A Warm Place

XX 'Tis a Fine Day

"What a nice weather~"

When I exit the front door, I look up to see the refreshing blue sky extending to the horizon. It's not just the sky; my heart has also cleared up, which puts in me a good mood. Hiori and Tsubaki have reconciled yesterday, and it feels like a weight has been removed from my mind. I stretch my body, as I breathe the fresh air.

"I hope that tomorrow will be clear, too."

Tomorrow is the day of the high school entrance ceremony. I may have experienced it once before, but when I think of the new encounters, the new class, and new adolescent days... it makes me look forward to them.

Which reminds me, in my past life, the principal's speech during the ceremony was so long that I ended up nodding off. I think I headbutted the back of the person sitting in front of me, and it turned out a bit rowdy after that. This time, I'll need to focus not to fall asleep.

"Hinata-san."
"Yahoo-"

When I hear the sound of the door opening from my neighbor's house, Tsubaki suddenly shows up and spots me right away. I wave my hand to her, and her eyes make a gleam as she happily trots over to me. Hmm, she's as cute as a puppy. It's as if I can see her bushy tail.

"Good noon, Hinata-san!"
"Good noon."

She greets me while smiling like an angel. My, she's the very definition of happiness! And thus, I end up feeling happy, too. Like I thought, Tsubaki is the cutest when she smiles. It's the best. Nay, it's out of this world!

"Hinata-san, are you going out somewhere?"
"Yup, I was intending to visit Tsubaki's home to deliver something."
"Eh?"

I hand it to her hands while she's still astonished. It's the confectionery recipe books that I borrowed from her the other day.

"Thank you for lending them to me. I managed to learn a lot, and it was fun reading them."
"Are you sure, returning them already?"
"Yup. I already noted down the recipes that I liked, and being able to read them once is more than enough for me."
"I see. I'm glad to know that you enjoyed it."
"And, here."

I hand Tsubaki a pouch with a cute character printed on it.

"What is this?"
"It's my new maple cookies-an original recipe that I made using the recipe books as reference. Just consider it as my thanks... even though it's actually a trial product."

When I make an evil grin, she giggles.

"Thank you very much. The confections that Hinata-san makes are delicious. I'm looking forward to eating this."
"Hehe-m, it might be a miss this time, you know?"

At any rate, this is still a prototype. I did taste it myself. Mother and my sister also gave their passing grades, so it should be okay, I think.

"It's fine. I'd be glad to receive anything Hinata-san makes."

Being told that with such a breathtaking smile is naturally rising the temperature of my face. Kuuh...!! Anyone would feel embarrassed if they're in my situation!

Feeling shy and bashful, I want to turn my face away. But for some reason, I can't avert my eyes from her face. Moreover, I have the feeling that Tsubaki's face looks somewhat flushed, too.

"W-well, I'm glad to know you're happy about it, I think? A-ahaha."

As a result of my hard struggle to escape from this strange mood, I somehow manage to say those haphazard words. I don't really hate this kind of mood, but I can't get used to it. Should I say, I just don't have the experience. Or maybe, I'm just poor at dealing with this situation.