There are times when I find myself thinking about this while socializing.
The thought of wanting to go back to when I was a student.
But when I actually think about going back, I quickly shake my head as memories of things I had to do back then or things I couldn’t do flood my mind.
Back when I was a student, I couldn’t drink, and I had to manage my desires within the little allowance my parents gave me.
After becoming an adult and starting to live alone, no one cared about what I ate or how I lived. I could spend my salary however I wanted, and no one said anything as long as I paid my bills.
There was pressure to take responsibility for myself, of course. After all, I had to eat, and if something came up where I had to go to the hospital, I had to save some money. But saving a little bit from my salary wasn’t a big deal. While it wasn’t a lot, I could take out a small amount in a pinch.
I never thought I’d miss my mom’s nagging. Sometimes, when I visited home and saw my family, I felt good, but I still didn’t want to hear about eating well and keeping my place clean while living alone.
It wasn’t exactly a joy when my family decided to surprise me at my place either.
But—
It’s so strange.
The noises that used to irritate me in situations where I could hear them anytime, now that I think I can’t hear them anymore, I find myself missing them.
It didn’t feel refreshing at all. I even found myself wanting to see my younger sister, whom I usually bicker with, every now and then.
Thinking about it coldly, even if I were to hear those nagging things now, it wouldn’t make me suddenly feel good.
It’s just that, sometimes, I wanted to see them, even if it was like that.
What strongly remains in my memory isn’t the time when my family was slightly eating into my thoughts but the faces that would get angry at me, annoy me, and sometimes laugh at me.
The reason I desperately longed for my school days might maybe be this.
If I actually went back, I would complain about studying during exam periods and get annoyed about not being able to do whatever I wanted.
But even so, I wanted to see my family again. Even if I regretted seeing them again.
“Koto Ne.”
“…Yuka.”
The playground at Hanagawa High School is pretty big. Even though it’s a private school, the playground is basically a sand lot. I thought about the reason and figured it might be because they wanted to use the area for multiple purposes.
If they laid grass in the center, they would have to take care of it, and it wouldn’t be able to be used carelessly. If they laid down artificial turf, that would be annoying, too.
So, I figured they kept it this way to use it as a ‘multipurpose’ area.
On the corners of the school playground, there were stairs made of cement. They were kind of made for people to climb up easily and wide enough to sit on, so the students watching the sports festival were sitting there.
They put up a tent above, and even though summer was technically over, the sun was still scorching.
As afternoon approached, the teachers’ vigilance started to loosen, and the kids began to sneak off in search of cooler spots.
The reason Koko and I remained here… Well, it’s nothing special. We just didn’t want to feel uncomfortable mixing with the other kids. There was only this place to lie down anyway.
As expected, taking the opportunity when the homeroom teacher was busy, Yuka came over and handed me a plastic bottle. The 500ml bottle wrapped in a blue label contained a murky-colored sports drink.
It was a drink I liked. Maybe that’s why I inevitably liked sports drinks. After working up a sweat, this kind of drink was refreshing.
Was it a coincidence that Yuka gave me this?
I thought back quietly, and the answer was pretty clear.
Until now, while hanging out with friends, I hadn’t eaten anything. Especially, Yuka often visited my house.
As we shopped together, I guess she must have seen what kind of drinks I pick up.
In the novel, Yuka was described as having great observational skills.
“Um… Why? Is the drink not to your liking?”
As I looked up at Yuka while holding the bottle, she asked.
I shook my head.
“No, I like it.”
“Oh, I see.”
Yuka let out a small sigh. Was it a sigh of relief?
I opened the bottle and poured the drink into my mouth without hesitation.
It wasn’t overly sweet, but it had a peculiar taste that wasn’t sour either as it flowed down my throat.
A refreshing feeling that felt like it was replenishing the sweat I had just sweated from running around.
Yuka also drank her share of the drink she was holding.
“Fuh.”
After gulping down the drink for a while, Yuka let out a slight breath. And then she looked at me with a slightly serious expression.
“How about your class? Is everything going well?”
“Mm.”
The only thing left is probably dodgeball.
The running event is saved for the end of the sports festival, so the rest have mostly lost by mid-way.
Honestly, I didn’t care much, but the boys seemed a bit upset. Though it didn’t seem like they were all like that. I was a guy, but I really didn’t care if our class won the sports festival.
“Ugh.”
Koko, who had been cheering hard all morning and vigorously cheering until the semifinals of dodgeball in the afternoon, finally passed out.
