Ch.343IF Side Story: Seems I’ve Arrived a Bit Early (40)

The meaning of being ordinary.

During the past few days since I stopped going to school, I lay down staring blankly at the ceiling, pondering that question.

There were no videos that Harumi had given me saying she’d seen everything, nor any videos bought when the video store was going out of business.

The fairy tales that Kagami used to read to me were gone too, so… hmm.

The ways I used to spend my time were no longer in my hands. To put it precisely, I didn’t even have anything left that could be called a hobby.

Two days after we moved in here, they put up new wallpaper. At least after that, the interior didn’t look like an abandoned house anymore.

The yard wasn’t completely clean either, so Kagami and the men steadily worked on it whenever they had time.

I occasionally went out to help with a broom, but Kagami and the men would stop me and carry me back to my room. In the end, I had nothing to do except roll around on the futon laid out on the floor.

The furniture in the house was gradually being filled in. There must have been a secondhand furniture store nearby, because relatively clean but worn pieces were brought in one by one.

Well, in a sense, it was much more spacious than where we used to live. Since there was more than one room, I might eventually get my own room.

To be honest, I didn’t really want that yet.

…I see.

They say elementary school children should have their own rooms, so perhaps Kagami hadn’t been able to do this properly. Maybe my reluctance to separate from my mother at this age might be separation anxiety or something like that.

It’s peaceful and quiet. I could hear the men working outside and Kagami occasionally speaking.

Kagami’s voice had improved somewhat. She no longer acted as if I might die and disappear at any moment. Is that fortunate?

“…Yeah.”

I finally sat up.

I went to the corner of the room and opened the large duffel bag Kagami had brought. The bag had become quite light now. Almost all the clothes had been taken out and put in the closet.

But there was still something inside the bag.

A rather thick film envelope. An envelope full of developed negative films. Even in all that chaos, this was the one thing we managed to bring properly.

Memories, at least, remained.

Harumi and Yuu.

In the bag, there was no album, but there was another envelope slightly smaller than the film envelope.

Kagami used to take many pictures of me. As if she wanted to preserve every day of my growing up.

So there were quite a few photos that hadn’t made it into albums yet, and this envelope contained those photos. Yes, albums are thick and heavy, but a mere envelope is light.

It contained photos from the end of last year to the beginning of this year.

Christmas and New Year.

At Christmas, we all gathered to play, and during New Year, we went to the shrine together. There were even photos of us all wearing kimonos.

“…”

I looked happy in the photos. Harumi and Yuu beside me looked good in their clothes too. Yuu had been gradually realizing things about his family lately, but he seemed to have accepted it somewhat, as he could still smile brightly when he was with Harumi and me.

Would I never see these two again?

We lived near Harumi’s house, suffered that incident, and the people who eventually got us out were from Harumi’s family—does that mean we can’t go back?

I’m not sure.

Choosing to believe that nothing had been decided yet, I carefully put the photos back in the envelope.

*

After about a week, our house started to look more like a home.

We didn’t call in professionals, but we were able to fix the roof, and as we bustled about inside, curious neighbors passing by would stop to look.

“We’re the Satos, just moved in today,” Kagami greeted them with an expression like a proper new bride.

I hid behind Kagami.

Even when an old lady said, “What a cute child you have,” I only peeked out slightly and gave a small bow.

Why did I do that? I’d grown out of my shyness as I got older. I could even go to ramen shops with friends and eat together.

My new school had been decided.

It was a bit far, but reachable by bicycle.

It was quite different from the school Harumi, Yuu, and I had attended. A rural school with a wide playground that somehow looked desolate.

At least there weren’t too few students.

“My name is Kotone Sato.”

I followed the teacher and stood in front of the class to introduce myself.

The children stared at me with wide eyes. Perhaps transfer students weren’t common here?

The wound on my neck had almost healed. It wasn’t as serious as I thought—though it did leave a scar. Kagami had said that my fainting was probably due to the extreme stress I experienced in that situation.

Was that really true?

Maybe it was because I wasn’t an “ordinary child.” I recalled how Kagami had said she wanted to raise me “normally,” but I decided to trust Kagami again this time.

For a while, I didn’t want to think too deeply about anything.

“I’ve transferred here… Please take care of me.”

I slowly looked around at the children in the class.

Curious elementary school faces.

Most of them had skin tanned by the sun, probably from playing outside enthusiastically.

The atmosphere was somewhat different from the city. Should I say it was more innocent? To be honest, that’s to be expected from elementary school children.

However, among those children, one stood out distinctly.

A child with fair skin that hadn’t been tanned by the sun.

Judging by the thick glasses she wore, she seemed like someone who would excel at studies. There was something different about her beyond just her fair skin and glasses.

Her neatly cut bob haircut showed how much her parents cared for her.

When our eyes met, she quickly looked away.

“Well then, why don’t you go to that empty seat over there? You can take your time with introductions later?”

At the homeroom teacher’s words, I nodded and slowly walked toward the empty seat.

Usually, the “empty seat” in school is at the back. Teachers prefer students to gather at the front.

And that empty seat was next to the fair-skinned girl with the bob haircut.

“Mako, since Kotone doesn’t have books yet, would you share yours with her just for today?”

At the teacher’s words,

“Huh? Oh, yes!”

Mako responded with a slight start.

The surrounding children laughed a little.

So her name is Mako.

“Um, excuse me.”

While the teacher was writing something on the blackboard preparing for class, Mako opened her book and placed it in the middle of our desk.

“I’m Miura. Mako Miura.”

“…Yeah.”

Looking at Mako as she spoke, I nodded.

“…Kotone Sato.”

At my response, Mako nodded, looking a bit tense. An awkward smile played on her lips.

“Nice to meet you.”

“…”

Ah.

Let me be honest.

I’m not really someone with particularly strong mental fortitude. I’m affected by every little incident, and I end up thinking I absolutely shouldn’t do certain things.

It was the same after losing my entire family in my previous life.

Afraid of losing people like that again, I thought it would be better to just be alone. Even if I felt happiness, I’d end up being betrayed in the end.

But at the same time, I was so lonely.

Though I cut myself off from others, perhaps I couldn’t completely cut others off from within me? Even while thinking it was better to be alone, I couldn’t become alone.

Just like now.

Even if I made friends, they probably wouldn’t remain friends until the end if that entity was still pursuing us.

If we flee and hide somewhere again, the relationship would completely disappear.

But even so, did I wish to become friends with someone like Harumi or Yuu again?

Looking at this girl named Mako who was cautiously speaking to me first, I pathetically thought so.

I lightly held the opposite side of the textbook that Mako was carefully pushing toward me, to keep the pages from turning.

That’s how we shared the book that day.

*

This girl named Mako Miura was ordinary.

No, that’s right.

Pretty, kind, not particularly fond of moving around, but still, well, ordinary. The word “ordinary” is usually just a way to lump people together anyway.

She was definitely more ordinary than me.

She said she moved here about a month ago because of her father’s business trip, so there wasn’t much difference between us. She also used to live in Tokyo.

She didn’t know when they would return to Tokyo.

“You’re similar to me then.”

Perhaps my Tokyo accent was showing, as Mako asked that.

“…Yeah.”

I said, picking up a sausage from my lunch box.

“So you’ll go back someday, right?”

I’m not sure.

I don’t really know.

But before I could answer, Mako smiled slightly and said:

“I know a really delicious ice cream shop. I went there with my dad and mom. If we end up going to Tokyo together later, let’s go there.”

“…”

But to those innocent words, I couldn’t bring myself to say “I’m not sure.”

I just quietly nodded.