Machete Style Anime

"Although the idea of ​​us being childhood friends sounds ambiguous, Hui has never expressed any romantic feelings towards me from childhood to adulthood. Even my parents and uncles and aunts have never considered putting us together."

……

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……

When thinking about a problem, Kasugano Mirai would occasionally frown, shake her head, or nod.

During this time, Tokisaki Kurumi remained silent, quietly observing his changing expressions.

Once her boyfriend snapped out of his reverie, she cut to the chase: "I was talking about... Hui. Hui likes you."

Upon hearing this, Kasugano Mirai blurted out, "Impossible!"

Then, without waiting for his girlfriend to ask any questions, he expressed his thoughts to her.

……

"...none of them ever had the idea of ​​bringing us together."

"To put it another way, Hui is Xiaoqiong's and my childhood friend. I may have overlooked various details in our daily lives due to carelessness and other issues, but Xiaoqiong is a girl, and her heart is completely devoted to me."

"If Hui really had romantic feelings for me, how did she manage to hide it from Xiao Qiong?"

After patiently listening to her boyfriend finish speaking, Tokisaki Kurumi casually linked arms with him and continued walking forward, while Kasugano Mirai did not resist and let his girlfriend lead him forward.

He didn't know how much time had passed when he heard his girlfriend speak.

"If we need substantial evidence in the future, I really can't produce it."

"To be honest, it's just my gut feeling."

"My intuition tells me she likes you."

"If in the future we feel that this statement is too individualistic or unreliable, we might as well change our perspective and analyze the issue from a realistic point of view."

……

“Last week, Wei Lai told me that Hui has never expressed feelings of liking or even having affection for boys since she was a child.”

"I do not deny that there are indeed people in reality who are detached from worldly desires, but most of them are older people in their twenties, thirties, thirties, forties, or fifties who have experienced ups and downs and whose mentality has become peaceful and stable."

"But I ask you, how old is Hui this year?"

"Seventeen is the age when girls are just beginning to fall in love. When I was that age, even though I was attending an all-girls school, I had the idea of ​​dating a boy."

"Hui grew up with you, but you have no feelings for each other, not even for any boys. Don't you think your future is questionable?"

……

“Later said that when we were in school, Hui would sometimes come to wake you up.”

"Ask yourself honestly, if a girl doesn't like a boy, would she casually enter and leave his room?"

……

"Admittedly, Megumi's presence is very low, so low that Yoshino, Nanami, and I almost thought she was the same as us."

"But no matter how low her presence is, Hui is first and foremost a girl."

"In the future, he often joked that she should go to the Type-Moon world or the Assassin's Creed world to be an assassin, instead of being an ordinary high school girl in the ordinary world."

"You've never really gotten angry when boys tease you like that; at most, you've just been a little unhappy. Why do you think that is?"

……

I saw this quote online.

"I have feelings for you, so your few words can make me blush and my heart race; I like you, so you can treat me as a safe haven, and even if you do something excessive, I will choose to forgive you; you treat me as a substitute, so I get angry and want to leave, but I still like you very much. If you hold me back and try to keep me, then I will forgive you."

"By reflecting on this passage and looking back on your relationship with Hui from childhood to adulthood, you might discover some information that you may have overlooked."

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Kasugano Mirai was never the type to ignore advice. Since his girlfriend had already put it this way, he stopped insisting on his own opinion and began to seriously recall his childhood friendship with his girlfriend.

……

"Little Qiong, let's go catch butterflies together!"

"Great! I was feeling a bit bored! Let's bring the future along too!"

"I'm not going..."

"We should go to the park to catch butterflies. Although snakes and insects are rare in the city, they're not entirely absent in a natural environment. With someone watching over us, Xiaoqiong and I can play more safely."

"...Let's go."

……

"Wow~ Is Hui learning to cook?"

"It's Xiaoqiong."

"My parents come home late from work, and my older sister comes home late from school because of club activities. We're only in elementary school now, so we have a lot of free time. We might as well learn how to cook."

