The Ex-Couple Have a Sleepover
“You’re welcome.”
In what could only be described as a folly of youth, I had a so-called girlfriend during eighth and ninth grade. At this point it’s like, “All right, what part of Mizuto’s embarrassing past is gonna come up now?” But hold on a second. There’s no need to brace yourself for that kind of story.
Sure, Yume Ayai and I had been impulsive, stupid kids when we’d dated, but we didn’t do every last thing that couples do. We were just middle schoolers—of course we couldn’t. The amount of freedom that one gets is proportional to their age, meaning that we essentially had none, severely limiting the things we could do. It goes without saying that spending the night with each other was something we could only dream about. I mean, we hadn’t even told our parents we were dating.
It’s not like I was scared of sleeping over or anything. Seriously. Technically, we spent the night together during the Outdoor Education trip we had in May of the eighth grade, but I wouldn’t count that since we were still just classmates—just two strangers in the same class who’d never had a real conversation.
Actually, given how isolated the two of us often were, we might as well have been aliens to our classmates. You’d think there would’ve been some kind of episode when these two aliens did something they wouldn’t want people to find out about, but no, nothing like that ever happened. Just passing by each other took everything they had, and any agonizing memories weren’t made until after they started dating.
So this time, I’d like nothing more than to skip over any stories regarding our embarrassing past and go right to the present where a bloody battle between the two of us was taking place, but there’s another memory we share that I need to talk about. How is it possible that two complete strangers who’d spent no quality time with each other somehow still ended up making memories together? The most interaction we’d had was when we’d pass by each other. Even so, I could still remember that one time—the time when I’d caught a glimpse of who Yume Ayai really was.
So let me tell you about our Outdoor Ed. I’d had no interest in it at all, which is probably why I don’t remember anything about what we actually did there. The only thing I remember with absolute certainty is the title of the book I read during our free time—Hiroshi Mori’s Mathematical Goodbye.
In my opinion, reading novels was the same kind of leisure activity as reading manga or playing video games, but apparently, most people wouldn’t agree. Kids were praised for reading novels for some reason, so adults wouldn’t get on their case for not participating in conversations. It’s like some kind of bug in their programming.
Anyone who doesn’t count reading and gaming as hobbies might think I was some kind of charity case. But that’s just how I enjoyed my time in Outdoor Ed. Reading mysteries while in the mountains had a certain elegance to it, like maybe somewhere deep in the forest there might be some kind of strange-shaped mansion.
Our sleeping situation was nothing fancy. When night came, both the boys and the girls had their own sleeping bags laid out (with an appropriate amount of space between them) across a sort of banquet hall.
Whispers filled this dark space. Though whispers are meant to be quiet, when tens of people are whispering, it becomes very disruptive. All that was hard for me to sleep through, so I got up, grabbed my book, said that I was going to the bathroom, and left the sleeping-bag-filled banquet hall. As I left, I felt the gaze of the guys around me who might as well have been asking, “Is this guy serious?”
The hall lights were off, but the moonlight that poured in from the window faintly lit up the wooden floor. There was just enough light to read. After walking a good enough distance away, I looked up to the sky.
As it so happened, the scene I’d been reading in Mathematical Goodbye had a lot to do with the starry sky, so maybe that’s why I felt so compelled to look at the heavens even though it was unlike me to do so. Hm. The night sky looks pretty nice.
My reaction was pretty typical of what people actually did when they looked up at the sky. The only people who’d just gawk at it in wonder were actors or YouTubers.
“Wow...”
No sooner had I had that thought than I heard a gasp of awe. Oh, is someone watching a video? I turned to the source of the sound and standing there at the next window down was a small-framed girl who was absentmindedly gazing at the night sky.
I wasn’t the type of guy who remembered the names of my classmates, but there were some exceptions to this—namely, other misfits like me. If two loners became friends, it wouldn’t change the fact that they were still loners. They’d be two loners hanging out together. Even so, it was hard to avoid a sense of camaraderie.
This was Yume Ayai—or at least, I was pretty sure that was her name. She often sat at her desk reading books. I’d never seen her talk with friends, and even here, all I’d seen her do was wander around like a lost kid after failing to join up with a group.
Normal people probably won’t understand, but there are good loners and bad loners. The good ones are resourceful and can get themselves out of trouble (e.g., forgetting their textbook) without asking anyone for help. The bad ones are hopeless and can’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag.
Not to sing my own praises, but I was pretty resourceful, so I’d say that I was the good kind of loner. Meanwhile, Yume Ayai was obviously the complete opposite. I was a little uncomfortable around bad loners.
Maybe it was contempt for my own kind? Or maybe it was just secondhand embarrassment. Either way, when she found herself troubled, it made me feel troubled too, and I couldn’t help but try to throw her a life raft.
When we’d been making curry at the camping area earlier in the day, I’d noticed that she couldn’t get some of the ingredients she needed, so I’d given her whatever I hadn’t used. She wasn’t the kind of person who’d fess up to her mistakes, so all she could do was wait for someone to recognize that she needed help. Unfortunately, the only person in our class who could put themselves in the shoes of a shy person like her was me, which meant I was the only one who could help.
That’s why my image of Yume Ayai was the one I had from the classroom—ashamed of her weakness and thankful to me.
But right now, I was seeing a completely different side of her as she gazed at the starry sky. She had a trancelike expression on her face, like she was bathing in the moonlight. The look on her face was one I could never make.
I’d realized that, deep in my heart, I’d been looking down on her. Honestly, I was ashamed of myself. While my current self would say that it’d be okay to keep looking down on her forever, I couldn’t help but praise my middle school self for his introspection, especially considering how thoughtless he usually was.
Maybe it wasn’t good for me to stare at her while feeling that. But then Ayai looked at me. Her shoulders shrunk, and she made a sound of embarrassment before completely clamming up.
She really is hopeless. It was hard to think that a girl like her would have slipped out of the sleeping area for no reason, though. I figured she must’ve had some kind of business with me, but there was no chance I could just ask her that. It’d probably only freak her out more.
Thinking about it now, that might not have bothered her as much as I’d thought. My past self instead decided to direct his gaze out of the window into the night sky and say, “The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Huh?!”
An instant reaction. If this were anyone else, they wouldn’t have interpreted the phrase in a literary sense, but even in this lack of light, I could tell that she’d gone red in the face and had become even more fidgety after recognizing the reference.
