episode_0026

We have what you’d call a family-wide relationship. Big Sister Echika seemed to be looking forward to meeting that family, but I didn’t really like it.

First, it’s far. Our house is in the city center, so why do we have to go all the way to Kyushu?

And Mom has trouble in a wheelchair, but they make her take a plane and even a bullet train.

Dad seems to love Mom very much, but he doesn’t seem to think about things like that.

He’s so useless, truly useless.

There’s another reason I didn’t want to go.

“Yamato-kun has gotten so big, haven’t you? Do you remember your uncle?”

“You’re Uncle Furuya, right? I remember you.”

“Oh, you’re only six but you’re quite impressive. Did you take after your dad?”

We meet every year, so I’d remember you even if I didn’t want to.

He’s dark-skinned and incredibly muscular, completely different from my dad.

This uncle is a good person. He gives me sweets every time we meet and plays with me.

The aunt who married Uncle Furuya is a very quiet person.

She’s called Chihana, so I guess that’s her name.

She’s always smiling and doesn’t talk much. I wonder if she’s ever gotten angry?

I wish my mom were this quiet and graceful.

And the person I’m worst with is this girl.

“Reina, Yamato-kun is here.”

She was the same age as me, dark-skinned, with long, sun-bleached hair that was somewhat light brown.

She was quiet, like Aunt Chihana, but this girl didn’t even smile.

Even when they told us to get along as kids, I didn’t want to be with her just for that reason.

She’s scary, this girl. She’s always clutching a doll tightly, and she doesn’t say anything.

As girls, Big Sister Echika should have played with her, but she acted like she was already a junior high student.

Even when they told us to go play outside as usual, there was nothing around here.

I was happy there was an ocean, but I quickly got bored of it. Besides, I can’t even swim.

“…”

Next to me was Reina in her swimsuit. She held a round swim ring in her hand and silently placed it in front of me.

You want me to go into the ocean? Even though you know I can’t swim.

For some reason, I got really angry. She was making a fool of me, even though she was a girl.

I didn’t want to show off or anything, but I hated to lose.

And so, I forced myself into the ocean. …And was swept out to sea.

It was terrifying. I couldn’t get back no matter what, and I cried out, ‘Help me!’ in fear.

My feet couldn’t reach the bottom anymore. If I fell off the swim ring, I’d definitely die.

“…It’ll be okay.”

I looked back, and Reina was behind me.

The moment Reina moved behind me, the swim ring, which hadn’t been moving, began to head toward the beach.

I had been crying out in fear for a while, but I was embarrassed to be seen by Reina, so I held back my tears.

“Let’s go, together.”

I was scared, so I didn’t want to. But I hated even more that Reina, a girl, could do it and I, a boy, couldn’t.

So I endured my fear and played in the ocean. It was all I could do to just wade up to my waist.

――

It was night, and while we ate dinner, the adults were discussing something difficult.

Something about a field… or children’s education… I couldn’t really understand what they were saying.

It was an old house. It had five rooms on one floor, but it creaked and groaned with every gust of wind.

It was still early, but Big Sister, I, and Reina lay down on the futons that had been spread out.

Perhaps because we’d played to our hearts’ content during the day, I fell asleep instantly as soon as I got into the futon.

“She’s probably not their real child, is she?”

Suddenly, I woke up.

Dad and Mom? What were they talking about?

“When you were pregnant with Yamato, Chihana-san wasn’t pregnant, was she?”

“But her love for Reina-chan is genuine.”

“…Yeah, so I guess they decided to move back.”

Decided to move back? What did they mean?

Adult conversations are difficult, and I don’t really understand them.

――

Some time after that, when I had forgotten about the conversation at Reina’s house.

“Yamato-kun.”

“Shuuya-kun, lessons again today?”

“Yeah, but there’s still time, so let’s play together.”

My mom’s profession is a pianist and a piano teacher.

The classroom is a concert room set up in our house, twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Dad often boasts that Mom is quite a famous pianist and that it would actually cost money to listen to her performances, but for someone who has to listen to it every day, the appreciation wears thin.

“I’m jealous of you, Yamato-kun. Your mom’s a teacher, so you can take lessons every day, right?”

“I don’t play at all though. But Big Sister seems to be learning.”

“Seriously, what a waste. If it were me, I’d learn as much as I could.”

Natsuame Shuuya-kun, a boy the same age as me who lives in the neighborhood.

He says he wants to become a pianist like Mom, but I wonder what’s so good about that.

There are many students at the piano class, so I guess Mom’s skill is definite.

As for me, I think being a regular office worker like Dad would be best.

Being normal seems easiest and best. Easy is best.

“By the way, Yamato-kun, do you know?”

“Know what?”

“You know that house in the neighborhood that’s been vacant for a long time? It seems someone’s moving in there. When I came here today, I saw several moving trucks parked there.”

The vacant house in the neighborhood, was that the one I used as my secret base?

Oh, so one of my playgrounds is gone.

I was just wondering who would be moving in, but then.

“…Huh?”

The ones who moved in were that family from Kyushu.

Uncle Furuya, Aunt Chihana, and Reina.

“Welcome back, Takehiro.”

“…Sorry about everything.”

“It’s fine. My connections might not be much, but I’ll introduce you to a job.”

The adults were talking about something, but I wasn’t really paying attention.

She was still holding her doll, and when she saw me, she smirked.

She’s scary. She still doesn’t say anything.

Reina, who had moved into the neighborhood, came to our house almost every day to play.

Reina’s parents seemed to have started working full-time, so she was often alone at home.

So, on the grounds that they couldn’t leave a girl alone at home, Mom was looking after Reina.

“Reina-chan, you’re good at piano.”

“…Mom taught me.”

“Oh, I see. Chihana, huh? …Hehe.”

Mom started teaching Reina piano even more than Big Sister, and what’s more, it was almost every day.

We ended up in the same elementary school, and our school walking group and everything else was the same too.

It got to the point where there wasn’t a day I didn’t see Reina.

“Reina-chan is lucky. I want to learn piano every day too.”

“Really? But now that you mention it, Shuuya pays tuition, but Reina gets it for free.”

That’s unfair, Shuuya muttered.

Considering our history, Reina must be practically family now.

There’s also the debt of gratitude for being helped, so I told Shuuya to give up.

From then on, it was the three of us: me, Shuuya, and Reina.

Wherever we went to play, whatever we did, we were basically always together.

The three of us who went to the same elementary and junior high schools ended up going to the same high school too.

At this point, it seemed we were childhood friends.

When I told Dad that, he made quite a grim face.

“It’s a very important relationship, so don’t give it up.”

Mom told me that.

…Is there such a thing as ‘quitting’ being childhood friends?

I can’t imagine it right now though.

“Good morning, Yamato-kun.”

“Reina… and Shuuya-kun too.”

“The three of us are going to the opening ceremony together, right? If you don’t hurry, we’ll leave you behind.”

This bond between the three of us, like family, will end someday.

If that time comes, I wonder who I’ll be with then.

“Wait a minute… Dad, Mom, I’m off!”

Right now, I still can’t imagine a thing.

――――――★――――――

The comic adaptation will be available starting today!

Yamato-kun and the others won’t appear, but it’s a beautifully finished work!

I can’t post URLs, but please give it your support with all its various meanings!