Ch.326IF Side Story: Seems I’ve Arrived a Bit Early (23)

This might seem like an overly obvious statement, but I loved school vacations.

During my elementary school days, I didn’t have a mobile phone to carry around, the computer at home wasn’t particularly good, and I didn’t have any gaming consoles either.

There wasn’t much to do besides hanging out with friends in the afternoon, but I still enjoyed it.

First of all, I didn’t have to force myself to wake up early. My parents would wake up my younger sibling and me to feed us breakfast before leaving, but we could just go back to sleep after eating.

As the vacation progressed, my parents stopped forcing us to get up and would just briefly wake us to tell us they’d made food before leaving.

Since my elementary school friends were just kids who lived nearby, it was enough to play with my sibling and neighborhood friends. We’d watch other kids playing arcade games in front of the supermarket or stationery store, or buy snacks or ice cream with just 500 won and share it between my sibling and me.

There was a stream near our house where we played in the water. Looking back, even though I lived in Seoul, I somehow did all the things that country kids would typically do. Catching marsh snails in streams, catching cicadas, climbing mountains.

Well, not all parts of Seoul are the same.

Tokyo is similar. In fact, I think the phrase “not all parts are the same” suits Tokyo even better.

After all, it’s “Tokyo-to.” It uses a different Chinese character than Gyeonggi-do’s “do,” but it seems to be a higher administrative concept than “si” (city). The farther you get from central Tokyo, the more farmland appears and buildings get lower. In terms of where I lived in my previous life, it would be like grouping Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, and Incheon together.

In that sense, if someone asked what kind of area I live in, I would answer “downtown.”

Indeed, it’s surprising that the small apartment where Kagami and I live isn’t far from my school, which is located downtown. Though it gives more of an impression of being surrounded by office buildings that empty out during the day rather than a dazzling entertainment district.

Even in downtown areas, there’s quite a difference between places packed with high-rise buildings and residential areas. In densely packed residential neighborhoods, it makes sense that there would be small two-story apartments like the one Kagami and I live in.

Not everyone who lives in the middle of the city has a tall, spacious home. There’s definitely demand for places like ours.

Although it looks quite old, well, it’s much cleaner than where we used to live, so I guess it doesn’t matter.

Anyway, back to the topic of vacation.

In my previous life, since I was with my younger sister, my parents seemed to be somewhat at ease psychologically, but Kagami in this world was not like that at all.

“Where would Kotone like to go? Harumi-chan’s house? Yuu-chan’s house?”

Kagami asked, making eye contact with me.

“…”

When I narrowed my eyes and puffed my cheeks, Kagami looked a bit flustered.

“What, what’s wrong? Did Mom do something wrong?”

Kagami’s confused face was cute, but that wasn’t why I was a bit annoyed.

Among Harumi and Yuu, I hold the position of the elder. Of course, Harumi’s birthday comes before mine, and I’m the shortest among the three, but personality-wise, I’m the most calm and have the best judgment.

I can also do things that the two of them are afraid to do.

But perhaps because Kagami hasn’t seen this side of me firsthand, she seems to view me as being in a position similar to Harumi and Yuu’s younger sibling.

Well, I understand.

No matter what I say, I’m still an elementary school student. And not even a full year into school—essentially in the position of a newborn chick.

If I said I led the two of them around, it would sound like nothing more than an exaggerated childish boast.

In reality, whenever I chattered away, Kagami would just listen with an amused expression, resting her chin on her hand and smiling broadly.

“I can stay by myself.”

When I said that, Kagami’s eyes widened.

Is this really such a surprising statement?

Harumi, Yuu, and I already roamed around our neighborhoods together. Harumi had taken an interest in insect collecting and swung her net around everywhere, while I helped take cicadas out of her net.

By now, even Harumi could handle holding cicadas. Yuu still couldn’t, though.

We’d carry lots of coins to buy drinks from vending machines and rest in cool places.

Ironically, I’d become more familiar with the geography around Harumi and Yuu’s homes than the area where Kagami and I lived.