"Would you mind being my food taster, Kyosuke?"

"Of course I don't mind~ You agree with me about the future, right?"

"...I won't eat it if it's too awful."

……

"Huh? These dishes don't seem to be from the Japanese style."

"Hmm, these are dishes I found online from China: braised eggplant and stir-fried bean sprouts with pork. Xiaoqiong and Mirai should try them."

……

Wow~ This tastes so good!

"Hui has a real talent for cooking; she'll definitely grow up to be a thrifty and virtuous wife and mother. I wonder which lucky boy will be so fortunate in the future."

"That's a long way off. If Xiaoqiong likes it, I'll prepare the bento boxes from now on."

"Really?! Won't that be too much trouble for you?"

"It's nothing. I'll just prepare my own bento boxes, and put in plenty of ingredients. Do you need any in the future?"

"Huh? Is there any left for me?"

"Making two or three is the same thing. I've already promised Xiaoqiong, so making one more won't hurt."

……

"Xiaoqiong, I won some movie tickets in a raffle at the convenience store today. Mom and Dad are working overtime this weekend, and my sister is going shopping with her classmates. Let's go see a movie together!"

"Eh? (Looking troubled) But I want to spend the weekend with the future..."

"We have four movie tickets; we can definitely go together."

……

"Megumi, today is your future birthday. Have you prepared a present?"

"Xiao Qiong started talking about this two weeks ago, to the point that I've been having auditory hallucinations at night. Of course I've made preparations."

"Hey~ What gift did Megumi prepare?"

"Both Xiaoqiong and Mirai are well-off and can buy whatever they like, so the gifts I prepared were handmade."

(Nervously) It can't be something like a scarf or gloves, right?

"Don't worry, I won't steal your future. I made this birthday cake myself."

"Um... I don't really like sweets... but thank you for your kindness anyway."

"Oh? You don't like sweets?"

"How about I make you a bowl of longevity noodles?"

"..."

"Hehe, if the future doesn't explicitly object, that means it's agreed. It's decided then. Hui will eat the noodles, and the cake is mine!"

……

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As memories surfaced one by one in her mind, Kasugano Mirai's expression began to change.

Doubt, curiosity, confusion, bewilderment, shock, relief... the range of expressions is more varied than that of a typical eye pie chart.

Kurumi Tokisaki hummed a song softly while holding her boyfriend's arm, but her attention remained fixed on him.

Noticing the change in her boyfriend's expression, a hint of a smile flashed in her eyes.

"Having grown up together, Hui doesn't show the kind of overt affection for her childhood friend that's common in anime or novels. Over time, she's become so used to this way of interacting that she's overlooked many subtle details."

"Her ability to conceal her true feelings with minimal facial expression played a crucial role."

"However, no matter how subtle the fluctuations in a little girl's expression are, when it comes to matters of the heart, can she really hide her feelings so perfectly?"

"Besides, children are at an age where they're very competitive. Doesn't Hui seem a little too concerned about Xiao Qiong?"

Immediately, the girl remembered the news she had speculated about last time.

"Based on the puzzle pieces brought by Yoshino and Nanami last time, I suspect that Yukino Yukinoshita's timeline was most likely altered. She has now recalled some or even all of her memories from before the alteration, which explains her complex attitude towards the future, evolving from initial arguments to later helping prepare bento boxes."

"Let's assume, let's assume that Hui's experience, like hers, was altered in time, and that she can recall memories from before the alteration; then her actions would make sense."

……

Because of her past memories, she understood Xiao Qiong's feelings and possessiveness towards the future. She not only avoided conflict with her but also cultivated a good relationship with her, thus making a reasonable approach to the future.

"Because she had experienced a surreal event, even though she knew that Yoshino, Nanami, and I were unusual, she didn't show too much surprise and was able to accept it calmly."

"After all, one is something that actually happened to me, while the other is just something I heard about from others, something I never witnessed firsthand."

"Comparatively speaking, the former is more shocking and unbelievable."