“S-So, u-uh... I-I—”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said, my shoulders shaking slightly from laughter.
I don’t have a clue why I decided to tease her like that. Who knows what was going on in my head? Well, whatever. I choose to believe that I somehow knew even back then that she’d eventually transform into an insufferable person, so that’s why I did it.
For some reason, Ayai looked at me agape. I wondered what she was so surprised about, but in the end, she just said nothing and again looked up at the moon that I’d called beautiful. We stood there in our separate spots, staring up at the same moon that was surrounded by stars. Clouds passed it by slowly, and just as the biggest one covered it, I heard her soft voice. “Th-Thank you...for this afternoon.”
Before I could even turn, I heard her running back to the banquet hall. When I looked over, I saw her small figure disappear into the hallway. After this, I was positive that she’d followed me all this way just to say that.
I wouldn’t call that scenario our first meeting—no, I’d say it was just us passing by one another. There was no “cause” in the cause and effect. No spark or reason. If the conversation we’d had separated by one window space foreshadowed our relationship three and a half months later, then I think that whatever higher power is out there has been reading too many mysteries.
In the real world, not every little thing adds up to a certain event happening—it’s not that convenient. But at that time, I did make an out-of-character wish while staring at that starry sky that I didn’t think was particularly pretty. This wasn’t a wish I made with the thought of us as boy and girl, but as misfits who went to the same school.
I was sure that the memories she’d made during Outdoor Ed. weren’t great, so I wished that her memories under this starry sky would become something nice.
At some point, I said the words “you’re welcome,” but she was nowhere to be found. And that was okay. I could just tell her when I saw her again.
Before I realized it, two years had passed by.
◇
In Japan, there’s something called “The May Blues.” It’s a phenomenon where, after finishing the first month of school in April and acclimating to everything, you become lethargic and unmotivated with the warm weather. I’m envious of anyone who can get used to their new student life in a single month. Even now, I’m still trying to get used to the fact that I’m living in the same house as my ex.
But in this second week of May, one week after Mother’s Day weekend, I would finally be free of this stressful environment. “Joy” couldn’t even begin to describe how I felt.
“You have my thanks, Kawanami. I’ll have your back for midterms.”
“Oh, you’re gonna help me study?”
“I’m gonna cheer you on. You got this!”
“That’s it?!” Kogure Kawanami, a guy whose appearance made it look like he was rebelling against our straitlaced prep school, shot me an exasperated glare while playing with his hair.
What a greedy guy. He should know how rare it is for me to cheer someone on.
This weekend, for certain reasons, I’d be staying over at Kogure Kawanami’s house. My biological father and my stepmother were newlyweds and were both bending over backwards for their respective children. It didn’t really seem like they had any time at all just to be a married couple.
So, with that in mind, their children—me and Yume, that is—had decided to give them a weekend where they could be alone as a present. That’s why this Saturday and Sunday, Yume would stay with her friend, Minami Akatsuki, and I would stay with Kogure Kawanami. It’d be the first time in over a month that we would not be sleeping under the same roof.
“We’re here: Chez Kawanami.”
Kawanami had stopped in front of an apartment building that looked a little beaten up, and, as was typical for a building in Kyoto, wasn’t very tall—only about ten floors. We walked through the auto-locking doors to the elevator to get to his apartment, which was on one of the higher floors.
The only thing was...a face I had no intention of seeing was just around the corner.
“Geh.”
“Ah.”
Waiting in front of the very same elevator were two high school girls. One of them was an energetic, small-framed girl with her hair tied into a ponytail. She was currently wearing a baggy T-shirt and a cardigan that was tied around her shorts that unsparingly showed off her thin, bare legs—an outfit that really had a boyish feel to it. It was Minami Akatsuki.
Then there was the girl standing next to her who had irritatingly long black hair that looked like it came straight out of a horror flick. She was wearing a white dress that gave off the vibe of trying to be prim and proper. I wondered if it was part of her high school glow-up strategy of pretending to be a high-class girl despite being a low-class commoner like the rest of us. Anyway, the other girl was Yume Irido.
“Leave.” I shot her a hostile, malicious, unfriendly look.
In response, she gave me a spiteful, evil death stare. “Why don’t you leave?”
“You have other friends, don’t you?”
“Oh, my apologies. I should have taken into account that you only have one friend.”
Of course, none of this was said out loud. We had this back-and-forth through our mutual glares. We only stopped when we heard Minami-san’s cheerful voice, a stark contrast to the fruitless battle we were having.
“Oh hey, it’s Irido-kun! You’re having a sleepover too?” Minami-san said, standing in front of me and looking up at my face.
She’s gonna kill me! I instinctively took a step backwards.
“Y-Yeah, you could say that.”
“Wow, what a coincidence! Yume-chan’s sleeping over at my place today!” Minami-san took another step forward, closing the distance between us, and then said in a low voice, “This sleepover was your idea, wasn’t it?” Her mouth was curved into a faint smile that was unbecoming of the cute little critter that she was. “Thanks. Being able to have a sleepover with Yume-chan—just the two of us—is like a dream come true! Just the two of us!”
I had no clue what she was up to, but this was the crazy chick who had proposed to me just so that she could become Yume’s stepsister. I figured it’d be a good idea to give her a quick reminder.
“Keep things PG, Minami-san.”
“You jelly? Yay! It was worth being so pushy.”
“You serious right now? It’s amazing how you come up with these grand delusions one after another so easily.”
“Thanks!”
That was not a compliment. Stop looking so proud.
“All right you two, break it up.” Kawanami picked up Minami-san by her collar as if she were a cat and dragged her away from me. “Stay out of our man’s sanctuary and go pick some flowers or something.”
“Wow. I’ve never seen such transparent sexism. Also, ‘man’? Heh, that’s the last word I’d use here.”
“Oh what, are you okay leaving your princess over there all by her lonesome?”
I looked over at Yume as Minami-san and Kawanami bickered. She was grimacing in our direction. As soon as she noticed me, she turned away and pouted.
Minami-san freed herself from Kawanami’s grip before dashing over into Yume’s arms.
“Sorry, Yume-chan! I won’t let you feel left out!”
“No, it’s quite all right, Akatsuki-san. I apologize for the crass ogling you were subjected to by my little brother. I’m ashamed to be related to him.” She shot a cold look at me.
“Crass”? Does she need to get her eyes checked?
