Chapter 45: Red tea and room (William’s Point of View)

“Hey, Will. I may be mistaken, but… haven’t you been acting a bit strange lately?”

Finn said this to me while we were having a casual conversation in his dorm room.

“Strange? In what way?”

When I asked him this, Finn crossed his arms and twisted his neck.

“It’s hard to put into words… but it’s like you’re missing your usual spirit or something?”

Hearing this answer, I was relieved.

Finn has sharp intuition, so he must have noticed something from my behavior, but naturally he wouldn’t know the full details.

“I think it’s just Finn’s imagination… I’ve been feeling cold lately, so maybe I caught a cold without realizing it. I’ll be more careful from now on.”

As I said this, I put on a clueless face and took a sip of tea.

“Hmm…?”

Finn looked uncertain, but then said,

“…Yeah, if Will says so, I guess it must be true. Winter is a time when it’s easy to become physically unwell. Take care of yourself.”

I nodded in agreement.

“I thought you weren’t feeling well recently because you got dumped by a girl or something!! Haha, I never would have thought there would be a woman who could make Will feel down, though!!”

“Buhu?!”

As he tried to lighten the mood with a joke, Finn’s words caused me to almost choke on the tea I was drinking.

“Whoa?!”

Hearing Finn’s cry, I coughed violently.

Unable to catch my breath, I looked at Finn, who opened his eyes wide in surprise.

“Wait, really…?”

After Finn’s mutter, the only sound in the room for a while was my coughing.

“Well, let’s hear what happened.”

“…I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb.”

After wiping up the spilled tea on the table and sitting back down in the chair, Finn leaned in towards me.

“So, what kind of woman is it? I mean, I assume she’s either someone with seriously skewed values or a complete idiot if she thinks she can capture Will’s heart.”

“Haha, Finn is overestimating me too much.”

I laughed at Finn’s words and thought of Leah.

His flaxen hair, cut to collarbone length, was neatly combed, and his deep green eyes, like a clear lake in the forest, looked straight at me.

He’s always been devoted to me, my knight.

But that person…

“It’s a man, right?”

“Eh?”

“…Oh.”

I accidentally let the words slip out and quickly covered my mouth, but the fact that they had escaped couldn’t be undone.

Finn was stunned for a moment, but then he tightened his face.

“So the person you have feelings for is a man, not a woman?”

Looking at his expression, I decide that there’s no turning back.

It might still be possible to make an excuse and brush it off, but I didn’t want to lie to Finn, my best friend.

I faced him and slowly opened my mouth.

“Yes, he’s a man.”

When I affirm Finn’s words, he widens his grass-green eyes. He’s stiff for a moment, but then he puts a question mark on his face and tilts his head.

“So… you have feelings for a man?”

Feeling discomfort at those words, I blink my eyes.

“Hmm… I don’t think I have feelings for him just because he’s a man. It’s more like, regardless of whether he’s a man or a woman, I love him because he’s that person… I don’t really know since this is the first time I’ve felt this way towards someone…”

When I say this, Finn falls silent.

As he doesn’t show any sign of moving, I call out to him.

“Finn?”

The next moment, he stands up as if he were shot.

“I got it!!”

As I stare in surprise at Finn, who suddenly said that, he turns his face towards me.

“The person is Will’s knight!!”

I’m astonished that he was able to guess the truth.

“How did you…?”

Hearing my mutter, Finn made a triumphant face.

“I remembered that Will’s behavior was strange when he saw the knight’s rendezvous. I thought it was strange because his face was blue, but I guess that was it.”

He was speaking confidently, but then he snapped his mouth shut as if he were startled.

“…I’m sorry, I was talking carelessly and reopened your wounds.”

I smile wryly at Finn, who apologizes with a remorseful face.

“Don’t apologize. You’re just stating the facts.”

After Finn hesitantly glances around with an uneasy look, he tentatively opens his mouth.

“To put it simply, the knight that Will is interested in had a woman he was seeing… well, something like that?”

I nod at Finn’s words.

“Furthermore, after that, I confessed my feelings to him and was clearly rejected. Given this situation, it’s certain that I don’t have any hope, not even in the slightest.”

After saying that, I drink some tea and look at Finn. Finn has both hands covering his face.

For a moment, he remained in that position, but then he sat down on the chair and stretched out both hands towards me, grasping my shoulders tightly.

“Will… There are many people in the world. There are men and women of all types for someone as personally outstanding as you. So don’t look like that!! I’m sure you’ll find someone else!”

He spoke to me with determination and squeezed my shoulders with his hands.

“Finn, thank you. But… I don’t think I can look at anyone other than him right now. Anyway, I need some time to sort out my feelings.”

When I said that, he released his hands from my shoulders and looked down.

“Such a… sad face and yet you laugh…”

His mutter disappears into the quiet room.

The cold tea on the table ripples slightly.

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