Seishun Buta Yarou Series - Volume 9 - Chapter 4.2

2

At nine PM, Shichirigahama Station was very quiet. No one else here. At this hour, the station didn’t even have an attendant.

With the place to themselves, they sat on a bench, side by side.

The station lights hummed faintly. Neither the sound of the surf nor the sound of traffic on Route 134 reached them here.

Only the smell of the sea made it this far.

“It worked,” Mai said softly.

“Mm?”

He looked her way, a question in his gaze.

“The charm,” she said with an impish grin.

“Oh.”

That cleared up one of his questions.

What had brought Mai back a day early?

The good luck charm.

The marriage application with their names on it.

He’d had her hang on to it.

And that had made her remember him.

That’s why she’d come back a day early. To be here for him.

She’d probably found the letter and come to school not long after.

It wasn’t coincidence or a miracle. Sakuta’s salvation came from what they’d built together.

And that alone filled him with joy.

With his mind filled with memories of their time together, he never noticed how long the train was taking. Time spent with Mai was never boring.

It was a good ten minutes before a train came in from Kamakura.

The Enoden rolled in out of the night. With no lights around save the lampposts, the glow of the windows was that much brighter. The train they always rode looked so different.

Few passengers were aboard.

But there were enough to tell if anyone besides Mai could see him. The moment they got on, he could feel it. Nobody here could.

He glanced her way as a warning, then yelled real loud. No one turned to look. People were busy with their phones or flirting with their partners. Nothing else got through.

As he looked around, he felt Mai take his hand. She pulled him over to an empty green seat. And she didn’t let go until they reached Fujisawa Station.

At the end of the line, they got off, but they still couldn’t find anyone who could see Sakuta.

It was almost ten.

The station area was filled with office workers headed home. The town was not yet ready to sleep.

Mai and Sakuta walked through the crowd, hands held. Usually, they had to be conscious of the public eye. Mai was a bit too famous and did not want to create a media frenzy.

The chance to break that rule was liberating and nerve-racking, but more fun than anything else. They went out the north side of the station, running through the crowds hand-in-hand.

That giddy rush gradually faded on the walk home. By the time they crossed the Sakai River, neither was smiling.

If nobody else could see Sakuta, the core problem remained unresolved.

They couldn’t celebrate yet.

They reached their respective buildings without either saying much. Sakuta’s building lay on one side, and Mai’s on the other. Across the street.

Before he could say anything, she went with him. Or rather, she pulled his hand toward his building.

Inside, she said, “I’ll whip something up,” and headed to the kitchen. Soon they had rice, miso soup, and rolled eggs. He hadn’t gone shopping yet, so the fridge was empty.

“It’s like breakfast on a Showa-era TV show,” Mai said, laughing at her own metaphor. Sakuta managed a chuckle himself.

Once their bellies were full, Mai said, “I filled the bath. Get in. You’re exhausted, and you need to unwind. Take your time.”

“I’d stay in forever if you’d join me.”

“That would not be relaxing.”

This was not a surprise, and she pushed him into the changing room.

He was pretty worn out, so he didn’t really argue. Physically and mentally, every part of him felt drained. He did what Mai suggested and soaked for a good long time.

With his clothes off, he could see the white mark on his belly. He inspected it in the mirror. It didn’t seem to be fading at all.

No one but Mai could see him.

This wasn’t over. The scar said as much.

He hadn’t faced his mother yet.

“…What do I even want?”

He lay back in the tub, staring at the ceiling. Putting his thoughts in words. Straightening out the interior of his heart so that he knew where everything was.

That alone might justify the long bath.

He got out before his head started swimming, and for once, Mai actually took his place. Even when she spent the night, she usually went back to her place to bathe. The only time she’d ever used his bath was when she and Nodoka had switched bodies. She’d never done it looking like herself. He was still marveling at that when she pointed at the hall.

“Get it? Then get out.”

“I was hoping to stick around.”

She let that roll right off her, pushing him out of the washroom. In his underwear. The door closed behind him, and he heard it lock.

“Mai, do you have a change of clothes?”

“I ran home earlier and brought your favorite sleepwear back with me.”

