma-chan is to blame too, Mako.”
“Haah!?”
“Well, think about it. Like Mako, Koma-chan could have had plenty of opportunities to stop your parents fighting… And she couldn’t stop them.”
“Wh-What are you saying Kanakana!? Koma’s not at fault at all! It would’ve been suicidal to try to stop our parents who were falling out!? If she’d got involved badly, then she could have been abused… Asking her to do that is impossible! Impossible! Koma is faultless!”
“Then neither of you twins is at fault.”
“…ughu…”
My best friend debunks my theories at every turn. Well, my theories are just superficial and shallow…
“Koma-chan’s taste disorder is also the same, as is the kiss that restores her sense of taste. Mako regretted, ‘I did something unnecessary, Koma might hate me,’ but if Mako hadn’t kissed Koma…For the rest of her life, Koma could have remained without a sense of taste.”
“… It might’ve been so.”
“I’m sure it would be like that. So you don’t have to regret it, and Koma doesn’t hold a grudge against you—”
“Eh? Koma, too… What?”
“… Nothing, excuse me. It’s nothing… (*Mumble*) I don’t have an obligation to follow up on Koma-chan this much…”
Kanakana was about to say something, but stopped mid-sentence with a complicated expression. If you’re going to say so much, I’d be happy if you finish…
“Anyhow, Mako. You were simply running away. ‘It’s my fault Koma-chan~’, you were just making excuses and desperately trying not to face your own love and Koma-chan. You kept telling myself ‘it’s my fault’ so that you wouldn’t be conscious of that love, and as a warning to yourself… And as a result you’ve ended up with a servile character.”
“…. Amazing, Kanakana. You know me better than I do myself.”
“Well, it’s obvious. Because I’m in love with Mako. I’ve been watching you because I love you, and because I’ve been watching you always, I can read your thoughts.”
My best friend proudly sticks her chest (flat) up forward when she says so… I really think Kanakana is great. I can’t believe she’s being so straightforward with her love…
“… That’s why, Mako. You don’t have to be servile. You have done nothing wrong. You can have confidence in yourself. You’re a really lovely girl. And then… You can be more honest about your love. You have your own free love life.”
“… Can I…?”
“Yes, you can.”
She smiles softly and says kind words to me. I feel as if a thorn that had been stuck in my heart for a long time has been removed by the words of the person who loves me, my best friend, and who has forgiven me.
…Aah, right now… I feel really relieved…
“And then… While I’m at it, let me give you one more piece of advice, Mako.”
“One more piece of advice?”
“Yes… A bit of advice that might, perhaps, be able to cure Koma’s taste disorder.”
“…. What did you say!?”
I almost knocked over Kanakana, who was laying on my lap, due to her shocking words.
Eh, no wait… Hold right there!? My great best friend, what did you just say…!? Something that might be able to cure Koma’s taste disorder…!?
“Wh-Wh-Wha-What did you say, Kanakana!? Able to cure her!? Koma’s taste disorder!? Can it be cured, Kanakana!? Really!?”
“Please slow down. I only said it might be able to be cured. Also, hear me out carefully.”
Kanakana while smiling bitterly, she tsukkomis me while I’m flustered. Telling me to calm down when you’ve said something absurd, Kanakana-san…!? I never thought that I might be able to cure my Koma’s taste disorder, which had gone untreated for six long years… It’s only natural that I’d be excited…!?
“As I said before, from the moment we met until now… It was only a year and a bit, but I have always—- And I’ve always seen Koma-chan right next to Mako.”
“U, un…”
“I’ve watched you sisters and I’ve thought about it… I have never seen two sisters who are as close as Mako and Koma. I’m convinced you’re the closest sisters I’ve ever known.”
“Eh, praising us that much♪”
She praised us for our relationship as sisters, and I was so innocently happy, even though we were in the middle of an important conversation… Well, I can’t help it. And it’s the best compliment for me, since I’m a siscon.
“But, you see… But on the other hand. You sisters cross certain lines but you are more distant to each other than others… You’re twins, family… I feel like there’s a tremendous wall between you.”
“…. Eh?”
More distant… than others? Huge… wall…? A wall between me and Koma…? That’s stupid…
“Ey, Mako. Can I ask you something?”
“Huh? Aah, un… It’s okay if I can answer that…”
“Sure. Then let me ask you. You— No, you tachibana sisters—”
“We…?”
“How many times have you had a real argument? Being mutually honest… How many times in your life have you ever exposed your feelings for each other?”
… Now that she mentions, how many times did we? Remembering clearly… Is it like the day I got slapped on by Koma during the summer holiday this year?
