I Want to Hear Your Voice - Chapter 8

Sousuke took Satori to a so-called fashion superstore in the city, which was different from a large department store. The store was more aimed at families and elderly customers. Satori was surprised because the store sold so many kinds of things in one building. There were regular fresh foods on the first floor, then clothes, medicine, and even books on the upper floors. Of course, it was still a bit crowded because it was the weekend, but compared to the large shopping mall in front of the station from earlier, the air in the store was relatively calm. The ceilings on the top floor were dome-shaped, and it seemed like they could see something called ‘planetarium’ there.

Satori asked what planetarium was. Sousuke chuckled and told him to look forward to it. Satori then nodded his head in response.

“First, let’s search for your clothes.”

They rode the ‘escalator’ and went up to the upper floor.

Actually, Satori was still not used to riding the thing called the escalator, and he felt a little bit scared about it (It made his heart pound because he felt like he was going to fall). But if he were to raise a fuss, he would embarrass Sousuke who was with him. So Satori added pressure to the hand that was covering his mouth and managed to suppress the feeling of wanting to scream.

“Sato.”

At that moment, Sousuke extended his hand as if he could see through Satori’s feelings. 

Satori bit his lip tightly, then shook his head. No matter how ignorant Satori was about the human world, he knew that adults didn’t hold their hands. It was said that it was a shameful thing to do. But still…

Sousuke looked a bit surprised, then withdrew his hand without saying a word.

Satori became sullen.

Actually, I wanted to hold hands with Sousuke…

Satori took a glance at Sousuke’s hand. Then he raised his face and stared at the side profile of Sousuke who was facing forward. The palm of his hands gradually became sweaty, so he rubbed them against his pants.

His heart began to throb.

He wondered if Sousuke would dislike it if he said he wanted to hold hands.

“So-sousuke…!”

It felt like his heart was going to jump out of his mouth.

“Hm?”

The moment Sousuke turned his face at Satori, the escalator had already reached the top.

“Come on, let’s go.”

Satori slumped his shoulders dejectedly.

Satori wondered how many clothes the clothes store sold.

In the store filled with clothes of many different colors and patterns, Satori’s eyes twitched, not knowing where to focus his eyes.

“Sato, come here.”

In front of the full-body mirror, Sousuke put various clothes in front of Satori’s face. He was having a hard time deciding which one was best for Satori. Sometimes he would ask in a few words, things like ‘What do you think Satori?’ or ‘Between this and that, which one do you like?”. But to be honest, Satori couldn’t tell the difference between them.

“Hey, that guy is Ogigami Sousuke, right?”

“What?! No way. The real one?”

It was at that moment those voices reached Satori’s ears. He could see two female store clerks staring and gossiping about Sousuke. A little further away, there was a customer who seemed to want to talk with the store clerks, but the women were too absorbed in Sousuke to notice.

“Wow, so Ogigami Sousuke goes shopping in a place like this.”

“We’re so lucky.”

(His face is so small, and his legs are so long!)

“I wonder if we’re allowed to talk to him?”

“Hey, we’re at work now.”

(But I’ll never get another chance like this.)

“Let me at least take a picture of him…”

(If I take it secretly he won’t notice…)

“Ah, if I don’t do it fast, he’ll leave soon…”

One of the women took something rectangular out of her uniform pocket. Something that looked like a camera lens was pointed at Sousuke.

“No…!”

Satori spread his hands wide. He stood in front of Sousuke who was paying at the register, as if shielding him.

“Sato?”

Sousuke looked at Satori curiously, then noticed the two women. The expression on his face disappeared as if a mask he put on had been broken.

Sousuke took a brown round thing that was next to the cash register and said that he would buy that item too. He quickly paid the bill and put the brown thing he had just bought on top of Satori’s head.

….Mn?

Satori put his hand on top of his head, looked up, and tilted his head.

“Let’s go.”

Sousuke urged Satori to leave the store.