How are they related? I’m not going to pry, but I am curious.
It looks like me tapping his back brought Aikawa back down to Earth.
“…Excuse me, but who are you?”
She introduced herself, but it looks like he doesn’t know her.
“I’m Sanko Kano’s older sister. She is going by Sanko Itou now. I’m sorry for all the trouble.”
“Older sister…”
Whispers Aikawa. We don’t want to stand here and talk, so we move over to a nearby cafe.
I kind of hesitate, because I wonder if I belong here, but Aikawa asks me to go with him, so I do.
“Excuse me Aikawa, but this…”
“…He’s a friend. I’ve been afraid of meeting young women ever since, so I asked him to come along.”
“…I’m really sorry.”
The man with Kano says he’s the older brother. Come to think of it, they do look alike.
Aikawa is looking away from Yuuko, and facing the older brother, who I’m going to call Kano for convenience sake.
It’s like this. Apparently the woman in question got married at the end of last month. That’s nice. But she wanted to apologize to Aikawa before she did, so she came here to this town this year. That’s a real go getter. But all she knew was that he lived around here, so she didn’t manage to find him.
But last month she saw someone who she thought looked like Aikawa, so she gave her siblings a letter of apology.
So Aikawa really did see her last month. A chill runs down my spine.
“…And you’ve been coming here to this town since then?”
“Yes, my brother and I took turns. This is the third time. We were planning to send the letter to your lawyer, if we didn’t manage to see you by the end of the month.”
“…Why didn’t you just do that?”
“We didn’t know if you would accept it.”
Aikawa takes a deep breath.
“I won’t. I don’t need an apology either. I just want to be left alone.”
“…I’m really sorry.”
“…You don’t have to apologize. Just tell her congratulations for getting married.”
“…Thank you.”
I can’t even taste my coffee. I don’t know what to say.
The perpetrator got married, while Aikawa is still scared of young women. It’s not fair for the one hurt to carry a bigger risk than the one doing the hurt.
We say goodbye to the siblings in front of the cafe.
“…Thank goodness.”
Aikawa whispers.
“…?”
“Now I don’t have to be scared of her.”
He whispers again with a smile on his face, but it kind of looks like he’s about to cry.
If he’s fine with it, that’s good.
“But… It’s over. I’m sorry. I think I’m still going to be scared of women.”
“…What about psychosomatic medicine…”
“I don’t want to go. It’s fine. But I might bother you again.”
“…I don’t mind coming to town with you.”
“Come say hi to Rin and Ten too.”
“If you invite me, I’ll go.”
What’s this conversation? I think as we exchange small sentences.
And a while after they’re both out of our sight…
“…We should get going.”
“I think it’s fine.”
I don’t think they will, but it’d be bad if they followed us. Not to mention that we don’t know if they were telling the truth. We’re too hurt to accept what other people say at face value.
“Ah, I have to put what I bought in the cooler!”
We quickly return to the mini trucks.
And of course, Rin is furious.
“Too long.”
“Sorry. We met that woman’s brother and sister.”
“You said you wouldn’t.”
“Sorry, but they found us.”
“I’m mad.”
“Yes, sorry.”
Her words don’t show it, but the intensity of her aura feels different. I think it’s incredible how Aikawa can smile when Rin is so angry.
“Yuma, sorry I’m late.”
Yuma turns away, and I’m shocked.
“Yuma… I’m sorry. I was accompanying Aikawa. I couldn’t just leave him, could I?”
“Couldn’t.”
“See? But thanks for worrying.”
I hold Yuma gently. We really can’t win against these girls. I peek over at Aikawa, and see Rin holding him too.
This took longer than I thought, but it’s still just a little past noon. We eat onigiri in the mini truck, which Aikawa made in the case we took longer than we thought, and they’re really good.
Then we take some detours and go around as we go back to the village, just in case.
Aikawa calls his lawyer right away to check if what they said was true.
“I think I’ll get an answer tonight. It’s honestly frightening to think it was really her I saw last month.”
“Yes. Just be glad you didn’t actually meet.”
And she noticed him too. It’s super scary.
“Sano, thank you so much for today.”
“I just sat there.”
“But it was really reassuring. If you weren’t there, I probably would’ve run away like a baby.”
“…I think that would’ve been fine too.”
“But then I’d have those pent-up feelings forever.”
“That’s not good either.”
We both laugh.
When I get back to the mountain, I let Yuma off the mini truck.
“It must’ve been tiring staying in there all this time. Sorry.”
“Tiring.”
“Of course. Thanks, Yuma.”
Yuma runs off with light steps. It’s probably going to go looking for food. I imagine that onigiri didn’t fill its stomach.
And in the evening, pops brings Pochi and Tama. The moment they step on the ground, they take off running. It’s nice that they’re getting at least some exercise. It’s already getting dark.
“We’ll talk about today tomorrow. See you.”
Pops says, after leaving something here again today. It’s canned mandarin orange. Thanks.
