Crossing Paths, Traumatized, and Yet…

CH 4

The next morning, as soon as Daiki woke up, his father left for work.

“Have a safe trip”

He rubbed his sleepy eyes and saw him off.

“I’m off.

Good luck at school!”

He said the same thing he always said to me.

That was about all the communication he had with his father, who was busy with work.

He would eat breakfast as he always did.

His mother was busy doing laundry and preparing breakfast in the morning, so she didn’t see him off much.

In fact, these days, he rarely sees his mother.

After seeing his father off, he went to the living room and started eating breakfast.

As he began to eat breakfast, his mother asked him

“Are you going to be okay today?”

She asked him.

“I’m fine”

to which he only replied.

His mother seemed concerned about what happened yesterday and asked worriedly.

At that moment, the intercom rang.

It was Wakaba, who had come to pick him up earlier than usual.

He hurriedly ate breakfast, got ready, and headed for the front door.

“I’m off”

He said to his mother and was out the door before he heard her reply.

“Good morning!”

Wakaba greeted him cheerfully.

“Good morning!”

After exchanging greetings, they started walking toward the school.

As they walked to the school, Wakaba asked.

“I know yesterday was tough, but I’m here for you, so don’t worry, Daiki!”

Is what she said.

“Thank you, Wakaba.”

He responded.

Wakaba’s kindness made him happy.

After arriving at the school, Wakaba talked to him about anything and everything.

His male friends were laughing as usual and Daiki was laughing as normal.

After school was over, Daiki and Wakaba were walking home together.

As they got closer to the house, they started to feel uncomfortable.

When they reached the front of the house,

“It’s okay!

Put your stuff down.

Let’s go to the park soon!”

She said.

He hurried into the house and put down his luggage.

It seemed that the man had not come today.

He left the house as quickly as he could and headed for the park.

By the time he got to the park, he still felt a little bad, but he forgot about it when he was playing with Wakaba.

On that day, they went home after having a good time.

At home, it was just the two of them again, but he remembered what Wakaba had said to him and tried not to think about it.

Since that time, he had started to disguise his feelings in front of his mother.

His mother was relieved to see Daiki looking better than yesterday.

He took a bath, ate dinner, had a brief conversation, and went to sleep.

From that day on, in order not to hurt his mother’s feelings, he began to fake his own feelings.

Every week, he saw a man he thought was his real father.

Every time he saw him, Daiki’s heart was worn out.

He had morning conversations with his father, and even more so on his days off, when he realized that his father was not very interested in him.

In order to protect his normality, Daiki naturally learned to live under false pretenses.

Wakaba started to be with him all the time after that day and talked to him more and more at school.

The atmosphere in the class improved and Wakaba became the center of the class.

Wakaba is cute and energetic.

She has a very good personality, and being at the center of the class, the boys in the class inevitably developed a crush on Wakaba.

Daiki also naturally became aware of Wakaba as a member of the opposite sex.