A year passed like that, and we became fifth graders in elementary school.
1999.
I remember being all excited as a kid because the new millennium was coming. There were talks of the world ending before the year 2000.
My family and I weren’t particularly concerned about such things, so I was just a bit thrilled about the arrival of 2000.
Moreover, the World Cup was just two years away.
…Ah, but that’s probably the same for Japan.
The entire country felt like a festive atmosphere, which was enjoyable. We even watched the matches on TV during class. I’m not sure if it was the same in Japan.
Although it was said we were entering the 21st century, the 20th century actually lasted until 2000, which meant we had another year left.
Yeah, whatever.
Kagami and my uncle, who plays the role of my dad, weren’t too concerned about the world coming to an end either. If anything, Kagami was leaning more towards hoping life would continue for a long time, while my uncle, having experienced everything in the world, was rather indifferent to such matters.
I felt the same. When the kids brought up topics like that, I would respond, but I never genuinely believed it.
…And yet.
There was a much more serious topic that reached my ears.
“So… yeah, that happened.”
“Is that so?”
Mako is transferring schools at the end of this year.
It seems like her dad’s work in this area is coming to an end. I’m not exactly sure what he does, but from what Mako told me, they usually moved around a lot.
Since we had just been to the local shrine together on New Year’s, I couldn’t think of how to react.
As adults, you get used to parting ways. No, you forget how to get that close in the first place.
You might end up becoming friends with someone you met at work to the point of traveling together, but usually, it’s a bit hard to get that close. You talk and share daily life while smiling at work, and sometimes grab a drink after work, but often once you change jobs, you stop contacting each other altogether.
You never know whether you’ll see someone who works next to you for a few months or several years. While you might run into them again someday, that’s a story for another time.
So, I had thought such things were possible in this life too.
…But, it seems friends you make when you’re young are different. Even though it’s been just a year since I’ve known her, hearing that we’ll part ways after that year was quite bewildering.
“…”
We both stayed silent for a while.
“…Let’s have fun for the next year.”
I was the first to speak up.
Yeah, it’s fine.
It’s not like it’s Mako.
Even if Harumi and Yuuki parted ways like that, it might be hard to meet again immediately.
If I can part with Mako in a normal way, then that’s fine, I thought. As long as we just have to know each other’s contact details, and keep each other’s addresses. If we could exchange letters and occasionally call each other to chat, our connection could continue.
“Yeah!”
Mako nodded with a smile at my answer.
*
Even though I said let’s have fun, in the end, all we did was get along as usual.
It didn’t snow in Tokyo, but it snowed where we were. It wasn’t entirely in the north like Sapporo, but it snowed enough to build snowmen.
Both Mako and I were experiencing winter in this region for the first time.
While we were making snowmen, some oblivious boys started throwing snowballs at us.
I immediately responded by throwing snow back—Mako followed me from behind and tossed snow too.
Soon, it became a snowball fight between boys and girls.
If we were in middle school, we would have been at a disadvantage, but we were just elementary school students. Often, girls were a bit taller than boys.
At first, I was annoyed and threw snow back, but before I knew it, it turned into fun.
Mako laughed as she joined the snowball fight.
We returned home all covered in snow.
“What happened!?”
Kagami, always sensitive about my health, quickly dried our heads with a towel before filling the bathroom with warm water.
While the water was running, Mako and I drank warm cocoa. As I sipped the sweet cocoa, I blankly stared at the snowflakes that were starting to fall again.
By the time the snow falls again next year, Mako probably wouldn’t be in this neighborhood anymore.
Despite the fun we had, an inexplicable feeling of frustration welled up inside me.
*
“Koto Ne, Koto Ne.”
“Yeah?”
“Over here!”
February.
On the way to school, Mako climbed into the back of Kagami’s truck and handed me something.
It was chocolate.
Valentine’s Day.