Minami-san then turned to Kawanami while holding Yume’s arm and said, “Okay, well, don’t bother us, Kawanami. This is a woman’s sanctuary.”
“I wouldn’t try to come near your place even if you asked me to,” Kawanami said, picking at his ear, giving an uninterested response.
In contrast, Minami-san stuck out her tongue tauntingly.
“Say, Akatsuki-san, I’ve been wondering...” Yume said. “What is your relationship with Kawanami-kun, exactly?”
Ah, yes. This was one thing that I’d failed to account for.
The plan had been for both of us to leave the house to give our parents alone time as a present, freeing myself from Yume in the process.
“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that,” Minami-san said with a bright, innocent smile. “We just live next door to each other and used to play a lot together when we were kids.”
“So, you and Minami-san are childhood friends,” I said, poking fun at Kawanami as we sat in his living room.
There was no trace of his parents since, according to him, they wouldn’t come home until the end of the day. Thanks to that, we were able to take up more space in the apartment, and I was able to enjoy my cup of barley tea at the coffee table while Kawanami sat on the other side.
“Nah, we’re nothing like that. We just live next to each other and used to play a lot together when we were kids.”
“What is your definition of a childhood friend then?! Apologize right now to all the childhood friend-types of the world!”
“What are you getting so riled up for?” Kawanami gulped down his barley tea.
What’s going on? Am I the weird one? Am I crazy?!
“Childhood friends, huh? I guess in the past, I would’ve said we were...”
“Why’re you saying it like you’re some kind of washed-up legend-making protagonist? Knock it off.”
“But y’know, to be childhood friends, you’d have to still be on good terms in present times, right? I wouldn’t call someone who merely attended the same elementary school as me a childhood friend.”
“The two of you look plenty friendly to me.”
“Well that’s just ’cuz the two of us have high social skills—y‘know, that thing where someone can get along with someone even if they don’t really like them.” He said this as if he were revealing some kind of great truth, which made me accept it without even a second thought.
If that’s what it meant to have social skills, I definitely didn’t have any.
“So you guys used to get along but drifted apart at some point? That’s kinda cliché, don’t you think?”
“Don’t call someone’s life cliché! Also, saying that we ‘drifted apart’ doesn’t exactly capture how far apart our hearts actually are.”
“And despite that, you guys live in close proximity.”
“Yep.”
“Sounds like hell.”
“Right?”
I understood this pain all too well. His circumstances were closer to mine than I’d thought.
“But wait, if I remember correctly, you said that the two of you went to the same cram school before, right?”
“Yeah, and I wasn’t lying. We went to the same cram school in middle school, and we’ve lived next to each other since elementary school.”
That’s a trick of misdirection! Don’t do that in regular conversations!
“I know you have your own circumstances, so I won’t pry too much.”
“Well, I will. How far have you gone with Irido-san?”
“Show some restraint!”
To this, Kawanami just snickered and said, “Calm down. You know, I am givin’ you a place to stay and a meal to boot. Can’t you indulge me just a little?”
“You’re just shamelessly taking advantage of the situation to pry into our private secrets, huh?”
“You could say that. I am interested in privates.”
“You’re just a pervert.”
“So anyway, have you seen her boobs? What color are her nipples?”
“Why would I tell you that?! I’m not even gonna tell you if I have or haven’t seen them!”
“Hm? So, what you’re saying is...the specifics of Irido-san’s boobs are for you and you only?”
“Whatever... Let’s leave it at that.”
“Hm, I see...” Kawanami said, grinning. Just as I started to get a bad feeling, he spoke up again. “Irido said, ‘Yume’s boobs are mine!!!’”
I heard a furious banging sound from behind me.
Wait... No way, right? I felt a chill wash over me, and I started sweating bullets. I looked at the guy sitting in front of me who was heartily laughing.
“Whoops, almost forgot! The walls in our apartment are paper-thin.”
Tell me that earlier! The wall behind me shook with each bang on it. This was beyond terrifying, but the sound kept going.
“Y-Yume-chan?!” Minami-san cried out. “Calm down! Between your hand and the wall, something’s gonna break!!!”
Then, from the other side of the wall, I heard a wailing sound like that of a mad beast, followed by a flurry of messages on LINE.
Yume: pervert
Yume: pervert
Yume: pervert
Yume: pervert
I guess she couldn’t be bothered to add punctuation marks or capitalize anything with how fast she was sending the messages. Spam emails could learn a thing or two from her.
I calmly switched my phone off then turned to the guy who was still in stitches and shot an ice-cold stare at him.
“Kawanami... Where’s your room?”
He was wheezing with laughter, but as soon as he heard my question he calmed down. His face froze with a smile still on it.
Mizuto Irido is not the kind of person who would cry himself to sleep. He’s the “eye for an eye” type of person. He doesn’t turn the other cheek; he punches you in your other cheek. That’s what he was taught by the books he read growing up.
“‘When I grow up, I wanna be a policeman. I wanna be a strong policeman so I can protect Akatsuki-chan.’”
“STOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!”
Then, yet another series of loud banging noises came from the wall.
“A-Akatsuki-san?! Stop! I heard the wall crack! It’s going to break!”
The composition notebook I’d dug up from the mountain of buried embarrassing history in Kawanami’s room was apparently from when he’d been smitten with Minami-san. There was no doubt in my mind that he’d wanted to marry her when he was little.
I was pretty sure this was the kind of homework that kids had to read out to the class, which meant that he’d shared this with other people. I hadn’t even been there and I could feel thirdhand cringe from that.
“Kawanami!!! I told you to throw that away!!! Yume-chan had to hear all of that!!!”
“How’s that my fault?!”
“It’s because you had to make some stupid joke, stupid!”
“Shut up, idiot!”
Kawanami, who was currently being restrained by a power cord, and Minami-san yelled at each other through the wall.
It was unexpected, but it was really something to see these two clash. Kawanami usually had a grin on his face like he knew something you didn’t, and Minami-san was just a complete psycho.
I smirked at Kawanami, who was rolling around on the floor while bound, and said, “Kawanami, I think you two are still on pretty good terms.”
“Weren‘t you taught not to be a bully?!”
“It takes one to know one.”
Not bad, if I do say so myself. I really knew how to use one’s embarrassing history. It wasn’t hard after I’d dredged up so much of it myself. It’s not my choice to have this kind of power... (Shiver.)
“I wonder if there’s anything even more interesting in here?”
