The Ex-Couple Visits Family (2)
At the Passing of Twilight
“Hey, Mi—” I tried to say to Mizuto Irido. He was standing opposite me, holding the other end of the picnic blanket.
“Yeah?” Miz—my little stepbrother asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. He was waiting for my signal, so we could lay it down for an impromptu rest area on this pebble-filled river shore.
“Well, uh, Mizuto-kun, how about we put it down here?”
“Uh... Yeah, sure.”
After laying the blanket down, we put rocks on each of the corners to keep it from moving.
I can’t... I just can’t... But it had been so easy to drop the honorific yesterday! Does it really only take a matter of hours for me to lose my courage?
Maybe I’d just gotten a little too drunk on the atmosphere in the study. I’d really felt closer to him—in a familial way—after learning more about his past. Actually, wait. Why aren’t you calling me by my name?! Frustrated, I felt myself tremble at this unfairness.
“Take a dip, Chikuma. Don’t worry; it’s safe.” Madoka-san said, confirming the slow current of the river.
“O-Okay.”
“Watch out for rocks.”
“I know...”
We were currently at the river near the Tanesato house. The soft babble of the stream, the gentle sound of leaves rustling in the wind—it was all so serene. Even the strong rays of the sun felt comfortable. It was like an oasis in a desert.
According to what I’d heard, having a barbecue by the river was a Tanesato tradition during family gatherings. They might’ve been a very outgoing bunch, but with a spot like this in their backyard, it was only natural that they’d want to have a cookout or two with just family.
The adults had encouraged us to go ahead of them and play in the river. I’d also been asked by Mineaki-ojisan to drag Mizuto out of his great-grandfather’s study. If I didn’t, we probably wouldn’t see him again until the trip ended.
Getting him out of there wasn’t a problem, nor was bringing him here. But I noticed something during all this shuffling around: I hadn’t been dropping the honorific whatsoever, even though I’d decided to last night.
“Well, then...” Mizuto, who had changed into his swim trunks, put his stuff (a towel and a first aid kit) down, took off his sandals, and sat cross-legged on the picnic blanket. After getting comfortable, he pulled out a book and rested it on his lap.
“You really are true to yourself, no matter where you are...”
“Thanks, I guess.”
I was jealous of how easy it was for him to move at his own pace regardless of location or company. He didn’t care what other people thought about him. Maybe I should’ve brought a book too...
“Yume-chan, did you already put on your sunscreen and bug repellent?” Madoka-san asked, approaching me.
“O-Oh, I was just about to.”
“Good! It’d be awful if that pretty skin of yours got damaged. I’m going to put some on now too.” Madoka-san took off her sandals and began rummaging through her things and pulling out sunscreen.
She unzipped her jacket and out of it came a mature black bikini top. It didn’t have any complex or unnecessary patterns or decorations; it was just a simple piece of black cloth covering two very large mounds. She had an hourglass figure—a thin waist and curves where it mattered. Her mature face only enhanced the allure of her black bikini.
She began spreading sunscreen across her arms. “Heh.” She grinned at me. “Whaddya think? I’ve got quite the body, if I do say so myself.”
“You’re very pretty...”
“Huh? That’s it? Most people have more of a reaction when they see my rack—boy or girl.”
“Oh... I actually have a friend who has larger breasts, so...”
“What?! Really?! G-cup, or bigger?! N-No way, H?! Lemme meet her! I wanna fondle ’em!”
“No. That’s sexual harassment—even if you are both girls.”
“Aw, c’mon! Don’t be so stingy!” Madoka-san frowned. Her reaction was so genuine, I couldn’t help but laugh.
Why did people, Akatsuki-san included, want to grope big breasts so much? It was especially weird considering how big Madoka-san was already. Wait, if she said, “G-cup or bigger,” she has to be an F-cup. No wonder she wore a black bikini.
I immediately glanced at Mizuto. He still had his nose in the book, so he probably hadn’t stolen a glance...right? Either he’d looked away right off the bat, or he had absolutely no interest.
Suddenly, a conversation I’d had with Akatsuki-san over LINE last night came to mind. I’d had a good opportunity, so I’d posed a question:
Me: Do you know who Kawanami-kun’s first love was?
