Fan x Fun x Gift ♪: The Hero of the Rye Fields pt.2

I'm sorry it took a long time! Laziness doesn't want to let me go ;;

This is the translation of stories within I-chu's official light novel, "Fan x Fun x Gift ♪". I'm splitting the translating work between me and my friend sanadayuina. I'm sorry if there are mistakes or a better translation have been done before!

Please don't re-post anywhere else!

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Previous: Fan x Fun x Gift ♪: The Hero of the Rye Fields pt.1

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The place that I take her to is the rye fields. We reach it right when the sun began to set, thus the warm orange ray shines upon the rye wheat, making them shine like golds.

It seems that Princess isn't used to running, so she's currently trying to regain her breaths.

"Huft... huft... I'm sorry. Usually, I don't run this much..."

"No, I should be sorry for making you run too! Did I run too fast?"

"You usually run faster than that, right? Thank you for matching your speed with mine."

Princess said her thanks with a smile.

"Hehe~! It's because I'm the Hero of Justice! It's a matter of course that I need to treat girls kindly!"

"Girls... Hey, I-"

"You see! This a place that I'm so fond of! It's a really beautiful place, don't you think so?"

Letting my arms open widely, I tell Princess about this scenery. Princess looks over at her surroundings.

"Yes, this is amazing!!"

"Right!? But, I would recommend you to get the best view... by doing this!"

With my arms still extended, I let myself fall backwards.

The fluffy grasses cradle my body then.

"A-are you alright!? Could it be, you're feeling ill somewhere?"

"No, no! There's a view that you can only see by lying down like this! Come on, Princess, try it out too!"

"O-okay..."

After sitting down on the ground, Princess also lies down with me. Then, as she looks up at the sky, she opens her mouth widely in surprise, as if she's overwhelmed with emotions.

"Whoa!! Amazing... the whole surrounding, is a golden landscape..."

That's right. At this time in the evening, everything turns red because of the sunset. Illuminated by the light, the rye shines in a much brighter golden color.

The wind also begins to blow softly, making the rye sways together with the breeze.

"This is the first time I've seen such a beautiful scenery."

"Hehe~! I'm glad that you like it! I was right to decide to take Princess here!"

Feeling happy, while still lying down, I turn my head to look at Princess. Princess is looking intently at me.

"Unlike this scenery, your eyes are blue, I see."

"Ah, sorry. Even though I've shown you a beautiful scenery, now I made you see a different color..."

Anxious about what Princess said, I quickly turn my face away.

"No, that's not it! ... I think that they're beautiful because they're sparkling, just like the rye. All this time I've only been watching from the windows, so I didn't realize..."

Knowing that Princess likes them, once again I turn my head to look at her. Princess is giving me a smile that she's been showing several times now.

"Is that so? Then, from now on you can look at them anytime you want! After all, it seems the evildoers aren't chasing after us!"

I then get up, trying to hide my shyness.

"But, this won't end just with watching the scenery! There is something else that we can do in such a spacious place!"

"Like what?"

"Like singing songs!"

Then, taking a deep breath, I begin singing while facing the sky. Whenever I came to this place, I would always sing. I've always liked singing in the first place. Especially because I think that if I sing outside, my song can also reach people that I've yet to know.

Even the Hero wouldn't be able to sing as good as I am. This is something that I alone can do. A special skill that I'm proud of, since the Hero can't do it.

I end my song then. It seems I got too focused with my singing that I ended up closing my eyes. While I can see nothing, I heard the sound of someone clapping their hands.

Opening my eyes, I look at Princess. She had stood up when I didn't notice, and maybe because she got excited, her cheeks are blushing as she gives me her best smile as of today.

"Amazing! That was the popular song called 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon', wasn't it? I played it with the piano a few times! So it can also be sung directly! That's awesome, I'd like to try singing it too!"

Princess's eyes are sparkling as she looks at me.

"Then, let's sing it together next! If we do it here, we can practice singing it a lot of times, right?"

"Will you teach me?"

"Of course!"

As if satisfied with my answer, Princess smiles as she lightly nods.

"Ah, but from now on, it's alright even if you don't come to my windows, okay? Actually, it'll be alright if you come casually through the front door..."

"Huh?"

Hearing Princess said something unexpected, I end up letting out a stupid-sounding noise.

"No, but, Princess was captured by some evildoers, right? I would be caught too if I enter from the front door."

"Erh... why would you think like that?"

"Because for the sake of the princess captured by the evildoers, the hero that I admired beat up those evildoers! I don't  have that kind of strength yet, so saving you from windows were my safest bet!"

I explained to Princess like it was a matter of course.

"Is that so?"

"It is! I saw it in the TV after all!"

I answered to Princess's question without hesitation. Princess seems to think of something as she averted her gaze from me.

"I think you're misunderstanding something here."

"About the hero? I sure don't! What the hero said must be the right thing!"

Having the hero that I admired got denied make me sad that I ended up answering to her almost reflexively.

"No, not about the hero. I wasn't captured, after all... and beside--"

As she laughed hopelessly, Princess returned her gaze.

"I'm a boy, so I'm not a 'Princess', you see?"

"Huh? Not a... Princess?"

She told me herself that she's a boy. Certainly, she used a rather masculine speech style*. I looked at her up and down, but still find it hard to believe that she's actually a boy.

"I'm a genuine boy, jut like you. That's why I don't want you to treat me like a princess."

She... no, he smiled while giving me a clear response. The smile was so adorable that I just couldn't believe that he's a boy. My heart is now pounding hard for an entirely different reason.

Knowing the truth that he's actually a boy made me dropped to my knees. Seeing my current state made him chuckled. Then, he sat down to meet me on the same eye level.

"My name is Noah. Won't you tell me your name?"

There I realized that I haven't introduced myself to him. I rose to my feet again, looking straight at him.

"My name's Aidou Seiya! Just call me Seiya! Also, sorry for mistaking you as a girl--"

Just as I fully bowed down, I feel the earlier pain attacked my head again.

"~~~!!"

I crouched down again due to the pai. Once I managed to endure the pain, I glanced up and saw Noah seemed to be in pain too. It seemed that our head bumped against each other because Noah also intended to stood up.

When his pain seemed to have lessened, with eyes on the brink of tears he looked at my direction. Our eyes met, and we froze in the exact same pose. Plus, both of us were teary eyed.

"... Puh-! Hahaha!"

"Fufu! We look ridiculous!"

In the middle of the rye fields, the both of us, who just got to talk with each other for the first time, laughed together. That's how I met Noah for the first time.

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*Noah referred to himself as 'boku', which is a bit too tomboy-ish for girls to use.

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Next: The Hero of the Rye Fields pt.3