When I was in kindergarten, I always needed a guardian by my side, but once I became an elementary school student, things changed a bit.
I used to take the bus provided by kindergarten, but by the time I hit elementary school, I could definitely manage going to school alone. At first, it’s nice to have a guardian along to show me the way, but a fifteen-minute walk isn’t too much for an elementary school kid to handle.
I’m not sure what the norm was back in the 2020s when I lived, but I wonder if the way people treat kids has changed since the world has changed? Hmm.
Of course, I’m not going alone entirely; I sneak in with the other kids heading to school. It seems like they encourage that at school, too, as Kagami sees me off every morning just a little outside their house.
I guess that means I could just go home alone after school, but honestly, playing with Harumi and Yu is quite enjoyable, so I decided not to say anything.
…….
Looks like I’m slowly getting used to this body. If I’m thinking about that while leaving the kids behind, it’s a sign, right?
But really, how long can I deny that I’m ‘Kurosawa Kotone’? Eventually, the days I’ll live in this world will outnumber those of my previous life.
It’s been a few months since I started school, and time has passed quite a bit, as it now stays light out for a long time.
There’s about a month left until vacation, but elementary school ends pretty early, so I always feel like I’m on break.
So far, the things we’ve been learning are pretty much common sense.
They’re not only difficult for me; they’re not exactly troublesome for the other kids either. The kids around me, including Harumi and Yu, still retain that childlike innocence without showing any signs of struggling.
And with that innocence, we occasionally went outside to play.
“Ta-da!”
What Harumi shouted excitedly was not the magical girl’s wand she usually plays with, but rather a bug-catching net and an insect collection container.
Hmm.
Harumi, who usually played as a magical girl, seems like she wouldn’t be interested in insect collecting.
In fact, it’s the first time in almost years that I’ve seen her declare she wants to collect insects.
“Insect collecting?”
“Yep!”
Harumi nods vigorously.
Hearing that made me think for a moment.
Have I heard cicada sounds recently?
Tokyo is situated further south than Seoul, so naturally, it gets hotter earlier. If we talk about cherry blossoms, they bloom about two weeks earlier in Tokyo than in Seoul.
In that case, it wouldn’t be too strange for cicadas to come out two weeks earlier.
“B-bugs? Insects?”
Yu had a slightly horrified expression at Harumi’s words.
“Yep!”
Harumi nodded her head.
Looking back on it, it seems like something that might show up as a background in a cartoon targeted at children this time of year.
It’s not weird at all for Harumi, who loves imitating things she sees in cartoons, to be influenced like this.
However.
“Harumi, have you ever caught insects?”
“Eh? No?”
At my question, Harumi tilted her head in confusion.
It’s understandable since I’ve been next to her almost always when she plays.
So then, a couple of issues arise.
One is that insect collecting is harder than it seems.
With a net, sure, she could catch something, but when it comes to catching a stag beetle or a cicada, they don’t show themselves easily. Cicadas, in particular, blend with the trees way better than you’d think.
Also, insects can look pretty disgusting.
While obviously not going to catch a cockroach like this, a lot of people have issues touching a stag beetle. Cicadas are even worse.
“Why?”
Harumi tilted her head, looking at me deep in thought. Yu was also watching me cautiously.
If there was a ‘leader’ among the three of us, it would definitely be Harumi’s spot. She’s the one who gives the clearest opinions and decides what we’re going to do.
But if I were to name the ‘adult’ among us three, it would be me.
That’s only natural. Whenever Harumi and Yu play and mess around, I’m usually the one who cleans it up in the end. The two good kids wouldn’t just watch that, and when they see me tidying up, they often help out.
The surrounding adults viewed me in a pretty good light, too, and Harumi and Yu looked at me with a bit of admiration.
Before long, that perception had elevated me to the position of the ‘one who knows things well among the three’.
……Well, it’s only natural that I know more things than elementary school kids.
“Uh, no, nothing.”
But just because I think I know the most doesn’t mean those two are going to always follow what I say.
Kids have their own stubbornness.
Usually, they don’t understand things well until they experience them firsthand.
I just watch over them to ensure they don’t get too dangerous.
“Hmm, really?”
If we were in our twenties, I might have questioned that answer again, but thankfully, the three of us are just elementary school kids.
Harumi didn’t seem to have many doubts about my answer.
Yu looked a bit frightened, but it didn’t seem like he wanted to miss out on our fun together.
“Alright, then let’s go!”
Harumi held her bug-catching net high in one hand and her collection container around her neck as she shouted with enthusiasm.
Stride, stride, with confidence as the leader, I wondered if Harumi would be able to touch that cicada.
