Chapter 48: We Walked Slowly

**We Walked Slowly** is the forty-eighth Chapter of *Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu*.

## Summary

After the escapades in the clothing shop, Yamada and Ichikawa have made it back outside, and are again walking together, holding one end of Yamada's bag. She asks if he is good for time, and he says he has nowhere to be. He feels that time is passing faster than normal, and wonders where they are going now, and if they should worry about being stopped by the police for delinquency. Yamada suddenly opens up and apologizes, saying she dragged him to all sorts of places she wanted to go, and how he must be tired. He considers how his actions may have led her to believe that she was being a burden to him. He begins to deny it, but cuts himself off and goes on a different tangent to explain his feelings on the events of the day. He claims that she doesn't understand how he is, and that he's not the kind of person to act nice out of courtesy, and how he'll declare his hatred for something if he truly dislikes it. After fumbling his words, he manages to tell her that today he had fun. At first he believes his statement to be gross, but she reaches into her bag and produces a red scarf, tying it around his neck and saying "I know," and commenting on how he used "boku" to refer to himself instead of his usual "ore." He becomes immediately flustered at this realization, wondering when he started doing that, and she asks if that's common for him. He asks about the scarf, and she says she was wearing it this morning, but took it off when she got hot. He admires it, but pulls at it as he can't see the ground, and as he messes with it, she stops, and together they look on to a Christmas light display hung amongst the trees along the sides of the street. She walks up to get a closer look, saying this is what she wanted to see. He says he's never seen them, which he acknowledges as a lie, but as they outline her face, this is the first time he's considered it beautiful.

Later, the two are heading back and are about to board the train. Ichikawa offers to take the manga, grabbing both handles of the bag. He comments dryly about how wet her handle is, and she admits to her sweaty palms, and they go inside. It is rush hour, though, and the two become separated by the crowd. While he searches for her, a hand comes out from between a group of people and grabs his own. At first he is unsure how to react or if this is even Yamada's hand, but he feels the sweat on her palms and recognizes it's her. The two get off at their stop, and walk slowly to the spot where they have to take different paths, never once breaking contact, while Ichikawa frets about his emotions being unable to be contained. She begins heading to her own path home, and he tries to offer up a "Happy New Year," but she puts a finger to his mouth, saying there's still six days until then. She walks off, smiling, and still facing him, until he tells her to watch her step. He begins his own path, but looks back a single time, and she pops out from behind a telephone pole. She grabs a bit of her own hair and places it underneath her nose, mimicking a moustache, and begins a chorus of "Ho ho ho!" He asks what she's supposed to be, and she replies that she's Yamada Santa, which he isn't sure what that is. He feels like she understood just a bit how much he likes her.

* Bonus artworks include three of Yamada in her loungewear. Another is a page of Ichikawa holding his hands together in an attempt to replicate the sensation of holding Yamada's hand, and burying his face in a pillow and kicking his feet in embarrassment when he tries. Lastly, an image is of Ichikawa audibly praying to God, with Yamada standing before him and asking if she's the one he's praying to.

## Trivia

* Ichikawa internally referring to himself as "Boku" but calling himself "Ore" when others are listening is a consistent character trait of his. The fact that he screws up and says it wrong is a sign that he's speaking from the heart.

* The red scarf that Yamada gives him is referenced in Extra 38.1, where she has a "premonition" that he will be covered in red in one week. One week from that date is the events of this chapter, with the red in question being that scarf, and implying that she had this all planned out a week ahead of time at least.

* The path of trees that they walk down is based on the real-world Yoyogi Park.