CGBTS Chapter 12

Chapter 12 – Passionate Confession

Novel Title: あの夏から戻れない (Can’t Go Back to That Summer)

Author：宮緒葵 (Miyao Aoi)

Illustrator：笠井あゆみ (Kasai Ayumi)

Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)

Protagonists: 櫛原夏生 (Kushihara Natsuo -MC) & 四辻柊 (Yotsutsuji Shuu -ML)

*Please read at knoxt.space, the original site of translation. TQ*

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Kara-kara, Shuu spins the odamaki.

“Let’s get back to the story. …Fifteen years ago, after I arrived at Odamaki Village and had already met with the village chief, I ended up being placed under the village chief’s guardianship. He said that since he happened to be the one who found me first, it must have been some kind of fate.”

“Then, did you grow up in that mansion?”

“No. It was Kazuo’s parents who actually took care of me. The village chief’s wife and child had died when they were still young, and he didn’t have any servants, so there was no way he could take care of a child.”

So that was why Kazuo called Shuu ‘Big Brother Shuu’ and was so comfortable around him.

The reason Kazuo had also been friendly toward Natsuo when they first met was probably because, in addition to being naturally sociable, Natsuo was a wanderer like Shuu, with whom Kazuo had grown up almost like a brother.

Judging from the relationship between Shuu and Kazuo, Natsuo thought that Kazuo’s parents must have treated Shuu, despite being a wanderer, kindly as well, but…

“…I’m sorry, Shuu.”

Natsuo sat formally on his knees atop the futon and bowed his head deeply.

“Natsuo? What’s wrong, all of a sudden?”

“I’ve wanted to apologize to you ever since then, if I ever got the chance to see you again. If only I hadn’t let go of your hand back then, you wouldn’t have ended up wandering into a place like this. …You could have stayed living in the original world.”

Even if Shuu had been protected by the village chief, a powerful authority figure, and even if Kazuo’s parents had treated him kindly, they were not Shuu’s family. To have had to live for ten years… no, fifteen years, completely alone, without family or friends, in this strange village that worshipped a god called Odamaki-sama—it was nothing other than a tragedy.

Shuu was far more capable than Natsuo could ever hope to be. In the original world, he could have chosen any future he wanted. …He could have lived happily together with his mother and grandmother in America.

“It was all… all my fault. I know this isn’t something an apology can make up for… but, still… I’m sorry… I’m sorry……!”

The tears he could no longer hold back dripped onto his hands, which were neatly folded on his lap. Natsuo sensed Shuu shifting with a rustle and braced himself. Even if Shuu hit or kicked him, he intended to accept it without resistance. …Even though he knew that not even that would come close to making amends.

“Natsuo.”

His wet hands were gently lifted.

Natsuo instinctively raised his face and widened his eyes. Shuu was smiling more happily than Natsuo had ever seen him smile before.

“Don’t apologize. It’s not as though I resent you.”

“…Wh-why…”

“If you’ve appeared here, then you must have visited that lake on Mount Hinashi again, right? …You didn’t forget me. You came looking for me, didn’t you?”

At the warmth of the hand enclosing his, the regret and self-loathing that had accumulated like sediment over the past ten years slowly began to melt away.

Swallowing back what threatened to overflow along with a sob, Natsuo squeezed back the hand that had grown more than a size larger than his own.

“…I… I never once forgot you…”

“Natsuo…………”

“I kept… kept looking for you all this time. Even after the police search ended… even when everyone said you were dead, I… I alone couldn’t give up on you……”

Another hot droplet fell, wetting their hands. But this time, it had fallen from Shuu’s eyes, not Natsuo’s. Natsuo felt as though he might be drawn into those green eyes, with flames burning within them.

“―――Me too, Natsuo.”

The face that smiled through tears overlapped with the one from ten years ago. Shuu instinctively pulled Natsuo toward him and held him tightly against his broad chest.

“For fifteen years, I wanted to see you for so long. …You were the only one I wanted……”

“…Shuu,……?”

Shuu suddenly shifted his weight firmly onto him, and Natsuo, unable to support it, fell backward onto the futon. When Natsuo reflexively tried to struggle, Shuu easily held him down and brought his handsome face closer.

“―――I love you.”

His lips, whispering the words with maddening intensity, pressed against Natsuo’s slightly parted lips. Natsuo only realized that he had been kissed after Shuu pressed his heated groin insistently against him.

………Shuu, is he hard? Why? ………Is it because of me?

The body pressing down on him was scorching hot even through the samue, and it seemed as though Shuu could easily crush someone as small as Natsuo beneath him.

When Natsuo instinctively tried to push him away, Shuu broke the kiss and whispered softly into his ear.

“Etsuko is watching. Just stay still like this.”

“…!”

Glancing toward the covered veranda, Natsuo nearly let out a scream. From behind a tree in the garden, Etsuko was glaring at them, her large eyes blazing with jealousy. The windows and sliding doors had all been left wide open, and there was nothing obstructing Etsuko’s view.

At some point, the cicadas had stopped chirping.

“I love you, Natsuo. I love you……”

That sweet, passionate confession, enough to make Natsuo’s knees feel weak, must have reached Etsuko’s ears as well. The evidence was the creaking sound of the odamaki in Etsuko’s hand.

“Mm……!”

Natsuo couldn’t reject Shuu when their lips met again. Nor could he resist as Shuu drew him close with his powerful arms. If he moved even slightly away from Shuu, he felt as though Etsuko might come after him.

……What kind of look is that……?

The look in Etsuko’s eyes, seeming to say that she wanted to kill him, was impossible to believe belonged to a girl who appeared to be in her mid-teens.

Natsuo trembled as Shuu drew him closer, and Shuu’s intense attention left him unable to look away.

When Natsuo instinctively tried to protest with his eyes, he froze. A dangerous light was flickering in Shuu’s green eyes.

“―――Don’t look elsewhere.”

That silent command held Natsuo firmly in place.

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*Translator’s Note: Girlllll, that guy’s obviously gay, what chu glaring at for? -K

Illustration 3:

Next update: 2026.10.13

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