Adachi to Shimamura - Volume 2 - Chapter 5.2

Bonus chapter: "Meat Shop: The Visitor - Part 3" 

Eating chicken curry on Christmas was a tradition in our family. A cliche, you could even call it. 
"Why?" Hino asked, busy eating her second serving of said curry. How inconsiderate of her to come over despite it being Christmas. My mother and father had both welcomed her in with a smile on their faces, though, making it seem like they'd already accepted her as one of ours. 
"I was asked what I wanted to eat, and I said curry." 
"And because it's Christmas, you put chicken in it? Yeah, I get it now." 
Hino's cheeks rapidly changed shape as she munched down on the piece of potato she'd tossed into her mouth. As I stared at her doing so, I found myself yearning after what I saw. 
Yearning for the curry, I meant. Not for her cheeks. Well, not that I'd mind those either. 
"Give me a bite." 
"Huh? Good grief. Okay, but just a bite." 
What sort of a reaction was that? She did know that this curry was mine, right? Furthermore, the spoonful she'd offered me only contained carrots. I still ate it, though. Mmh, delicious. 
Just so you know, breakfast tomorrow morning was going to consist of curry. Same with dinner, most likely. 
"This curry is really good", Hino stated, her comment aimed at my mother who was busy preparing chicken on the store side. 
"Thanks", she replied. Her forehead dripped with sweat despite it being winter, although this was most likely due to the flame she was standing next to. 
"You still like your own family's curry the best, right?" 
"No, we only eat Japanese-style foods", Hino said. As she did, her face twisted into a wry smile. Right. Thinking back to it, they usually did have either kombu or chickpeas out as snacks when I went there. It was a pretty fresh experience for me, snacks that weren't sweet. 
"Even when we do have curry once in a blue moon, it's always made of tofu. Not a fan." 
Spinning her spoon around, Hino's eyes turned towards the calendar hanging off the wall. The word "curry" had been written in tiny letters inside the square of the 25th day. It was my handwriting. Why exactly had I felt the need to write it down? Despite my best efforts, I couldn't manage to remember. 
"Christmas, huh? Just one more week, and then that's that for this year." 
"Indeed", I nodded lightly while looking up at the calendar. I'd been told that I wouldn't be receiving any more New Year's gifts after I started high school, and as a result, it wasn't a time of the year that I was particularly looking forward to. Hino probably still received them, huh? Feeling a little jealous, I turned to face her. 
"Hey, Nagafuji. Do you ever think about the future?" 
Was that really the kind of question to ask out of nowhere? It sounded really complex and hard to answer. 
"How far into the future are we talking about here? Tomorrow? The New Year?" 
"Thinking about anything further than a week away would probably be impossible for you, huh?" 
Having finished her bowl of curry, Hino now took a sip of tea. She then placed the cup on the table before propping her chin up with her arm. 

"For example, in ten years, we probably won't be able to act this carefree, right? Like, we'll both be too busy with our jobs to be eating curry at three in the afternoon. Plus, it's not even a given that we'll be together anyway. Thinking about it that way, it really makes you appreciate how nice it is to have lots of free time. Then again, it can also stress you out by making you feel like you have to make the best of it." 
Just like I'd thought, this topic was simply out of my league. What was I going to be like in ten years? I had no clue. 
"Wow, Hino. Even you think about some pretty difficult stuff, huh?" 
"That 'even you' really bothers me." 
"Hmm..." 
She'd also said something that bothered me. That was, her not being sure if we'd be together in ten years. Though I obviously wasn't able to give her other questions the kind of answers that she sought, that one part, I felt like I had an answer for it. 
I put my crappy memory ("crappy" according to Hino, who had told me that three times, though I only remember the most recent one) to use and tried my hardest to recall what it was. Hmm... Oh, right. 
"I think it'll be fine." 
"Huh? Which part?" 
"We're going to be friends forever. You said it yourself while we were coming back from seeing a film." 
We'd been in our second year of elementary school back then, I was pretty sure. What sort of film had it been? That, I couldn't remember. 
As for Hino, it seemed that she had forgotten the entire statement. At least, that's what the way her gaze jumped around seemed to imply. 
"I said that? Really?" 
"I replied with a 'yeah'." 
"Yeah..." 
"And that's why I think we'll be together even in ten years." 
We would definitely be if we wanted to. If both of us wanted to. 
For a second, Hino remained silent and simply scratched her cheek. She then laughed. 
What a weirdo she'd become. 
"Since we've been together for the past ten years, the next ten years won't bring any changes with them, huh?" 
"Hm?" 
"Nothing, nothing. Anyway, can I have another bowl of curry?" 
"Go home." 
We'd once again skipped all the polite traditions, but even without those, I had a feeling that the next year would end up going just fine.