Revised Edition – 22
☑ ◇ A Lovely Time ― 幸せな時間（とき）
After we’d finally confirmed our feelings for each other in a tangible way,
we began meeting outside the temple as well,
and it didn’t take long for the distance between us to close completely.
Of course, I couldn’t stay overnight at the separate residence within the temple grounds where Ren-san lived,
so most of the time he came over to my apartment instead.
But as expected of a temple priest’s wife—
she must have noticed our relationship.
One day, while I was waiting at the temple for Ren-san to return from an errand,
she casually brought up his name in conversation.
“I’m not sure if it’s okay to ask this… but, you and Ren-san—
you’re seeing each other, aren’t you?”
I smiled softly and replied,
“No, it’s quite all right.
If anything, I should apologize for being in your care so often without ever properly explaining myself.”
“Actually,” I continued,
“back when I was still married, I was often saved by Ren-san because of the troubles I had with my husband.
I didn’t consult him in full detail,
but just by coming here, spending time around the temple—
I found myself healed, little by little.
I think even just meeting Ren-san helped to ease my heart.”
“Oh—and that includes meeting you as well,” I added quickly.
“The moments spent here with you, with Ren-san,
with the children who came to visit,
surrounded by the scenery visible from here—
the birdsong, the cicadas’ cries,
all the people, the animals, the nature…
all of it, together,
has been what truly saved my soul.”
“And before I knew it… I had come to care deeply for Ren-san.”
“But please understand,” I said firmly.
“I haven’t done anything shameful—nothing I couldn’t hold my head high about.
Ren-san and I only began seeing each other some time after my divorce.”
