Chapter 28
The next day. Rubbing my sleepy eyes, my mother and I got into the car driven by my father at the crack of dawn and headed for my grandmother's house.
Grandma's house, which is also my father's parents' house, is located in the same rural image everyone has of the countryside, and they live in an old house.
I love grandma and grandpa because they are kind and do all kinds of nice things for me every year when I go there, and I look forward to seeing them because my cousin who is close to my age lives there with me and I only get to see her during the long spring, summer, and winter vacations.
I will miss Toraga terribly, but it would be rude of me not to go, and most of all, I want to see everyone for the first time in a long time. Five days is a long but short period of time. I looked out the window of the car at the scenery, thinking that the time would probably pass in a flash.
The place with only buildings changes to a place with a lot of nature.
There are fewer houses and more rice paddies in their place. I knew that I would be arriving at my grandmother's house soon by the scenery I had seen so many times. I got in the car and checked the time on my cell phone while relaxing my stiff body.
—-
Welcome Mari-chan.”
Grandma smiled at me as I got out of the car and closed the door.
She smiled at me and said, “Long time no see, Grandma. How have you been?
She said, “I've been so busy, I'm in trouble. Her smile deepened.
I walked into my grandma's house, carrying my luggage, and was greeted at the door by my cousins, who I hadn't seen since spring break. We all gathered in the living room and talked over a cup of cold barley tea about everything from spring break to now.
After talking with Grandma and Grandpa for a while, I left the mothers talking around the table and headed to their room with Saki, who was one year older than me, and Sachi, who was the same age as me, and we started having a petit girls' night out.
I had been thinking about what we would talk about before we arrived, but once we actually met, the topics of conversation kept coming up one after another, and we laughed constantly throughout the meeting.
The conversation began with the common topic of conversation between girls who have not seen each other for a long time, such as how cute you have become recently. Then we naturally started talking about who we liked.
As girls do, we talked about love. My sister Sachiko had recently broken up with her boyfriend, and sometimes she would say, “I want a boyfriend …….
When they finished talking, she naturally asked, “What about you, Mariko-chan?” I wasn't sure whether to tell her or not, but I decided to be honest and tell her about Toramasa.
I told her that I had a crush on someone. I told them that he was very good-looking, and that he was everything I had ever wanted in a man.
I told them that I had spent a lot of time with him during the summer holidays, including sleepovers, going to the beach, spending his birthday together, and that we went to a summer festival together yesterday.
Listening to their stories, they both said, “Sweet and sour!” and I could feel it in my blood because they were rolling around on the floor and jumping on the bed.
'Eh, you're not dating that guy, are you?
I'm not going out with him!”
'Well, even if you're not dating, with that distance between you and him, you must be close! Don't you have a picture of him or something?
“I don't have a picture of him.
I want to see him so bad! He's 186 cm tall and handsome!
There is no one like that in the countryside. …… I want to go to the city.
As I watched them flail about, I felt my cell phone vibrate in my pocket, and when I took it out to check it, I found a text message from Toramasa, who was just now talking to me.
When I arrived at my grandmother's house just now, 'I've arrived! with a picture of the countryside, so I guessed it was a reply to that email.
When I opened the e-mail and read the text, I found a message that said, “I'm glad I arrived without incident. The countryside looks just as I expected from the pictures. I was surprised to see that it was from Toraga.
I couldn't help but relax because it was an e-mail from Toraga. They saw my face and said, “It's from Mariko's favorite person, isn't it! they said aloud and came around behind me to look at my cell phone screen.
I couldn't help but hide my phone and wave my hand to the side, saying, “It doesn't say what you two are expecting it to say!” I waved my hands to the side, but they didn't back down, and I showed them the contents of my text messages, thinking that I could …… them for a moment.
I could tell by just reading it that they were glad I wore it …… without incident. This goes both ways.”
'Hey, tell that guy to send me a picture! I want to see his picture! I want to see your face!”
Saki, who had said she wanted to see his face, even started to get down on her knees, and Sachi, seeing this, joined her and started to get down on her knees, so I said, “Okay, okay! I made them both look up.
I won't complain if you refuse! Good!”
I understand, Mariko!
Of course, Mariko-san!”
I wrote to Toramasa, knowing how rude it was, and asked him to send me a copy of the photo.
I am really, really sorry. If you don't like it, you can refuse. My cousin just wanted to hear and see what Toraga had to say, so I won't abuse it, but if you don't want to, please really decline. I wrote that and sent it, and a few minutes later an email came back and I quickly opened it.
I read the e-mail slowly with a sense of anxiety, and then I died. The cause of death was death by heart attack.
It is a common cause of death among geeks and women in love, where the heart stops beating due to the strain placed on the heart all at once.
But it doesn't matter, because I am a phoenix. As soon as I come back to life, I press my back against the wall and say, “Wait a minute!” I called out to the two people who were looking at me with excited expressions.
After making sure they were shaking their heads, I saved the picture they sent me, set it as a standby, and then worshipped my phone.
The picture was probably not a selfie, but a photo taken by someone else.
It was a picture of Toramasa standing next to Ki-kun with a pouty look on his face, looking away from the camera.
