Lonely Rock for the Blind

"... "

Nekoyashiki Haru's eyesight had long been gone.

In the nothingness before me, only the distant sound source emits the sunny voice of my former childhood friend.

It seems to emit beautiful colors slightly.

But... so bland.

Her invitation was so close at hand that Nekayashiki Haru's purple eyes narrowed slightly under his sunglasses.

"I reject."

"Huh?" ×3

Everyone except Yamada Ryo was stunned at the same time, and Ijichi Hongka put down her hand.

"I thought you would just agree to join."

"In my opinion, joining a band is not such a simple thing. So far, I have not officially joined any band. Even if someone I am close to invited me, I still refused."

Nekoyashiki Haru tilted his head slightly.

"If you join directly, in my opinion, it will not be good for you or me."

"I think everyone wants you to join."

"It's not such a simple matter of likes and dislikes. Sorry Hongxia, it's not possible now."

"... "

The atmosphere among the crowd suddenly became quiet and the atmosphere began to become solemn.

"Ahahaha... that can't be helped."

Ijichi Hongxia sat down.

"You said it's not possible now, which means it will be possible later?"

Yamada Ryo suddenly asked.

“I’m not that important.”

"Don't answer questions that don't concern you."

"Ah...yeah, maybe."

Nekoyashiki Haru nodded and said.

Yamada Ryo nodded and looked at the lost Ijichi Nikka beside him.

"There's still a chance. As long as we can convince this guy to join our performance, everything will be fine."

Ijichi Hongxia was stunned for a moment, then nodded.

"Ok!"

Goto Ichiri looked at Nekoyashiki Haru quietly.

Mr. Nekoyashiki...seems like he's worried about something.

what is it then?

Goto Ichiri didn't know, she had no idea about social issues.

She only has a very accurate intuition

color…

For some reason, the word flickered in her mind.

"Ahem! Okay, okay everyone! Keep going, next is..."

Ijichi Hongxia continued to roll the dice.

...

……

.........

Snap, snap, snap, snap.

Walking on the way home, Nekoyashiki Haru's blind stick tapped the ground.

"... "

He slowly moved towards the walls surrounding the road, then gently touched the wall with his hand. Using this as a guide, Nekoyashiki Haru continued walking towards his home.

"It's so hard."

The sudden voice behind him made Nekayashiki Haru stop.

"Yamada-san?"

"it's me."

Yamada Ryo walked over, gently hooked Nekayashiki Haru's hand, and took him towards his home.

"You came here specifically to help me?"

"What do you think?"

"No, it's probably because I refused to join the band today so he wanted to tell me something. He probably said to Hong Xia in a joking way that something happened at home?"

"You unexpectedly understand me?"

"It's just a good guess. Are you using someone in your family who's in imminent danger of death as an excuse?"

"This time it's a dog."

“…This time…”

Nekoyashiki Haru didn't continue talking, but followed Yamada Ryo quietly.

"Are you distancing yourself from Hong Xia?"

Suddenly, Yamada Ryo asked.

Gah~

There are still crows at this time.

“There was no deliberate alienation.”

Nekayashiki Haru said calmly.

"Do you mean occasionally? Avoiding when you can get closer, something like that?"

"almost."

"... "

Yamada Ryo stopped and looked back at Nekoyashiki Haru.

"why?"

"I also want to ask why. Is there anything wrong with me and Hong Xia keeping a certain distance?"

Nekayashiki Haru's voice was emotionless, completely different from his usual joking tone when chatting in [Stars].

"Are you... unexpectedly quite indifferent?"

Yamada Ryo asked hesitantly.

"I don't think so."

Nekoyashiki Haru leaned against the wall next to him.

"Hong Xia really shouldn't get too close to me, in every sense of the word."

The purple eyes were slightly lowered under the sunglasses.

"Afraid she'd fall in love with you? Is that a reason why you're blind and wouldn't be a good choice for her?"

“These are just some of them.”

Nekoyashiki Haru shook his head.

"Hong Xia and I have been apart for a long time. You know this, right?"

"... "

"For several years, many years, most ordinary people would have forgotten me long ago. Even if they still remember me, it wouldn't be a very deep memory. I didn't come back to look for Hong Xia for this reason. Even I felt that things had changed when I met Hong Xia again."

"so?"

"But Hongxia is different. I heard she often uses my name to talk about you?"

"I won't talk about it now, probably because you're back."

"Well, that is to say, in the past few years, Hong Xia has always remembered me and even mentioned me all the time. It can be said that she has a deep memory of me.

Nekoyashiki Haru nodded.

"Is there anything wrong?"

Yamada Ryo asked.

"There's nothing wrong with it, it's just not normal. There's no sense of alienation between Hongxia and me when we meet again."

"Hongxia is very gentle, you should know that"

"Even in the gentleness, there's a sense of distance. It's been a long time since we last met, and I'm homesick. I didn't feel any of these feelings from Hong Xia. It's as if we just spoke the day before we met. If we meet again, even if we had a good relationship before, it will take some time for us to get familiar with each other again before we can restore our previous relationship."

Yamada Ryo was stunned for a moment.

"what do you want to say in the end?"

"...Hong Xia ran away in anger after she found out I was blind. Can you understand what's wrong here?"

"What's wrong with this?"

Nekoyashiki Haru strokes the blind stick.

"Your reaction is too strong. If you were suddenly told that one of your childhood playmates had lost his sight, or even died, what would you think? Please answer me seriously."

Yamada Ryo was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and thought for a while.

"…sigh?"

"It should be... a sigh. Even if that person was standing right in front of me, I should have just sighed with a little sadness. But Hongxia's reaction was very intense. After I made a joke about her, she even called me an idiot and ran away."

Nekoyashiki Haru faced Yamada Ryo, who suddenly felt like he was being stared at.

This guy is obviously blind?

“The span of time doesn’t seem to make sense anymore.”

"...Perhaps, your position in her heart is just that high?"

Yamada Ryo asked.

“…I’m just a childhood friend, Yamada-san.”

Nekoyashiki Haru said.

"... "

Yamada Ryo was silent.

"I didn't make any unforgettable promises with her, nor did we experience any life-or-death crises with her. I was just a playmate, not even the only one. She also had Sister Xingge and other friends."

"... "

"You understand the weird feeling... If I hold a high position in Hong Xia's heart, where does that position come from?"

Nekoyashiki Haru suddenly smiled.

"You can't be coveting my beauty."

"maybe?"

"That's really bad."

Nekayashiki Haru shook his head and continued.

"This high status that comes from nowhere, I can only understand that Hong Xia has some kind of [obsession] with me, which is why she cares so much about my affairs."