Capítulo 5: What Is Love?

After a while, we noticed something moving on the road. It was a slithering living being—a snake.

It was about one and a half meters long, and as thick as my arm around its belly. If left alone, it was supposed to leave us alone too, just focusing on finding field mice or other small animals to munch on.

Hoshino subtly moved closer to me.

"…Don't hide behind me, you scaredy-cat."

"I-It can't be helped," she stuttered. "You'd be scared to approach it too, right?"

"That wouldn't happen."

I didn't like people getting too close to me, so her action annoyed me a bit. But then, a funny idea suddenly crossed my mind. '...Sorry, Snake-kun, but I'll bother you for a little while.'

"W-What are you doing?" Hoshino tried to catch up with me as I walked away, stopping midway. "Y-Y-Yoshikawa-kun? Y-You don't have to go near it, you know? R-Really! I take back what I said, so come back! Don't go so far just to prove that you're only pretending to be brave…!"

'What a pathetic attempt…'

That only makes me more eager to do it. Still, that wasn't my goal from the beginning.

The snake showed no signs of feeling threatened even as I got within its striking distance. That made it easy for me to grab its head and lift it into the air.

"Wha..."

Turning to Hoshino, I found her stood still with a dumbfounded expression on her face. I grinned.

I didn't give her time to respond as I continued. "This snake isn't venomous, and its bite isn't even that painful. Speaking from experience, that is."

"Why are you mentioning those things?" she snapped out of her surprise, asking that question with a suspicion in her tone.

I sneered. "You're scared of snakes, aren't you?"

"What?" she arched her eyebrows, confused. But a look of realization soon spread across her face, quickly followed by an expression of fear.

"D-Don't you dare do 'that.' I'm an important person. Something bad will happen to you too if something bad happens to me."

"Well, I'm going to throw it to you. To keep Snake-kun and yourself from getting hurt, catch it properly."

"Are you not listening to me?!"

"On the count of three. One, two—"

"Ahh…!"

***

Eventually, I only chased her around with the snake in my hand, laughing maniacally while the other end screamed hysterically. Sadly, as fun as it is to play a joke on her, it had to stop at some point.

I released the snake, which still didn't seem threatened, into the field after a while. As a result of my actions, Hoshino was understandably furious.

"You have a terrible personality...!"

She wasn't using "kimi (a polite "you")" anymore but the harsher "omae." Her eyes revealed annoyance, her expression matched her current demeanor.

While I laughed out loud, she lightly punched me in the rib. "You're so irritating... Let's just quickly go."

"Alright."

I led the way, still laughing.

She hesitated for a moment, then caught up after me. "W-Wait."

"Ah? Aren't you the one who said to be quick?"

"Before that, are you just going to forget what happened?"

"Asking a girl why she still wants to walk with a guy who made her cry in fear doesn't seem like a good topic."

"That's not what I meant!"

I cackled. "Besides your mental state, your physical state is fine, right? No need to dwell on it."

"Mental health is important too. Don't underestimate that."

"True."

"What?"

"What do you mean 'What?'"

Hoshino stared at me oddly. "Did you recall something relevant when you said that?"

I raised my eyebrows.

'If I tell her what it is, would her reaction be funny?' Nah, so far, everyone who heard it didn't know how to react or what to do. 'Not worth mentioning.'

"...Well, yeah. I'm not going to tell you, though."

"Boring."

She grumbled.

***

We arrived at the bus stop before long and sat on the provided bench. Just when I tried to pull out my phone to pass the time, Hoshino asked a weird question. "Yoshikawa-kun, what do you think love is?"

I gave her an odd look. However, her expression remained neutral.

"Please just answer it."

"...Give me a second."

She eyed me condescendingly.

"I want "your" opinion. Don't look it up on the internet."

I stopped typing, sighing. "I can't answer that."

"You can't think of anything?" she asked curiously.

I gave her a look before focusing on the fields.

"I have an idea. I just don't know how to put it into words."

"Ah, I think I can relate to that. I don't really know either, you know? That's why I asked you."

"Why did you ask that question in the first place? Are you in love with someone?"

"I don't have a guy like that."

"Want to be with me, then?"

"Huh?" she turned to me, eyes widening. When she saw my expression, it became sullen instantly.

I cackled. "Don't sulk."

"I won't," she diverted her attention with a "Hmph." "Is Yoshikawa-kun even interested in that to begin with?"

I thought about it for a moment. 'Under normal circumstances, no. But—'

"I am."

"You are?" Hoshino reacted with curiosity.

"That's only natural," I scoffed. "Well, I thought it was fun, living together with someone you loved, starting a family, and having kids. Though that seemed too far to consider."

After graduating from vocational high school, I hoped to get a steady job to support my life. It'd be nice to be independent from my family, but I doubted I could completely detach from them. In matters as important as marriage, their presence would be crucial, but I wasn't that cruel to let my family be mistreated by them, so I genuinely doubted the prospect of starting a family. These potential futures occasionally haunted me. 'That book said I could change my fate. If I start there, my life could change completely.'

"...I'm curious too." Hoshino muttered, then a mischievous smile plastered on her face. "I know we only introduced ourselves last night, so I have an idea."