THE HIGH SCHOOL BOY, THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL GIRL, AND THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GIRL
It was already the fourth day after Yayoi had come to visit Asakusa. She planned to meet Nanao at the shrine in the morning, like they did every day, so they could go play.
However, she arrived to find somebody else already there. A high school boy she didn’t recognize was blankly staring at the shrine. Nanao arrived soon after and grimaced when she saw him. He quickly noticed the two of them as well and gave a wave.
“Oh, hey, Nanao.”
“Heya, Kei-chin… Shoot. We hang around the same places, so I guess it makes sense that we’d eventually bump into one another.”
“Why do you look so bummed to see me?”
Nanao greeted him back. They were close enough that she had a nickname for him.
“A friend of yours?” Yayoi asked.
“A friend? Not quite the word I’d use…” Nanao seemed tongue-tied for once. After some thinking, she nodded firmly and introduced the high school boy. “Uhh, so, this guy’s in high school, but we’ve hung out with one another since way back. We’re childhood friends, I guess? Hm? Wait, what’s your actual name again, Kei-chin?”
“Takamori Keito! How do you not remember my name after all these years we’ve known each other?!”
“I don’t know. I guess I don’t really use it?”
Their argument seemed more like friendly banter. After some more complaining, the boy, Takamori Keito, looked at Yayoi and smiled reassuringly. “Ah, sorry about that. I’m Takamori Keito. A longtime… Well, I guess a longtime friend of Nanao.”
Nanao chimed in, “He’s been single his whole life and spends his time hanging out with a junior high school girl. You better be careful or he’ll get you too, Yayoi-chan.”
“Do you desperately need to make me look bad at every turn or something?” he said with a groan.
They acted like there was no difference in age or gender between them. Perhaps thanks to that, Yayoi didn’t feel guarded around him, a stranger she’d just met. “Nice to meet you. I’m Himekawa Yayoi. My uncle lives around here, so I’ve come to visit.”
“Oh, so you’re that niece of Kamei-san who Nanao talked about?” asked Keito.
“That would be me.”
“Got it. She told me you were super cute, so it looks like she wasn’t lying.”
Even though it was just flattery, she was happy to hear it. She didn’t feel scared of him even though he was so much older. He certainly didn’t seem as bad as Nanao made him out to be.
“Say, Kei-chin, what’re you doing here alone first thing in the morning, anyway?” asked Nanao.
“Um, well… I guess I felt like taking a walk.” He answered hesitantly, his gaze wandering.
Nanao, having known him for so long, saw right through him. “You were trying to see my mom, weren’t you?”
She filled Yayoi in, explaining that Keito would sometimes chat with her mother Aoba here in the morning. That alone didn’t mean much until she added that Aoba was his first love.
“What? N-no, of course not. But I mean, if we happen to meet by chance…” Keito said.
“Yeesh. You realize my mom’s thirty-eight now, right? Shouldn’t you give your first love a rest already?” said Nanao, hounding him.
“It’s really not that, okay? I might’ve liked her a little bit a long time ago, but not anymore. We only talk about that sword when we meet, anyway. You know, that family heirloom that you guys left here,” he said, flustered by Nanao’s badgering. He must have been a really bad liar, since his awkward speech and inability to meet her eyes made it obvious he was trying to change the subject. “We’ve talked a lot about it, really. And you know how we boys are; we love to talk about demonic swords and family heirlooms and stuff. Oh, right, Yayoi-chan! Did you know there’s a sword enshrined here called Yatonomori Kaneomi?”
“Um, yes,” Yayoi answered. “Isn’t it an important sword from Nanao-chan’s family?”
“Right, right. Apparently it was used to seal a wicked demon away.”
“R-really? I didn’t know…” Now it was Yayoi’s turn to get flustered. She had, in fact, talked to whatever was sealed in the blade just last night.
“The world is sure full of mysteries, huh?” he remarked stiffly.
“I-It really is,” she replied stiffly as well.
Their awkward laughter was drowned out by the sound of cicadas on the shrine grounds. Yayoi’s first meeting with Keito was uncomfortable, to say the least.