Chapter 25: Where Did the Signal Go?

I tried jiggling the doorknob a few times, but it didn’t budge an inch. There’s a window, but when I opened the curtain, I found it boarded up tight.

Even if I could open it, this is the third floor of an apartment building. The moment I stepped outside, I’d be diving headfirst straight into the earth.

No matter how I looked at it, getting out of this room on my own seemed completely impossible.

Seriously, what is this situation?

Rio-chan… why did she suddenly do something like this…?

『Tsubasa-chan, with how your brain works, you’re obviously not human, right? Yeah, I knew it. The truth is, you’re—actually part of the albatross clan!』

『I can’t leave you alone, so I’m going to keep you indoors, okay? You’re an endangered species and a precious friend, after all. I’ll take proper care of you, so don’t worry!』

So… that’s what this is?

She thinks I’m some flapping seabird from off the coast of Japan?

Am I just supposed to accept that kind of reality?

Come on, Rio-chan. Please realize it.

The truth is, I don’t have wings. I can speak.

I’m not a bird who understands human speech—I’m just a human with a birdbrain!

In the end, the door finally opened an hour later.

“Not feeling too cramped, are you?”

Standing in the doorway was Rio-chan, holding a tray.

It had a colorful salad and a hamburger steak on it.

…Wait, food?

“Oh, this? …Sorry, Tsubasa-chan. I wanted to make something fancier, but this is the one dish I can make taste really good. Oh, but the sauce is homemade too! I put my heart into it!”

Rio-chan looked just like always… no, even brighter than usual.

Like nothing had happened, she went over to the table in the room and started setting out the salad and hamburger steak.

It was all so normal, I couldn’t help but hesitate.

It made me start to wonder if maybe… just maybe, I’d misunderstood everything.

“Rio.”

“What is it, Tsubasa-chan?”

There was Rio-chan, smiling right in front of me.

Still confused, I…

“Tell me, Rio.”

I sat down in front of the meal she’d served and asked for an explanation.

I was hungry anyway. Yeah.

“…Let’s eat, okay?”

“Okay.”

With steam and aroma rising in the air, we joined our hands and said Itadakimasu, then picked up our chopsticks.

I split the hamburger with my chopsticks and juices seeped out.

When I took a bite, the rich flavor of the meat spread through my mouth and burst like a firework.

Wait—this is really good!?

“…Delicious.”

“I’m glad.”

A gentle smile spread across her face, and I could sense her relief.

She even did a tiny fist pump—she really meant it.

“You’re good… at cooking.”

“My best dish is hamburger steak.”

I munched away, alternating bites with salad.

My mouth is small, so I can’t eat fast, but my chopsticks kept moving steadily.

“…What?”

After a while of quietly munching away, I finally noticed.

Rio-chan was staring straight at me.

Watching every motion, like she was observing how I ate.

“I’m looking at you, Tsubasa-chan.”

She hadn’t touched her own food much at all—resting her cheek on her hand, just watching me.

Once I realized it, I started to feel weirdly self-conscious.

Fidgety. My chopsticks paused.

“Tsubasa-chan?”

“…Why?”

My hands stopped, and I came back to my senses.

I remembered what I’d forgotten while lost in the taste.

This wasn’t some yay, handmade food from a girl! moment.

I needed to ask—why had she locked me in here!?

“The key… why?”

“…Ah. Yeah.”

Rio-chan was smiling—a vague, uncertain smile.

Not the sparkly, radiant kind she gave when I said the food was delicious.

“…Do you want to go home?”

“…Not really.”

An awkward pause settled between us.

A strange kind of tension slowly began to spread.

And yet, Rio-chan’s expression didn’t falter in the slightest.

“—Then that’s fine, isn’t it?”

Huh?

“You said it yourself—‘Let’s always be together!’”

…???

Still smiling, Rio-chan declared it as if there was no other possible answer.

“Together…”

“Yup, together!”

Her cheerful voice swept away the heavy atmosphere, as if trying to cover it up. Like she was asking, You understand, right? We’re together, right?

From that desperate tone, even I could feel how serious she was.

…Wait, is that what this is about?

—Is she asking me to live together?

But we’re not even dating yet!?

“You didn’t… ask.”

There wasn’t even a confession—we haven’t said anything like that to each other! Isn’t this kind of… too fast?

…Well, I mean.

I kind of get how she feels, though.

“I just did.”

But still—there’s an order to these things, right?

…Back on the rooftop, when I made Rio-chan cry, I promised myself I’d take things in the right order from now on.

“So, it’s fine, right?”

She said it like it was already decided.

I shook my head lightly. Not to say she was wrong, but to protest—Don’t decide this on your own.

“Rio… no fair.”

I tacked on a gentle scolding at the end, like I was saying wait a second.

Like—Hey, I’ve got my own side in this too.

“Tsubasa-chan?”

“I…”

Whether we’re both girls in this life, whether Rio-chan is really okay with that—none of it matters anymore.

Because I’ve decided to be honest with myself.

I’m not going to hide my feelings or make her anxious anymore.

I’ll do it properly—confess.