“You’re still going?! You’re a total sadist, Irido! How can you look so calm when your personality is so cruel?!”
I didn’t know this part of me existed either. Is this...truly me? (Shiver.)
I went back to Kawanami’s room, leaving him tied up and rolling around in the living room. His bed only had his pajamas that he’d thrown on them. His bookshelf only had manga. The cords for his game consoles were jumbled. I guess one could call this a normal room for a high school boy.
I saw his laptop on top of his desk and opened it up. Apparently, it was only asleep, so I didn’t have to go through the lock screen to get to his desktop. How careless of him, especially with a guest in the house.
My new plan was to try and maybe reveal some of the possible dirty pictures he might have on the computer, but before I even had the chance, my eyes fell on something else.
“Oh, what’s this?”
It was a Word document. Apparently, he’d been keeping a journal. I hadn’t expected anything like it. I thought that maybe going through it would be a little too much of an invasion of his privacy, but...that concern only lasted a split second when I saw that it was last updated months ago.
My interest was piqued. What, can’t keep a steady schedule? If he’d only kept a schedule for three days, then I figured he wasn’t writing about anything too interesting. I double-clicked on the file to open it and was greeted by an entry written in regular font.
10/13: if anyone else but me is reading this, it means that I am no longer of this world.
“...”
I’d never seen anyone actually start a journal entry like that before. It was hard to believe that this was the same person who was energetically crying out and rolling around in the other room. Suddenly, I was too curious to stop and began reading other entries as well.
10/14: I had a nightmare. Akatsuki was bathing me. I won’t lose.
10/15: My stomach hurts. I still have diarrhea. My stomach’s been groaning forever.
10/16: I have a bald spot. I think I’ve been able to hide it with my hairstyle.
10/17: I coughed up blood for the first time in my life. I tried going to the hospital, but Akatsuki caught me.
10/18: I’m dying. So tired. Head hurts.
10/19: I can’t do anything. She won’t let me.
10/20: I can’t. Save mmmmmmmmmmmmm
I closed the file and decided I’d forget what I’d just read. I should be a little nicer to Kogure Kawanami.
Night came before I knew it. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but Kawanami’s parents still weren’t home, so we decided to go out for dinner. According to Kawanami there was a family restaurant that he frequented nearby.
“We’ve got some frozen foods, and that’s what I usually eat, but I can’t really serve random stuff we have in the fridge to a guest,” he’d said. “That wouldn’t be right.”
The town felt like a different world at night for some reason. It was the same scenery as always, but there was a different layer to it. Maybe I only felt this way because I wasn’t really one to walk around outside at night that often.
As we walked through the lights from various shops’ signs, I said, “Your parents really do come home late, huh?”
“This is Japan we’re talking about. Working to the bone isn’t abnormal here—it’s just how it is in this exploitative culture.” Kawanami shrugged while walking through the intersecting lights and shadows of the city. “I was impressed when you asked if you could stay over so that your parents could have alone time. I guess there are still some good-hearted young’uns out there after all.”
“How old are you supposed to be?”
“I stopped counting after ten.”
“How bad are you at counting?!”
Kawanami’s shoulders shook with laughter. Living in an apartment where his parents were never really home was just the norm for him. Understanding that, it made me realize something—in a situation like that, it was only natural for him to want to befriend the person next door who was the same age. It was like having a sibling.
Minami-san and Kawanami are more like stepsiblings than Yume and I.
“Table for two?”
“Yes.”
“A table for two just opened up. Please follow me.”
It was a little late for dinner, but the place was alive with families inside. As the hostess guided us to our table by the window, I couldn’t help but think how lucky we were to have been able to secure a table for two in the midst of all this.
When we reached it, the sound of four people simultaneously saying “ah” at the same time rang out.
The table we’d been taken to was right next to the table that Yume and Minami-san were sitting at.
Minami-san made a face that made it obvious she was annoyed. “Ugh, I can’t believe I forgot that Kawanami comes here too! Our romantic dinner for two is over...”
“What do you mean ‘romantic’?” Kawanami scoffed. “This is a family restaurant. Let me guess, you’re getting the Milan-style doria, right?”
“What’s wrong with that?! It’s cheap and delicious! I bet you’re gonna get something unhealthy like pizza, right?!”
“What’s wrong with pizza? It’s cheap, delicious, and you can share it.”
Right as they met, they casually started bantering. I couldn’t help but voice my honest opinion: “You two act like you come here together all the time. Honestly, it really suits childhood friends like you guys.”
“Childhood friends?!” they cried at the same time.
“With him?!”
“With her?!”
“You two have to be doing this on purpose.”
Normally, people would only deny something in sync like that if they’d been accused of being in a relationship. Why’d they do it when I called them childhood friends?
I reluctantly sat in the chair against the wall next to Yume while Kawanami reluctantly took the seat on the outside of the table next to Minami-san. Sure, if we were so reluctant, we could’ve asked for a different table, but Kawanami probably would’ve read too much into it.
I had to be careful of close-range attacks from Yume. She had yet to say a single word but was restlessly fidgeting in her seat.
“There’s a bathroom by the drink bar,” I said.
“That’s not it! I-It’s just...the first time I’ve come to a family restaurant with my friends at night.”
“Ha. Good for you, Ms. High School Glow-Up.”
“I keep telling you, this isn’t a glow-up!”
“Yeah, that’s hard to believe when you’re fawning over your first family restaurant experience with friends.”
“What’s your problem? This is your first time too! You don’t have any friends.”
“I don’t consider going with Kawanami to a family restaurant as some kind of great achievement.”
“Hey, be nicer to the person who’s letting you stay at his place.”
After going through the menu, I ended up ordering some random cheap pasta and the drink bar. I’d heard of a drink bar, but had never gotten it before. For just two hundred yen, you had full access to the various fountain drinks available.
“Irido, go get our drinks.”
“Why should I have to do that? I’m not your gofer. Go get it yourself, lowlife.”
“That’s not what I meant. I’m gonna watch over our stuff while you get our drinks.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Right, so go with Irido-san.”
“Now you lost me.”
“This is your first time using the drink bar, right? She can teach you. It’ll be faster that way.” Kawanami was wearing a very mischievous smile while Minami muttered “gross,” giving him the side eye.
Using that logic, why don’t you come with me since you’re so experienced? But just as I was about to say that out loud, I was interrupted by someone’s voice ringing out.
“Oh? Interesting. You’ve never used the drink bar before? At your age? I see.”