*
And, one thing I overlooked—
Flap flap flap!
—That’s right.
The sound of cicadas flapping their wings is surprisingly loud. Although they spent years living underground and only come out for about two weeks, the sound of adult cicadas is considerably louder than that of flies or dragonflies.
And when faced with such ‘real cicadas,’ Harumi’s face went pale.
Surprisingly, when she swung the bug-catching net and caught a cicada, she couldn’t even bring herself to take it out of the net. In cartoons, these things might be portrayed cutely, but real cicadas are just wrinkled, ugly bugs.
“What do I do now?”
Yu, who couldn’t even touch the handle of the bug-catching net, was panicking, and Harumi was hesitating.
I let out a small sigh and squatted next to the net, slipping my hand inside.
“Ugh!?”
Seeing me do that, the two of them screamed simultaneously.
……Well, I may have lived in the city, but I have memories of going down to the countryside during the holidays and catching grasshoppers and dragonflies since I was little.
While I might feel a bit squeamish about cockroaches or flies, I can handle the types of insects that kids usually catch.
Though they’re a bit larger compared to a child’s hand.
Once I got the cicada out, the two of them looked even more horrified but didn’t run away.
They had expressions that looked like they were both disgusted and curious, standing there hesitantly rather than fleeing, so I held out my hand and showed them the cicada.
Just like how one may feel repulsed by something ugly or brutal yet be intrigued at the same time, Harumi and Yu slowly approached to look at the cicada in my hand.
The cicada was moving its belly back and forth, its legs moving here and there, but no matter how much I tried to make sure its body didn’t touch my hand, it was still not escaping.
“It… looks ugly…”
“Yeah…”
Seeing them give such brutally honest evaluations, I couldn’t help but smile a little.
“Eek!?”
When I opened up the collection container hanging around Harumi’s neck, she screamed again.
I hurriedly placed the cicada inside and closed it, and the cicada began to flap its wings inside.
“Eek!”
Being a city kid, Harumi held the container far away with her hands.
“Should I hold onto it instead?”
“Yup!”
Harumi nodded with a distressed expression at my question, so I took the container from her neck and hung it around mine.
“Wanna catch another one?”
After asking that, Harumi and Yu looked at each other.
They seemed to ponder for a moment, but since I had the collection container, I guess they thought it wasn’t too dangerous. They nodded their heads.
“Alright then, let’s go.”
Taking the lead as the new ‘leader’ among us, I started walking ahead, and the two of them followed eagerly behind.
Aren’t they just adorable?
*
It seemed that knowing they didn’t have to touch the insects erased their burdens since not just Harumi, but Yu also started swinging the bug-catching net. Whenever they succeeded in catching cicadas, I would take the cicada out and place it into the collection container repeatedly.
After the two kids got into the fun of swinging the net numerous times, the container was soon filled with cicadas. Even with my immunity to it, I found it a bit gross.
“This… what do we do?”
Once we caught that many, Harumi’s expression fell again.
Good point.
We can’t take them home. Who keeps cicadas as pets?
Even if we took them, they wouldn’t last long anyway.
I think I just let them go last time.
“Shall we let them go?”
“Let them go?”
Even at my question, Harumi looked a little unwilling.
After all, they were ‘caught’ now.
Plus, at that age, wanting to raise this and that is quite common. Even if they can’t actually touch them.
“How long do you think cicadas live?”
After thinking for a moment and asking that, Harumi and Yu looked at each other.
“…They don’t live long, the adults say.”
Yu said in a hesitant voice, while Harumi blinked, looking a bit surprised.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
I nodded.
“Cicadas live underground for years and only come out as adults.”
I guess Harumi didn’t remember this from when she was in kindergarten. I mean, she doesn’t seem like the type to study hard.
“They come out, find their favorite partner, lay their eggs, and then pass. So, they don’t live long.”
At my words, Harumi and Yu’s gazes turned towards the collection container.
“So, we might as well let them go since we’ve had our fun, so they can find their favorites.”
As I said calmly, Harumi and Yu stared at me for a moment before nodding their heads.
“Okay!”
Harumi spoke.
“Yep.”
So did Yu.
Seeing those two made me smile.
They really are such nice kids.
Somehow, I feel like they’ll both turn into model students by high school.
Feeling a warm sense of happiness, I started taking the cicadas one by one from the collection container and stick them onto the trees.
Harumi greeted each cicada as she named them one by one.
Yu waved his hand following after Harumi.
Innocence doesn’t last forever. Some people lose it relatively early, while others, even if it takes a little longer, eventually lose it.
But still.
I wished that the innocence of these two would last a long, long time.
That even the trivial memories of this summer could continue on for a long time.
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