Ch.320IF Side Story: Seems I’ve Arrived a Bit Early (17)

Regardless of the fact that I was left at Harumi’s house almost every day, it wasn’t always just Harumi and me there.

True to her sociable nature, Harumi often had other friends from our class or even different classes come over to play along with me.

Of course, almost always, I was the one who stayed until the end.

As this pattern repeated, the other children seemed to notice something strange about it.

Children’s minds aren’t as simple as one might think. Rather, all sorts of thoughts pop up randomly in their heads, making them sometimes even more complex than adults—that’s what I’ve observed while spending time with children over the past few years.

Children like settings that are more provocative and “specific” than you might expect. It makes sense that what starts as eerie, mysterious ghost stories in elementary school eventually gets covered with all sorts of childish embellishments after passing through the school grapevine.

It seems like such stories were circulating about me too. Some children even remembered Kagami’s face and Mr. Fukuda’s demeanor.

For now, it’s not too critical. Even with such rumors, the children are still too young to deliberately include malice in them.

However, such rumors tend to spread from children back to adults, where they get reproduced.

“……”

So, I felt I needed to do something about these rumors.

But I couldn’t just explain myself in front of the children. That would only add fuel to the rumors.

I couldn’t ask Harumi not to bring other children over either. Kagami and I were already relying on their kindness, and I didn’t want to restrict Harumi’s friendships on top of that.

“Kotone, what’s wrong?”

After all the other children had left, Harumi asked me that as I sat deep in thought, but I couldn’t bring myself to answer easily.

“…I was thinking about watching anime too.”

“Wow, really!?”

Having no better excuse, I just said that, and Harumi’s eyes lit up as she brought her face close to mine.

In the end, that day I was led by Harumi’s hand to the living room TV, where we watched videos in order from the first volume. Each episode was about 20 minutes long, so we naturally couldn’t finish everything.

…I was a bit annoyed that it was actually quite enjoyable.

Well, it’s not surprising that it’s entertaining since it’s so popular.

Anyway.

My worries ended in a way I never expected.

“Um……”

As the other friends were all heading home, Yuu timidly spoke to Harumi.

“Can I watch anime with you too?”

Yuu must have heard at school today that I stayed at Harumi’s house to watch anime videos. She seemed to remember that.

I knew Yuu liked the same anime that Harumi did… but is she not allowed to watch it at home?

Based on the circumstances, the elementary school we attend seems to be for quite wealthy children. Seeing all the videos at Harumi’s house, I’d think Yuu’s home would have videos too.

…

No, thinking about Ms. Yamashita, it might not be the kind of atmosphere where a child can leisurely watch videos in their room.

“Of course! You’re more than welcome!”

As expected, Harumi showed a delighted expression at gaining another companion.

And so, the number of children gathering at Harumi’s house after school became three.

*

After about a week of the three of us watching animation together, I realized that Yuu indeed didn’t seem to have many friends.

Perhaps due to her home environment, she apparently rarely had opportunities to watch anime with friends like this. Of course, she got along well enough with classmates at school, but that kind of friendship is different from this kind.

Sitting side by side on the living room sofa, eating snacks laid out in front of us—it was quite enjoyable.

We were at an age where we went to school and were beginning to understand what studying meant, but still.

We were still carefree children all the same.

Children who saw Harumi and me alone together would make strange assumptions about our relationship, or more precisely, our parents’ relationship, but with Yuu staying too, it seemed to be recognized as some kind of “club.”

A few children stayed behind saying they wanted to stay longer too, but after seeing us just sitting side by side watching anime endlessly, they seemed to think, “That’s nothing special.”

Thanks to Yuu, at least the strange speculations about my birth background disappeared, which I was truly grateful for.

“……”

Looking at Yuu watching TV with sparkling eyes, I honestly became a bit curious about her home environment.

While I couldn’t say my situation was entirely normal either, Yuu also seemed like she might not have the most ordinary circumstances.