I wanted to get a general idea about what kind of people boys fell in love with for the first time.
Akatsuki☆: me
She’d answered immediately.
Me: Uh-huh. Okay.
Akatsuki☆: c’mon, girl, play along! don’t leave me hangin
Me: So who was it?
Akatsuki☆: our preschool teacher iirc
Me: Who was yours?
Akatsuki☆: not telling
So it was Kawanami-kun. Akatsuki-san probably thought she’d hid her secret, but I knew. As hard as it was to get anything out of her, she wore her heart on her sleeve when it came to Kawanami-kun.
Anyway, I’d confirmed that boys fell for older girls...which was a little weird to say because when you’re little, most people in the world are older than you. So statistically speaking, it was inevitable. Growing up, the only older girl around him would’ve been Madoka-san, so...
I felt a little torn up inside. It wasn’t fair if he was my first love, but I wasn’t his. It felt like I’d lost for some reason. But you know what? Who cares who Mizuto fell in love with for the first time? It didn’t bother me one bit. Not at all. Not in the slightest.
“Here you go, Yume-chan,” Madoka-san said, passing me the sunscreen while putting on bug spray.
“Thank you.” I took off my sandals and looked for an empty spot.
The blanket wasn’t too big, and was already occupied by Madoka-san and Mizuto. But the only open space was right between the two of them, so I reluctantly sat down.
I was wearing a light jacket over my swimsuit just like Madoka-san. I needed to take it off if I wanted to put sunscreen anyplace besides my legs. With that in mind, I very casually unzipped it, revealing the white floral-patterned bikini that I’d bought with Mizuto. Though it was a bikini, it differed from Madoka-san’s, as mine had a short frilly skirt on the bottom. This was as much exposure as I could handle.
I began squeezing out the lotion into my hands while glancing at Mizuto. As expected, his eyes stayed fixed on his book. He may have been acting calm now, but he’d been practically drooling when I bought this. Then again, he did have a very impressive ability to sense other people’s gazes. There was a distinct possibility that he’d looked away the moment I glanced at him. Or maybe he got his fill when we bought it, so he wasn’t interested anymore... Argh, I don’t know!
“Whoa-ho!” Madoka-san hooted. “Yume-chan, you’re so thin! Your waist is insane! You got any organs in there?!”
“O-Of course I do! I just don’t have any muscles.”
“You look great, though! I’m so jealous! I’m on the thin side, but your rack looks huge next to that skinny belly.”
I quickly covered my breasts.
“I wanna rub ’em,” Madoka-san said, leering at me. “Your swimsuit’s cute too! You pick it out yourself?”
“Well, technically...”
“‘Technically’? Hm, there’s a story here.” Madoka-san’s lips curled in a teasing grin. She leaned in and whispered, “I bet your boyfriend helped, huh?”
“No... We’re not like that.”
“Uh-huh. So you’re not like that yet.”
“Uh, ‘yet’ isn’t exactly the right word.” Like a reflex, I glanced at Mizuto.
“Huh?”
Madoka-san’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. She quickly covered her mouth and shifted her eyes to Mizuto.
Oh... Oh, no!
“Wait, wait, wait. Really? Him?!”
“No. No, no, no! Absolutely not. No!”
“Your reaction tells a different story...”
“I swear we’re not like that! Please believe me!”
“Hmm, should I?” Madoka-san’s eyes sparkled as she began grinning from ear to ear.
Is... Is this going to be okay? She won’t tell mom or the others...right?
“Hm? But wait, I remember Yuni-san saying something about Mizuto-kun being close with a different girl... Oh my god, wait—is he...popular?!”
At the very least, from the way she was acting, I could surmise that Madoka-san more than likely did not have a thing for Mizuto. I still didn’t know for certain, but it was enough for now. Also... Really mom? Why do you keep leaking people’s personal information?
As I started to fall deeper into my thoughts, Madoka-san changed the topic. “Have you been to the beach yet, Yume-chan?” she asked, returning to a normal voice.
“No, my friend says we shouldn’t.”
“Why not? You totally should!”
“She doesn’t want us to get hit on, so she’s vetoed the idea.”
