Ch.391IF Side Story: Seems I’ve Arrived a Bit Early (88)

The struggle to maintain daily life sometimes led to subtle shifts in atmosphere.

For us, what isn’t everyday life for others can feel like our normal. Even though I know I live a relatively ordinary life, I sometimes forget where those boundaries lie.

For example, after a fight, with blood still on her body, Yuka asked me:

“By the way, where are you going for your school trip?”

I felt something discordant about her asking while wiping blood from her blade. Like watching a soldier on a battlefield cleaning their gun while making casual conversation or jokes.

Of course, in some ways, our situation was even more abnormal.

But I knew this was Yuka’s way of struggling to hold on.

Maintaining a solemn atmosphere would only consume us in the end. Accepting our twisted daily life while protecting the parts that remained untwisted.

That was all we could do.

“Kyoto.”

“Kyoto? Didn’t you go there in elementary school?”

Well, yes.

It’s like how in Korea, elementary and middle schools all take at least one field trip to Gyeongju. Unless it’s an extremely wealthy school, they have to choose reasonably close domestic locations to avoid burdening parents financially.

That’s not to say we only took domestic trips throughout all three years of middle school. Last year’s second-year students went to Korea, I believe.

…It feels a bit strange to think they went to where I used to live.

I’ll probably go next year too.

Actually, for me, couldn’t it be considered a kind of time travel in a way?

“Where are you going, then?”

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and asked Yuka, who answered with a hollow laugh.

“Kyoto for me too.”

“…Didn’t you go there in elementary school?”

“No, I didn’t.”

Yuka answered curtly.

“I transferred schools a lot. You know that, right?”

Hmm.

When Yuka put it that way, I had nothing more to say.

“For how long?”

Yuka asked while finishing cleaning her blade and sheathing it. I also cleaned my knife and took off my raincoat. I carefully checked my clothes, but there was no blood on them. Or maybe it didn’t show because they were black?

When I answered, Yuka looked at me with wide eyes.

“Why?”

“No, it overlaps with mine.”

“Really?”

I widened my eyes too.

Yuka and I attend different schools. Naturally, most of our schedules rarely overlapped. Especially things like sports days or cultural festivals.

Though they did tend to cluster around similar periods.

“We might be able to hang out together if we’re lucky.”

When I said that, Yuka laughed as if it were absurd. But she didn’t deny my words.

*

Well, even if our school trips overlap, not all our schedules do.

“Brother! You can do it!”

Our sports days didn’t coincide.

Even though it was during the semester, this school held its sports day on a Saturday. Naturally, unless parents had specifically conflicting work schedules, most would attend. It was also a time when friends from other schools could come.

Shii was cheering enthusiastically for Souta.

Every time the word “brother” came out, people’s gazes turned our way, but Shii seemed proud rather than embarrassed. She seemed to take pride in addressing her brother that way.

Souta, on the other hand, seemed a bit embarrassed.

Not because Shii was embarrassing, but because he was conscious of all the attention directed at him. Especially from peers his own age.

I had been on cheerleading duty since entering middle school.

I was used to it from elementary school, and since there were a few students who had come up with me from elementary school, there were people who remembered that I used to do this.

Well, I preferred it this way too. At least I didn’t have to try desperately to win.

“Kotone… is… amazing….”

Kagami covering her mouth with one hand, tears glistening in her eyes while holding a camera, was somewhat concerning, but well, for now.

Kagami’s camera had been upgraded at some point. It wasn’t a digital camera yet, still one that used film. Apparently, she felt digital cameras weren’t good enough yet to capture my image clearly.

I had mixed feelings about it, but I liked this doting side of Kagami. It made me feel like I had family who genuinely loved me.

When I made a V-sign toward Kagami, she frantically pressed the camera shutter again. I could see people around us smiling at her behavior.

Dad had a somewhat complicated expression.

Since he considered me his daughter, he seemed uncomfortable seeing me in a cheerleader outfit that exposed a fair amount of skin while I moved around.

Well, even to me, I definitely had a “middle school student” image. A rather small middle school student at that. If anyone were to look at me with suspicious eyes, it would absolutely be criminal.

Hmm.

I don’t feel too bad about it.

I never knew seeing my family’s faces could feel this enjoyable.

Well, to be honest, this outfit is a bit embarrassing, and I’ll probably be extremely embarrassed when Kagami shows me these pictures again in about ten years.

*

Yuka came in the afternoon.

Fortunately, or perhaps naturally, she came alone without bringing her father or grandfather.

She was wearing her school uniform. Did she come straight after school?

“Oh…”

Yuka stared at my outfit for a while, looking like she didn’t know what to say.

“What? Does it look weird?”

“No, it’s just… somehow suits you, I guess.”

Does it?

I don’t think I particularly enjoy wearing clothes like this.

Or maybe she’s evaluating my attitude as someone trying to enjoy the life in front of me.

“Come this way.”

I led Yuka to where Kagami and Dad were. Even without holding her wrist, Yuka followed me without resistance.

Kagami’s expression stiffened slightly when she saw Yuka. Would Yuka have noticed?

They weren’t complete strangers, but they hadn’t met casually like this before either. Back then, they had only briefly seen each other in situations related to “work.”

“Hello.”

Seeing Yuka greet her softly, Kagami briefly hesitated about whether to treat her as my friend or not, then looked at me once before smiling gently.

She seemed to have decided to treat her as my friend.

Probably entirely because I was there.

“Hello. Kotone has been in your care.”

…Since I really had been in her care, I had nothing to say.

“I’ve received a lot of help too.”

Yuka spoke in a somewhat stiff tone, then hesitantly raised her head again.

“Please continue to take good care of Kotone.”

Then she glanced at me after hearing Kagami’s response.

“My mom speaks formally to everyone. Even to me.”

I’m not sure which is more common in Japan. In manga, parents sometimes speak formally when first meeting their child’s friend, but I don’t know if that’s really speaking formally or just how it’s translated.

Well, even in Korea, parents might speak formally at first to their grown child’s friend.

“No, that’s not what I…”

Yuka started to say something, then closed her mouth and shrugged.

I could guess what she wanted to say. The meaning behind “please take good care of” was worth considering.

But this wasn’t the place for such a conversation.

The “everyday” atmosphere here wasn’t suitable for that kind of talk.

“Are you winning?”

Yuka finally changed the subject and asked that instead.

“No, we’re losing spectacularly.”

Despite my cheering, my class was recording defeat after defeat. We had lost all the ball games in the morning, so now we had to pin our hopes on the afternoon running events.

Of course, no one present truly cared if our class won.

Shii just wanted to see her brother run impressively, Kagami’s goal was to watch me dance. Dad was similar in some sense.

And Yuka just came to see me.

“But you’ll still cheer, right?”

Yuka asked.

“Of course. It’s my job.”

I practiced hard for this.

So, I’ll always do my best. That’s what struggling is all about—giving it your all.

That’s the only way to rise even a little bit, right?

“Do you want to sit next to Shii?”

“Yeah, that would be good.”

When I suggested it, Yuka nodded quickly.

Right.

Honestly, even apart from Kagami and Yuka’s relationship, sitting next to a friend’s parent is always a bit uncomfortable.

I smiled at Yuka, then turned and ran back to where my classmates were.

What should we do after the sports day ends? It would be nice to eat something delicious together. Since she treated me last time.

Thinking such truly ordinary thoughts.