It wasn’t my place to pry, so I kept quiet about it.

However, I could make some guesses.

We had already watched all of Harumi’s favorite anime series, and since the latest episodes hadn’t been released on video yet, we watched other works Harumi had been watching before.

Surprisingly many of the anime I knew had already aired, so it was unexpectedly enjoyable. The video quality wasn’t bad when viewed on a CRT TV either.

Harumi seemed to have been watching anime at home since our kindergarten days.

Sometimes she would hum the theme songs or repeat the lines the characters shouted. She gave off the impression that somehow, in the distant future, she would become an excellent colleague, which made me feel excited for no reason.

Yuu’s eyes always sparkled too, probably because there were many anime she was seeing for the first time.

As we watched TV together like that, the doorbell would ring.

The three of us would get up simultaneously without even pausing the video and rush to the entrance.

The housekeeper was already opening the door. When the three of us crowded into the entrance, she smiled and stepped back slightly to make room.

Standing outside was the sister who came to pick up Yuu.

Or should I call her “unnie” in my case?

She gave a much younger impression even compared to Kagami, and wearing a sailor uniform with blue collars, she had the clear appearance of a “student.”

She must have been around middle school age.

Her name appeared to be “Miho.”

By the way, as soon as Harumi saw her, her eyes sparkled and she exclaimed, “Wow!”

A character from Harumi’s favorite anime transforms into such an outfit… well, in terms of exposure, there’s no comparison.

Come to think of it, the sailor uniform in that anime also has blue collars.

“Yuu-chan!”

When Miho said that with her arms wide open, Yuu jumped into her embrace.

Judging by their different surnames, they weren’t biological sisters, but Yuu’s behavior was so familiar that it would be difficult to show unless they were biological sisters, making it immediately clear how long they had known each other.

Miho seemed to already be acquainted with Mr. Fukuda, and whenever she ran into Mr. Fukuda, who occasionally took days off on weekdays, they exchanged quite friendly greetings.

“Hello to Harumi-chan and Kotone-chan too.”

Harumi responded with an equally cheerful “Hello!” while waving her hand, and I gave a slight nod.

“Were you having fun today too?”

“Yes!”

Though she looked to be only in middle school, her behavior was already quite adult-like. I’m not sure if it’s because of her age or because she lives at the Yamashita household.

Well, I used to pick up my younger sibling from kindergarten on my way home from school too.

“Well then, shall we go home now?”

“Ugh……”

Perhaps she was curious about what happened next in the anime we were watching.

Yuu turned to look at Harumi.

The TV sound we hadn’t turned off before coming out could still be heard from the living room.

“We need to go home. Otherwise, Dad will worry.”

“Okay……”

“Don’t worry.”

When Yuu showed a somewhat disappointed expression, Harumi patted her own chest with one hand and said:

“I’ll keep the video we were watching out! Let’s continue tomorrow!”

“Okay!”

Only after hearing Harumi’s words did Yuu’s face brighten up, seemingly reassured.

Children will be children after all.

“Thank you for being so considerate.”

“That’s what friends are for.”

Looking at Harumi giving an answer that seemed straight out of some anime, I held back my laughter.

Well, this is what makes her a child. Having that innocence is what makes one childlike. If anything, I’m the abnormal one.

After seeing off the now-cheerful Yuu, Harumi and I returned to the living room and took out the video again.

As Harumi rewound the video to its original position, she looked at me.

“Then, shall we play a board game?”

“Sure.”

The board game Harumi was talking about involves rolling dice, so it’s almost purely luck-based. It’s not a big problem even if I don’t completely dominate Harumi.

It’s a bit boring with just two people, but the role-playing is the main part anyway.

And so, until Kagami arrived, we spent time happily rolling dice.

Harumi had a winning streak, becoming the president and then enjoying a splendid retirement life, while I went bankrupt in a textbook fashion, leaving a strangely bitter aftertaste, but it was still quite fun.