“Aw, that’s a good friend you got there. Nice save. Getting perved on really takes the fun out of things.” Madoka-san said this so casually, I wondered if it happened to her often. Her usual outfit gave off such a subdued librarian vibe, but she’d apparently experienced her fair share of creeps. Then again, her body combined with her bikini would entice just about anyone. “So you bought that just to play in the river? What a waste.”
“But wearing a swimsuit in public is so embarrassing.”
“I totally get where you’re coming from. I really do. But you bought yourself something cute. It’s a shame not to show it off.”
“And I get where you’re coming from, but...”
“Really, you look great! You should at least show your friends! Here. Lemme take a picture for you, ’kay?”
“Wait, what?” True, nobody but Mizuto had seen my swimsuit, but there wasn’t any need to take a picture.
Madoka-san dug through my things and pulled out my phone as I agonized internally. She’s so pushy.
“Go ahead and take a selfie. Hm? Wait...” Before I could strongly object, a devilish smile crept across Madoka-san’s face. “Hey, Mizuto-kun? Sorry to bother you, but could you take a picture for me?” she asked, holding out my phone to him.
“Huh?!” But I’d reacted a second too late. What the heck had she meant by that?!
Mizuto slowly looked up at the phone being held out to him and Madoka-san’s grinning face. It’s okay. There’s no way that Mizuto would agree—not when she interrupted his precious reading time. Surely, he’ll—
“Okay.”
Excuse me?! Mizuto shut his book and took the phone from Madoka-san. Why did you respond to her?! You always ignore me when you’re reading! Why her?!
“Thanks! Oh wait, I don’t know how to unlock it.”
Oh, right! My phone’s protected by a passcode. As long as I keep it a secret—
“Hmph.” Mizuto scoffed and quickly entered four digits into the phone, revealing my home screen.
“Wh-Why do you know my passcode?!”
“Why indeed. Maybe you’re just that simple a person.”
Sure, he knows the significance of those four numbers, but still, I can’t believe he guessed it so quickly!
“Heh heh. Well done, minion!” She snickered. “Okay, up and at ’em.” Madoka-san was wearing a very unscrupulous grin as she pulled us to our feet. Mizuto stood across from me, readying my phone. “Okay, Yume-chan, stand right there and look at the camera. How about... Hm, you can do a peace sign if you want, but how about you hold your hands behind you?”
Huh? She’s deciding my pose for me? But I didn’t have time to voice my disapproval, so instead I obediently did as told. Mizuto’s eyes were focused on the phone screen, watching me through the camera. I grew itchy thinking about how his fresh gaze was pinned on me through the inorganic lens. This is really embarrassing...
“It’s like a reversal of back then,” Mizuto mumbled.
“A reversal”? Had there been a situation when I forcefully took pictures of Mizuto...? Oh, right. After our aquarium date. The evidence was still saved on my phone. I could vividly see him in the outfit that Kawanami-kun had picked out and the glasses I’d had him wear. He’d been the spitting image of a hot tutor. Wait, so he’s going to do the same thing to me right now...?
“Oh, that’s good! Take the pic!”
I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of a camera shutter. W-Wait! I wasn’t ready! Mizuto wordlessly stared at the screen.
“How’s it look? Lemme see!” Madoka-san wrapped around Mizuto and peered at the phone. “Oh! Well, well, well...”
I moved over to take a peek as well, only to be met with a swimsuit-clad girl with her arms behind her back, slightly leaning forward, flush in the face while looking up. Uh... This is kinda like...
Madoka-san snickered. “’Grats, Yume-chan. You’ve got a pic that totes implies you’re in a relationship.”
Noooo! The angle, my expression, my pose—it really gave a “my boyfriend took this pic” feel!
“Nonono. I don’t want a picture like that! Why would I want them to think I’m in a relationship when I’m not?! What’s the point?!”
“’Cuz it’s fun?”
“‘’Cuz it’s fun’?!” What does that mean?! Socialites are beyond comprehension!
“Aw, it’s okay. Chill. Just caption it with ‘Onii-chan took this picture for me’ with a cute little tilde at the end, and you’ll have your friends eating out of your hands tryin’ to figure out who you’re talking about. The superiority you’ll feel will be amazing! It’s a total win-win! Hm...wait. Who’s the older one between you two?”