Now, we were both under the tent in the spectator stands, where I was sitting while Koko lay next to me.
She used the school cardigan she’d taken off because it was hot as a pillow.
Koko, who had confidently fallen asleep on the hard cement, rubbed her eyes as she woke up.
Did she catch a whiff of the drink?
“Here.”
Yuka had thoughtfully brought Koko her drink too. A sweet strawberry milk that was different from the drinks we were having.
“Wow!”
Koko, who loves to eat anything, happily accepted the milk Yuka offered her.
At first, Koko was weirdly obsessed with cat food, but it seems she’s started learning what foods taste good while socially adapting. These days, Koko definitely loves sweet foods.
Of course, that doesn’t mean she rejects other foods. Koko still sometimes looks at Kuro like she’s jealous of the cat food he eats. When that happens, I quickly fed Koko something. We had enough snacks reserved for such emergencies at home.
She just likes human food a bit more, but that doesn’t mean she dislikes other kinds of food.
There was still a long way to go.
I’m not sure if Koko’s personality will completely disappear just because she continues to eat like this, but still, I need to do what I can while I can.
“…?”
“You seem to be deep in thought.”
While I was quietly looking at Koko, Yuka said.
I was indeed lost in thought.
I had finally gone back to the school days I longed for, but somehow it was a little different from what I had imagined.
Maybe it shines brighter than the years I went through. At least, during high school, I didn’t save anyone or fight against monsters threatening my daily life. There were no girls around me either.
But… if I ask whether the reasons I wanted to return intersect with what I now have, it doesn’t seem like it either.
Still, when I saw Koko nearby eating something, I thought,
“…Well.”
I couldn’t fully express those thoughts, so I just answered like that.
Yuka didn’t seem like she intended to ask further.
She just sat quietly next to me.
We drank our drinks leisurely.
And slowly came to one conclusion.
Right. The life I gained here isn’t the kind of life I desired in my past life. Perhaps the me back then just wished to restore what I had lost.
And I probably wanted to meet those lost beings again and live on with them.
But those days won’t come back. Even if my family lives here, they aren’t ‘my’ family.
If those people were here, ‘I’ would be here too. There would be nowhere for Kurosawa Koto Ne to mix in.
However—
What I had in my hand, which I didn’t particularly desire but somehow ended up with.
My friends, including Yuka, or the relationships with the people around me, Koko, who has nearly become family now, and Kuro, who has somehow turned into our house guardian—
I didn’t want to lose them again.
In my previous life, I lost everything because I didn’t have the chance to take action, but now it’s different.
No matter what comes my way now, I have the strength to fight.
If so, even if it’s not perfect, I’ll muster all that strength to protect those around me.
So that I don’t end up alone again, reminiscing about the past.
“…”
Yuka was looking at me as if she were waiting for my response, even though I just brushed it off.
“…I was thinking about what to do for dinner.”
I told Yuka that.
Our next day-to-day life.
The day-to-day life that we’ll continue.
Even if it’s somewhat awkward, and far from reality, it’s still a familiar and enjoyable everyday life I want to protect.
“Hmm, I see.”
Yuka accepted my words very naturally and looked up at the sky.
As she gazed at the clear autumn sky, she fell briefly into thought before letting out a chuckle.
“How about pork cutlet then?”
“Pork cutlet!”
Koko next to me reacted right away like that.
I remembered that I also reacted that way once. It wasn’t long after I came here.
It was when I first met the Sasaki siblings.
Of course, that was only a silent cheer, but if I hadn’t fallen for it back then, I wouldn’t have become friends with them like I am now.
“I’m not sure if there’s any place nearby. Still, if we go out and look around hard, we should find something.”
I couldn’t know whether it’s delicious or not, yet that didn’t really matter.
If the first place we visit is good, we can go back next time. If it’s not tasty, we can just look for another place.
Just like human connections, everything in life is the same.
“How’s that?”
“It sounds delicious.”
At my straightforward answer, Yuka looked at me in disbelief.
“Are you starting to sound like Koko?”
Yuka asked jokingly.
“Koto Ne, do you look like Koko?”
I thought it wasn’t just a resemblance, but they looked the same, right?
Since they looked a bit alike, it wouldn’t be a problem if their speech and thoughts resembled each other, would it?
“Ah, the teacher is calling. If we stayed here, they’d definitely come and get us. As they look, they know how to annoy a person.”
Hearing Yuka’s homeroom teacher’s voice from afar, she stood up.
