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I lacked resolve.

Lately, that thought has been constantly in my mind.

Autumn passed, then winter, and once again, spring arrived.

It was the spring of my third year. The same season I first met Iroha. The third time this season came around. I knew it was time for me to make a decision.

Iroha had long since resolved to stay by my side. She’d begun to say things like “we’ll always be together,” a phrase she had never used in the past.

I wanted to stay with her forever too.

I believed we could always be together. Yet, decades’ worth of fear kept holding me back.

I couldn’t remain like this.

I no longer wanted to repeat time. I’d accumulated too many memories to simply erase everything.

The sensation of hugging her as I confessed my love, the warmth of our kisses, the thrill that made my heart race—I could remember them all vividly. And each time I recalled them, I felt happy, wishing for more moments like those with Iroha.

I could no longer suppress my feelings of love.

But how could I overcome my fear? Without a firm pillar in my heart, I felt I would break too easily.

Building that pillar seemed impossible. What would give me the reassurance to move forward? I thought I needed some sort of proof.

Proof. But what kind of proof?

“Sorry for dragging you along, Inazuki-san. Thanks for helping me pick out a present,” Haneda said with a grin.

Her red hair swayed as the paper bag she carried rustled.

Today, Haneda had invited me to help her choose a birthday gift for a friend. I wondered why she had picked me, but she seemed to read my thoughts as she glanced at me knowingly.

“Out of all my friends, you seemed the best at picking out presents. I mean, look at Iroha—she’s not exactly reliable with this stuff, right?”

When had she started calling Iroha by name?

There was a time when Iroha disappeared for a month. Perhaps she had been staying at Haneda’s place during that time.

A faint unease swirled within me.

I didn’t believe for a second that Iroha would be taken from me, but even so, the thought of her growing closer to someone else made me more afraid of moving time forward.

I told myself I trusted her. But deep down, did I?

Even with all the love she had expressed to me, was there a part of me that doubted her?

“As thanks, let me buy you a drink. How about that café over there?”

She pointed at a nondescript coffee shop. I had no objections, so I let her treat me to a cup of coffee, and we took a seat.

From the terrace seating, I could see the bustling city.

On weekends, the streets always seemed more crowded, and the people walking by looked unusually cheerful, like they were enjoying themselves.

As I sipped my coffee absentmindedly, my gaze fell on a shop window displaying a dress.

A wedding dress.

Perhaps the shop offered rentals. My eyes became fixed on the sight.

“What are you looking at?”

Haneda’s question snapped me back to reality, and I turned toward her.

She was sipping on a drink that looked far too sweet.

The way she crossed her legs and propped her elbow on the table gave off an air of casual confidence—like she owned the place. I took another sip of my coffee.

“A bridal shop? So, Inazuki-san, you’re into that sort of thing too?”

If asked, I’d have to admit I was.

Now that I knew Iroha’s wish to be a bride was sincere, I found myself wanting to experience such a ceremony with her.

I had never cared about weddings before. But if Iroha wanted it, then I wanted it too.

Still, I couldn’t help but feel that the ritual itself wasn’t the essence of her desire. When she talked about being a bride, what she truly meant was sharing a mutual, unspoken love—saying “I love you” and hearing it returned.

…Isn’t that already what we have?

And yet, without the ceremony, we couldn’t call ourselves “brides.”

Maybe I should rent a wedding dress?

No, that would be…

“Well, a little.”
“Hoh.”

Haneda replied, sounding neither interested nor disinterested.

Even though we occasionally met up like this, I still didn’t feel like I completely understood her.

Not as much of an enigma as Iroha had been, but Haneda’s thoughts were often hard to read.

“Speaking of Iroha,” Haneda started, twirling her drink’s straw idly, her gaze shifting to me. “She once mentioned seeing a wedding at school.”
“Oh, right. Our school chapel can host weddings, can’t it?”
“Yeah, that’s what she said. Apparently, it was stunningly beautiful. I remember being a little surprised to learn she admired something like that.”

