[CH.31] (Hinata Kuhou's POV) I know you (Part 1)
Looking back on when I first met Hanamura-san, it goes back to my high school days.
He didn't know me, but I knew him.
It was a time when my father's company had not yet been taken over and was still thriving, and I was still the daughter of the company president.
I think I was doing reasonably well at the prestigious girls' school I was attending, but I was unapproachable for some inexplicable reason.
I was timid and naive, a sheltered girl, so the distance between us suited me just fine, and being alone was convenient for indulging in my thoughts.
I never imagined that the company would be taken over and we would fall from grace during my third year of high school. This is a story from my carefree days as a second-year high school student.
I had loved novels since I was a child, and it was a habit of mine to read books on a bench in the natural park near the girls' school after school.
I used to prefer literary works, but with the recent development of the internet, I had come to enjoy popular literature.
I overheard some classmates talking about how recent light novels were interesting, and that's when I started buying them from bookstores.
I didn't want to go home much. I got along with my mother, but I really hated my father.
He was overbearing, selfish, moody, and his words changed constantly. I often wondered how he could be running a company like this.
It's as if he's bullying a noble daughter, like the villainess in the novel I'm currently reading.
So, I avoided going home in the evening. My father always went out to parties or something at night and didn't come home until the next morning.
He would sleep until well past noon, and I couldn't help but think that it's quite amazing how he can continue being the company president.
It's probably because he's the eldest son of the Kuhou family, which was once called a noble house... My mother, who couldn't bear a son, was greatly despised, and I wasn't treated any better.
I used to indulge in the world of creativity in places with as few people as possible. That was my hobby.
During those moments of my thoughts, there was someone who disrupted them.
It was a certain man.
Every day, at a fixed time, a man in sportswear would pass by in front of my favorite bench in the natural park, running along the jogging trail.
He was a student at the university in Hamayama, and it seemed like he ran for about an hour as part of the track and field club's activities.
Throughout the seasons, whenever I came to this place, I always saw him running, gradually gathering information about him.
I wasn't accustomed to interacting with men, and although our eyes met a few times, he had never approached me.
Perhaps that man was also not comfortable around women.
One day, it happened.
In winter, sitting still and reading a book would make me shiver from the cold.
So, I decided to take a walk along the jogging trail and I met that man again.
Today, the man I mentioned earlier was surrounded by children, trying to retrieve a balloon stuck in a tall tree.
"Can you do it, big brother?"
"I'm good at climbing trees, leave it to me."
On another day...
"Thanks for helping with the cleanup."
"I use this place regularly, so it's only natural!"
And on this day...
"Here we go! Okay, you can pass through now!"
"You're impressive, young man. How old are you?"
"I've been training. I'll be 22 this year."
He was helping clear a fallen tree from the jogging trail.
Unlike me, who just read books and went home, he was sweating from helping in various ways.
He was probably a very good person. Once you start looking at it from that perspective, the impression of this person passing by in front of me while I sit on the bench changes.
"What are you aiming for? What kind of help are you offering today? How does university feel?"
I wanted to strike up a conversation. Such a desire began to grow.
But... in the end, I couldn't bring myself to speak to him even once.
One day, as I strolled along the jogging trail, I was immersed in the afterglow of the novel I had just read.
"Oh, novels are really something. Maybe I should try writing one myself."
"What's that...?"
I noticed an elderly man stumbling in front of me. Then, he clutched his chest in pain right on the trail.
My intuition told me that the man was in a critical situation.
I rushed over, but I didn't know what to do.
"What... what should I do?"
"Are you okay?"
The university student appeared and rushed over immediately.
At that moment, when I saw his face... I felt a tremendous sense of reassurance. Even though we had never spoken, I think I had a deep trust in him in the depths of my heart.
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