“Koko, let’s go too.”
“Okay.”
“Then, let’s meet again after the sports festival.”
“Sure.”
Yuka waved lightly and walked away.
Koko and I waved at Yuka for quite a while.
*
The sports festival wasn’t just filled with the usual sports you’d expect.
There were events like ‘bring the note written on a piece of paper’ that Yuka participated in, and things like the three-legged race.
In fact, our class won the three-legged race.
“Harumi, do your best! Yuu, do your best!”
Mako, who led us to victory in the dodgeball competition, was enthusiastically shouting next to me.
Originally, the cheering squad was created just to keep the kids who didn’t participate in other events busy, but that didn’t mean that being in the cheering squad prohibited you from participating in other events.
The three-legged race was mainly between classes by grade, so there was no reason Harumi shouldn’t jump in just once.
And standing next to Harumi was none other than Yamashita.
Fukuda, who usually has a pretty casual attitude, was currently showing a serious expression alongside Yamashita.
Maybe it’s their competitive nature? Well, Fukuda never skimped on cheering either. He gathered the cheer squad kids every day after school to practice hard, so that character is unlikely to go anywhere.
Since they’ve known each other for quite a while, their steps were perfectly in sync. Even with one leg tied, they ran toward the finish line, and eventually, they secured first place.
“Hey, your daughter runs well, right? Pretty good, huh?”
“Hmm.”
Fukuda’s father slapped Yamashita’s father on the shoulder with a big grin. Yamashita, though relatively dull-faced, couldn’t completely hide the smile that crept onto his lips.
“Yuu, you were awesome!”
“…”
Mori greeted Yamashita, who returned with a towel to wipe away his sweat, with a big smile.
Yamashita stiffened as if he had suddenly been addressed by someone awkward but soon couldn’t hold back and smiled faintly.
I wondered how the Yamashita father and daughter looked alike, but it seems they share a personality trait.
The races for the 2nd and 3rd graders followed after the 1st graders.
In the 2nd-grade race, I could spot some familiar faces.
Kaoru and Izumi.
Ironically, their contrasting colors reminded me of Fukuda and Yamashita. Of course, their impressions were quite different.
Even if they were both the types who loved to play, some kids enjoy singing karaoke, while others just want to run around on the playground.
Fukuda was in the first group, while Kaoru was in the latter.
The same goes for Yamashita and Izumi. Yamashita enjoyed being on his phone, while Izumi preferred reading books. And to dig deeper, Yamashita was less verbal, while Izumi was more timid.
There was Mako between Fukuda and Yamashita, but who would be in between Kaoru and Izumi? Yuka?
Well, there’s no need to compare them exactly.
The results also weren’t identical in any way. Unlike Fukuda and Yamashita, who swiftly won, Kaoru and Izumi could barely take any steps before tumbling.
It looked quite painful; I wonder if they’re okay?
But even so, both of them somehow managed to get up and finish the race. Ultimately, they were last, but both didn’t seem to care much.
Well, as long as they’re happy, that’s what matters.
So, after they crossed the finish line, they briefly chatted in a good atmosphere before starting to bicker for some reason, and I chuckled softly as I watched them from a distance.
*
And thus, the festival came to an end.
In recognition of the difference in stamina due to the age gap among students, aside from the last relay, all other events awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals by grade.
They didn’t actually receive medals; they simply received a certificate to hang in the classroom.
For the relay race, the representative winner was none other than Kaoru.
Kaoru was running as if trying to show that she once was a member of the track club, and her performance was significantly different from when they were doing the three-legged race.
Still, Kaoru seemed somewhat frustrated.
Surely it was because, now that she was a ‘former’ member, the head of the track club wasn’t present during the competition.
That person must still be minding their business. They might have been relieved that their younger sister was safely rescued, but there could still be aftereffects. The fact that I, Yuka, and Koko were able to leave the day after we entered that kind of place was strange.
“Yuu-chan, too bad.”
Fukuda said with sincere regret, but Yamashita shook his head.
“I’m not on the track team anyway.”
Yamashita just shrugged.
In any case—
Thus, the day-long sports festival came to a close.
At first, I wondered why they had to do something like this on a Saturday, but participating turned out to be a lot of fun.
After all the award ceremonies finished, we changed back into our school uniforms and gathered in class for a brief debriefing from Teacher Suzuki.
I exchanged greetings with my friends. It seemed like everyone was going to have dinner with their families.
“Koto Ne!”
