“I’m home—”
When I got home and went to the living room,
“Welcome back, Takkun! I’ve been waiting!”
Had she just taken a shower? Yuzu, who was watching TV with damp hair, turned around and said so.
By the way, being told “I’ve been waiting!” makes her sound like a very devoted and cute little sister with a brother complex, but that wasn’t it.
“You’re late! I’m hungry!”
“Yeah, yeah, sorry, sorry...”
“One ‘yes’ and one ‘sorry’ is enough!”
Getting grumpy just because she’s hungry... what are you, a kid?
Our parents, who both work, are often not home by dinner time. On those days, Yuzu and I take turns preparing dinner.
Yesterday, Yuzu made it herself while I was left alone to sleep off my frustration, so today was my turn.
“What should we have today...?”
I opened the refrigerator.
If anything was missing, I’d have to go out and buy it...
This lack of planning—not buying groceries at the station before coming home—was always the cause of dinner being late.
“Yu-zu-is-hun-gry—”
Before I knew it, my growing sister had come to the kitchen and was staring at me from beside the fridge, casting some mysterious spell. Considering the pressure, it seemed necessary to make the shortest meal possible with whatever was available. But the rice wasn’t cooked, so is there anything...?
“...Oh.”
I found something just right in the corner of the fridge.
“...Let’s have yakisoba today.”
“Oh, nice!”
So, I quickly made some yakisoba and ate it with Yuzu.
“Thanks for the meal, Takkun.”
“Sure, it wasn’t much.”
I took the dishes to the kitchen sink.
“Yuzu. I’m going out for a bit.”
“Huh? Where to?”
Yuzu, who had returned to the front of the TV with incredible speed, looked at me with her mouth agape.
“Just around there.”
“To do what?”
“...To return something I borrowed.”
“...I see.”
Nodding, Yuzu stood up and patted my back with both hands as I tried to leave the living room.
“Do it properly, Takkun.”
“...Yeah.”
When I stepped outside, the September night breeze felt a bit chilly.
Actually...
“Yo, Takuto.”
“No, I was planning to go pick you up, but...”
In the dim light where the porch light couldn’t reach, Sako was standing there with her hands stuffed into the large pockets of an unzipped hoodie over short shorts.
We moved to a nearby park.
An old fluorescent light flickered with a buzzing sound.
We sat side by side on a faded wooden bench standing beside it.
Sako kept her hands in her hoodie pockets and chose the left side of the bench, closer to the light. From where I sat, she was backlit, and I couldn’t see her expression clearly.
“What’s up? It’s rare for Takuto to call me out.”
Sako’s voice was a bit raspy.
“I got the sticks today. ...Thanks.”
“It was nothing.”
The words I said while scratching my cheek were returned curtly.
“So, what happened?”
I couldn’t clearly see Sako’s expression as she looked at me.
“Yeah, thanks to you, we were able to reconcile properly.”
“I see.”
She gave a small nod.
“...Just reconcile?”
She asked, her voice rising at the end, which was unusual for her.
“...That’s right, just reconcile.”
I nodded quietly.
“Takuto,”
“Hmm?”
Sako continued, staring at her toes at the end of her slender legs.
“Takuto, you’re dense and you’re an idiot, but...”
Taking a single breath,
“You understand, right?”
She questioned me as if she were certain.
“Well...”
As Azuma had told me, I was a worthless person, so I chose to at least be sincere.
“Sorry. Even so, I still don’t really understand the truth of it.”
Sako tilted her head slightly.
“I’ve considered various possibilities. I’ve thought and thought, and I’m still thinking. Of course, the options are narrowing down. But I still don’t know the single correct answer.”
I let out a breath.
“I still don’t quite understand what I’m thinking myself.”
I told her one thing at a time, only the things that were certain.
“So, until I understand it properly, I can’t put it into words or say it.”
Because,
“With just one word, there’s a possibility I could lose everything.”
“...I see.”
Sako nodded slowly.
“But, just one thing.”
“What?”
I turned to face my childhood friend.