“Me,” Mizuto and I said at the same time, making Madoka-san cackle.
What am I supposed to do about this picture? I’m not very interested in the so-called “superiority” aspect.
“No need to think too hard about it. Just put it up on Insta. Sharing memories with friends is important,” Madoka-san said, returning my phone to me.
Sharing memories with friends, huh? I got the feeling she had a point. But I wasn’t about to throw this into the group chat with the other girls from school. I had no intention of dealing with the headache that would ensue from the rumors. If I posted it on social media, I could see it leaking and becoming a problem.
After racking my brain, I came up with a solution. I decided to share it in the group chat between me, Higashira-san, and Akatsuki-san.
Yume: Playing in the river makes me feel like a kid again.
It didn’t take even a minute before my message was “read.” A little while later, I got a response.
Akatsuki☆: what a coinkydink! i’m at the pool!
Huh? Pool? Without me? Had I been ditched? These negative thoughts were quickly dispelled by a picture that Akatsuki-san sent of her in a frilly yellow swimsuit. It was really cute. The frills, though... They were probably meant to draw attention away from the size of her chest.
She was also holding ice cream while making a peace sign. This was like the ultimate picture of summer enjoyment. I knew she didn’t want us to go to the beach because she didn’t want anyone hitting on me, but did that mean she could go to a very similar place so long as I wasn’t there? I had mixed feelings. But then I realized something. The angle that the picture had been taken from was really high.
Akatsuki-san wasn’t necessarily tall, so almost every picture taken of her by someone else would be at an angle...but this angle was obtuse. The person who took it must’ve been thirty centimeters or so taller than her. Also, the shadow cast on the poolside helped me figure out who it was. I know that hairstyle. This was real. I knew I had to take a screenshot, and it’s good that I did because in the next moment, I saw the following message in its place.
Akatsuki☆: Message deleted by user.
Akatsuki☆: sorry. forget about that.
It’s a little late for that...
Yume: I took a screenshot.
Akatsuki☆: ?
Yume: Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.
Akatsuki☆: wait
Yume: Sorry to ruin your fun, but enjoy the pool!
Akatsuki☆: no, seriously, wait! it’s not what you think!
What do you mean?! A boy and a girl going to the pool together are obviously on a date!
“What are you smirking about? So creepy.”
“Heh heh. Look at this.” I really wanted to share the progress of those two, so I stood next to Mizuto and showed him the screenshot.
“Oh...” Mizuto immediately noticed the incriminating detail.
“What? That’s all you have to say?”
“I don’t care about their relationship.”
“You should care a little! He’s your friend!”
“According to him.”
Before I knew it, we were having a normal conversation, but surprisingly, there still wasn’t a good time to say his name. I’d forgotten one incredibly important thing, though. There was one more person in our group chat.
Ding. There was the sound of a notification. I reflexively tapped on it with Mizuto still next to me. My phone switched back to LINE, and waiting there was a certain picture.
It was Higashira-san in a school swimsuit.
Both of us stared at the screen in silence. I remembered something: our school didn’t have a pool, meaning we didn’t have a school swimsuit. She had to have been wearing her middle school swimsuit. That explained why it was so tight on her.
It had to have been digging into her butt—I mean, her breasts were practically spilling out! Also, I wasn’t sure if it was uncomfortable for her or if she was just embarrassed, but her face was red and her eyes were moist. She was doing her absolute best to extend her arm to take the picture.
Akatsuki☆: why’d you send such a dirty pic all of a sudden?
Yeah...there’s really no room for interpretation here.
Izanami: I was under the impression we were competing with implied relationship pictures in our swimsuits.
Akatsuki☆: it’s not a competition! also, your pic is just a selfie. there’s nothing to imply!
Izanami: I attempted to set my phone on my bookshelf, but I was unable to get the angle right, so I ultimately took the picture myself. How are you two so skilled at getting it to look like a guy took it?
I’m so sorry, Higashira-san... It’s because our pictures were taken by guys. I looked away from my phone and cautiously asked Mizuto, who was currently sighing with his head in his hand, “Should I tell her?”
“I guess...”
I suddenly felt filled with confidence.
