My sisters, Emma, and I finally made it into the maid café, where we enjoyed our fill of Koganezaki’s service. After that, Emma broke off to stay with Koganezaki while my sisters and I set off to explore the festival. Sakura and Aoi were particularly interested in the cultural clubs’ displays and led us to the home-ec club, which had set up a stand where they sold snacks, and the drama club, which was putting on a play. Before I knew it, the morning had sped right on by.
“I’ve been thinking of joining a club when I get into high school,” Sakura commented.
“That’s a great idea! You should!” I said.
“Me too, me too!” said Aoi. “That’s why I’m planning on looking at all the other displays with my friends later!”
“Neither of you ended up joining a club in middle school, did you?” I noted. A small part of me wondered if, just maybe, they’d refrained because they didn’t want to rub salt into my middle school wounds...
“It is not anything like what you’re thinking,” said Sakura.
“You weren’t even there anymore when I got into middle school!” noted Aoi. “I just didn’t join a club ’cause I wasn’t interested in any of them.”
“O-Oh! Okay!” My thoughts had been written all over my face yet again, clearly. They’d shut my theory down before I could even mention it.
“But, you know...the fact that I’m thinking of joining one now might actually be because of you,” Aoi continued. “You’ve looked like you’re having so much fun ever since you started high school, after all! Right, Sakura?”
“Yeah,” Sakura agreed. “First things first, though—I have to pass the test!”
The two of them looked elated at the prospect of the futures they were pursuing. They had them all planned out, and I was really impressed.
The future, huh...?
I’d tried to think about my future tons of times, but those attempts had always ended in failure. I was in my second year of high school. The more proactive kinds in my class had already started studying for their college entrance exams, apparently, but here I was, just barely treading water when it came to preparing for my high school tests.
I really do have to give it some thought, don’t I...?
The cultural festival would be over in a flash, and once the school trip—which was coming up next month—ended as well, all of us second-years would be in nose-to-the-grindstone exam prep mode. All the more so considering Eichou High was a prep school! Incredibly unreliable though I was, I was also my sisters’ role model, and I had to set a good example...or, well, I had to at least put up a show of doing my best, anyway. I’d be a miserable excuse for a big sister if I didn’t.
“Okay, we should split off now,” said Sakura.
“Don’t have too much fun this afternoon, Yotsuba!” Aoi added.
“I know,” I said. “You two take care too... I mean, get out there and have a blast!”
My worries about the future were still lingering in the back of my mind, but I saw my sisters off with a smile anyway. I didn’t let so much as a hint of gloom infect my expression. After all, no matter how things turned out for me, as long as my sisters were happy, healthy, and moving forward day by day, that was enough to keep me satisfied.