“I intend to understand at least the resolve and kindness you gave me.”
Sako gasped slightly.
“...Then why do you go out of your way to do something that feels like a follow-up blow?”
“A-A follow-up blow? Seriously?”
Being told something unexpected, I ended up stammering.
“Seriously.”
I didn’t mean it that way...
Was my flustered state funny to her? Sako laughed out loud, “Ahaha.”
“Wait...!?”
I mean, Sako is actually laughing out loud...!?
“Just kidding, just kidding. Since it’s Takuto, you probably thought you couldn’t move forward without settling things with me, right?”
“...Yes.”
“You thought you had to talk to me first, didn’t you?”
“...Yeah.”
After letting out a sigh as if smiling while watching me nod solemnly,
“It’s okay, Takuto. That kiss wasn’t ‘that’ kind of thing,” she said firmly.
“That was just because I didn’t want to see the Takuto I admired looking pathetic. Also, simply put, I’d be in trouble if the song didn’t get finished. But...”
Sako turned only her face toward me.
“If Takuto has become like this, then the mission was a success.”
Although I still couldn’t see her expression, Sako was probably smiling.
‘With this, you’ll never be able to forget about me for the rest of your life, right?’
“A mission, huh...”
If that’s the case, then there’s no mistake.
I will probably never forget that fireworks festival for the rest of my life.
“Even so,”
Sako also looked up at the night sky and let out an exasperated laugh.
“If you don’t understand your own feelings, you can’t move forward anyway, even if you talk to me.”
“No, you’re right about that...”
I laughed along with her.
“Maybe the reason Ichikawa can’t sing the lyrics to the new song is for a similar reason. Actually, what kind of lyrics are they...?”
The moment I said that.
Sako’s gentle laughter stopped abruptly.
“...What, you still don’t know that?”
Sako tilted her head.
“Huh? Yeah. Wait, do you know, Sako?”
“It’s not that I ‘know,’ I heard them today.”
“...Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“What the heck!”
I threw up my hands and looked at the night sky.
Sako also looked up in the same way, with her hands still in her pockets.
“I thought you understood both, but in the end, you don’t understand either. Takuto, you really are dense and an idiot.”
“Is that so...”
If Sako says so, then it must really be true.
“...Sako, you’re really amazing.”
“What is?”
“You understand your own feelings properly, and you have the courage to act on them.”
‘If you’re going to “reach out for what you admire,” you have to be this serious about it, Takuto.’
Something that I would have hesitated over, worried about, made excuses for, and ultimately failed to achieve if I were in Sako’s position—I received that from Sako.
“It’s not like that... It’s just, I couldn’t hold it back anymore, that’s all.”
“Even so... it’s amazing.”
When I straightened my posture and whispered that.
“...Then, praise me more?”
She bent her body as if peering into my face.
For a moment, I felt as if that girl wearing the Pikachu mask overlapped with Sako.
“...Sako, you’re amazing.”
“Am I doing well?”
“You’re doing well.”
“Am I cool?”
“You’re cool.”
Sako’s voice was rising in a way that was unthinkable normally, so I put weight into each of my responses.
“Then Takuto...”
“Hmm?”
“...No, it’s nothing.”
Still, the words she started to say at the end never came out of Sako’s mouth.
“Hey, Takuto.”
“What is it?”
Softly yet firmly, Sako wove her words as if she had made up her mind.
“Probably, things will be quite difficult from here on. I think there will be many painful, hurtful, and distressing things.”
“Yeah?”
“Even so, I’m glad I met you, Takuto.”
With that, Sako took the Pikachu mask out of her large pocket.
...Had she been keeping it carefully all this time?
“So, Takuto,”
Sako held the Pikachu mask in front of her face, hiding her expression.
“Thank you for finding me that day!”
That trembling voice, those swollen red eyes I had actually noticed from the start, and the droplets staining the seat of the faded bench—I pretended not to notice them.
“That’s my line...”
Hearing my voice, which I somehow squeezed out, Sako rested her head, mask and all, on my shoulder.
“...Thank you for everything until now, Takuto.”