Every day, aside from the fact that I was almost always left at Harumi’s house, it wasn’t just the two of us as usual.
True to her friendly nature, Harumi’s house often had other friends from our class or even from different classes coming over to play.
Of course, almost always, I was the last one to stay until the end.
As this kept happening, the kids seemed to feel there was something a bit off.
Kids’ minds aren’t as simple as one might think. In fact, they often have all sorts of thoughts bubbling up chaotically, making their thought processes even more complicated than adults. That’s something I’ve noticed over the past few years hanging out with them.
Kids actually prefer stimulating and “specific” settings more than one might expect. What starts as creepy tales of unidentified things inevitably gets piled up with all sorts of childish details after just one trip through elementary school.
Somehow, it seems like there are bits and pieces of such stories circulating behind my back as well. Some kids even remembered Kagami’s face and Fukuda-san’s aura.
For now, it wasn’t really fatal. Even if it was some creepy rumor, the kids were still a bit young to be involved in malicious schemes.
However, those kinds of rumors tend to get transmitted back to adults from kids, and then it’s reproduced.
“……”
So, I felt like I had to do something about those rumors.
But I couldn’t exactly make excuses in front of the kids. That would only add fuel to the fire of the rumors.
I couldn’t tell Harumi not to bring her other friends over. Given my dependence on their goodwill along with Kagami, I didn’t want to put a damper on her friendships either.
“Koto Ne, why the long face?”
After the other kids left, Harumi asked me that as she noticed me deep in thought, but I couldn’t find the words to answer easily.
“……I was just thinking about watching manga too.”
“Wow, really!?”
Since I didn’t have any good excuses popping to mind, I threw that out there, and Harumi’s eyes lit up as she leaned in closer to me.
In the end, that day, I was dragged in front of the living room TV by Harumi, where I ended up watching the video from the first episode in order. Each episode was about 20 minutes long, so naturally, I couldn’t finish them all.
……It was a bit interesting, so I felt something.
Well, given how famous it was, it wasn’t surprising that it was fun.
Anyway.
My troubles unexpectedly came to an end.
“Hey…”
As the other friends went back home, Yuuki timidly spoke to Harumi.
“Can I join you in watching manga too?”
He must have heard that I stayed at Harumi’s house and watched videos at school today. It seems he remembered that.
I knew Yuuki liked the same manga that Harumi liked, but… Was he not allowed to watch manga at home?
Based on the circumstances, the elementary school we attend seems to be filled with pretty wealthy kids. Seeing how Harumi’s house had a ton of videos, it wouldn’t be strange if his family had some too.
…….
No, considering Yamashita-san, it might be that the atmosphere at home wouldn’t allow a kid to chill and watch videos in their room.
“Of course! In fact, I’m happy about it!”
Naturally, Harumi wore a very pleasant expression at gaining another companion.
So, the kids who gathered at Harumi’s house after school became three in number.
*
During the week that the three of us watched animation together, I learned that Yuuki probably didn’t have many friends.
Due to his family situation, it seemed he hardly got to watch manga with friends. Sure, he was somewhat close with the kids in his class, but that kind of closeness differed from this kind of friendship.
Sitting side by side on the living room sofa, sharing snacks laid out in front of us was a pretty enjoyable thing.
Though we were of the age to attend school and somewhat grasp what studying was about, well.
Still, being carefree children matched that age perfectly.
The kids who saw me and Harumi alone often speculated weirdly about our relationship, but now with Yuuki around, it felt like they recognized it as some sort of “gathering.”
A few kids decided to stay a bit longer but ended up thinking, “There’s nothing much going on,” as they watched us just sit side by side and continuously watch manga.
Thanks to Yuuki, at least the strange speculations regarding my background were cleared up, which I was grateful for.
“……”
Watching Yuuki’s bright eyes focused on the TV, I honestly became a bit curious about his family situation.
