<h4>Bonus 2: Where the Palm Belongs</h4>


    “Hey, Haru-kun, this is for you——”


    The one presenting something to me with a smile was my little sister Natsuna.


    She was holding a green cage in her little hands, with a beetle inside.


    It happened when I was in third grade.


    Back then, the trendy thing were neither video games nor collective card games, but bug catching


    Back then, anyone with arge, cool looking beetle would be popr immediately, but it’s always my friends who caught them. I could remember very well that I couldn’t catch a single one.


    “What about that?”


    “I think you might like it, Haru-kun, so I caught it.”


    Natsuna said with so glee. Her slender arms had a few cuts.


    She’s livelier than many of the boys, and often liked to y ser and basketball with them, but she hardly got hurt, mostly because she grasped the concepts of sports. Also, she’s pretty kind to mom because mom’s always worried that she, a girl, would easily get hurt.


    This day’s different though. It’s rare to see Natsuna wounded all over.


    She got hurt all because of me, and because of that, my nose got a little itchy.


    “It hurts, right?”


    I gently touched the wound on Natsuna’s face. She instinctively closed her eyes, but she shook her head.


    “It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt.”


    “It will when it gets wet while showering.”


    “I’ll endure.”


    “Hey, Natsuna.”


    “Hm?”


    “Thanks.”


    I thanked Natsuna, touching her head. Her hair’s sound and silky, with some smell. We use the same shampoo, but why’s the smell different?


    So I stroked her hair gently, causing a gentle, rustling sound. She showed a giddy smile.


    “Ehehe. I like it when you rub my head like this, Haru-kun.”


    “Really?”


    “Can you continue rubbing my head in the future?”


    Seeing my little sister ask this question so innocently, I nodded with a grimace.


    “If you behave, Natsuna.”


    Even since then, whatever happened, Natsuna would reach her head out, and I would pat her head. This ended up as a bad habit of mine. Whenever I I spaced out, I would just pat anyone on the head, not just Natsuna. Like for example, my friend Akane.


    And now, too——


    “Here, Yoshi-kun, for you. You worked hard today. Here’s a result.”


    Yuki handed me a can of juice.


    Her carefully crafted words seemed pretentious, but I didn’t hate it. She seemed happy when she said this, a little gleeful, somewhat simr to the face the young Natsuna made.


    Surely this is the reason.


    I didn’t really have any stray thoughts in my mind, but my body wouldn’t obey as I reached my hand towards Yuki. The hand just stopped in the air, not touching her hair. The feeling of wanting to touch Yuki shed with the feeling that I shouldn’t, creating an error.


    It’s the first time this happened to me, and I was shocked, troubled by my own feelings.


    “What is it, Yoshi-kun?”


    Yuki tilted her head, staring at me. At this moment, the impulse to touch Yuki overwhelmed me, but I did my best to suppress it. We just met each other days ago.


    “It’s nothing. Sorry. I thought your hair has some string or something, but I was mistaken.”


    I bluffed my way out, and received the juice from Yuki. I could feel a cold, liveless feeling, while my heart was thinking, this isn’t it.


    Will my palm one day find a ce it belongs?


    In the near future (near past), I would find (found) that answer.


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