Adachi to Shimamura - Volume 10 - Chapter 1

Fantasy Sister

"Shuriken!"

"Wow!"

She looked so proud of herself wearing her middle school uniform.

"Kusudama!"

"Pretty!"

With every piece of origami she folded, each a different shape, that look of pride only grew deeper.

"And finally, a helmet for Hanako."

I watched her place the paper object—a helmet—on the head of the dog lying next to me.

"His name is 'Gon'."

"Hahahaha!"

Truly, she was like a sister to me.

"So, yeah. Err... Yes. I'm back now. Still, it sure is tough. I know they say that they don't mind, but the truth is, I have been barely able to sell anything. Ahaha. How I miss home. Well, yes, this is my home too, but you know what I mean. Hehe. How long will I stay? Probably for two or so more days. Hopefully Gramps can drop me off. Right. Right right right. Sorry, too many 'rights'. Say, when I get back... can we see each other? I know, I know. It's just, seeing you makes me feel so... Aah. You know what I mean, right? No, you probably wouldn't... You do? Wow! In that case... Yeah. Yes... Huh? You'll... You'll let me... touch them? No, I definitely heard you! Huh? Err... Y-Your... boobs? Yes. I... I like them. But, also... Umm... M-Miyabi? Gosh. It still feels weird to call you by your first name. Are we really the same age? Huh? That's a mystery? Like you have any right to call anything a 'mystery'! Hmm? You want to get back on topic? Right, right. Good idea. So, where were we... Ah. Touching. Honestly, I find it a bit scary. It feels so warm. So intense. Like my ears are about to be torn off. Like, like I was melting? Or something? My whole head goes all soft. Yeah. Huh? Oh, no. Err... Please, let me... Let me, touch them... Please! Okay, bye."

"......"

"Hah... Hahaha."

Barely had the call ended when I could already hear her laughing out loud like a maniac.

Whatever the conversation had been about, it appeared to have had quite the deep impact on her.

She then turned around.

As she did, so did the smile she had on her face vanish.

"Whoa!"

The sight of me standing behind her was enough to cause the girl to physically jump backwards. She was the granddaughter of the couple living next to my grandparents' house. Our visits often overlapped, and as such, we had ended up spending many summer days playing together. She had always been older than me, and while I suppose that she technically still was, she really didn't look like it at all. I wasn't sure how to describe it, but it was almost as if she had stopped growing entirely sometime during middle school. And not in just terms of her height, but her general appearance as well.

I used to treat her like an older sibling, but now, it felt like our roles had been completely reversed. Somehow, this wasn't even the strangest thing about her; that honour went to the name tag she had stuck in her hair with the words "in training" written on it.

We were currently visiting my grandparents for New Year's, as was our annual tradition. For me, this marked my seventeenth visit.

I had decided to drop by the garden to call a certain someone and wish them happy New Year's, and if I had to take a guess, that was likely what had brought the girl here as well.

We both stood there perfectly motionless, the lights of our respective houses shining behind us as we stared at one another. I could understand her being shocked, but me? What reason did I have to react this way?

She had already been on the phone when I first entered the scene. My first thought had been to greet her, but sensing that to be rude somehow, I had instead chosen to simply stand there and listen. In retrospect, I wish I hadn't; even without fully knowing what the conversation was about, it was clear that it was meant to be private. Now, one might ask why you would have such a conversation out in the open in the first place, which, while a reasonable question in its own right, was hardly the most relevant one here.

"Ts-Tsukiyo?" she asked while eyeing me from head to toe. Not my name. Kinda close, though. "You look different from how I remember."

I could say the same about her. Then again, perhaps this impromptu meeting wasn't the best representation of either of us.

I went ahead and sneaked a peek at the phone she was holding. To this, the girl responded by quickly pulling the device out of my sight, all the while using her other hand to cover her face. Through the gaps between her fingers, I was able to see her eyes frantically jumping from left to right. A lot was seemingly going on, but at the same time, we were still more or less in the exact same position where we'd started from.

"Err, so..."

"Eek!"

"Huh?"

"Please don't get the wrong idea."

"About what?"

"About what you just heard. It was... err... umm... a phone call."

"Right..."

Could it be that she was just really, really bad at talking on the phone?

"So, did you... hear what I said?"

"I did."

"All of it?"

I could already feel myself starting to regret telling her the truth. It would've been so much easier to lie, say that I didn't hear anything, and walk away.

"About... half of it, I think?"

"Which half?"

Now that I thought about it, that really did make a big difference, didn't it?

"The... first half. Yeah."

How exactly did it make sense that I could've heard just the first half and not also the latter, that I didn't know.

"The first half... I should be safe then. Right?"

What was she asking me that for?

From my childhood playing partner to a weirdo neighbour. I couldn't help but sigh at the absurdity of the world.

"A-Are you happy?" the girl asked me all of a sudden, her eyes still spinning.

This wasn't actually how she was planning on changing the topic, was it? ...Was it?

For something clearly meant to be nothing more than a desperate excuse to move the conversation along, I ended up putting quite a lot of thought into her question.

"I think I am reasonably happy, yeah."

Why? Because I had been able to spend one more New Year's with Gon.

On second thought, I might even upgrade that from "reasonably" to "quite".

"That's good to hear."

Barely had I given her my answer when the girl had already begun making her escape towards her grandparents' house, all the while spinning like, well, a spinning top.

"And you?"

Why did I ask her that? Did I really care? Or was it just an old habit?

The girl stopped spinning, turned around, and snapped both of her fingers at me. Or at least that was what she tried to do; while her fingers did make a sound of some sort, it was hardly what I would call a "snap".

"There's your answer."

Huh?

Refusing to elaborate further, the girl then ran away, for good this time. I was left standing there dumbfounded, only to be brought right back to reality as I heard a loud scream from inside the house. It sounded almost like a cat whose tail had just been stepped on. Not that I had ever seen anything like that, of course. It was simply the first thing that came to mind.

"Wow... Looks like she has a lot going on in her life."

Based on the phone call I'd overheard, it kinda sounded like she had a girlfriend. That, or maybe she just wanted to touch some random person's chest. Somehow, that possibility sounded much scarier.

A girlfriend... Huh.

I wonder how she might react were I to tell her that I had one as well.

"Ah. Is it my turn this time?"

I pulled out my phone and checked who the text message I'd just received was from. To the surprise of absolutely no one, it turned out to be my aforementioned girlfriend. She still texted me every single time to ask if it was okay to call. Personally, I kinda wished that she wouldn't worry so much.

Then again, maybe it was actually a good thing that she did; I could easily see her worrying herself sick were she to call me at a bad time and I wasn't able to pick up.

I texted her the okay, and waited for her to call me.

Why was it that I decided to open with the following? To be honest with you, I wasn't sure myself.

"Hello. Are you happy?"

"Huh? Y-Yeah. I am now."

Good.