So, I want her to wait until I’m ready. It’s my first time, too—and it’s something that’s going to stay with me for the rest of my life.

No need to rush. Let’s walk forward together, okay?

At our own pace. Just the two of us.

It’s still too soon, Rio-chan.
I wanted to tell you that rushing could make us stumble.

And maybe… also to buy myself a bit more time—until I’m truly ready to face it.

“…A caged bird?”

Don’t treat me like some albatross.
I’m not an endangered species, and I don’t want to become a burden to you, Rio-chan.

That was also part of what I wanted to say.
Because it was starting to feel like I was being treated as someone who can’t live on their own.

“…That’s not it. That’s not it at all, Tsubasa-chan.”

Her company-face smile finally crumbled.

Her expression fell away, leaving Rio-chan’s face completely bare.

Not transparent, but pure white.

Her lips trembled just a little.

“…Wait, was I… Was I trying to break your wings because I didn’t want you to become an angel?”

She muttered in a tiny voice, like she was talking to herself.

Something was swirling inside Rio-chan—circling endlessly.

Her pale face stayed frozen, but her thoughts were racing.

“…Rio?”

It felt like her heart was starting to get lost, and I called out to her, trying to stop it.

Though I didn’t know if my voice even reached her…

With her head lowered and her gaze unfocused, she kept muttering softly.

“Tsubasa-chan isn’t an angel. Not yet. So she can’t fly, she shouldn’t fly.”

“But I can’t stop worrying. The ‘what-ifs’ don’t care about how Tsubasa-chan feels. What if God notices her, what if she gets into an accident—just thinking about it makes me so, so anxious.”

“…Wait, am I worried about Tsubasa-chan? Or do I just want to get rid of my own anxiety…? I… I don’t know anymore.”

It was like she was drowning in a sea of thoughts.

Watching her pale face and her hands start to tremble made me feel incredibly restless.

“Rio, I’m right here…”

I stepped behind her and gently wrapped my arms around her.

You don’t have to worry alone.
You do care about the word “together,” don’t you?

There was a faint scent of shampoo.
The same scent I have right now.

Hey, I smell the same too, don’t I?
…Can’t that make you feel safe?

Couldn’t it be proof that I won’t disappear?

“…Yeah. You’re right. I—I misunderstood.”

Her hand, the one wrapped around my neck, gently touched me.
The hand that had gone cold from the overpowered air conditioner had started to warm up just a bit.

Did my feelings reach you?
I wonder, Rio-chan…

“…I’m sorry.”

But—I guess they didn’t.

Rio-chan whispered that, then suddenly stood up.
Thrown off by the motion, I fell to the floor with a thud.

“I have nothing—so I don’t want anyone else to take Tsubasa-chan away from me.”

That was all she said before walking out of the room.

Along with the loud clack of the door locking behind her.

I could only watch in stunned silence.

What was left in the room… was just me—and Rio-chan’s untouched dinner.

…The hamburger had gone cold.

---

Suddenly, it dawned on me.

I love Tsubasa-chan.
There’s no doubt about that—I truly, deeply treasure her.

…But there’s selfishness mixed in with that feeling.
Even with Tsubasa-chan, I haven’t been able to care for her purely.

That realization hit me hard.

A room to hide Tsubasa-chan from God.
A place to shield her from everything bad, to keep her from becoming an angel.

But earlier—I felt it.

When she hugged me, it was like I was wrapped in wings.

Invisible wings of an angel were the ones comforting me.

And that’s when I finally realized, far too late.

Tsubasa-chan isn’t trying to become an angel.
She already is one.

She fell from heaven for me—just to be by my side like this.

That thought made my chest tighten.
I felt like my heart was being filled with cocoa—warm and gentle.

I was drowning in her pure kindness.

But then I turned that question on myself.

What have I given back to Tsubasa-chan?

I have nothing. I’m just a plain, ordinary person without any real strengths.

Something hollow and pitiful inside me is just barely keeping me going.

That’s who I am—barely managing my own life, let alone anyone else’s.

So then… what am I doing right now?

I became aware of it.
The ugly truth about myself came into focus, clearer than ever.

—In the end, it’s all just for my own sake.

I admitted it aloud with a soft breath.

I wasn’t disappointed. I think I’d already sensed it deep down.
But realizing it fully made it even scarier.

I couldn’t help but feel like I wasn’t good enough for Tsubasa-chan.
That if someone came along who could love her even more, they’d take everything from me.

I was too stained—too tainted—to ever believe with confidence that she’d stay by my side forever.

“…Tsubasa-chan, why do you love me?”

Protecting me from everything bad… that’s only part of it.

The truth is—I just wanted to be the only one Tsubasa-chan looked at.

Even though I can’t find any value in myself… Tsubasa-chan says she loves me.

I wanted to be someone Tsubasa-chan needed.
I wanted to be someone she chose.

And I didn’t want to give that right to anyone else.

Because Tsubasa-chan was the only one who found something inside me.
The only one who ever did.

So I locked her away.

Like a treasure—so she’d never fade, never change.

…I don’t have the confidence to be loved.

I can’t stay as Tsubasa-chan’s “forever.”