“Hey, my dear little stepsister, do you mind explaining the look you’re giving me? It’s really pissing me off.”
“I’m just saying it’s unusual for a high schooler to not know how to use a drink bar. Have you never been to a family restaurant with your friends? Want me to teach you how to use it?”
Why is she getting all high and mighty over something as stupid as a drink bar?! I angrily stood up from my seat with determination.
“Just watch me. I’ll show you what a real drink bar is,” I declared.
“I look forward to seeing what you can do.”
“Did some kind of cooking battle start or something?” Minami-san tilted her head in confusion as Yume and I headed to the battlefield.
Cola, orange juice, seltzer water, black tea, iced coffee—there were a lot of different choices waiting for us, but it didn’t matter. My objective was the same regardless of which drink button I pushed. I put on my game face. I was about to finish this. Bring it on.
“I guess I’ll have an iced coffee...” I said, placing a cup in the indicated spot.
I was about to push the button when...
“Really? Are you sure about that?” Yume said with fascination while letting out a sigh and shrugging her shoulders. “Goodness, looks like you really don’t know, do you? This is why amateurs are just so hard to watch.”
“What? Are you trying to say there’s more to this than putting the cup in the spot and pushing the button?”
“Let me show you the ropes. You need to see what the proper etiquette is.”
Saying this, Yume took a cup in one of her hands and put it under the nozzle for melon soda. She filled the cup one-third of the way with a green liquid and then pressed the orange juice button, filling it another third of the way. Finally, she finished it off by filling up the remainder of the cup with seltzer water and mixing it all together.
The final product looked the same color as entrails and bubbled like some kind of potion. I couldn’t believe it had been made on Earth. It looked like something she’d scooped out of a river in hell.
“The drink bar is all about making your own original drink. This is how you’re supposed to use it!”
“What...” I trembled in fear while looking at the drink that looked like some kind of failed potion that had been mixed in a video game.
Were high schoolers really drinking this stuff on a regular basis? Were they monsters that needed to eat industrial waste to grow?!
“Your turn. Mix as your fingers compel you to.”
“Ugh...” I furrowed my brow and glared at the drinks.
I didn’t like carbonated drinks, so if I took those out, then...
“I’ll start with a little black tea.”
“Okay.”
“Then I’ll put in a little grape juice.”
“Huh?!”
“Then I’ll finish it off with orange juice.”
“Are you serious?!” She was doubting my sanity.
How rude.
“It’s like Russian tea. You know all about Russian teas, right? It’s black tea, but you put jam into it.”
“Rude. I totally know what that is! And yes, I suppose it’s kind of like that.”
How could she doubt what I’d just done when that was exactly what she’d told me to do? We walked back to the table with our creations. Minami-san took one look at our concoctions and let out a laugh.
“S-S-Sorry, Yume-chan!” she said, trembling while clutching her stomach.
Yume tilted her head in confusion.
“Remember when I said that making your own drink blend was proper etiquette? That was a joke!”
“Huh?!”
“Ha ha ha ha ha! I didn’t think you’d actually believe me! Aha ha ha ha!” Minami-san burrowed her face into the table in a fit of laughter, leaving Yume stunned and red with embarrassment.
Oh, so she fell for Minami-san’s joke? I thought this so-called “etiquette” was strange. I can’t believe she’s so gullibl—
“Pfft, why did you fall for it too, Irido?!” Kawanami burst out laughing while pointing at my scuffed version of a Russian tea.
“Ha ha ha ha! I can’t believe both of you fell for it! You two really are siblings! Aha ha ha ha ha!”
“Stop laughing, you childhood friends!” Yume and I said, completely in sync.
They must have really been enjoying this; tears were coming out of their eyes. In the meantime, the two of us were bright red from humiliation while we tried to object to their claims. In the end, their laughter was so loud that the waitress had to come over and politely ask them to quiet down.
“Ugh, my stomach is churning,” Yume groaned.
We were now walking back to the apartment building after dinner.
“I still can’t believe you finished that drink from hell,” Minami-san said, snickering next to Yume.
“I didn’t have a choice. It’s not good to waste food or drink.”
“You’re such an honor student, but I love that about you!” Minami-san did a gleeful hop and embraced Yume around her neck.
Surprisingly, Yume just calmly hugged Minami-san back while saying “Uh-huh,” dragging her along. Guess she’s already gotten comfortable with this kind of physical intimacy.
I continued to watch this girly display while clutching my stomach, which was currently undulating like a sea in the storm.
“Hey, want me to do that to you?” Kawanami asked from beside me.
“Do it, and I promise that I will paint your shirt the color of the chaotic abyss brewing inside me.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I think I get the point.”
In a move completely opposite from the two in front of us, Kawanami took a step away from me. Very wise decision.
“I know the two of you are rubes when it comes to that kinda stuff,” Kawanami said, referring to the incident from earlier, “but I didn’t think you’d be that bad.”
“Nobody bothers to write the exact procedure for operating a drink bar in novels.” To be honest, I’d been wondering what kind of candy a “drink bar” was until quite recently.
“Heh heh, this could be fun. I wonder what I’ll lie to you about next.”
“You’re definitely the type who’d commit a crime just for fun.” And you’ll never fool me again.
“Heya, Irido-kun!” I felt a weight on my left arm. Apparently, at some point, Minami-san had hopped off of Yume and latched on to me. “I heard from Yume-chan that you’re good at modern Japanese. This must be some kinda destiny! Midterms are comin’ up, and I could use a little help studying.”
What’s going on? Why is she all clingy over me instead of Yume?
Minami-san had somehow caught onto what I was thinking, because in the next moment, she was smiling and flashing a peace sign.
“The night’s young. I’m in the middle of Operation Tease,” she whispered to me.
I looked at Yume, who was currently pouting while standing a little bit of a distance away from us. Ah, I see now. So this is the power of a natural-born social monster like Minami-san. She knows exactly when to press on the gas and when to ease off. Very crafty.
“Are you sure you’re the one making her jealous?” Kawanami whispered, in a tone that suggested he knew something we didn’t, to Minami-san from the other side of me.
She shot Kawanami a death glare, and he returned it with a loaded grin. Could you two not have this battle when I’m literally in the middle of it? As their whispering continued, I could tell that it just made Yume feel even more excluded. Fine. I guess I have to do something...
“Sorry to disappoint,” I said, shrugging, “but I doubt my study methods for modern Japanese will really help you.”
