Heroine Life

Chapter 20: My and Her Way of Justice

Each time I exhale, I see my white breath leave my mouth.
My gaze follows it as I look up to the sky. The sunlight pouring down through the trees was more dazzling than I expected, so I quickly looked back down.
According to the weather forecast, the weather should be good all day. The perfect condition for being outdoors.

"It's a perfect day for a date. I'm glad it's sunny."
"Eh? ......Ah, that's right. Thank goodness."

I look away from the smiling Yuzuha. I can't calm down and can't bring myself to look at her.
It's embarrassing, so I prefer if she didn't call it a date. Still, I was undoubtedly the one who invited her so I have to swallow my words and accept the situation.
Romance is something that I always thought I would never be involved in, so I could have never imagined that I would be the one to invite someone out like this. Life sure is full of surprises.
If going out together is called a date, then this was definitely a date. However, this is probably a bit different from what most people envision when that word comes to mind.
Yuzuha must have thought the same. She's been in a good mood ever since I asked her out the day before yesterday.
Even now as she walks along the empty path,  she is smiling happily and enjoying herself.

"But, are you sure this is where you want to be?"
"Yes, I'm sure. Thank you for listening to my request."
"As long as that's what you want..."

I invited her on the spur of the moment, so I had no plans and didn't even have a place in mind.
I checked the internet and manga for ideas but I was overloaded with information and couldn't make up my mind. In the end, I asked Yuzuha if there was any place she wanted to go and received an unexpected reply.
I had no problem with it, so I agreed.

"......Is a run-of-the-mill mountain really a suitable place for a date?"

The clean air, the sound of the stream, the chirping of birds, and the rustling of trees ---- we are walking on a mountain overflowing with nature.

The place Yuzuha said she wanted to go to was the small, nondescript mountain near our house. She said she wanted to climb it.
The path is a bit hard to climb since it's not often used by humans, but even someone with no stamina like me can reach the top in an hour.
In fact, I've already gone up there once by myself. It was abundant in nature, but I don't think young people nowadays would really find anything of interest there.
There are no rare creatures or famous tourist spots. It is just a place surrounded by nature.
It's not quite the kind of date I had imagined based on my limited knowledge.
Still, I like nature, so I'm not going to complain. Is Yuzuha really fine with a place like this though?
Maybe I'm getting worried for no reason again.

"As long I'm with you, I'll be happy wherever I am."
"............I see."

Looks like I didn't need to worry after all.
Still, how could she just say something so embarrassing so smoothly?
Come to think of it, she did come from France, the country of romance. Maybe this is normal there.
Up until now, I've ignored her words of affection but given the current situation, that will be too rude.
I'm happy about her affection, but at the same time, I have no idea how I'm supposed to react.

"Chiharu?"
"Sorry, it's nothing. Don't worry about it."
"Are you all right? Your face looks a little red, could it be that you have another fever..."
"I-it's just your imagination. I'm perfectly fine."

I dodge Yuzuha's incoming hand when she tries to touch my forehead and put a half-step's distance between us.

"I'm fine, so let's just move on. We're still only halfway to the top."
"If you say so. But if you're not feeling well,  please tell me right away."
"Got it."

My physical condition is not a problem at all. In fact, I feel lighter than ever.
Yuzuha seems to sense this and backs down easily despite how much she usually worries about me.
I was thinking about what I would do if Yuzuha got worried and forced me to climb down the mountain right away, but I'm relieved I managed to avoid that.

"...Ah, Chiharu. Look at that."
"That?"

Yuzuha suddenly stopped and pointed in a certain direction. Looks like she found something.

"Aah, that's the komurasaki... wait, that's not quite it. It has some fruit attached so it should be the Japanese beautyberry."

She pointed in the direction where the beautiful purple Japanese beautyberries bore fruit.
Some of them were on the branches, but most of them had fallen to the ground.
Yuzuha picked up a small fallen fruit and looked at it with curiosity.

"They look like wild grapes. Are these edible?"
"There shouldn't be any problems if you try to eat it, but I heard they're not really suitable as food. They can be used to feed birds."
"Is that so? What a pity, they look delicious."
"Well, there aren't many edible wild plants this time of year. There should be more in spring, like the butterbur, rocambole, and kogomi."

Even though I said they're edible, I don't think I'd like the taste. I generally don't like eating vegetable-like things.

"Impressive. You sure know a lot, Chiharu."
"I got most of my knowledge from books, so it's not a big of a deal. ...... Oh, be careful not to touch that. It's dangerous.
And the moss over there is slippery if you step on it, so try to avoid it and walk in a different area."
"Fufufu, okay."
"......What? What are you laughing about all of a sudden?"
"It's nothing."
"Alright then. How suspicious."

Whenever Yuzuha sees a plant she's never seen before, her eyes would light up and she'd ask me about it.
She took multiple pictures with her digital camera. She seems to be enjoying this in her own way.

"Chiharu, Chiharu!"

Yuzuha, who seems to have found something again, calls me excitedly.
Instead of her usual mature smile, she's smiling innocently like a small child.
While I was watching her and thinking about how rare it is to see her like this, I slowed down and Yuzuha became impatient with my dawdling and hurried over to me.
On her way to me, she trips over a tree root and her body tilts and she begins to fall.

"Kyah!?"
"......Yuzuha!!"