Chapter 112 – People’s Changes

 

“W-What’s with that hairstyle?”

 

My voice shook as I said that. I heard that whenever a girl decided to change her hairstyle, that meant something happened to her, most likely it was related to a boy. If that was the case, I got another mission to complete. Eliminate said boy.

 

“I-I went to a beautician!”

“Beautician? So, it was a body modification after all.”

“Stop saying nonsense like that out in the open! It’s embarrassing!”

 

Ugin didn’t take me seriously as she rebuked me sharply. In any case, her new hairstyle looked good. I was just surprised because it was the first time I’ve seen her with this hairstyle.

 

“So, why are you here, brother? A date with Arina-san?”

“Of course not. We’re going to have a heavy discussion about dinosaurs from the Cretaceous period.”

 

Wait.

 

Did Arina even remember Ugin? She was my sister, so how did Arina perceive her as?

 

She probably had a hard time trying to sort her memory right now… Or maybe not…

 

I glanced at her direction to find her quietly smiling at us. It was hard to tell what was going on in her head.

 

“Y-Yes… H-He’s my brother…”

 

Ugin was whispering something with her friends, probably trying to introduce me to them.

 

Alright then.

 

“C’mon, Ugin, don’t be so stiff. Puff your chest out and hug your big brother while you’re at it.”

“S-Shut it! Stop talking!”

“Fine, fine.”

 

I guess she was too embarrassed to do it. Well, I understood her feelings. Showing off our sibling love in front of normal earthlings like that would be a little too far even as a joke. Like she said, I should stop talking for a while.

 

After that, I found an empty seat and sat down. As I took a look at the menu, my mind wandered toward Arina again.

 

“I’ll have this one.”

 

She pointed at a pancake topped with a pile of cream. That looked similar to the one she ordered back at the aquarium. Well, to be exact, the toxic Arina was the one who ordered it.

 

We called the waiter as we ordered our food and drink. After he left us, I decided that it was time for us to talk business.

 

Not holding anything back, I asked her something that I had been thinking about.

 

“Do you remember Ugin?”

“No. I remember her name and stuff, but it feels like this is the first time we met.”

 

I see. In other words, she forgot most of the things about the Sakaki family, or rather, everything related to me. 

 

At least, this part of her memory was consistent. 

 

“Then, you have to hide it well in front of her. She’s a sharp girl, she’ll notice it if you aren’t careful.”

“Got it. Sorry…”

“Stop apologizing. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Such sweet swords. You really are a nice guy.”

“Ugh…”

 

Every single word she uttered gave me critical hits.

 

I couldn’t talk with her properly without joking around, my heart couldn’t handle it.

 

“Can you tell me about the day we met?”

“Uh… That’s…”

“Sorry, was that question confusing? I meant the day you and my other self first met.”

 

Mid fall, the time when I first met the poisonous rose.

 

That day, I was kidnapped by Akakusa-sensei and met the girl inside the library. She was frowning at the bookshelf, clearly pissed off by the turns of events.

 

I told her everything that happened during that day, also the days after that. I told her how we began spending time together after school. How she would sometimes abuse me, beat me up or save me with her smile. How I managed to learn about her secret and anything that happened after that. I told her about our experience and the fact that we had been through a lot together.

 

“It’s not surprising that I would fall in love with you”

“Please stop saying something like that. You’ll give me a heart attack.”

“I’m just telling you the truth.”

“Is it really the truth, I wonder…”

 

Not long after that, our order arrived and we immediately ate them.

 

I gave it my all to focus on finishing the neapolitan I ordered. I did it because it was delicious, not because I was trying to avert my gaze from her cheerful expression. Definitely not. My heart was only for tomatoes after all.

 

“I heard that they’ll start a study group for the summer vacation.”

“Tsuru will start it, just wait for her to contact us.”

“I see. Then, let’s study hard together when that happens.”

“…You know, your enthusiasm scares me.”

 

I had a feeling that I would experience hell.

 

*   *   *

 

It was the last year of school, but time passed slowly like a muddy stream.

 

The normally long and slow holidays passed in a blink of an eye. I guess that made sense since I had been studying harder than before. The time when I talked together with Arina in that cafe felt like a distant past even though it happened not too long ago.

 

For some reason, I felt strangely impatient. Something was telling me if I didn’t act quickly, I would regret it. That was the reason why I had been pushing myself, though I probably had overdid it a little.

 

“It’s over, huh.”

 

Muttered Makoto.

 

“Indeed.”

“Half a year has already passed… The summer vacation starts tomorrow, huh?”

“At this rate our retirement will come around faster than expected. I can’t wait to enjoy the slow life of the elderly.”

 

In order to do that, I had to work hard while I could still move my limbs. For someone like me who had no particular goal to achieve in life, I had to work harder than everyone else so that I wouldn’t regret it later in the future.

 

Though, before thinking about that, I had to give my answer to Arina at the end of this vacation. What should I tell her? What was it that she wanted? I also had to consider my options…

 

This was the last day of school, but I didn’t have anything to say to Arina.

 

The day passed in a blink of an eye. It was an uneventful day of passively listening to the usual school assembly and safety instructions for the summer vacations, stuff like ‘don’t stay out too late at night’, or ‘don’t go here or there’. If this was last year, I would probably do a crouching start in the hallway to make sure that I could do a dash start as soon as the assembly ended, but I didn’t do it this time. I guess this was what they called ‘growing up’.

 

“I’m home.”

“Welcome back.”

 

Ugin, now looking like a Hollywood actress, looked at me with a confused gaze.

 

“What’s wrong?”

“Everything! Just last year you acted like a monkey as soon as the summer vacation started!”

“I’m way past that phase, young lady. You should do what girls your age do, take your selfies, go to your social media or whatever and don’t stick your nose in an adult’s affairs.”

“Shut it.”

 

She was a high school girl, but she went to the front door with a mouth filled with salted fish. What a hopeless girl. 

 

I lied down in my room and started to think about what I was going to do for the summer vacation.

 

“Ah~”

 

I let out a weak moan. The bed felt hot. The cicadas’ noise made my head hurt and the sunlight made it worse. I couldn’t think properly in this situation, so I stopped thinking and closed my eyes. It should be fine for me to do nothing in the first two or three days. The teachers didn’t give us much homework out of consideration so there was nothing much that I could do.

 

Nevertheless, the upcoming summer vacation would be harsh for me. Not only because of the amount of studying I had to do, but also the matter with Arina.