“By your appearance, you’ve rarely gotten into it. You’re essentially a family, and a twin sister at that, right? Then it’s about time to be frank and open with each other. And yet, you two… are afraid of hurting the other… trying to make the other look better… you’re not exposing your true feelings.”
… When Kanakana points that out, I think about it… I don’t know about Koma, but… Certainly, I… I’m so protective of my Koma that I’ve never really thrown my feelings to her to prevent hurting her… There may have been very few times.
“I’m saying that’s where the wall is. And that wall is probably preventing Koma from treating her taste disorder.”
“… What exactly?”
“You said so yourself. ‘Koma’s taste disorder is psychogenic in origin.’. You are Koma-chan’s best and only trusted ally. So unless that distance between you and Koma-chan’s hearts can be reduced in a real sense…No matter how much you kiss each other every day and how physically close you get, Koma’s taste disorder will never be cured for a long time to come— That’s what I believe.”
“…..”
…. I never thought like that…
“For example, have you told Koma about the fact that Koma had been having nightmares for four years, which you just told me about? You’ve never told her what you were going through at the time, right? … As Mako Tachibana, you’ve never revealed to Koma Koma that you’re seriously in love with her?”
“… There’s no way I would have. If I did it poorly, Koma would be upset… And that could make the taste disorder worse…”
“See, that’s right there. That’s what’s wrong with you, Mako. You can’t even say what you need to say properly for fear of hurting Koma.”
I’m being slapped by her. Hopeless… So that’s wrong…
“You’re not going to get closer to Koma if you continue like that. Even if it takes a lifetime, Koma will suffer from taste disorder, I’m sure of it.”
“Then… What do I have to do…? What do you think I should do?”
“It’s simple. Smash your feelings into her. Tell her how you suffered for 4 years. And the fact about how you felt guilty… And then, how you feel about Kanakana. Come clean to her about everything.”
“Eeh…”
… You make it sound so easy, but I don’t think we’d have any trouble if we could do that…
“… (*Mumble*) I’m sure Koma would want that. For Mako to hit Koma with her true feelings. She always, always, waiting for your feelings…”
“Huh…?”
“…. It’s nothing. More importantly, this is the end for my advice to you… Just a reminder that, despite my first advice, the current advice may be wrong…”
I’m not an expert in such things as taste disorders, Kanakana continues.
“Even if Mako did what I advised her to do… Koma’s taste buds may still not be cured. It’s just a bit of advice as your best friend… Even if this doesn’t restore Koma’s sense of taste… I don’t want to hear complaints.”
“… Un, I won’t complain… More importantly, thank you, Kanakana. You’re really helpful.”
Instead of complaining, I should be thanking her. And to be honest, it was a valuable opinion that I wouldn’t have thought of… And it’s something that made me think about a lot of things…
“My, is that so? Then, I’m glad…. If that’s true, may I get a kiss from you for my advice?”
“Eh? Aah, un. I got i— Un?”
…. A kiss? For her advice?
“Please, Mako. Here, here. Kiss me right here♪”
My best friend points to her own lips and lewdly asks me to kiss her. Eh, eetoo… This… Is Kanakana joking? Or is she serious…?
“… Ettto, that… Ka, Kanakana? Are you serious…?”
“I’m always serious. Come, Mako, hurry”
“….”
Kanakana with pouty lips and a face waiting for a kiss. She says it like it’s a joke… And her eyes are a bit expectant. She’s right, I can feel that she really wants me to kiss her on the inside.
… What do I do. Kanakana gave me valuable feedback, and most importantly, I feel guilty for making her cry…
…. No, but still….
“…. Okay, I get it. It’s fine. I’ll do it.”
“… eh, Wai… You’re not joking, Mako…? I was about 40% joking—-”
I’m bending towards Kanakana, who is on her knees waiting to kiss me after collecting her thoughts a little. Lips pouting in the same way as Kanakana’s, slowly bringing them closer to the Kanakana’s wet lips and…
“—- Nchu”
I did as I was told and kissed Kanakana.
“… My forehead?”
That’s right, Kanakana’s forehead.
“… I’m sorry, Kanakana. I hope you’ll forgive me with this.”
“… Mako. You won’t do it, on my lips?”
“…. Un, I’m really sorry. But… Kissing there… is reserved for only one person.”
“…. I see. Un, you’re right. That’s right.”
At my comment, Kanakana rubbed her kissed forehead and looked a little sad… But somehow… she looks somewhat happy… and had a satisfied smile.
At the same time. A single tear spilled from Kanakana’s eye, who said that she had already shed a lifetime’s worth of tears.
Tintan 