“Huh? Why?”
“I read a book a day, every day, for the entire year. That’s three hundred sixty-five books. Can you do that?”
“Oh god, nuh-uh. No way!”
“I don’t really have any kind of special study methods, so she’d probably be more useful in that regard,” I said, pointing at Yume, who was still standing at a distance from our little circle.
Being pointed to made her panic a little for some reason. “Huh? What? M-Me?”
“Yeah, you. You’re better at teaching people than I am. After all, you’re a hard worker.”
Yume’s eyes darted from side to side in her confusion before trying to play it off by twirling the ends of her hair. Are you looking for something?
“O-Oh. I’m surprised you’re so self-aware,” she said in an attempt to shake off her nervousness. “If you need help studying, Akatsuki-san, I’m the one to go to. I’m a much better teacher than he could ever be.”
“Yeah, your approach of studying like your life depends on it is much better suited for teaching, compared to someone like me who can get points on tests without even trying. I can figure things out just from reading the question.”
“What’s your damage? Are you gonna die if you don’t piss me off or something?”
I was simply stating the facts. Problem? I didn’t bother to verbally respond to her biting verbal abuse that grated my ears.
Meanwhile, Minami-san, still clinging onto my arm, said, “N-Not bad, Irido-kun... You used me to get points with her. You may be my enemy, but I can’t help but applaud.” She was so close to me that I could see her cheek twitching.
I have no idea what you’re praising me for. None of that was planned. I just got points without even trying.
◇
(10:32) Akatsuki☆: noooo i wanted to see yume-chan naked so baaaad
(10:32) Yume: Don’t blame me for your debauchery.
(10:32) K_KOGURE: Good decision-making, Irido-san! She has the body of a grade schooler, but the heart of a pervy old man.
(10:33) Akatsuki☆: u better sleep with one eye open, kawanami
A series of kitchen knife stickers followed her message, making Kawanami, who was lying on the bed looking at his phone, start shivering in fear.
After coming back, we’d taken separate baths. I was now sitting at the low table in Kawanami’s room with my textbook and notes spread out across it.
I placed my phone next to me so that I could keep tabs on the LINE group chat that Minami-san had invited us to before we split up to go to our respective apartments. According to her nonsense reasoning, she wanted to liveblog her and Yume’s lovey-dovey time together.
I kept glancing at the chat—mostly because I was concerned that Minami-san would do something crazy—but I was pleasantly surprised to see that Yume wasn’t as defenseless as I thought.
(10:38) Akatsuki☆: irido-kun’s not saying anything. whats he up to?
(10:38) K_KOGURE: Studying, even though he talked big about being able to get points without even trying.
(10:39) Akatsuki☆: ur not studying too? the two of us are
(10:39) K_KOGURE: Good joke.
(10:39) Akatsuki☆: i mean it
(10:40) Yume: Kawanami-kun, the test may be more than a week away, but don’t forget how difficult the entrance exam was. Our school is different from normal high schools, so don’t let your guard down.
Kawanami stared at his phone in silence before slowly sitting up and mechanically turning his head to me. “Will it...really be that bad?”
“It will,” I responded immediately while turning a page in the textbook. “I might sing my own praises about being able to get points without trying, but if I don’t go through the textbook before the test, I’m screwed.”
“...Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
I knew it’d be tough because I’d skimmed the textbook after getting it and received a painful reminder that we really were attending a prep school.
“Kawanami, you’ve got friends, right? Haven’t you heard from anyone in a higher grade about how hard the tests are?”
“I kinda got the gist from rumors... Oh god, I still haven’t gotten over that early-semester sense of freedom!”
I knew how he felt. We’d finally earned our freedom from the entrance exam studying hell, but we only had less than two months of reprieve before we had to force ourselves to return to that same hell.
“You might not have to try all that hard...if you’re only looking for a passing grade, that is.”
“Okay, then why are you studying your ass off right now?”
“Isn’t that obvious?” I looked at the LINE chat. “There’s someone I don’t wanna lose to.”
I might’ve lost on the entrance exam, but I wasn’t about to continue eating her dust. I’d heard that the test results and rankings would be publicly posted in the hallways. This was my best chance to take the top spot and look down on her from the throne she had once sat on.
“You two are amazing,” Kawanami said with surprise, making me glance up. “I could never go after someone head-on like that. I’d just pretend to take it seriously and then lightly play it off later when everything’s over and done with. There’s no way I could ever go all-out butting heads with someone like you two.”
“Really?” I responded before even confirming what he was talking about. “I think you two are pretty overtly competitive, from what I’ve seen today.”
“Nah. If you’d paid attention, you’d get that we’re just superficially getting along with each other. We’re not as out in the open as you two are with your competition. It takes way too much energy to keep that up.”
“That’s because you guys actually have tact.” I knew that Kogure Kawanami might have had similar circumstances to mine, but the ability to communicate was definitely the one point where we differed. “From my perspective, I’m jealous of how much tact you two have.” If we were like them, I’m sure that our current circumstances and our relationship would be different.
“The grass is always greener,” Kawanami said with a sarcastic but bright smile.
“Oh, look at you using an idiom. So you did get some modern Japanese studying done.”
“I really made the best out of a bad situation,” Kawanami said before jumping off the bed and rummaging through his bag for his textbook. “Guess I’ll study for a bit. Come to think of it, it’d be nice to score higher than Minami.”
“Right? I’m gonna cheer you on. You got this!”
“How about you teach me, since you’re aiming for the top spot?”
Then, just like that, the night went by as we fulfilled our studious lives as students.
Kawanami had passed out on the floor even though it was only one in the morning. He was a lot less of a night person than I’d thought. I’d finished studying for the day, but since I was used to staying up late, I couldn’t fall asleep just yet.
I wasn’t really in the mood to keep listening to Kawanami sleep, so I exited to the dark living room, which was dimly lit by the faint moonlight that glowed through the balcony window. Looking outside, I could see the seemingly endless starry sky. It might not have been that amazing of a sight from an apartment building, but for someone who’d seen the same view from the same house his entire life, it was refreshing, especially from this height.
As if drawn to it, I walked out onto the balcony towards the night sky. The chilly yet soothing spring air blew across my neck as I did. It really was May.
I slipped on the sandals that were left out and walked to the railing of the balcony. On either side of the balcony were white partitions that read: “Break in case of emergency.” On the other side of the partition to the left was Minami-san’s room, which was also where Yume was presumably sleeping right now.