Yume: Sorry, Higashira-san
Yume: Mizuto saw
Izanami: Message deleted by user.
I could vividly imagine Higashira-san silently breaking down in her room. I’m really, really sorry.
The meats sizzled loudly as they were placed on top of the grill. There were even more ringing out near the riverside, making a symphony of sizzles, arousing the hunger of everyone around.
“These are done. Eat up!” Natsume-san replaced the cooked skewers with uncooked ones as fast as they were taken off the grill. I’d heard she was close to seventy years old, but she was even more active than I was.
I’d assumed this barbecue would be a smaller scale affair, but the Tanesato men had brought six grills. Where’d they even get these? No way they owned this many, right?
“One of Natsume-obaachan’s friends runs a campsite, so she’s borrowing them for cheap,” Madoka-san said through a mouthful of meat. “That’s the power of being a former local celebrity. When I grow up, I wanna be rich too!”
“Mikado-kun’s gonna cry if he hears you say that, Madoka.”
“I’m just kidding! Heh heh,” she snickered.
Who’s Mikado-kun? I tilted my head in confusion.
“Ah.” Madoka-san looked at someone. “Aw, Chikuma! Clean your mouth!”
“Huh?” Chikuma-kun, who’d been happily eating away, had sauce around his mouth.
“Aw, how’d you get like that? Where’s the tissues...?”
“Oh, I have a handkerchief,” I said, pulling it out of my jacket’s pocket. I crouched down and began wiping Chikuma-kun’s mouth. His eyes widened, but he didn’t struggle or protest. Good boy. If this was Mizuto, he’d have slapped the handkerchief away and messily wiped his face with his arm or something. “There. All better.”
Chikuma-kun looked like he wanted to say something, but nothing came out.
Madoka snickered. “Aw, come on Chikuma. Thank your Yume-oneechan.”
“Th... Thank you...”
“No problem!” I said, flashing a bright smile at him.
“Wah!” Chikuma-kun’s face turned red and he hid behind Madoka-san. He’s really trying to avoid me. I was happy to have a cute little brother type who was both simultaneously like and unlike Mizuto.
“You’re such a sinful girl, Yume-chan,” Madoka-san said through a snicker.
“‘Sinful’?” What did I even do?
“I feel for you, Chikuma. But this is a good life experience.” Madoka-san definitely was implying something, but I wasn’t sure what. “Yume-chan, why don’t you hang out with Mizuto-kun?” she said, turning her attention to the guy sitting away from everyone on the picnic blanket.
“That’s kind of random... Why me?”
“Usually, I try to hang out with him, but I get the feeling that he doesn’t want me doing that anymore. Ha ha ha.” I was surprised that she could laugh so energetically at someone not wanting to be around her.
Mizuto was once again nose-deep in a book. He didn’t look like he had any intention of joining the barbecue. Nobody from the Tanesato family seemed to want to force him to participate either. He had his own designated place. They understood what kind of person he was.
“Okay, fine.”
Madoka-san suddenly went to the grill and loaded it with meat and vegetables.
I know she can drink a lot, but can she eat a lot too? But she’s so thin. Did all the fat go to her breasts?! I started to wonder more and more about it, but my thoughts were interrupted by Madoka-san presenting me with a plate.
“Here you go.”
“Huh? I have my own plate.” I lifted my plate that still had meat on it to show her.
“Oh, no, this is for Mizuto-kun.”
“Huh?”
“Give this to him for me?” she snickered through a playful smile.
She must still be misunderstanding something. We don’t like each other. We hate each other. Our relationship isn’t like th—
“Come on. Give it to him before it gets cold.”
“Okay...” Maybe it’d be more suspicious if I’d made a big deal about it. I’d better just give it to him.
The sky was tinged orange, the river darkened by the long shadows from the trees. The only thing that hadn’t changed was Mizuto, who was still reading.
“Mi...” I was still hesitating to call him by his first name without an honorific. More than being embarrassed, I just wasn’t used to it. I bet Madoka-san wouldn’t hesitate in the slightest. Thinking about that, I came up with an idea. “Mizuto-kuuun.” I tried changing my voice to be higher pitched and brighter in an attempt to imitate Madoka-san.