It wasn’t just the ceremony or the dress she admired.

Iroha must have been captivated by the idea of promising eternal love.

Perhaps I felt the same way.

Making a vow didn’t guarantee it would be fulfilled, but the act of making it carried its own significance. By putting such feelings into words and affirming them together, you could bind your hearts while finding reassurance and comfort.

That’s what I believed anyway.

I wasn’t sure about making her wear the dress, but…

Maybe the act of making vows wasn’t such a bad idea.

“Iroha’s surprisingly girlish in some ways.”
“So, you can tell from being close to her?”

Close to her. Close?

No, there’s no hidden meaning behind that.

…Right?

“Well, we’re friends. I know her to some extent.”
“That’s so.”

Did Haneda know Iroha and I lived together?

At the very least, Iroha seemed intent on keeping it a secret, but who knows.

Not that it would be an issue if someone found out, but if anyone tried to take Iroha from me, it’d be a problem.

“She’s got a pretty childish side, so if you approach her at her level and do stuff together, she’ll be thrilled.”

Why bring that up now?

Did she see through what I was planning?

Or… was she trying to stake her claim?

Could it be that Haneda liked Iroha too? That she was planning to take her from me?

No, surely not. But it wasn’t impossible, was it?

“As thanks for today…”
“What?”
“As thanks for today, I thought I’d share some insider info about Iroha. But if you’re going to be all suspicious, I’ll just stop.”

Was it that obvious? I sipped my coffee.

The bitterness helped ground me, even if just a little.

Forcing a smile, I turned back to Haneda.

“Relax, I’m kidding. Anyway, that’s just how it is. Keep it in mind if you’re planning to do something for her.”

At some point, Haneda had finished her entire drink. Something that sweet, downed so fast—it was impressive in its own right.

I took another sip of my still-hot coffee.

Haneda flashed me a breezy smile, likely the exact opposite of the expression I had been directing at her.

Iroha once described herself as a jealous person, but my jealousy far surpassed hers. I couldn’t bear the thought of her gaze not being fixed on me.

Iroha was all I needed.

I wished I could strip away the wings that allowed her to meet others and keep her by my side forever.

To me, Iroha was Iroha, but the strength of my feelings for her this time around was unprecedented. It was only for the Iroha of this timeline.

I’d fallen for her so deeply that it was almost unbearable. More than in the last timeline, and even more than the one before that.

“Noted. …Thanks.”
“Hey, I should be the one thanking you. You’re seriously in love with Iroha, aren’t you?”

I’d been captivated by her for so long.

She was mysterious, hard to figure out, frustrating at times, and yet—

She was the most adorable, unpretentious, and endearing person I’d ever met.

I wanted to see her smile more than anyone else’s.

Even though she rarely smiled properly, her faintest smile was enough to make me happy.

I sometimes wondered if all the time I’ve rewound had been leading me to her.

If this feeling wasn’t eternal, then perhaps eternity itself didn’t exist. My feelings for her wouldn’t change. They couldn’t.

“Yeah. I love her.”

When I smiled, Haneda’s eyes widened before she burst out laughing.

“You know, Inazuki-san, you’re starting to resemble Iroha. It’s great. Just keep being like that, and she’ll fall for you eventually.”

She patted me on the shoulder.

I had changed since I met Iroha.

I had learned to express my feelings properly.

“Let’s head out. You’re probably itching to get back to Iroha anyway,”
“…How much do you know?”
“Who knows? I don’t want to meddle too much, so no comment.”

I followed suit, coffee in hand.

Standing at the same level, huh.

Maybe there was no need to. After all, Iroha and I were similar at our core. We had always seen things from a similar perspective.

If that’s the case, then what I wanted to do and what Iroha wanted to do were probably aligned.

What did I want to do for her right now?

When I thought about it, only one answer came to mind.

This was the only way to push past my hesitation. With newfound resolve, I drained the rest of my coffee in one gulp.

No bitterness could temper the passion swelling within me.

I’ll go back to Iroha.

Exhaling deeply, I began to walk.

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