“Shigeru-san, there’s a place I’d like to stop by on our way to my parents’ house.”
“What?” Shigeru-san said with a puzzled look on his face. “But isn’t it better if we don’t do that type of stuff until you’re in your stable period?”
“...No, I don’t mean that.” Hmm. Apparently, he thinks I mean I want to stop by a love hotel. It’s so sad...but it’s what I deserve, so I can’t say anything...
“I want to go to her grave.”
“Her grave...?”
“I want to properly introduce myself to Kozue-san as well.”
After looking a little surprised, Shigeru-san nodded. “Okay.” He placed his left hand on the gear shift to start the car, and then I placed my right hand on top of his hand.
“Let’s be happy, Shigeru-san.” I looked straight into his eyes. “Let’s all do our best to become a happy family. You, Kaede-chan, Kaoru-kun, me...and the child inside of me.”
“...Yeah,” Shigeru-san nodded like he was reflecting on what I’d said. As I let go of his hand, he shifted gears, and the car slowly pulled forward.
❤
I got a phone call from my older sister the night after she stayed over at Momota-kun’s house.
“...So, the sleepover ended without any problems?”
“Yes, thanks to you. Your cooking was a big hit.”
“That’s a relief. I wasn’t too worried though. Momota-kun texted me about it before bed.”
“...Y-Yeah,” my sister said, stumbling over her words for some reason. Her reaction was awkward...almost as if after Momota-kun had texted me, something unusual and really hard to explain had happened. “Hey, Hime-chan. Do you have time right now?”
“Uh... What? Yes, I’m good right now.”
“Okay, then how about we talk for a while?” she said in a very gentle voice.
First, we talked about old times.
“I’ve been packing a lot of stuff since I got back because I’ll be moving in with Shigeru-san in the next month or so. When I was doing that, I found some old albums, so I stopped to look at them.”
“Oh, that happens all the time when you clean up.”
“Wow, this takes me back. You were so chubby back then, Hime-chan.”
“H-Hey, cut it out! Don’t make me remember stuff from high school.”
“You really slimmed down. Wasn’t your whole thing that you really wanted to lose weight so you could fit in your kimono?”
“...Yeah. It was a hand-me-down from you, though.”
“It wasn’t a hand-me-down! Mom and dad bought it for the both of us. I just wore it a little sooner than you did.”
“Puh tay toh, puh tah toh. I feel like I was always talked into using all of your old stuff like that.”
“You may be right, but there were a lot of things that our parents bought for you first, weren’t there? All of the video game consoles in our house are yours, Hime.”
“...Well, that’s true.”
“Speaking of video games... You used to bawl your eyes out whenever we played video games against each other and I won.”
“Th-That was when I was in elementary school!”
“Didn’t you cry until you were in middle school?”
“B-Because! It was really, really frustrating losing to you when you didn’t even play video games at all...”
“Even though you play all those video games, you were never really good at fighting games, huh?”
“...Oh, shut up.”
“Oh hey. I found a picture from when you were job hunting. Wow, you’re so young and innocent! It also looks like you’re still not used to wearing a suit. It’s more like the suit is wearing you.”
“Ugh... Cut it out already. This is no fair! You’re the only one looking at the album!”
Next, we talked about Shigeru-san.
“So, you’re going to register your marriage next week?”
“Yes, we’re going to turn it in on a lucky day according to the lunar calendar. Dad signed our paperwork as the witness today.”
“...Did dad say anything? I mean...he didn’t have any comments about the shotgun wedding or how you guys are doing things out of order?”
“No, not at all. If it were my first marriage, maybe he would have, but I’m a divorcée in my thirties, you know? He was just really happy that he was finally going to have a grandchild.”
“Ha ha, well, I’m glad it worked out then.”
“Mom already started buying a bunch of things for the baby, like bottles and clothes. Since I’m still not in my stable period, I told her not to tell any of her friends, though...”
“...You really can’t relax until you’re stable, huh?”
“Yeah. There’s always a possibility that I’ll miscarry. I’m just barely below the threshold for advanced maternal age, and I’m definitely not young either.”
“I-It’ll be okay...probably.”
“Thank you.”
“D-Don’t worry about it all by yourself! I don’t think stress is good for the baby, after all. If something happens, please tell me right away.”
“Thanks. Well...the thing that worries me the most is you and Kaoru-kun, though.”
“Ha ha ha...”
Then we talked about Momota-kun.
“...When you stop and think about it, it really is something. I mean, you and Kaoru-kun are...twelve years apart, right?”
“...It’s not twelve years. It’s eleven years and ten months.”
“Are you guys even able to have a conversation?”
“We are...though sometimes I’ll feel despair from the unavoidable generation gap between us. He’ll say stuff like ‘I’ve never touched a videotape.’”
“I see...”
“And then he’ll act surprised when he finds out that I’ve used floppy disks.”
“Ah... I see...”
“The other day I was shocked when he said he didn’t know who L’Arc-en-Ciel and Porno Graffiti were.”
“Wh-What?! There’s someone in Japan who doesn’t know about those two giants of music?! L’Arc-en-Ciel and Porno Graffiti are mandatory Japanese education!”
“...He said he didn’t know anything about them.”
“N-No way... B-But Kaoru-kun does stuff like read manga, doesn’t he? Hasn’t he seen the Full Metal Alchemist anime? That anime was legendary, and its opening and ending songs were amazing! I was hooked on it even though I wasn’t an otaku.”
“...He said he’s never seen it.”
“...Wait. Y-Yeah, that must be it. Someone from Kaoru-kun’s generation would have watched the second anime.”
“...No. He said that the second anime wasn’t from his time either.”
“What...?”
“Hey, Onee-chan. Did you know that the second Full Metal Alchemist anime...is over ten years old?”
“...”
“It’s so depressing...”
“I-It is...”