379-Episode 379: Now on hold

　The wolf leads the way with a tat-tat, nimble step.

　After a certain distance, it stops and looks back at us.

　As we get closer, it resumes its pace again.

　Not long after, it stops and turns its gaze to us.

”On!”

　One purr.

　It seems to be telling me to come quickly.

　It doesn’t speak, but it seems to be a very clever boy.

　He wants to take us somewhere, and he’s been doing this for a while now.

　I’m not sure where he’s going, but….

　Probably our original destination, the northeast plains.

　We can see that we are moving in that direction.

　Same destination.

　And we don’t have any other clues.

　So I decided to follow this girl.

　If it’s a trap, that’s fine with me.

　No matter what the difficulty, we will just defeat it together.

　It just……..doesn’t feel like a trap, though.

　I don’t know if she’s really the strongest species or not.

　But I don’t feel any maliciousness at all, in fact, I feel favoritism.

　It’s probably okay.

　My personal instincts and my intuition as a Beast Tamer tell me that.

“…Hey, Rain.

Yeah?

　As I follow the wolf, Kanade comes toting up and lines up next to me.

　He glanced at us and quickly removed his gaze from us.

　He seems to be squirming and uncomfortable for some reason.

　What’s wrong with him?

Kanade, what’s wrong?

‘Well….. I don’t know if it’s a good idea to talk about this kind of thing when Iris is having a hard time… but I’d like to at least confirm it, or else I just can’t relax…

Well…?

　You don’t get the point of talking about Kanade.

　There’s something incredibly difficult to say.

There’s something you want to tell me, isn’t there?

Yes.

Then I’m listening. I’m all ears.

Can I…?

Of course. You see, I seem to be a no-good, or rather, insensitive person, so it would be very helpful if you were to tell me clearly if something was wrong. I know this is a time like this but… no, I think it’s better to talk about it, so it doesn’t become a problem later.

Well, I’ll just say it, okay?

　Kanade looked nervous.

　Besides, her cheeks were tinted cherry red.

　Her eyes also seemed to be filled with heat somehow.

Right?

Oh, that’s… oh.

　The dream that Kanade and the others had is that they would marry me.

　So that’s what they were feeling….

　It was only when Iris pointed this out to me that I finally, though, became aware of it.

　I knew I had to talk to her once I had solved the case.

　However, because of what happened to Iris afterwards, it had completely slipped my mind.

‘Nya…….you know that reaction, after all.

Um, well, how do you say…

　After hesitating, I nodded my head in a persistent manner.

　There’s no point in cheating, and as expected, I don’t want to act like I’m running away here.

　It’s a time like this, but……..no, it’s because of times like this that I have to face her feelings.

　If we miss this moment, we don’t know when we’ll be able to talk to her again.

‘Oh, you know … if you had a dream about me, I think you’d already know that.

　Sorry.

　I didn’t understand until Iris pointed it out to me.

　Kanade turned red up to her ears.

I love it.

　I mumbled in a voice so small that it seemed to disappear.

　If I had to, I would have missed it, but as expected, I shouldn’t do that this time.

　I firmly heard it.

　I firmly engraved Kanade’s words in my mind.

”Ah……..”

　Kanade looked extremely embarrassed and looked away from me.

　It’s like she can’t look directly at me now.

　He’s so stiff and restless…

　The cat ears are flapping and the tail is wagging and moving impatiently.

‘Well, I’m…’

　Do you accept Kanade’s feelings?

　Or do you want to say no?

　Either way, you have to say the right words.

　I need to say something.

　I think so, but I’m pathetically unable to formulate a word.

　My mind is a blank slate.

　It’s an excuse, but I just see Kanade and the others as friends, but I don’t look at them like that….

　So I can’t get my thoughts together.

　I have no idea what kind of reply I should give back.

　Kanade should be very brave right now, but….

　I, on the other hand, how pathetic.

　I could see that Iris was stunned.

‘Oh, duh, I’m fine!’

What?

‘Because I don’t think I want Rain’s answer right now or anything like that.

　When Kanade says that, I don’t feel like I’m pushing myself too hard.

　It’s not like she’s paying attention to us…….

　The line seemed to come from the heart.

‘I don’t know, I think that thing was an accidental confession I didn’t really mean to confess so abruptly, you know?　Rayne’s so blunt, I was going to take a lot more time and take it slow.

I’m sorry.

‘Oh!　I don’t mean to accuse you of anything!　I just don’t want you to worry about it.

　Kanade looked directly at me, while blushing.

　Then he laughs softly.

‘Now that I’m in this kind of situation I’m not really thinking about getting a response or anything like that. It’s not just me, I think it’s Tania, Sola and Luna as well. The first thing I have to think about right now is Iris. So, it’s okay.

It’s…

‘Also, there’s no need to force yourself to reply even after you’ve been able to save Iris. Probably, from Rain’s point of view, it would be a sleep deprivation… and I’d rather have you think it over carefully than force you to reply in such a situation. We’d be more than happy to oblige that way.

‘Kanade is … is that right?’

Yes.

　Without hesitation, Kanade answered immediately.

‘For now, just let me know how you feel. I don’t want anything more than that.’

　With a chop, Kanade kicked a pebble on the side of the road.

　The pebbles are rolling around.

But … if you make them wait too long, they will sulk, right?

Yeah, okay.

　Me and Kanade.

　Tania, Sola, and Luna.

　I need to figure out what I want to do with our future relationship and what I should do with it.