Yuria opened her eyes wide and stared at the man before her. Then she shook her head.
"no..."
His words were nothing more than a pleasant-sounding sham. This time, too, I thought he was just saying it to make me feel better.
"What's pretty about me?"
It's not pretty at all.
Inside and out.
None of it is okay.
Every time I looked in the mirror, my list of shortcomings grew, and I felt like I wasn't pretty enough, leaving a scar on my heart. After all, there were many people prettier and more beautiful than me.
So Yuria shook her head and denied Ricardo's words. "I'm not pretty," she said.
“What’s pretty? It’s stupid and foolish… It would be more correct to say that a rock is pretty.”
"I think I'm ugly myself, so how much more intuitive would it be to Ricardo looking at me?" Yuria said cautiously, her voice thick with fear.
"Your hair is as pale as a faded rose, and you get irritated, suspicious, and cry every day over trivial things. You're not pretty at all. Even I can see how many people are prettier than me, and you say things like that."
Sitting on the railing, Ricardo stared intently at Yuria with a small smile. He let his hair, blown by the northern wind, fall down calmly, his eyes studying Yuria intently.
"hmm..."
Ricardo's low voice echoed with a slight snort. Ricardo spoke to Yuria with a small question.
"Is that so? I don't think so. It's strange."
Ricardo's voice carried a small thrill as he took a step closer to Yuria. He stepped over the line he had drawn, as if the line was invisible.
Yuria shook her head in denial.
"That's a lie."
"Is that so?"
Even though I wanted to tell him not to come, that annoying man seemed completely unwilling to do so. He was knocking on the door of my heart, as if pushing him away would only bring him closer.
'why...?'
If it were me, you wouldn't pay attention to me like this, but the question 'why?' keeps pounding in my chest and shouting at me to open the door.
Just misunderstanding it.
Ricardo's gentle voice, reaching out to me, whom he had hated, resonated deeply with Yuria.
I wish you would just curse at me instead.
If only he had been more eloquent, saying that he had suffered all this because of you, I would have felt better. 'Why...' Yuria's heart ached, as she felt no reciprocation.
Ricardo spoke in his usual sweet, candy-coated voice.
"I like Yuria's pink hair. Others might say it looks like a faded rose, but that's true. I like Yuria's hair because it looks like a flower that just bloomed."
"..."
"And I love Yuria's pink eyes so much. They are like jewels, clear and pure, and they comfort me even without saying a word."
And then...
Ricardo continued his praise of Yuria with a gentle smile. He compared the complexes he'd always hated to something wonderful, saying, "This is the kind of person I see Yuria as."
Ricardo's conversation continued without pause, as if he were saying something obvious.
'why...?'
As Ricardo's praise continued, the questions that rose in Yuria's chest didn't easily subside. Her heart pounded, the question "why?" tore at her, and a sorrowful feeling of guilt filled her.
Knowing everything.
Because Ricardo's confidence as he spoke while shouldering everything on his own was heartbreaking.
"And Yuria has big breasts... Oh no. That was too perverted. I'm sorry."
Yuria clenched her fists and said as she looked at Ricardo, who was covering his mouth with his palm.
"...Aren't you upset?"
I asked him the question that was welling up inside me, as he asked me with tearful eyes, "Yes?"
"Why... are you saying that? I haven't done anything for you, so why are you saying such nice things about me?"
"..."
"I... I know now. Why Ricardo treated me that way. I don't understand it, and there's still a lot I don't know, but I know why Ricardo treated me so badly."
Yuria lowered her head in a surge of emotion and spoke to Ricardo.
"however…."
Because I really don't know.
“But! I don’t understand why Ricardo is so kind to me. I don’t understand why Ricardo, who is hated by me and who actually helped me, is so kind to me…!”
"Aren't you upset?"
If I were you.
"If it were me!"
If it were me, I don't think I could do that even if I died. I'd be so scared that I'd push it away, thinking I had to live.
"I must be so mad and hateful. Why are you making that face? Why!"
Ricardo looked at Yuria with a bitter smile. He simply kept his mouth shut, staring at Yuria's clenched fist with a wistful expression.
"I am..."
Ricardo opens his mouth slightly.
"I think so."
He speaks his thoughts in a calm voice.
“If there are good people, wouldn’t there be bad people so that they can shine more brightly?”
"..."
"I was worried that if I was half-assedly good, wouldn't the truly good people suffer? Since I was going to live a bad life anyway, I thought it would be better to do what I wanted. I think I held back on my words."
