“This is huge…,” Ayase muttered.
To our left, behind sliding paper doors, were three rooms facing the hallway. The first was my grandparents’ bedroom. The middle one served as the living room, and the one at the far end was used by my dad’s elder brother and his wife. Dad was the family’s second son.
We couldn’t see them from here, but there were three more rooms in the back (on the north side), which served as guest rooms.
A hearty laugh erupted from behind the paper doors.
“Oh my. Sounds like they’re having a good time.” Grandmother put on a wry smile and slid open the door.
Inside was a large Japanese-style room. The Asamura clan was already gathered, with my grandfather, Dad’s elder brother (my uncle), and a bunch of our other relatives sitting in a circle. With so many people crowding inside, the room looked small, but it was ten tatami mats wide, or about seventeen square meters. Drinks and snacks were piled atop two low tables.
“Taichi is here,” my grandmother announced.
“Ah! Finally. Tokyo is so far away.” An old man greeted my dad loudly and stood up. This was my grandfather. His forehead seemed wider than before, and his hair was now completely white. But his cheerful voice was the same as ever. “Akiko, we haven’t seen you in a while. How have you been?”
“I’ve been well, thank you.”
All eyes were on Akiko as she bowed.
Whoa. Talk about pressure.
Of the people present, she only knew my grandparents. She was meeting seven people for the first time: my uncle, his wife, and his son; plus my aunt, her husband, and her two children.
…Huh? Isn’t there someone extra? There was a woman in the room I didn’t recognize.
Grandmother intervened and said, “Okay, okay, we’ll talk later. Akiko and Taichi are exhausted after their long trip, so let me show them to their room.”
“Y-yeah,” I said.
I was curious about the unfamiliar woman, but after a brief greeting, Grandmother quickly took us out into the hallway and circled around to the back of the house.
“You can use this room this year. I’ve prepared the bedding for you.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
She’d shown us to a large room about eight tatami mats wide, or thirteen square meters. Inside were four futons pushed into one corner. The scent of tatami was powerful. The room must lay unused most of the time.
This was where we’d be sleeping for the next few days.
What? Here? All four of us? My heart did a somersault when I realized we’d be sharing a room. Does that mean I’ll be sleeping in the same room as Ayase?
“I’m sorry,” Grandmother began. “We weren’t able to prepare a separate room for the children this year. You see—”
But she was quickly interrupted by someone on the other side of the sliding door. It was my cousin Kousuke.
My father called out for him to come in, and the door slid open.
Kousuke was eight years my senior. He’d graduated from college the previous year and was now a full-fledged adult with a job.
He was standing outside the door with a woman—the unfamiliar person I’d noticed in the living room. She looked to be around Kousuke’s age and had a gentle disposition.
“Hey, Kousuke,” said my dad. “What’s up?”
“Oh, well, um, I’d like to introduce you to someone…” He gestured toward the woman next to him. She bowed, and her long hair spilled over her shoulders.
Kousuke introduced her as Nagisa and shyly explained that they’d gotten married.
“Really?! Well, congratulations!”
Kousuke grinned.
I was stunned. He hadn’t said anything about having a girlfriend when I saw him last year.
He said Nagisa was a year younger than him and that they’d met at a club while attending university. In that case, they must have been dating for at least three years…
But is it really that weird? Kousuke was eight years older than me. He’d finished college two whole years ago and was already a working adult. Why would someone like that be chatting about his love life with a cousin eight years his junior?
My father called Akiko and Ayase over and introduced them. Everyone exchanged greetings. Then Kousuke glanced from Ayase to me.
“So, Yuuta, you have a younger sister now.”
“Um, yeah.”
“Wow. For a minute, I thought you’d gotten married, too.”
I knew he was kidding, but for a moment, my mind went blank. Ayase and me…married?
“Of course not,” I managed. “I’m still in high school. It’s way too early for me to get married.” I didn’t think I sounded flustered. I wished he hadn’t said that with everyone else watching.
Now that I thought of it, Kousuke had always liked to tease me.
“Of course, I was just joking.”
“I know.”
…So Kousuke’s married now…
It felt like my cousin had suddenly grown up.
“I didn’t know you were in a club at university,” I said as I pushed our luggage into a corner of the room.
Dad had gone to the living room to introduce Akiko to the others, and only four of us were still in the room: Ayase, me, Kousuke, and Nagisa.
“It was just a casual thing, but yeah,” he said modestly.
Nagisa instantly followed with “Kou was the best skier in our club.”
They had only recently gotten married, but they were already in sync. Was that excellent chemistry why they’d decided to tie the knot?
“Skiing?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Kousuke replied. “We were in the skiing club. Back here, though, I’m just average.”
“Can everyone in Nagano ski?” Ayase asked, joining the conversation. She didn’t usually insert herself like that, so this was pretty unusual.
“Well, I guess we’re better than people from regions with less snow.”
“So that’s where you and Nagisa met?” I asked.
Kousuke and Nagisa both seemed reluctant to answer. I wonder why. Having an older cousin act so shy around me made me feel embarrassed, too.
“No, uh… Well, yeah, but…”
“Right?”
It seemed like they knew what the other was trying to say, but the rest of us had no idea. I fixed Nagisa with a probing stare, and she finally elaborated:
“I’d been thinking about trying my hand at skiing, and a friend of mine knew Kou could ski and set us up.”
“When my friend dragged me to the cafeteria, I had no idea what he was planning.”
“Our friends worked together, introducing us. They said Kou was a great skier and I should ask him to teach me. But…”
“If I’d known what they were doing, I would’ve acted different.”
“Really?” Nagisa said, narrowing her eyes at him and smiling, calling his bluff.
“How did you act?” I asked.
“Our friends were trying really hard to build him up, but Kou was very curt. He said anyone could ski as well as he could and that all you had to do to go down a hill was keep your balance and let gravity pull you.”
“Ah.”
“He was practically pushing me away.”
“I said I was sorry…,” Kousuke objected.