“Oh, Keito-san. Good morning.”
“Oh hey, Yayoi-chan. Alone today?”
“Yes, Nanao-chan had something come up. I’m just taking a walk.”
“I see. I was doing the same thing.”
One morning, Keito happened to run into Yayoi near the shrine. They’d played together a number of times by then and got along well even when Nanao wasn’t around.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
“Huh?”
“You seem a little down.”
“Do I…?” Yayoi looked startled to have her situation pointed out. Though she was mature for her age, she was still a kid, and she couldn’t hide her gloom. “I guess there is something I’m worried about. Not that it’s something that affects me personally…”
“All right. Why don’t we play if you have some time?”
“Huh?”
“There’s no point in worrying yourself sick. Let’s go play a whole lot so you can clear your head.”
She hadn’t expected his offer. They got along well but still only saw one another as a friend of a friend, and there was a gap in their ages as well. By no means were they on good enough terms for him to casually suggest something like this.
“You don’t mind?” she asked.
“Of course not. I’ve been thinking it’d be nice to get to know you better anyway.”
She was bewildered but accepted his offer. Her smile was clearly forced, but he understood she was just trying her best to show how grateful she was.
“Let’s see, what should we do…” he said, musing to himself. Though he was the one who’d suggested it, there were only so many ways a high schooler and an elementary schooler could play together, not to mention a boy and a girl at that. In the end, Keito decided to go get some of the old toys he had at home.
He brought back a silver ball gun, a spinning top, and some menko cards. The silver ball gun fascinated her, since it was a toy a girl didn’t often see. He taught her how to wrap the rope around the top and, after some difficulty, she finally managed to make it spin. They then played with the menko cards for a bit, slamming them against each other to try and make the other’s card flip, but the robots drawn on them weren’t very interesting to her. When he was young, the other kids were in awe of the fact he had menko cards with Iron Fortress and Super Electrofusion Robo on them, but kids of the current generation had apparently moved on to other things already.
After they’d played for some time, he bought cold drinks at the neighborhood candy shop. Yayoi was reluctant to impose, so he had to half force a ramune soda into her hands. They returned to the shrine and rested in the shade of the trees. He and Nanao often relaxed at this shrine together.
“Sorry for making you treat me,” Yayoi said, referring to the ramune soda. She bowed cutely.
“Don’t worry about it. This stuff is cheap,” he replied.
They ran into some of his high school classmates while they were playing earlier. They gawked at him, wondering what he was doing with an elementary school girl, but she stepped in and claimed he was a relative for his sake. The strange experience brought them just a bit closer.
“Say, you’re pretty good friends with Nanao, right?” he asked.
“Yes. We first met when I came here a while ago. We kept in touch by writing letters to one another.”
“You don’t say. She of all people kept up with that, huh?” It was unexpected of the generally sloppy Nanao to stick to something like letter-writing, but then he recalled that the girls in his elementary school class did exchange diaries. Maybe writing letters back and forth was more fun than it sounded.
“You’re good friends with Nanao-chan too, right?” she asked.
“Me? Well…”
He never got to finish his words because she interrupted him, casually saying, “Is it because her mother was your first love?”
He felt like he had been punched in the gut. The fact that he used to come here every morning when he was ten years old ranked among his top three embarrassing secrets. “Y-Yayoi-chan… You know about that?”
“Yes, Nanao-chan told me, remember?”
Having his embarrassing past dredged up like this was bad for his health. He made a mental note to tell Nanao off later. With a smile to hide his chagrin, he deflected, saying, “Well, I guess it’s true I admired her when I was a kid.”
“It’s okay; Nanao-chan’s mom is really pretty. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Loving someone is a wonderful thing.”
It was impressive she could say all that with a straight face. She was his polar opposite, since he was always trying to hide how he felt. They said girls matured faster, but Yayoi seemed particularly mature when it came to matters of love.
“You’re a good kid, Yayoi-chan.”
“What makes you say that?”
“You just are.” He could not be as honest about his feelings as she was. To his pubescent self, her way of being was worthy of envy. “Aoba-san really was my first love, but that’s not why I became friends with Nanao. She caught my interest in her own way, and we became friends. Oh, but don’t go telling any of this to her.”
Yayoi giggled. “I’m sure she’d be happy to hear it, though?”
“Don’t you dare.”
They went back and forth like that for a while, with her threatening to tell Nanao and him telling her not to. It was a bizarre exchange, but they were both smiling. Though they hadn’t known each other long, they were already friends now.
“Oh, yeah. How long are you going to be staying around here, Yayoi-chan?” he asked.
“Um, about another week, I think.”
“I see. Then let’s play again if we get a chance. With Nanao this time, of course.”
“I’d love to.”
They started playing again for some time until the sky began to darken, after which they parted at the shrine. He offered to walk her home, but she declined with a stiff smile, saying it was fine because she was staying close by. He had a feeling she was hiding something but decided not to follow up on it. Even kids had their secrets, after all.
“Thank you very much for today,” she said.
“Not at all; I had fun myself. I’m glad you seem to be doing better now.”
Her expression clouded. “Um, Keito-san…”
He couldn’t do anything for Aoba and her worries, but Yayoi seemed to see something dependable about him. Hesitantly, she revealed what was bothering her deep down.