It’s not that I dislike it. I understand being treated like a child.

But sometimes I just want to be alone.

“…”

Feeling the awkward silence, I seriously wondered if I’d already entered puberty.

It’s not quite that.

How should I put it?

It’s not so much that I want to be alone, but, well, it’s vacation.

Even if I go out separately in the afternoon, I want to play on my own terms. Though I haven’t really decided what I want to do.

As I looked directly at her face, Kagami took her hands off my shoulders and thought seriously.

“Can you really stay by yourself?”

Some might consider it child abuse to leave a seven-year-old home alone. That perception was a bit weaker until the 90s, though.

Even though I’m starting to develop a little bit of judgment, it’s still an age where I could get into dangerous situations. Like stacking things to climb somewhere high, or turning on the gas and forgetting about it.

I understand Kagami’s concern.

“Yes.”

I nodded as I answered.

Even though I’m Kagami’s only family and joy in life, I think by now she must have noticed.

That even if I’m not a completely different kind of being, I’m a bit more precocious than other kids.

“I… um.”

But it seemed Kagami couldn’t fully grant my wish.

“Not allowed?”

“Well… I’m sorry.”

“…Okay.”

I nodded.

Throwing more of a tantrum here probably wouldn’t be good for Kagami’s peace of mind. I just wanted to try asking once; I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.

I went to Kagami and hugged her. She embraced me, stroking my head as she spoke.

“Then, third grade. From third grade, it’ll be okay for you to stay home alone.”

“Third grade.”

“Yes, from then on.”

Two more years?

Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.

I nodded in Kagami’s arms.

I heard Kagami exhale softly above my head. She seemed relieved.

“So, whose house shall we go to today?”

“Harumi’s.”

“Okay, I’ll take you to Harumi’s.”

Kagami’s voice had lightened considerably, which made me feel a bit better too.

…It seems it wasn’t just Kagami who was afraid of our relationship becoming strained.

*

One definite advantage of going to Harumi’s house is that they have air conditioning.

“So cool~”

For some reason, Harumi, who had been awake since morning today, immediately took me to Yuu’s house after I arrived at her place.

Then she dragged Yuu out too, and after wandering around the neighborhood for a while, we returned to her house around lunchtime.

I never heard exactly why Harumi was so excited. Yuu, who had been dragged out from the morning and then kidnapped to Harumi’s house, just sat next to me where the air conditioning was strongest, blinking silently.

Since Harumi hadn’t said anything special even by the time we were eating bananas for dessert, I decided to ask first.

“Hey, Harumi. You were awake from early morning today.”

“Yeah.”

Normally, Harumi would have staggered out of bed about an hour after I arrived. At first, she used to get up right when I came, but now it seems my arrival has become so expected that her wake-up time has gradually been pushed back.

“Is there a reason? Did you go to bed early yesterday?”

“Ah.”

Harumi’s expression went blank for a moment as she chewed on a slightly frozen banana piece from the freezer.

Her mouth was open enough that I could see the half-chewed banana.

“That’s right!”

Impressive that she could shout like that without spitting out the banana.

Belatedly realizing she still had banana in her mouth, Harumi quickly chewed and swallowed before speaking.

“Yuu, Kotone!”

“Huh?”

“Yes.”

Yuu, startled by suddenly hearing her name called loudly, put her banana back on the tray. No, that’s not it. I picked up the banana with the fork still stuck in it and put it in Yuu’s mouth, then looked at Harumi.

Harumi had placed both hands on her waist, as if making some confident declaration.

“Let’s go to the sea, the sea!”

Ah.

So that was the reason.

Perhaps she had discussed this with Mr. Fukuda yesterday, or maybe she had only just remembered yesterday that they had already scheduled this trip.

It seems she woke up early this morning waiting for me, intending to tell me about it.

Though she had completely forgotten while playing.

The sea, huh.

I turned to look at Yuu, whose eyes were sparkling. She too seemed to have forgotten to chew the banana in her mouth.

Hmm.

I wonder if Kagami can come along too.

I found myself worrying about that first.