“Barf.” Mizuto didn’t even spare me a glance.
Did he know it was me from the sound of my footsteps? That didn’t make me happy at all. I took off my sandals and sat next to him.
“Here.” I held the plate out to him. That got him to look up from his book, but it didn’t get him to put it down. “Don’t want it?”
“I mean, I’ll take it, but...” Judging by how far he’d gotten, I deduced that he’d entered the climax of the book. That was enough to make anyone forget their hunger. In that case...
“Heh.” I snickered.
Mizuto shot me a cautious look. Oh no. Madoka-san’s snickering’s rubbed off on me! I picked up a piece of meat with my chopsticks. “Say ‘ah.’”
“Huh?”
“Come on. ‘Ahh.’”
We could hear the booming laughter of the adults in the background. Mizuto glanced over at them.
“It’ll be fine. It’s dark. No one’s gonna notice,” I said.
“That’s not the problem here...”
“Then what is?”
“Well...”
“Here.”
“Mmff?!” I took my chance to shove a piece of meat in his mouth.
Mizuto glared at me as he chewed. Then he made a loud gulping sound before resuming speaking. “That’s dangero—”
“Oh, no, your mouth is sooo messy.”
“Mmff!”
I wiped his mouth with my handkerchief, then giggled. “You’re almost as cute as Chikuma-kun when you don’t talk.”
“Then go wipe his mouth.”
“Aw, are you scared that he’s going to take your precious Onee-chan from you?”
“Barf.”
I couldn’t hold back my giggling. He’d always been so annoying, but now he was like a cute little brother.
He’d either gotten tired of being fed by me or he’d reached a good stopping point, because Mizuto closed his book and took the plate and chopsticks from me. I watched him stuff his face with meat and vegetables.
“Hey, Mi—” The words got caught in my throat. Seriously?! Why can’t I do it?!
“Why do you keep calling me ‘Mi’? As far as nicknames go, that’s new.”
“Y-You noticed?!”
“Duh. I had to prepare myself for you to call me by my first name without any honorifics today.”
I guess we both needed to prepare ourselves in our own ways.
“I... I want you to call me by my first name without any honorifics first.”
“Why?”
“It’s not fair if I’m the only one dropping the honorific.”
“You started this. Why should I care?”
“You should, unless you’re okay with people thinking I’m the older sibling.”
“Why would that happen?”
“If you keep calling me ‘Yume-san,’ but I don’t use an honorific with you, it’ll make you look like the younger one.”
“Dammit... That’s low...” Mizuto scowled as he admitted defeat, pursing his lips. “Yu—”
“Yu?”
Mizuto fell silent.
“‘As far as nicknames go, that’s new.’”
“Shut it!” he growled before angrily munching his potatoes. Was he embarrassed? Was he lamenting something? Maybe the fact that my old name wasn’t a thing anymore...
“Morning, Ayai.”
“Have you read that book, Ayai?”
“I like you, Ayai.”
“Ayai.”
Every time he’d called me by that name, there was always such a gentle ring to it. That name would never come back. It was just a memory of my first love. I’ll admit that it hurt my heart. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t get it out of my head. But I couldn’t let myself cling to my lingering feelings.
We both had the last name Irido now—not because we’d gotten married, but because we’d become stepsiblings. Our past relationship was trifling; being siblings was our entire identity now.
I tilted my head. “Wait, what happened to those rules we made? When was the last time we followed them?”
“Oh, right. Our sibling rules.”
“We’ve gotten used to being siblings, so we haven’t slipped up.”
“You think so? I think one of us could’ve broken a rule today, though.”
“Huh?”
“Leering at your sibling in a swimsuit isn’t really sibling-like, right?” he said.
Oh...right. I see. Wait... Huh?
“Why are you pointing that out?”
“Because you’re a pain in my ass. Does that make you feel better? Now you know why I wasn’t looking at you in your swimsuit.”
“Hmph.” I looked away from him as he shot me a teasing smirk. If I said that it did indeed make me feel better, well, I would’ve broken a rule.
“Whatever. Let’s keep the rules in mind from now on, especially while we’re out here. It’d be a major headache if any of these people found out about us.”
“Right... You have a point.”