The panel wasn’t too thick, so it probably wouldn’t have been too hard to come and go as you pleased. Then again, I couldn’t think of many reasons to break down this panel to get to the room next door.
I leaned onto the railing and blankly stared at the night sky. In front of me, there was a sea of lights that were eventually stopped by the shadow of a mountain. But beyond that, there was nothing but the vast expanse of the sky.
With the stars closer to me than ever before, I could truly appreciate how beautiful they were. This might have been the first time that I’d taken a genuine look at the sky. Even when people fussed about a supermoon or a blood moon, the most I’d ever done was take a peek at it. If I had to say, the most time I’d ever spent sky watching was that one night in middle school during Outdoor Ed.
Suddenly I heard the sound of someone gasping in awe. I turned to my left, towards Minami-san’s room, and my eyes were met with the girl standing on the other side of the partition.
As soon as she noticed me, she shyly looked away and shut her mouth.
“What? Are you embarrassed, getting caught going ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ while staring at the night sky despite being a high schooler?”
“Don’t spell it out, just keep it to yourself!”
She turned as red as an oven that was heating up and hid her face against the railing of the balcony. As she did, I noticed the fluffy hood with bear ears she was wearing. It was so immature-looking, “childish” didn’t even begin to describe it. Protruding from the hood was her hair, which was tied with white scrunchies into two long pigtails that hung down her chest. It looked like she’d just gotten out of the shower.
“Hm, I guess you were pretty embarrassed by someone seeing you wearing your cute animal pajamas despite being a high schooler.”
“A follow-up attack?! You’re so evil! You’re an evil little stepbrother!!!” she wailed into the railing.
That’s older stepbrother to you, dear little stepsister.
I gently smiled at her as if I were a monk trying to comfort her. “Well, don’t let that bother you too much. I’m sure living in the same house with a guy your age has stressed you out a lot. This is a good opportunity for you to get some relief.”
“Can you stop already?! There’s nothing but venom in the words you’re using to ‘sympathize’ with me. For your information, Akatsuki-san made me wear this!”
“Don’t worry, I think you look cute (because you look like an idiot).”
“I can hear you, y’know?! If you think girls are happy just because you call them cute, you’ve got another thing coming!”
“I know. Why do you think I said that?”
“You’re making this so much worse!”
Maybe it was because her mental state hadn’t stabilized yet, but she hadn’t thrown any insults back at me. She was just getting clobbered. It seemed as if I’d stumbled onto the bonus stage of this game. I should collect all the coins I can while I have the chance.
“You’re one to talk...”
Just as I began thinking about how I’d tease her next, Yume raised her beet-red face a little, shifted her eyes towards me, and asked, “What were you doing out here by yourself? Were you entranced by something? Or maybe you were having fun looking down on the night city, pretending like you’re some kind of mastermind? Are you some kind of edgy eighth grader?”
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about that, but unfortunately, this isn’t the top floor. Don’t underestimate how anal edgelords are about their settings.”
I wondered if mentioning the eighth grade reminded her of that night when she had been the one entranced by the night sky. She looked at me for a bit, dubiously, before making a sound as if she’d realized something.
She looked up at the night sky, and her lips curled into a smile. “The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Geh.” My face twitched. She was too perceptive for her own good.
“Oh wow, you still remember that?” She shifted her gaze from the sky to me while wearing a teasing smile. “You have a pretty good memory if you’re able to remember something all the way back from Outdoor Ed.”
“You too... I can’t believe you remember what I said. You must have some kind of strategy for remembering—”
“How could I ever forget?”
Something about the way she said this felt dreamlike. A smile that only shone brighter from the twinkle of the stars spread across her face, leaving me breathless.
Yume’s slender finger went around the partition and slowly stretched out towards my face...before completely changing directions and pointing to my hand. “Mathematical Goodbye.”
“What?”
“That was the book you had back then. I liked it too, so it’s hard to forget. You should be grateful to Hiroshi Mori for that.”
“Oh... I see.”
I shifted my gaze back to the night sky and leaned on the railing. I did my best not to change expressions, but that didn’t stop her sadistic snickering.
“What? Is it so embarrassing for someone to find out that you’ve been treasuring a trivial memory from middle school?” she asked.
“Yeah, yeah. It’s embarrassing. So embarrassing. ’Grats on getting back at me.”
“You could stand to be a little more of a graceful loser.” Yume rested her chin on her arms that were folded on the railing.
Maybe it was because of how she was leaning over or because of the bear pajamas, but she looked a lot younger than usual... Kinda like how she looked back when she was still the shrimp known as Yume Ayai.
“So,” Yume said, still leaning on her arms, “what would you do if I said that I liked you back then?”
I looked at Yume’s profile and she glanced back at me. It didn’t seem like she was trying to bait me.
“What would I do? I don’t know. Would it change anything?”
“Probably not... After all, I didn’t like you like that just yet back then.”
“‘Just yet’?”
“Forget it.” Yume covered her mouth and averted her eyes.
Apparently, that had been a slip of the tongue. As much as I wanted to tease her for it, I could tell this wasn’t the time to do that, so instead, I continued the conversation.
“What makes you bring that up now?”
“No reason. Just watching Akatsuki-san and Kawanami-san made me wonder if time spent together really changes anything.”
“‘Time spent together’? Hm.”
True enough. Kawanami and Minami-san had some kind of bond between the two of them—or rather, an accumulation of know-how. (I’d better keep the phrasing like this before they come out of the woodwork to protest.)
The only reason they were able to stay superficially friendly with one another was their tactfulness, plus the fact that they’d known each other since they were kids. It’s precisely because of the deep mutual understanding they’d gained from all their time together that they knew which lines not to cross and what kinds of boundaries to keep. They were great at making it seem like they were still friendly.
For people like us who only had a year and a half together under their belts, what they had was far out of our reach. Even having an extra two months or so wouldn’t be enough to change anything.
“I doubt two months would’ve changed too much,” I said without much thought.
Yume turned her head while still resting it on her arms to look at me.
“But time’s on our side because we have plenty of it...as long as dad and Yuni-san stay together, at least.”
“You think they might split up?”
“I don’t.”
If they were fawning over each other all the time like we had when we were dating, it’d make me a little worried for the longevity of their relationship, but they were adults. That is to say, their relationship was built well enough that they didn’t need to put on airs around each other. I was pretty sure that we’d stay stepsiblings for the rest of our lives.