"Wouldn't it be nice if at least one person recognized me... Wouldn't it be nice if I could feel less lonely and less tired?"
"Um... That's right. I guess I was too old-fashioned to think that far ahead. I thought maybe my existence was actually poisonous."
Sometimes.
"Sometimes I think that way. I wonder if I've been a nuisance. In a way, I guess that's true."
Yuria couldn't understand Ricardo's foolish act. But Ricardo stubbornly continued to sway Yuria, as if he didn't care if she didn't understand.
Ricardo's deep, deep red color begins to stain Yuria. Ricardo's color begins to spread to Yuria.
"That's why I like Yuria. No matter how wronged or sad she is, she's always kind and steadfast. Sometimes she's a bit of a pushover, but the way she sacrifices herself is so admirable. It's something I couldn't do even if I died."
"..."
"Well, the biggest reason is because Yuria is pretty."
"Haha. Was that too direct?" Ricardo chuckled softly as he carefully stepped down from the railing. Step by step, leaving footprints on the snow-covered veranda, he approached Yuria, carefully reaching out and touching her cheek.
"Don't cry."
"Turn it off..."
"I'm keeping my promise."
“I couldn’t protect anything….”
"It was a promise I made unilaterally from the beginning."
A promise made unilaterally without veto.
-I will protect you.
Yuria burst into tears as she saw Ricardo still remembering that promise.
Why didn't I believe it?
Why didn't I think about it a little more?
If only you had been a little more open-minded.
If only I had trusted her more as much as I loved her, I wouldn't have felt this pain. He burst into tears, blaming himself for plucking the flower blooming in his hazy heart.
"are you okay...?"
Yuria looked at Ricardo and asked.
He asked with affectionate eyes, remembering the past times he had hurt Ricardo. He remembered the wounds he had inflicted with his own hands.
"I hurt Ricardo... Are you okay?"
Ricardo nodded and answered.
"it's okay."
Yuria asked again.
This time, he asked with a sense of cherishment, remembering the heart that had broken Ricardo's heart.
“You felt wronged and had a hard time because of me… Are you really okay?”
"Of course. You can do it as many times as you want."
"Because of me..."
Yuria's apologies continued unabated. She repeated them endlessly, cried, and asked Ricardo's opinion until the northern snows piled up. She had nothing left to apologize for, and she continued to ask Ricardo's opinion.
I asked, filled with fear and sadness, "If I could hear just one bit of hatred, I could fix it."
And Ricardo gave the same answer.
"It's really okay."
Many stories are carried by the northern winds.
There was even an incident where I was locked in a closet for 3 hours.
The reason why I was loitering around my shoe rack.
Revenge against those who spread false rumors and hated others.
Ricardo told Yuria frankly.
-I put all the pressure points in Kayla's drawer.
-...Really?
-Yes, she even kindly wrote my name down. Yuria should have seen that woman's expression at that time, but only she saw it.
-Olivia?
-Yes. If the young lady is nagging… . Oh.
-Phew.
A smile appears on my lips.
Perhaps the conversation she'd most longed for and longed for was taking place in Yuria's reality. Yuria, who had hoped for such a small thing, not some grand reward, clenched her fists and looked at Ricardo.
"So that's why..."
It seemed as if petals were strangely fluttering in the white snowy sky. The pink petals, swept by the gentle spring breeze, seemed to knock on the door of my heart.
Strangely enough.
Yuria felt warmth in her melting heart. Selfish as she was, foolish as she was, she begged for another chance to make her promise.
He said this while staring intently at the profile of Ricardo, who was leaning against the wall.
"Mr. Ricardo."
"yes."
"Can you promise me just one thing?"
"What promise?"
Yuria smiled faintly and buried her face in her knees.
"It's a promise that won't surprise you."
"yes?"
-side.
Yuria grabbed Ricardo's sleeve and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. She smiled faintly, confident she wouldn't wander off again, and spoke cautiously.
"I promised."
Ricardo looked at Yuria, touching his cheek with a puzzled expression.
"uh...?"
"It's a token of promise."
"A promise...?"
"It's a one-sided promise I made."
A promise to never waver again.
Ricardo looked at Yuria with wavering eyes and spoke. He smiled awkwardly, saying something he shouldn't have said in this atmosphere.
“Well… I’ll tell you in advance, I practice polygamy…”
"Oh, okay!"
He was a man who really didn't know the mood.
Yuria looked at Ricardo with a smile.
*
- The past restriction of 'favorability limit' is eliminated.
(!) Yuria's favorability rating increases.