And me too.
When I stepped out of the school building with Koko, Yuka was waiting for me.
We were supposed to go eat pork cutlet earlier. Since we hadn’t specifically chosen a restaurant, we could just go in anywhere if we saw something good on the road.
“Well, shall we go?”
Yuka said as she took the lead, even though it wasn’t even her neighborhood.
Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. After all, it’s in Minato Ward. If we’re talking about an expensive neighborhood in Tokyo, it’s one of the top contenders, so there should be plenty of decent restaurants.
Holding Koko, who clearly had an excited expression, we stepped outside the school.
The pork cutlet we entered after wandering around for more than 30 minutes was…
Um, well, just somewhat ordinary.
“It’s delicious!”
No, if Koko says it’s delicious, then it must be delicious. So I decided to think of it that way.
Thanks to Koko, who kept exclaiming, “Wow!” we even received complimentary drinks from the owner.
… I thought I might bring Koko here occasionally in the future.
*
The Kurosawa sisters accept everything joyfully.
The older sister, Koto Ne, has a firm mind and a positive attitude that defies her outward appearance. No matter what she faces, she ultimately brushes it off and gets back on her feet.
Koko needs no introduction. Koko is someone it’s quite hard not to smile alongside.
Because of this, Yuka liked the Kurosawa sisters. With them beside her, it felt like joy washed over.
Even if Koto Ne did get into various incidents—
“…What did you just say?”
—It wasn’t that Yuka had completely ignored those ‘incidents.’
She was suspicious. The social group her mother was part of was too dangerous to overlook.
However.
Yuka had never thought that there was something wrong with Koto Ne herself.
She simply thought the surrounding environment was problematic. The people who troubled Koto Ne were the problem; claiming that there was something wrong with Koto Ne would be too unreasonable.
But it seemed that not everyone in the world thought that way.
After finishing a pleasant meal with the Kurosawa sisters and feeling reluctant to part ways, we stopped at a nearby shopping mall for some trivial shopping before heading home, where Miura was waiting.
“… So, Koto Ne…”
“It’s not that Kurosawa is involved in the incident, but rather that with Kurosawa around, incidents might occur.”
Saying that, Miura laid some photographs out on the table between them.
“…”
My grandfather and father looked at the photos in silence, their mouths pressed shut and eyes wide open.
There were a few people bleeding in the photographs. While not all of them were on-site, the shots had been taken in a hospital.
“There are no fatalities. However, there are people who sustained serious injuries requiring hospitalization for some time.”
“… Who are these people?”
“They are the people who were hindered that day.”
In response to my grandfather’s words, Miura answered.
“They are local firefighters… Those who should have responded to the fire site. It wasn’t just injuries; some of those who subdued it spread misinformation as well. They lied that they dispatched using their radios. In fact, they drilled holes in the fire truck tires and damaged some equipment.”
“… Why is that?”
“It seems they thought they could harm Kurosawa by doing that. If not, then it could be that they tried such an approach.”
“… Is it an experiment?”
“Nothing is certain yet. But at the very least—what caused this is likely someone who can create or summon Yōkai, or one of those two.”
“…”
“It seems they can at least control the phenomenon itself. It looks still limited, but if they manage to pull this off, we can imagine what kind of events might unfold.”
What their ultimate goal is in preparing all of this remains unknown.
But at least, the events that might occur in the process were stories that everyone who hunted Yōkai had heard once.
“Modern Japan, especially Tokyo, has too much to lose.”
Even in the past, there wasn’t nothing to lose.
But right now, there’s just far too much at stake.
“Even if it ends up being a limited terrorist act in some local area, it’s still serious. So, if necessary…”
“…”
Yuka glared at Miura Masao.
However, she couldn’t perfectly refute his words.
… Everything that Yuka, or rather, Yuuki (家), had done had been such events.
Eradicating beings from beyond the human realm.
If Koto Ne is related to such beings…
“Koto Ne was just caught up in the incident. If they wanted to use her, why would they risk calling her into a place where she could die?”
Yuka argued like this.
“So, for now, let’s watch things unfold.”
Miura Masao said.
“Let’s observe a bit longer, and if it becomes necessary, we might have to take action.”
“…”
No one spoke up directly. Even Miura Masao himself seemed to have his daughter in mind.
“…I won’t let it come to that.”
“… I hope that can be the case.”
Miura Masao let out a slight breath as if exhausted.
“But that’s not to say that the world’s affairs flow only as we want them to.”
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