He soon found her tote bag, stuffed full.

“Towel?”

“Can I borrow one?”

“Top shelf are all brand-new.”

“Thanks.”

“……”

“Go get dressed!”

She’d caught on that he was listening through the door.

Per her orders, he went back to his room and put on his home clothes. He definitely didn’t want to catch a cold and cause her more problems.

Out of things to do, Sakuta sat down on the bed. He leaned his shoulder against the wall, leaving his feet dangling over the side.

He sat like that for a solid half hour.

Mai still wasn’t out of the bath.

The shower stopped running. For a while, it was replaced by the whir of a hair dryer.

The door to the changing room opened a good twenty minutes later.

Mai stepped into his room, in fluffy sleepwear, both top and bottom three-quarters length.

“Nasuno’s conked out in the kotatsu,” she said. She must have poked her head into the living room.

Mai breathed in, then out, then got up on his bed. She put a pillow on her lap as she sat next to Sakuta. Their shoulders were almost touching. Her hand soon found his.

“I feel like if I let go, you’ll go away again.”

This sounded like an excuse.

But that was all she said. From that point on, she just sat in silence, holding his hand. She was simply being there with him.

No pressure. And before long, the words started pouring out.

“It was wrong to push my mother out of my mind.”

The lights weren’t even on. His voice almost echoed. There were dim lights in the hall and the living room, and the door was open, so some light spilled around the frame. But that was all.

Mai said nothing. Her eyes were on him as she listened.

“Kaede and I moved to Fujisawa, and we had to live without our parents’ help.”

Their father had provided some economic assistance.

“I had to wake myself up, make my own food, do my own laundry, clean our rooms and the bath and the toilet, and take out the trash. I had to do it all, so I learned how.”

If he’d been alone, he’d probably have slacked off on a lot of it. But he had Kaede to look after, which kept him motivated. Made it all seem doable.

“I had to learn to handle things without a mom.”

That wasn’t what he’d wanted. He hadn’t had a choice. He hadn’t wanted to forget her and move on. That was just how it turned out.

“I didn’t know when she’d get better, or even if she would.”

“Mm.”

“I guess I didn’t let myself hope.”

“…Oh.”

“And it all became routine. Life stuff that had seemed so hard…became comfortable.”

“Mm…”

“And after all that, now…”

He’d been shoveling out words, searching for his feelings, and that brought him here.

“Why now?”

He found the source of the resentment.

His mother getting better should have been a good thing.

Sakuta’s rational mind was yelling at him for this.

But his mother’s recovery was also destroying the life he’d spent two years building.

A life that had been all kinds of messed up and weird when it started but was now his regular routine. And his heart was fighting any change that threatened his new way of life.

Maybe they could all live together again, like a normal happy family—and that thought shook him.

Part of him was clutching his head. What was wrong with him? Why couldn’t he just accept that this was good news?

Those feelings stuck in his throat, and he couldn’t find the right words.

“Sakuta, that’s how you should be.”

Mai’s gentle voice filled the silence.

Her arms wrapped around him.

“How so?”

Her meaning eluded him.

His feelings were wrong. He should never have forgotten his mother, moved on with his life. He wanted to be nice, and that wasn’t a nice thing to do.

“You no longer need your parents to clean, cook, and do laundry for you.”

“……”

“You wake yourself up, go to school, and work a job to earn your own money.”

“…What about it?”

That was his life. Had been for two years. He’d sacrificed his mother for it—

“You know what we call that, Sakuta?”

“……”

He shook his head, totally lost.

“We call that growing up.”

Mai looked at him and flashed a smile. Like she was celebrating his step into maturity. A genuinely nice smile.

And her feelings, her words—they filled his soul. They sank deep, deep inside him and warmed his frozen core. Heat steadily radiated out until his emotions detonated.

Before he knew it, he was crying. The tears gushed out and rolled down his cheeks, refusing to be contained.

He sobbed like a little kid. When he coughed, Mai patted his back. She pulled him close against her chest.

He was safe there. Sakuta finally felt secure enough to cry it all out. Like how a child’s tears wash away everything bad.