Chapter 8: The Unease That Began on the First Day of the Long Holiday
The Unease That Began on the First Day of the Long Holiday
I was in the deepest sleep, feeling better than I had in a long time, when I heard a knock on my door. As I began to wake up, I felt a comfortable weight and a gentle movement on my stomach. When I opened my eyes, my little sister Natsuki was sitting astride my stomach, looking down at me.
“…Natsuki?”
“Onii-chan, Ayane-chan came over…”
“Ayane? Why?”
“I don’t know… Should I turn her away?”
“…No… Now that I think about it, I might’ve invited her.”
“Really, Onii-chan?”
“Probably… Well, maybe this’ll be the last time.”
“I see… Then we should make sure to treat her properly, right?”
“Yeah.”
Natsuki stood up and left the room to greet Ayane, who was probably waiting at the entrance.
“I should get changed and ready too…”
It seemed Natsuki was chatting with Ayane in the living room, so I quickly got dressed, finished getting ready, and went in. Both of them turned to look at me, sitting on the sofa and talking happily.
“Hey, Ayane.”
“Don’t ‘hey’ me, Ryou-chan. You really just woke up, huh?”
“Pretty much. It’s my day off, after all.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Ayane puffed out her cheeks in protest, so I poked them with my fingertip. A soft hiss of air escaped her lips, and she let out a small laugh. That familiar reaction made me nostalgic, and I smiled at her.
“Well then, shall we go to my room?”
“Sure.”
Leaving Natsuki waving behind us in the living room, I led Ayane upstairs to my room. It had been a long time since we last spent time alone together.
“It’s been a while since you’ve been in my room, huh?”
“Yeah, since right before the high school entrance exams, I think? I came to the living room a few times, though.”
“Yeah, ever since we ended up in different classes in high school.”
I took out the cushion Ayane used to love sitting on back in middle school and placed it at her feet.
“Here, you can use this if you want.”
“Thanks, Ryou-chan.”
Ayane sat down, lightly touching the cushion, and placed her smartphone on the small square kotatsu table. When she moved it to the side to grab some snacks, the dark screen lit up for a moment, showing an ongoing call with Minato’s name, then went dark again. Ayane, too absorbed in her snacks, didn’t seem to notice.
“Ayane, is there anywhere you want to go during Golden Week?”
“Hmm, let’s see… It’s getting hot lately, so maybe the beach?”
“The beach, huh? We used to go there a lot back in middle school.”
“Yeah, last year was fun too.”
“Yeah, it was.”
Speaking of last summer, that was around the time Ayane and I started dating. I remembered that summer, but we never went to the beach together. I wondered if she and Minato had already started their secret relationship back then.
Since Minato could hear our conversation through the ongoing call, I couldn’t ask anything too direct. So I went along with her and we decided on safe plans such as movies, the amusement park, and maybe the beach. Before I knew it, it was nearly lunchtime.
“Ayane, do you want to eat lunch together?”
“No, I have club practice this afternoon, so I need to go home first.”
“I see… Well, that can’t be helped.”
“Sorry, Ryou-chan.”
“It’s fine. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”
After waving goodbye to Ayane at the door and watching her smile as she left, I went back to the living room. When I checked the doorbell camera, I saw Ayane walking away alone to the right of the screen. Just moments later, Minato appeared from the left, following after her.
“Onii-chan…”
“Natsuki… I’ll tell Ayane before school starts again.”
“Okay…”
My little sister, who knew everything about the situation between the three of us, hugged me with teary eyes, looking up at me.
“Natsuki, pasta sound good?”
“Yeah.”
Since I managed to avoid having lunch with Ayane, I made meat pasta, and after Natsuki and I finished eating, I got a call from Kanae-san.
“Hello, it’s me.”
[Hello, Ryouta-kun. It’s Kanae.]
“Kanae-san, right.”
[Hehe… I knew it was you.]
“W-what is it?”
[Nothing.]
“Um, Kanae-san. Are you free tonight?”
[Yes, that’s fine.]
“I’ll let you know the time later.”
[Alright, I’ll be waiting.]
Before I could hang up, the house phone started ringing, so Natsuki went to answer it and then called out to me.
“Onii-chan, it’s your homeroom teacher.”
“From Mihara-sensei?”
I hadn’t done anything in particular, so I didn’t understand why Mihara-sensei was calling. I took the cordless phone from Natsuki.
“Hello, this is Sawada.”
[Sawada-kun, this is your homeroom teacher, Mihara. Could you come to school this afternoon?]
“Huh? This afternoon? Did I do something wrong?”
[I can’t tell you over the phone, so please come to school. And make sure to wear your uniform, not casual clothes.]
“…Alright.”
[Then, even though it’s my day off, I’ll be waiting all alone in the teacher’s office.]
As the call ended with a beep, I stood there unable to guess why Mihara-sensei wanted to see me, and Natsuki took the phone from my hand.
“Onii-chan, what’s wrong?”
“Sensei told me to come to school.”
“To school? Why?”
“Who knows… She said she couldn’t tell me over the phone.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Are you really going?”
“Yeah, she called me, after all.”
“I’m going too!”
“You too, Natsuki? We’ll have to wear our uniforms, you know?”
“That’s fine. It’s boring being home alone anyway.”
“Alright. Then let’s go together.”
“Okay!”
We each went back to our rooms, changed into our uniforms, and left the house. Instead of parking our bikes at the usual spot, we left them beside the building near the teacher’s office and headed toward the staff room where Mihara-sensei was waiting.
“Natsuki, wait in the hallway, okay?”
“Onii-chan, can I stop by the softball club room?”
“Sure. Whoever finishes first will wait by the bench near the vending machines in the courtyard.”
“Okay!”
After watching Natsuki wave and walk toward the softball club room, I knocked on the staff room door and went inside.