KENGO’S EYEBROWS SHOT UP WHEN HE SAW MY little bag. “Huh? I thought you’d bring an umbrella.”
“We’re not gonna need it today, are we? Besides, you don’t have one either.”
“Yeah, ’cause I thought you’d bring your folding one.”
“Ever thought of taking responsibility for yourself? There’s only a 20 percent chance of rain today according to the weather report. Of course, Mom said I should grab my umbrella anyway…”
There were a bunch of clouds high up in the sky, and they were moving pretty quickly. But the sky between them was bright blue and the sun was super bright, so it didn’t look like we were in for any bad weather. Which was good ’cause our date today was gonna be a bit of a hike.
“It’ll be fine. It’s not like it’ll start pouring after the sun’s gone down, and we’ll be forced to shelter somewhere, and then by the time it lets up the trains’ll have stopped, so we’ll be stranded and can’t go home. C’mon, Kengo.”
He didn’t say anything.
“What’s up?”
He’d been grinning this whole time, but now he’d suddenly got quiet on me.
“Huh?”
I was holding onto Kengo’s arm. Or it was supposed to be Kengo’s arm. But when I looked to my right…
“Alien!”
It was a glowing blue alien wearing a mask and with a tank top on its back. It tilted its head slowly as it looked down at me. “Wrong. Again.”
X
“GO DOWNSTAIRS ALREADY, MOM!”
“I can’t. I haven’t finished talking to you.”
“Yes, you have! Get outta here!”
“This house belongs to your father and me. You cannot bar us from certain portions of it. That is unreasonable, and I’m afraid I do not approve.”
“Yeah, got it. Just leave already!”
“Now wait just a moment!”
Half her body was already leaning into my room, so I pushed back against her with my hips.
“Rara!”
“Shut up! Leave me alone!”
I closed the sliding door (Yeah! Still! In this day and age!) as hard as I could. I then put my trusty pole in place at an angle to make sure it couldn’t be opened from the outside.
“Is this my fault?” Kengo carefully lowered himself into the chair that sat in front of my decrepit children’s study desk and pointed toward the door, which I knew Mom was still standing behind so she could listen in. He made the chair look even smaller than it was.
“’Course not!”
“Not at all, Kengo-kun!” Mom called from the hallway, as if her opinion mattered more than mine. “It’s because of Rara’s immaturity!”
She was seriously ticking me off.
“Go. Down. Stairs!”
“Yes, I know. Let’s have our discussion later, then. You lack the composure for it at the moment. Besides, it isn’t the sort of conversation to have in front of a guest—not in tone nor in subject matter. As your mother, I choose now to defend your societal reputation.”
“Oh, wow, really? Thanks a bunch! You’re so understanding, Mom!”
I could hear her footsteps going down the stairs. I was just breathing a sigh of relief when I heard them coming back.
“Don’t let it get too late, Rara. I’m not going to bed until you do, so I’ll know.”
“Not the feint! And you don’t hafta stay up! You gotta get up early tomorrow, don’t you?! Argh!”
This time, she really did go downstairs. I was irritated, on the verge of being enraged. I turned on my heel and pointed in the direction of the retreating footsteps. “What the hell was that?!”
I was trembling with anger. My face was probably bright red.
“I mean. It was your mom.” Kengo was smiling at me. He was in a band T-shirt and loose joggers. Basically, as chill an outfit as you could get. He was holding his phone in one hand. It didn’t look like he had any sympathy for me at all, but he did look really hot with his new cropped hairstyle. It suited him way too well.
Still wasn’t enough to calm my anger, though.
“Yeah, my mom! She literally makes no sense, right?! I swear, she never has! I just don’t get her!”
I’d worked one day at my new part-time job at a diner so far. I needed to take the next shift off. That was it. So I put on this super pathetic voice and called them saying I suddenly got a fever. And that was how I got out of work this evening. No big deal.
I mean, yeah, I knew it wasn’t the greatest thing to do. I knew it inconvenienced other people. I did feel bad for the manager and the others who were working tonight. But I needed to be off work today. Genuinely.
This spring, Kengo came back to work as an elementary school teacher. His dream job was unbelievably busy, he came home late, and even on the weekends he had tons of stuff he needed to do for work. We didn’t have any time for laid-back dates. But since he lived nearby, now and then he’d suddenly be able to pop by without warning, just like today. And if that happened when I had a shift, I was gonna call in sick. I mean, I missed him. I wasn’t about to skip a chance to see him. If it happened again, I was gonna call in sick again. And again. Every time. I’d spent four hard years without being able to meet him regularly like this, so obviously, now was my chance to make up for it.
But Mom said I was being “unbelievably irresponsible.” When she found out what I’d done, she told me to go to the diner right away, fess up, and apologize. And then work my shift like I was supposed to. Way to overreact.
Seriously, what the hell? That would just make things weird, especially since they already had someone in to cover for me. Plus, everyone pretended to be sick once in a while. I was sure I’d end up taking a shift for someone who was playing the same grift at some point. It’s called “give and take.” I explained this all to Mom, but she wasn’t buying it.