I looked at the photo of Toraga over and over again, as if to burn it into my eyes, and when I worshipped him again, tears naturally came to my eyes.
He is so cool. The best looking. Thank you very much. Now I can survive the five days without seeing Toraga. ……
I thanked Toraga in my heart and in my e-mail, and then turned to the two people who had been silently watching my actions.
'Don't ever fall for me!
I'll do my best!”
'I won't fall in love with you!'
They nodded strongly. Sachi's reply made me uneasy, but I said, “It's the one with the black hair,” and handed my cell phone to them, and they looked at the image and held their mouths as their eyes widened.
'……Yaah…….'
'That was more than I imagined. …….'
Hey! Hey! It's cool, isn't it? It's so cool!”
I was so pleased with their reaction that I excitedly said those words to them. Then they shook their heads up and down violently, as if in a headbang.
I was so happy that they thought Toramasa was cool that I held my cell phone in one hand like a microphone and said, “Now I'd like to talk about how cool Toramasa is! I said and stood up.
I got a round of applause from both of them, and I started to talk about how great looking Toraga was. I was crying uncontrollably as I spoke, and they offered me tissues.
I thanked God that Toraya had made me breakfast …… and it was so delicious and I was so happy. Toraga made it for me, you know? I thought I was the luckiest person in the world. …… And then I saw Toraya's smile lately, it was really cool and cute,…… and he was squinting his eyes and smiling so happily that it made me happy too, and I felt sorry for having such a smile all to myself, but at the same time it made me feel special. I'm sorry to have such a smile all to myself, but at the same time, it makes me feel special….It's a miracle that you're alive, and the fact that you're smiling at me makes me so happy that I could die at any moment. ……Thank you for everything, it's really great…. …Thank you, I give thanks for everything …….”
With a pile of tissues forming in front of me, I take out another fresh pack of tissues and wipe away my snot and tears. I don't care if they both stop listening to me and start playing with their cell phones. I'm just grateful that they're listening to me. I don't even have a phase anymore, but that's okay. I'm just glad you're there. ……
A few minutes later, I bowed my head and said, “Thank you for listening to me,” and threw a large amount of tissues into the trash.
They replied with a stick, “No, no, it was great to hear you speak so wonderfully.
I'm glad you listened.” Thank you so much.”
'That was good background music. Let me hear it again sometime.”
The goldfish escaped from the room during the story. I was especially nervous when the goldfish escaped.
Saki, I'll work on the background music next time. Sachi-chan, I don't remember talking about that, but thanks for listening.
After receiving feedback from both of them, I spent some time with them reading manga and talking about nothing else.
After a leisurely time, we all sat down to dinner, took a bath, and got ready to lay out the futon in Saki and Sachi's room for bed.
They had their own beds, but they were a little far apart, so I lay down on the futon between them.
As I lay on the futon between the two beds, fiddling with my cell phone, I received a text message from Toramasa.
My heart skips a beat as I open the message, happy to be spending the day texting with Toramasa.
In the body of the message, there was a response to the e-mail I had sent and a sentence, “I want to hear your voice,” written with a little space between the lines.
My heart was pounding so loudly with just one sentence. Toraga is a genius at making my heart beat.
I told them I was going to borrow the back room for a bit and left the room.
I went into the room, turned on the light, sat down in the empty space, and sent a text message to Toramasa saying, “I can call you right now.
Soon after I sent the text, I received a call from Toraga.
As soon as I heard the ringtone, I immediately pressed the call button and held it to my ear.
Hello?
Sorry to write that so suddenly, …….
No, no, no! It's okay, please don't apologize. I'm always ready for your call, Toraga-san!
Okay.
The content of the phone call was that he really just wanted to hear my voice, just as he had written in his e-mail.
I had already told him most of what had happened today in the e-mail, so I only had this to talk about on the spur of the moment: …….
I told him that I had dinner with a lot of people for the first time in a long time and that I had fried chicken, sashimi, potato salad, chikuzen-ni and ……. I even told him about my cousin, whom I had never seen before, who ate fried chicken with mayonnaise and even poured it on sashimi. He even told Toraga about a cousin he had never seen before, who ate fried chicken with mayonnaise and even poured it over sashimi.
I don't think it would be interesting to hear such a story, but Toramasa responded with “I see,” “That sounds interesting,” “And? I thought it would be uninteresting to hear such a story.
I would be in a lot of trouble if Toramasa would laugh in my throat on the other end of the phone during the conversation. I gladly told him the details of the event.
Tomorrow there will be more people. There will be a lot of relatives gathered, and it will be even more lively than today!
Being born in such a family, you must be so joyful.”
I said, “I guess it's in my blood. All my relatives are very happy. I'm so happy that I'm buried.
That's amazing.
“It's amazing. It's chaos.
I introduced each of my relatives one by one, and the time flew by.
I looked at my watch and was surprised to see that an hour had passed since I started calling, so I looked at the time twice.
Toraga-san, I realized that an hour had passed.”
After a short pause as I said this, Toramasa said in a surprised voice, “…… it's true.