This neighborhood naturally had supermarkets, and chocolates were on sale. It seemed like Mako bought some ready-made chocolates and melted them to make them anew.
I silently rummaged through my bag and pulled out the chocolate that was in a bag. …I didn’t make it on purpose, but it was just a transparent plastic bag with coin-shaped chocolates inside, but—
“Wow!”
Mako received the chocolate with sparkling eyes.
There wasn’t any particular reason we exchanged chocolates. After all, Mako was probably making a whole bunch of friendship chocolates for her classmates, and I just bought some in advance because I couldn’t resist Kagami’s influence.
So, the chocolate I gave to Mako was just one of those friendship chocolates.
“I’ll enjoy it, Koto Ne!”
Mako simply smiled and was delighted.
…
For some reason, I felt a bit guilty.
Should I have at least made some friendship chocolates myself?
*
I planted cherry trees on the neighborhood streets after I got older, but when I was a child, seeing cherry trees in the neighborhood wasn’t all that easy.
There were loads of ginkgo trees, and I was worried about the autumn.
This neighborhood had planted a huge number of cherry trees as street trees, and by spring, the roads turned pink.
The cherry blossom path extending on both sides while going to school was honestly quite impressive.
This place isn’t that famous as a tourist spot, so the only people around were school kids and the adults who followed them.
I could hear the sounds of cameras clicking everywhere.
Parents who usually didn’t follow their kids were taking a moment in the morning to snap photos of their children.
“Okay, okay, Koto Ne, Mako, get a bit closer!”
Kagami was among the excited adults.
Usually, Kagami would have given us a ride to work, but today, thinking it would disrupt our photos, he walked with me instead, of course bringing Mako along.
Standing awkwardly still for the photos, we eventually started to strike playful poses.
Mako was the first to start. She timidly struck a magical girl pose with one hand, or placing her hand under her chin as if wanting to look more cheerful—
Seeing that, I couldn’t help but laugh and followed suit.
We tried poses from comics, squatting in front with our arms raised as if trying to express something metaphysical—
Thanks to that, we only realized we were late for school when Kagami discovered that everyone else had disappeared.
“Okay, see you in the afternoon!”
Kagami’s voice called out with a hint of laughter as he waved from behind.
I have to give this photo to Mako too. Let’s tell Kagami to develop two copies.
*
Having spent a decent amount of time in the village, I seemed to have relaxed a bit, and we started to wander around outside of the village too.
We rode in Kagami’s car and went shopping in the city a little beyond the village before returning. Once the weather became warmer, it wasn’t that hard to go outside.
I enjoyed the time spent in the back seat of the car like that.
The scenery passing by the window. The feeling that we were heading somewhere, all of it.
Moreover, it used to feel like I was always following the kids around, but now, it was Mako who was following me. Well, Kagami was driving, and it was Kagami who suggested to go out, but still, in a way, Mako was the one following us as a family.
It wasn’t a fancy car, but I was starting to like it. There were times I even fell asleep in the back seat, something I can’t do now that I’m older.
I once asked Mako where we were going.
Mako said we were heading to Tokyo.
Tokyo again.
Hmm, it seems I got another reason to go back to Tokyo, I thought.
*
One day in the midst of spring, Mako came over to my house as usual.
While we were sitting together eating fruits, Mako suddenly said, as if she just thought of it,
“Koto Ne, do you want to go somewhere during our summer vacation?”
“Somewhere?”
“Yeah. Camping.”
“Camping.”
I pondered the word for a while.
Now that I think about it, we had never been camping. Harumi and Yuuki always booked separate accommodations when they traveled.
I looked at Kagami, who then looked at my uncle, who played the role of my dad.
“I’ll try to make time.”
That didn’t necessarily mean it would work out.
But in a way, it was my uncle trying his best.
Looking at Mako, she was smiling brightly.
Camping.
I thought to myself that this could perhaps be my first and last trip enjoying time with Mako.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.