I couldn’t really say mine was ordinary, but I had a feeling Yuuki’s wasn’t exactly typical either.
Though I had no place to intervene, I didn’t say anything right now.
However, I could probably make some guesses.
I had already seen the manga series that Harumi loved, and as for the new episodes, of course, they were not released yet, so I had to watch the older works she used to see.
Of the manga I knew, surprisingly many had already aired, so it was unexpectedly enjoyable. The quality of the videos wasn’t bad when viewed on a CRT TV.
It seemed Harumi had been watching manga from home since we were in kindergarten.
Sometimes, she hummed the theme songs and even mimicked the lines shouted by the characters. Seeing this innocent side made my heart lift for some reason as it gave the impression she might become a wonderful companion in the distant future.
Yuuki seemed particularly excited about the newly seen animations, his eyes sparkling with curiosity.
As we continued watching TV together, the doorbell rang with a ding-dong.
We three jumped up, not even pausing the video, and raced to the entrance with a thud-thud-thud.
The housekeeper auntie was already opening the front door. As the three of us rushed to the entrance, she stepped back slightly with a smile on her face to give us space.
Outside the door was Yuuki’s older sister.
No, I guess I should refer to her as an “older sister” to me.
Compared to Kagami, she looked quite young, wearing a sailor uniform with a blue collar, easily giving off a “student” vibe.
She must be around middle school age.
Her name seemed to be “Miho.”
By the way, upon seeing her, Harumi’s eyes sparkled as she exclaimed, “Wow!”
Seeing a character from her favorite manga don such an outfit… well, while it didn’t even compare in terms of exposure.
Thinking about it, the manga’s sailor uniform had a blue collar too.
“Yuuki-chan!”
As Miho said this, she spread her arms wide, and Yuuki jumped into her embrace.
You could tell from their different last names that they weren’t biological siblings, but the way Yuuki acted was so familiar that you could tell they had known each other for quite a while.
It seemed Miho already knew Fukuda-san’s face too, as she greeted her warmly whenever they bumped into each other during rare weekday breaks.
“Hello, Harumi-chan! And you too, Koto Ne-chan.”
Harumi waved back, saying, “Hello!” while I nodded my head slightly.
“Did you have fun today?”
“Yep!”
Despite being of what seemed like middle school age, her behavior was already quite mature. I wasn’t sure if it was because of her age or if it was because she lived with Yamashita-san.
Well, I used to pick up my sibling from preschool, so it wasn’t unusual.
“Well then, shall we go home now?”
“Um…….”
I wondered if he was curious about what happened in the ongoing manga.
Yuuki looked towards Harumi.
The TV sound from the living room was still audible, as we hadn’t finished turning it off.
“We need to go home. If we don’t, Dad will worry.”
“Okay……”
“Don’t worry.”
When Yuuki’s face showed a hint of reluctance, Harumi patted her chest with one hand and said, “We’ll just leave the paused video as it is! Let’s watch it tomorrow!”
“Okay!”
After hearing Harumi’s words, it seemed Yuuki’s face brightened up.
He’s still a kid after all.
“Thanks for looking out for me.”
“That’s a given between friends.”
Seeing Harumi give a response that sounded like something straight out of a manga made me stifle a laugh.
Right, this is how kids should be. They need to have some innocence. It’s me who’s the abnormal one here.
After sending off Yuuki, I returned to the living room with Harumi and we dug back into the video.
As Harumi rewound the tape, she looked at me and asked, “So, do you want to play a board game instead?”
“Sure.”
The board game Harumi mentioned was a dice-rolling game focused purely on luck. Even if I couldn’t completely win against Harumi, that wasn’t a problem.
Though it could get a bit boring if it was just the two of us, it was mainly role-playing anyway.
So, we spent a good while happily rolling the dice until Kagami arrived.
Harumi thrived and became the boss, while I went through the textbook experience of going bankrupt, leaving a strangely bittersweet aftertaste, but still, it was quite fun.
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