I Want To Confess To My Childhood Friend Chapter 18

Title: The Girl and The Snake

(How did this happen?)

Yuuto secretly thought this in his mind. They were currently walking hand in hand towards the reptile section, which they hadn’t yet visited.

And they weren’t just holding hands normally, they were intertwining their fingers, a so-called lover’s connection.

The reason why this happened was simple. It was because Asahi told Yuuto that she would go with him to the reptile section, but that she was scared and wanted him to hold her hand.

Hearing, that, though, Yuuto was a little troubled.

“If it’s just that then fine.”

And he agreed wholeheartedly. The moment she heard his words, Asahi grabbed Yuuto’s left hand on the spot and, unexpectedly, intertwined their fingers.

Because of how sudden it was, Yuuto was surprised and tried to let go of her hand involuntarily.

“Fufu, I feel calm when I hold your hand, Yuuto. It would seem like I can do my best to watch out for the snake.”

Yuuto couldn’t say anything back to that after Asahi said so with an embarrassed smile. The two began to walk in silence.

The silence continued for a while.

“Hey, Yuuto.”

“…What?”

“Doesn’t this remind you of the past? When we were in elementary school, we used to go home like this, holding hands.”

“Come to think of it, that’s right. I mean, I don’t know how you remember things that long ago.”

“A long time ago was a few years ago at the most. How could I forgot about it? It’s a precious memory.”

While they were talking about this, they arrived at their destination, the reptile section.

“Are you ready for this, Asahi?”

“Yeah. To be honest, I’m a little scared, but I think I can do my best with Yuuto.”

“If you’re scared, you didn’t have to come.”

“That’s not going to happen. I don’t want to feel like I’m losing if I run away.”

“What do you have to lose?”

“It’s just that I’m weak in my mind.”

“What is that…”

When Yuuto heard Asahi’s comments, he responded in a dumbfounded way.

“It doesn’t matter now, does it? Let’s just get on with it.”

“Yeah.”

With that, they finally entered the reptile section, which was full of reptiles.

“They won’t be any snakes all of a sudden, right?”

As soon as they entered the reptile section, Asahi tightened her grip on Yuuto’s hand.

“Well, there won’t be any suddenly. If I entered the reptile corner and there was suddenly a huge snake, my heart would probably stop.”

“That’s true…”

Despite that, Asahi didn’t let down her guard and took a slow gait as she made her way around the area. Then she looked inside the nearest one, which was enclosed by a huge fence.

“It’s a crocodile.”

“Yep.”

The first thing that was there was a crocodile sleeping peacefully at the water’s edge. However, the description of the animal said it was a spectacled caiman, and although they didn’t know what it was, it looked like an ordinary crocodile, which was nothing special.

“It’s a reptile, but you don’t mind crocodiles, do you?”

“Yeah. Because crocodiles are usually pretty cute, right?”

“Is that so?”

Apparently, by Asahi’s standards, crocodiles were cute.

“Well, I guess we better get going. If we relax, we won’t be able to see the snake.”

“You met your goal of going around to all the sections, so we don’t have to see it.”

“What are you talking about? Let’s see all the animals.”

Yuuto said that and pulled Asahi along.

“There’s something strangely aggressive about this. I thought you didn’t like snakes, Yuuto?”

“I don’t like wild snakes either. I don’t want to ever meet a wild snake in my life. However, the zoo’s snakes are separated from people by a glass door, so there’s no danger of being bitten. There’s nothing to be afraid of, Asahi.”

“Even if I know it won’t attack me, they’re hard to look at.” [T/N: Raws say some BS about it being physiologically unacceptable to look at snakes. I change it.]

“Are you sure you’ll be okay when you see the real thing?”

“Don’t worry, it wouldn’t be easy if it just came out of nowhere, but it’s easier to deal with them if I know in advance.”

As they talked about this, they strolled further into the reptile section.

They got to see chameleons, turtles, iguanas, and other creatures. But they hadn’t seen any snakes yet. They began to think that the snakes were no longer here.

“Oh, that’s Suzuka-chan over there, right?”

“Yeah.”

Yuuto looked at the person Asahi was watching. Suzuka Fujimiya was there, gazing gracefully at something on the other side of the glass.

“Suzuka-chan! What are you looking at?”

When Asahi said that, she let go of Yuuto’s hand and went over to where Suzuka was. She exchanged a few words with Suzuka and glanced at the glance. The moment she saw something on the other side of the glass, Asahi stopped moving.

Asahi then quickly brought her gaze away from the glass and came running back to where Yuuto was, at full speed.

“Guhooo!”

She decided to tackle Yuuto with all her might, and with that momentum, put her hands around Yuuto’s waist and hugged him as hard as she could.

“Hey, what’s up, Asahi?”

“I’d heard about them when I got here. Asahi doesn’t seem to good with this kind of thing.”

Before they knew it, Suzuka came up to them.

“It’s good to see this reaction from Asahi, and the way Fujimiya-san said it, could it be there are snakes over there?”

“Yes, as you might expect, a snake. To be more precise, it’s a Burmese python, a gigantic snake that can grow up to six meters in length. If you see a snake that big all of a sudden, I can’t blame Asahi for the situation you guys are in now.” [T/N: 6 meters is like, 19 and a half feet.]

“…Well, that’s just how it is. Asahi, if you want to cry, you can cry all you want.”

“Guuu… I’m in high school now. There’s no way I’m going to cry.”

“That’s not really convincing when you say that while sniffling. There, there, there.”

Yuuto said gently and stroked Asahi’s head.

“But I’m honestly surprised that Fujimiya-san was watching snakes. Do you like snakes?”

“Yes, I do. I prefer reptiles like snakes and lizards to cute animals like dogs and cats. It’s just that if I tell anyone about this, they won’t understand at all.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand you either.” [T/N: Same, Yuuto.]

“……Gusu, me too. I mean, it’s weird, Suzuka-chan, to think that kind of thing looks cute.”

“Oh, excuse you. My goodness, people have their own preferences. Even if they’re in the minority, you shouldn’t deny them their opinions.”

Suzuka retorted.

“However, it’s indeed pitiful to abuse Asahi any further now. I’ll be watching those snakes a little longer. Yamashita-kun, take care of Asahi.”

“….Well, okay, I guess. Enjoy the remaining time.”

“Yes, I will.”

With that, Suzuka returned to the glass wall where she had been, and continued to observe the snake.

Yuuto, meanwhile, continued to stroke Asahi’s head until she calmed down.

It was the third day of Golden Week at the zoo. There were many interesting things to do, such as getting to know each of their favorite animals and walking hand in hand with Asahi for the first time in a long time.

But in the end, it was a disappointing result.

Prev

ToC

Next