After school the next day. I was on my way to the nurse’s office. Had to fill Konuki-sensei in on the latest developments. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but if I didn’t pop in on occasion, she’d take it upon herself to do so at the club room. At her own discretion.
On my way to the central building, I spotted Komari just as she exited the library. She’d ditched us yesterday, so I had a bone to pick with her. I was gonna do so when a boy came out and called after her. I sort of recognized him. He was a third-year with the library committee. In his outstretched hand was a book.
Komari froze in place like a deer in headlights. Because of course she did. She could hardly form proper sentences with other girls her age, much less an older boy. This was a job for yours truly.
But then I saw the impossible. Komari accepted the book and thanked the boy.
She could, apparently, speak now. It used to be that she’d be stuck there in cryogenic stasis until someone came and snapped her out of it. Weird. Wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
Her head still hung low, she started walking toward me and nearly crashed before realizing who I was. “Wh-whuh? What are you d-doing here?”
“Visiting the nurse’s office.” I glanced over her head. The boy was already gone. “What did he want?”
“Th-the book I asked for came in.”
So it had. She cradled the tome in her arms. But I had to get a move on before Konuki-sensei wandered off to God knew where. I said a quick goodbye to her and hurried off. She followed.
“Same way?” I asked.
“Wh-what does it matter?” she grumbled.
A lot, generally, if your goal was arriving at a specific destination. Her business, though.
“Right. So yesterday—”
She glanced aside at me. “Wh-what are you gonna do?”
“You’d know if you were at the meeting.”
“I m-meant in general. Sh-should we be doing this at all?”
No. Definitely not. If we got busted, it wouldn’t be pretty. Anxiety peered through Komari’s bangs.
“It’ll be fine. We’ve got the student council president on our side.” I gave her a reassuring smile and a firm pat on the head. She squawked and scrambled away.
Crap. Force of habit. She was about the same height as Kaju.
“Sorry!” I blurted. “Wasn’t thinking. Hand moved on its own.”
She continued to shuffle away. Blushing.
“Komari?”
“S-screw you…” Then she was gone.
Welp, I’d just bought myself a one-way ticket to being treated like human garbage for the foreseeable future. I could still feel the sensation of her hair on my hand. Could use better product.
✦ ✦ ✦
Freed from Konuki-sensei’s clutches, I stood in the courtyard and took a long, deep breath. I was tired. That was the long and short of my encounter with the nurse. Tiring. Amanatsu-sensei and Shiratama-san’s sister were incredible for being long-time friends with that woman.
A strong breeze carried the raspy calls of birds. Ugly things, but it was all the same to those who could understand them. The speakers were nowhere to be seen but nonetheless audible. I’d begun looking for them, until a thought occurred to me. Maybe I didn’t need to find them. Maybe listening to the voices was enough. It was certainly calming—the echoes, comforting.
I shut my eyes. Alone in the courtyard. Alone with the cries of the birds and the whispers of the rustling leaves. My heart, burdened by the darkness of the nurse’s office, knew peace again. I recognized one of the calls. A cinereous tit. It felt like I was standing in the middle of a field in autumn. Could swear I smelled hay on the gentle wind.
I opened my eyes and saw a man in a suit not two meters away from me. Tanaka-sensei, Shiratama-san’s sister’s fiancé. It didn’t look like he was here for me. Just the breeze. We hadn’t seen each other since the incident at the mall.
Before I could decide whether to leave or not, he noticed me. “Nukumizu-kun. Didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Just doing some thinking. What about you?”
“Heard the birds and felt like listening. Bush warblers in the hedges, maybe.”
Interesting. So that was how they sounded.
He seemed to note my curiosity. “Most have migrated to the mountains around this time of year. The early birds at least.”
“I relate to the procrastinators.”
“Endearing how well they hide themselves, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. It is.”
We stood and listened a while longer. Eventually, though, Tanaka-sensei spoke again. “Hey, about last weekend…”
“Yeah?” I waited on tenterhooks for him to continue.
“Sorry,” he finally said. “For intruding.”
I froze up. I’d braced myself for a bombshell. “Uh, it’s okay. How was her sister?”
“Minori-san? It took her a moment to collect herself. Me too, to be honest.” He tried to laugh but went into a coughing fit.
“Need water?” I asked.
“No, I’m okay. I’m okay now.”
We shared a brief moment of awkwardness.
“So, the wedding is next week. You must be busy.”
“Like you wouldn’t believe. I’ve been in a constant state of restlessness.” He searched me for a reaction but didn’t find what he was looking for. “How much has Riko-chan told you?”
“About her suspension or her sister? A little bit of both.”
Tanaka-sensei nodded and stepped closer. “She hates my guts, Nukumizu-kun. I don’t think she likes me marrying her sister.”
He went quiet, but not because he was looking for a reply. Or anything in particular.
“It must be complicated, seeing someone you’d always considered family suddenly marry your actual family.”
“I’m, uh, sure it is. Puberty.” I tried to leave it at that. But something screamed at me to continue. “I think maybe she just wants some space.” And the more I spoke, the more the something took shape. “We’re high school students. When family changes, our world changes. Because that’s our whole life.” I didn’t understand Shiratama-san in the slightest. I couldn’t comprehend her or the things she was doing. “For Riko-san, her sister is the one who’s always been there for her. And you’re basically her big brother. Someone she’s known almost as long. But both of those things are changing now, and at the same time. She has every right to be upset.”
But one thing about her I absolutely could comprehend—she had a something too.
I put on my best, most mature smile, inspired by Shiratama-san herself, and presented it to Tanaka-sensei. “From one big brother to another, you’ve got your work cut out for you.”
He nodded. “You’re right. I need to be a better example.” He nodded again, then gave me an impressed look. “Thanks. You know, you’re mature for your age.”
“Oh, uh, I’m just ranting. Sorry. Didn’t mean to preach.”
“Don’t apologize. I’m glad Riko-chan has someone like you as her boyfriend,” he murmured to himself. Then he stared out across the courtyard.
I listened to the birds, thinking about all the things Shiratama-san hid beneath her perfect smile. She never stood a chance. A girl fifteen years his junior, a girl he’d watched go from diapers to high school, the little sister of the girl he loved—Shiratama-san never stood a chance. She hadn’t lost, because she never could have won in the first place. Tanaka-sensei was too decent, too loyal, too sincere to see her as anything but his own family.
And for some inexplicable reason, that pissed me off. There was no blame to place at this man’s feet. He was a good person, naivete his worst sin. He’d done little more than be too dense to notice what was right in front of him.
That was enough for me. I was with Shiratama-san now. All the way. Chalk it up to puberty.