29 Jin's reason for fighting 5

"……Long time no see."

"I really want to punch you right now, Eastgō-kun. Is that okay?"

Jin thinks, well, of course it is.

"You said you'd contact me. Why did you move?"

"Sorry. My head wasn't working properly."

"I was shocked when the dorm supervisor told me you'd moved."

He can't stop his gaze from wavering.

This was clearly Jin's failure.

A soft mitten slaps his cheek… or rather, grips it.

For a moment, his cheek grows warm.

"It was freezing."

"How long have you been here?"

"…Since morning."

Ah. He thinks, we're alike.

Jin had been searching for her since morning, walking around the hotel district near the convoy.

If Jin had remembered sooner, neither of them would have had to endure this cold.

"Anyway, I've been coming here for the past three days."

"Sorry."

"Where were you?"

"Looking for Kusunoki."

"Why didn't I think of this place first?"

"Sorry."

If he were to make an excuse deliberately.

"I didn't expect you to come from that side."

"Should I say it again, that I'd contact you?"

"I thought it was just polite talk."

"...Tōgō, you've got a pretty lonely set of relationships."

"Leave it."

In truth, most people who'd said things like that to Jin in the past never contacted him again.

But the reason for that didn't matter to him now.

"Was our relationship really one you could just brush off with empty words?"

"If you're going to talk about us, it was landlord and tenant."

"Though I never paid the rent."

"Then it was landowner and squatter."

Something like that.

It wasn't a relationship you could define in writing.

"Was actually kind of enjoyable. Three months."

"Yeah."

"At first, I really just wanted to save money."

"I knew that."

"I was actually looking forward to today."

"Truthfully, I was too."

"But well, it's natural, suddenly being told to leave."

"Natural enough. We were the ones breaking the rules."

"It started by accident, so ending like this isn't unexpected. After all, we were landlord and tenant."

"Yeah. I thought the same."

That was why it ended two weeks ago.

That was acceptable. I accepted it then.

"But still... it's lonely."

Jin felt the same.

"Returning to a hotel room, sitting alone in an empty room."

The cold seeping into his bones was the same for Jin.

"No one to respond to a quiet whisper."

Jin was wounded by the silence.

"Wasn't that normal just a little while ago?"

"...Really."

Jin didn't know Mio's background in detail, but he'd never seen a historian like her before.

He could already predict that the number would not be large—likely just one person, even when investigating other fleets.

"I just wanted to keep going a little longer. They’d say I moved here after meeting Toukou."

"No, really—I’m sorry..."

"Something’s changed. It’s like you wanted to cut ties and change your address."

Her mittened hand, still gripping his cheek, pressed firmly into the flesh.

It wasn’t painful. It wasn’t painful—but the weight behind it made his chest ache.

Jin understood.

That being suddenly avoided would hurt, at least a little.

From Rei’s perspective, who didn’t know his thoughts, it must have seemed like one-sided rejection.

"I never meant it that way. I admit I was careless."

"Then—"

Before she could finish, Jin gently pulled his cheek free from her grip.

He pressed the object he had been holding since before speaking into her palm and closed her fingers around it.

The sensation was clear even through the glove—

“Key…?”

“Just because it’s a single-person dorm doesn’t mean it’s a problem. I wasn’t bothered by it. No—”

He hesitated for a moment before uttering the words.

It wasn’t the content that was the issue.

Only that speaking so openly might have been different from anything he’d done before.

He thought of it only briefly.

“I liked that way of living. I wanted to continue, if possible.”

Still holding her hand, Jin placed his own over hers.

“That’s why I thought it’d be fine elsewhere. I rushed to prepare.”

It was a little embarrassing to say.

He knew, even to himself, that he’d been too hasty.

The distance from the base had increased slightly. Rent had gone up.

Jin had overlooked every other inconvenience just to reclaim those three months.

"Aha... hahaha. Souma-kun really is..."

Listening to Jin's words, Rei laughed.

Laughing, she slipped her free hand into her pocket.

From there, she placed something into Jin's fist—just as she had been done herself.

The texture was unmistakable even through the glove.

A key of some kind.

"Thinking the same way is troublesome."

Or perhaps precisely because their thoughts were so close.

That might be why the two of them were here now, Jin thought.

"Wait—what's this?"

From Rei's words, he understood it was the house key.

But before that, one major obstacle remained.

"How did you get the room?"

A Second Fleet member could not rent a room in the Third Fleet.

Temporary stay was permitted, but permanent residence was not.

So if that had been allowed...

"Changed my ship registry."

Rei said with a shy smile.

Change ship affiliations.

Put simply, it is akin to altering one’s nationality in the old era.

He knows, from knowledge, that it is not so severe.

Yet in this age of cosmic migration, those who never change their ship registry are the majority.

If that is premature—

Then his action was a runaway far exceeding Jin’s.

“You’re saying that so casually…”

“It’s not casual.”

Ling’s eyes peer into Jin’s.

“It’s not casual.”

“I understand.”

How much weight and struggle lay within that decision.

Jin does not know.

Not yet.

But he wants to know.

And he wants her to know.

The reason he found to fight.

That he wants to fight now—for the one behind him (Ling).

“Then, let’s eat as promised. The date changes in an hour, though…”

“Hey, Kusada.”

“What?”

“I like you.”

No绕s, no beating around the bush.

Straight to the point. Simple.

Words stripped of all ornamentation.

Which is why there is no room for misinterpretation.

"Uh... I'm stuck."

Jin was slightly, no—significantly shaken by that reply.

He had believed, based on their prior conversation, that he had the upper hand.

"Stuck...?"

"Yeah. I mean, today's Christmas Eve."

"Yeah."

"And it's a bit of a good time, you know?"

"Yeah?"

The situation wasn't becoming clear.

"So we're going to one of our houses after this and keep our promise to eat dinner, right?"

"That was the plan."

"History shows that people usually go with the flow in moments like this."

"I don't really understand history..."

"Which is why... you should get it."

"No, sorry. I don't get it."

"Then... uh..."

Blushing—unlike from the cold—she looked down, embarrassed.

"Once we're together, there's no way I can stop myself...!"

"No, what the hell do you think I am?"

The gentleman who had not touched her in three months—Jin was shocked by such a reckless statement, not in the way she meant.

"I didn't mean it like that. 'No stopping'—"

"That's not it. It's not because of Tozawa... that's why...!"

Ling tried to convey her frustration, her voice strained.

"It's because of Tozawa... that's why...!"

She stretched up. Pressed her lips to his.

Shared the chill of their bodies.

Seconds. Maybe tens of seconds.

After pulling away, Ling lowered her gaze, whispering.

"I'm not sure I can stop myself."

"I've thought that since our first meeting... Kusunoki is pure motion."

"Life's limited. If I wait around, I might never get to do what I want."

"...Yeah. That's right."

Saying that, Jin now bent down, bringing his face close to Rei's.

This time, they exchanged saliva for a full minute.

"Was going to stop it—thought I could, anyway."

That was only true if one side alone was turning the wheel.

With both sides turning, a single brake wouldn't halt the rotation.

"Um... about that... reply just now... I'd appreciate it..."

◆ ◆ ◆

"Hey, why?"

"Because I couldn't eat it on the 24th."

"Hmm? Not really getting it."

Jin felt uneasy about being understood so thoroughly and forced a summary.

"Anyway, that's how it is where I come from."

"Being with everyone is better..."

She said it with such deep sadness.

Her eyebrows seemed to form a frown.

"Next year. Yeah, next year. Time doesn't rewind."

"I understand."

Yet—Jin thought.

There was still something lacking in her spirit.

That was what worried him.