The Fourth Period Is Modern Chinese (Continued)

We had thought our discussion would never end. But nothing in this world lasted forever.

The end gradually drew near, and at last—

"Zaimokuza, is this really finished...?"

"Yeah, it's finished..."

By coincidence, it was the day before the otaku wedding. We were at Saizeriya, a place we had visited who knew how many times.

Looking at the completed proposal, we couldn't help gripping each other's hands tightly.

With this, Hiratsuka-sensei would surely snap out of it...

"Alright, let's go, Hachiman! This thing! This light! Is mine! And yours! Our brilliance Production... Ah. Sorry, I was too loud, wasn't I? I'll be careful."

Zaimokuza, worked up to the peak of excitement, shouted that cool line, making the surrounding customers and staff frown.

And so, the day of the otaku wedding finally arrived.

The three of us met in front of a rented building somewhere in the city that served as the venue.

"Then I'm off..."

"Sensei, please do your best."

"May victory be yours."

Zaimokuza and I said this to Hiratsuka-sensei as she headed toward the rented building.

Hiratsuka-sensei didn't look back at us. She merely raised a thumbs-up in silence. Nothing in her retreating figure remained of the woman who used to lament, "I want to get married..."

She simply stared toward the future and walked forward. That sight moved us deeply.

"—Is this really the answer you two arrived at?"

The night before, Hiratsuka-sensei had looked over the proposal we wrote and asked us with a grave expression. We nodded firmly.

"...Is that so? Then I'll believe in you two as well."

The three of us, who had spent days agonizing over this, laughed as though none of it had ever happened.

We were all exhausted to that extent. Probably because the tension in our nerves had finally