I'd like to call you a little longer, but I have to get up early tomorrow …… to visit the cemetery. I woke up early again today, so if I don't get to bed soon I won't be able to get up …… and if I can't get up I'll cause trouble for everyone. ……
When I told Toraga about it, he said, “Okay.
I'm sorry…”
No, I'm the one who kept you company for a long time.”
I'm sorry,” he said. I'm the one who talked all the time. …… was a lot of fun.
This phone call was about to end.
I was getting sadder and sadder thinking about it, and at the same time, even my voice was losing energy. I was so sad to think of that and at the same time, my voice was getting low.
Of course!
I replied, “See you tomorrow,” he said with a smile on his face.
I can call Toraga again tomorrow. That was enough to cheer me up.
I hugged my cell phone with both hands, and after we exchanged “good night” for the last time at night, the call disconnected.
I held the phone in my hands and felt close to Toraya even though we were so far apart. I was grateful for the cell phone that allowed me to stay connected to Toramasa.
I left the room and returned to Saki and her friends' room, feeling alternately sad and happy.
They said to me, “You were on the phone with Toramasa, weren't you? Your face is all red. I was lying down on the futon and was probably more sleepy than I thought I would be. Before I knew it, I was asleep.
The rest of the four days passed.
The rest of the four days passed in a blink of an eye as I enjoyed spending time with my relatives who gathered one after another, participating in festivals here, and talking with Toraga on the phone at night.
I was there for five days, but today, the last day of my stay, it feels like only one day has passed.
I was so sad that I started to cry thinking that the next time I would see Saki and Sachi would be during the winter break. Holding back my tears, I said goodbye to them, said hello to grandma and grandpa, and to Saki's parents, and got into my father's car.
See you later, everyone, and have a good time.”
Come visit us again during winter break.”
We rolled down the window, exchanged a few words, and waved at each other.
This is the time I hate the most. It is the time to say goodbye to everyone. When I was little, I hated saying goodbye so much that I hid out at my grandma's house and had everyone search for me.
Now that I'm in high school, I don't do that, but it still makes me cry.
As the car started to drive away, I remembered these five intense days.
I remember the time I went into the haunted house with Saki and her friends at the festival, and how Saki, who is not good with ghosts, cried half the time in a haunted house that even elementary school students wouldn't cry in. After calling Toramasa, she played poker with her relatives and lost badly.
The time we all set off fireworks that we had bought together. Barbecuing in the yard under a blue sky. Even the memory of eating watermelon is one of my memories. When I remembered the smell of mosquito coils, the sound of wind chimes, and everyone's smiling faces, I could not hold back my tears.
Wiping my tears with a handkerchief, I relived the five days of memories.
On the way home from my grandma's house, I always think to myself, “This summer is almost over.
This summer is almost over. ……
I cried even more when I thought of that.
—–
It was late in the evening when I arrived home.
I thanked my father for driving me and carried my luggage home.
It felt nostalgic to be home for the first time in five days.
After putting the laundry in baskets and putting the bags away in my room, I told my mom and dad that I was going out for a while.
Dad said, “You're going out right after you get home. High school students have great stamina. …….” Mom must have sensed it, because she put her hand over her mouth and waved her hand and said, “See you later.
I put on my sandals, sent a text message to Toraga on my cell phone, and headed for Toraga's apartment as fast as I could.
I had texted Toraga after leaving my grandma's house and promised to go to Toraga's house when I arrived home.
I went to Toramasa's place to cover up the sadness of leaving all my relatives.
When I pressed the intercom at Toraga's house, the door was opened immediately. On the other side of the door stood Toraya, whom I had not seen for five days.
I had not seen him for more than five days many times, but this time I felt as if I had been away from him for a very long time.
Even though we had called each other every day, it was still very different to see Toraga in person.
I enter the room and sit down on the sofa as usual, but as in the first days, I feel nervous and sozzled.
I was embarrassed to make eye contact with Toramasa, but I was so happy to be by his side that my heart was beating fast.
I'm even more nervous than usual.
When I honestly said what I was thinking, Toramasa replied with a smile, “Why not?
I caught out of the corner of my eye as Toraga's hand reached out toward me, and as I followed his hand, it overlapped with my hand on the sofa, and my heart jumped loudly.
There were no words from Toraga, but his hand, which had just been placed on my hand, gently took hold of mine.
I felt more aware of Toraya's presence by his touch, and with feelings of nervousness, embarrassment, and love rising up in me, I looked up at Toraya who was sitting next to me, as if looking at me from below.
I fell in love with Toraya again as he smiled while looking at me.
I knew Toraya was good looking, but sometimes I wondered if he had ever looked this good looking. I sometimes wonder if he ever looked this good. That's what I'm doing now.
I've seen Toraga's face many times, but it looks better than ever. I don't know how much better looking he can get with an ordinary brain.
I just know that he is good looking. I like it. I muttered to myself like a broken radio in my heart.
Welcome back.
I thought my body was going to melt from happiness when he said that in a gentle voice.
I was so shocked that I held my hand over my heart with my free hand and took a few deep breaths to calm my heart, and then I opened my mouth.
I'm home.”
I bowed my head and he patted me on the head, and that was enough to make me feel glad to be alive again.