“So we’re stuck together? Ugh.”
“Right?”
It was a complete joke that we had to live as stepsiblings until the end. But maybe, as we spent more time together, we could be as superficially friendly as Kawanami and Minami-san. Maybe we wouldn’t be squabbling with each other over every little thing like we were now. To be honest, that sounded kinda—
“Lonely?” Yume asked, her eyes fixed on me and her face lying flat on her arms. “If you’re feeling lonely, I’ll keep verbally abusing you.”
“You make it sound like I want you to abuse me,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’d really rather just keep things as is.”
“Stupid. Idiot. Shitty bookworm.”
“You know what?” I let out a heavy sigh and looked into her drooping eyes. “You sleepy?”
“Yeah...” she affirmed in a soft voice.
“Go inside, then. Don’t blame me if you pass out here and we find your frozen corpse in the morning.”
“Before that happens, I’ll be sure to dig my nails into your clothes, so they find the fibers...”
“Don’t say something that freaky when you’re half-asleep!”
I pushed back the hand that Yume had outstretched in my direction, attempting to frame me for murder. Her hands were small yet warm. I wouldn’t be surprised if she did end up falling asleep out here.
I was thinking about flicking her on the forehead to wake her up, but before that, I wanted to try asking her something. Her eyelids were drooping, and it seemed like she was about to drift off at any second. She was probably in her most honest, vulnerable state right now.
Different than two years ago, but still looking at the same starry sky, almost like I was talking to myself, I asked, “Was it fun?”
This was most likely her very first sleepover at a friend’s house. Between all the talking, running around, and studying, I’d been wondering if she had fun this time, compared to two years ago.
Yume’s eyes didn’t move towards the sky and instead stayed on me. “Yeah,” she said, a gentle smile on her face. “Thanks.”
My eyes turned back to Yume. It was finally time to do what I’d forgotten to do two years ago.
“You’re welcome.”
Then I stretched my hand over to her and flicked her forehead. We were at a much closer distance than we’d been two years ago, but the partition kept us clearly separated. But I guess it’d be okay to break it down...in an emergency. I prayed to the sky, which wasn’t all that beautiful, that a time when I’d need to would not come.
◇
I left the Kawanami household that I was so indebted to in the afternoon and returned to the home that I knew and loved. On the other hand, Yume had made plans to hang out with Minami-san elsewhere, so I arrived at the house by myself.
I took my shoes off and then realized I should’ve announced that I was home. I was usually the first one home, so I’d gotten used to not having to, but... Whatever. It’s not like announcing that I’m home is that important. I brushed off my negligence and opened the door to the living room, which was the biggest mistake of my life.
“Say ‘ah’! How was that, Mine-kun? Tasty?”
“So good, Yuni-san. Can you give me another?”
“Aw, you’re such a big eater. All right, say ‘ah’!”
I slowly shut the door and turned around as my body violently shook. Wh-What was that?! Oh god, I can’t unsee it. I can’t unwitness that! They were nowhere close to acting their age. My parents were like some kind of middle school couple! I had seen them brazenly flirting with each other like schoolkids!
“Nooooooooo!!!” Oh god, I’m gonna throw up! Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any reaction from the living room. They were most likely too fixated on each other to notice that I’d come back.
I quickly sent Yume a message over LINE.
Mizuto: Urgent summons. Dad and Yuni-san are... Oh god. Requesting your immediate return.
No more than ten minutes later, the door to our house flew open, and there stood Yume.
“What happened to them?!”
“Shh!” I raised my index finger in front of my lips and then silently gestured towards the living room.
“Huh?” Yume tilted her head in confusion, walked towards the living room, completely unaware of what lay inside, opened it, and then promptly shut it. She turned around and clutched her head. “Aaaaahhhh!!!” Her entire body began violently shaking like mine.
Yeah! I know, right?!
“Wh-What did you just make me see?!”
“It’s important that we share information about our family with each other, isn’t it?”
“You just wanted me to suffer like you!”
One could say that, yes.
We continued crouching in the hallway attached to the living room while whispering about our family.
“J-Just because they’re alone, it doesn’t mean that they can just— Have they just been holding back in front of us?”
“Just like we pretend to be siblings that get along, they probably pretend to be the dependable parents that we think they are.”
“You don’t even see high schoolers acting like that these days! How old are they again?”
“Let’s leave it at that. I’m gonna hurl.”
“What do we do?”
“What can we do? We just pretend we didn’t see anything.”
“True. All right, then—”
Just as we wrapped up our discussion, we heard a click of the door opening from behind us. We turned around, fearing what we’d see, and there was Yuni-san’s youthful all-smiles face peering back at us.
“Did you two...see?”
We’d just agreed that we’d forget we saw anything, but we accidentally averted our eyes. Just as an atmosphere so heavy it made me want to run away filled the hall, Yuni-san’s youthful face shifted.
“I-I’m so sorryyyyy!” Yuni-san broke down in tears.
As children, all you can do when watching a parent cry for real is look on in confusion.
“I-I worked so hard for you to call me m-mom, b-but... Aaahhh! Sorry! Sorry that an old hag like me isn’t acting her age! Waaahhh!!!”
Right now, you’re really not acting your age. Seeing a parent cry for real was just about as off-putting as seeing them flirt. TIL.
At any rate, we both wanted to break free of this situation, so we stood up to comfort her.
“I-It’s okay! No need to cry! You’re still so youthful!”
“That’s right, mom! You’re totally acting your age since you’re still young! I think it’s a good thing! Seriously!”
“Y-You mean it?” Yuni-san’s tears slowed down as she looked up at us.
We furiously nodded in agreement.
“Oh, so I am young... I guess people do tell me that a lot...”
“Yeah! Yeah, they do, right?” Yume agreed, frantically.
“So that means it’s okay if we get lovey-dovey in front of you two...right?”
We averted our eyes.
“Waaaaaah!!! Mine-kuuun! Our kids are pretending to be okay with our flirting!”
Yuni-san ran back into the living room and cried in dad’s arms. Dad patted her back, comforting her while wearing an incredibly uncomfortable look.
It’s said that in ancient times, a child grew by watching their parents’ backs. Though I had no clue what the future had in store for us, at the very least, I knew that I didn’t want to turn out like them. But watching them like this made me feel as if they would never break up. What made them so different?
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