I glanced at his plate, which had surprisingly become empty. He was now staring idly at it.
“Still hungry? I can get you more.”
“Yeah, well...” he said nervously, glancing at my hands. “Let’s go get you some more too while we’re at it.”
“Huh? I don’t—”
“Are you planning on turning into a skeleton? Eat.” He said this in a forceful tone, but I understood the reason behind that. He didn’t want to go alone.
My lips curled into a smile. “If you call me by my name, I’ll go with you.”
“Tsk.” Mizuto grimaced and averted his gaze. After some time, he slowly stood up and looked down at me. He stretched his hand out, wearing a serious look on his face. “Let’s go, Yume.”
“Fweh?” He caught me off guard, and a weird sound escaped my throat. I felt a chill run down my spine. For some reason, I wanted to run away.
Mizuto kept looking down on me and snorted, his lips curling into a sneer. “You lose.”
“Huh...?”
“Let’s go, little sister.”
“Wha— Hey!” This goddamn guy! He should’ve lost too. He couldn’t call me by just my first name without putting on an act. You should lose too! “Okay, Onii-chan!”
“Heh.” What the hell?! He used to get so flustered by me calling him that, but he was so unfazed, he snorted at it?!
I couldn’t call him “Irido-kun” anymore, nor could he call me “Ayai.” We’d shaken off the memories of our past. We’d gotten rid of our lingering feelings and accepted who we were now...or at least we should have. We should’ve, but as we walked towards our relatives, I started to think. Why do I find myself wanting to hold his hand all the more right now?
“The country roads can be dangerous. Be careful.”
After the barbecue ended, the sun had begun to set behind the mountains. Mizuto and I walked along the empty road while looking at the rice paddies, red from the sunset, and the long black shadows cast by the transmission towers. Even though metal was man-made, it felt perfectly normal among all the nature that stretched as far as the eye could see.
The cars the family had come in only had enough room for the older people, Chikuma-kun who’d fallen asleep, and Madoka-san, leaving us, the two young ones, to walk home. Mizuto stayed maybe three steps in front of me, acting as a guide. We ended up keeping this distance between each other as we trotted along the asphalt road.
“We really are in the middle of nowhere,” I said, looking at him.
“I’ve never thought of it as an inconvenience. We only ever stay for five days. It goes by in a flash reading books.”
“I have a question. Do you—” I closed the space between us by one step. But even if I’d gotten bolder in my actions, my mouth hadn’t gotten the message. “Do you not like your relatives?” Only two steps separated us. He didn’t turn to me despite how close I was to him.
“Hm, I don’t dislike them,” he said calmly. “If anything, I’m indifferent towards them.”
“That’s mean.”
“How am I supposed to care about people I don’t know? I don’t know the Tanesato family, and I don’t know how to address any of them. A lot of their names don’t match their faces either, if I’m being honest.”
“What about Madoka-san? You two are close in age. She looked after you when you were little too, or at least that’s what she said.”
For some reason, Mizuto paused before he answered. “True... She did hang around me a lot. If I remember right, I was in kindergarten, so she must’ve been in elementary school.”
When you’re young, people older than you look a lot bigger than they actually are. One day you realize that the older girl you thought was reliable was actually nothing but a little girl. Madoka-san might’ve been like a mother to him.
He never knew his mother, so hers was the closest thing to a mother’s love that he’d known. She might’ve been the only one that treated him with a mother’s love too...
“Hey...” I gulped. For some reason, my throat was moist. “Kinda off topic, but...” I needed some courage. The urge to ask him and the urge to keep it to myself fought back and forth inside me. But I’d shaken off my lingering feelings. I took an extra step forward. “What kind of person was your first love?”
There was only one step left between us. I could reach him if I leaned forward. He still didn’t turn around. Instead, he let out a nostalgic laugh.
“Someone who laughed a lot.”
Suddenly, I heard a familiar snicker in the back of my head.
“I see...”
Do you remember your past self, Yume Irido? She was a bona fide plain girl—a quiet, unsociable crybaby. Smiles didn’t suit her at all. That was who you were—who I was.
I see. Madoka-san really was his first love. The space between us grew step by step. The sun had almost fully set. The twilight had passed, leaving only the dark of night in its place.
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