“To begin, I’d like to thank you for looking after Sayu all this time.”
To calm himself down before speaking, Issa took a few sips of the green tea Sayu had brewed. It seemed he wanted to start afresh.
“Oh… It’s fine… There’s no need to thank me.”
“No, I mean it. I came here worried sick over what kind of miserable hovel my sister was living in, but it appears you have a very normal home and that you’ve earned Sayu’s trust.”
His choice of words was a little harsh, but I could tell they stemmed from a true sense of relief. It was clear Issa was worried about Sayu.
Her brother really cares about her, I thought.
From some of the things Sayu had said, I’d gathered that her home situation was less than ideal. But we’d never discussed how bad it actually was.
Finding out that her older brother, at least, was on her side gave me some peace of mind.
“Just to be absolutely certain…”
Issa paused mid-sentence, as if this was difficult for him to say, before looking at me and Sayu in turn and continuing.
“…You two haven’t done anything inappropriate, correct?”
“No,” I answered flatly.
“I already told you that!” Sayu snapped, her cheeks flushing pink.
He’d asked the same question a few minutes earlier, and we’d responded in the exact same way.
But this was an important matter from a family member’s perspective, so it was understandable he’d want to double-check.
There’s no way I can tell him what she did before coming to stay with me, I thought.
“I can’t even begin to fathom why someone would shelter a high school girl for so long and only ask her to do chores… But I appreciate it immensely.”
“Taking advantage of someone like that is out of the question…at least for me.”
Issa looked at me for a moment with an indescribable expression before nodding several times.
“If only all adults were like you, Mr. Yoshida…”
I stared at the surface of the table, unsure of how to respond, then casually glanced toward Sayu. It seemed her nerves from earlier had eased, and her expression was somewhat calmer.
After a few moments of silence, Issa began to speak.
“Now then, let’s get straight to the point.” He and Sayu locked eyes. “Mom told me directly that I was to bring you home.”
“…I see.” Sayu’s expression clouded over. “…But she’s not really worried, is she?”
“Well—”
“It’s fine. There’s no need to walk on eggshells around me. Just tell me the real reason you’re here.” Sayu spoke quietly, but her tone was unusually direct.
Issa looked pained, and his reply came slowly. “Apparently, the PTA has started to suspect she’s keeping you locked in the house…”
The room fell dead silent. Neither Sayu nor I could bring ourselves to speak.
“It seems your homeroom teacher has dropped by the house multiple times since you left. Well, that’s to be expected, of course… Mom didn’t want to make a fuss, so she hasn’t told anyone you ran away. To the rest of the world, it looks like you’re just skipping school.”
Sayu and I sat in silence, listening to what Issa was saying. The idea that Sayu’s mother didn’t want to make a fuss bothered me. It felt so out of place.
Was she more concerned about making a fuss than her own daughter running away? I had guessed Sayu’s relationship with her mother wasn’t great, but it sounded like the woman’s attitude was totally beyond my comprehension.
Issa looked down at the table and continued.
“Naturally, your homeroom teacher kept visiting. And every time, Mom turned him away by telling him you wouldn’t leave your room. That went on for more than six months… It’s no surprise he grew suspicious. And so—”
“She wants me to come back and clear up the misunderstanding for her,” Sayu said, her tone as cold as ice.
Issa opened his mouth to respond, then stopped himself. Instead, he simply nodded.
Sayu looked down, and I frowned despite myself.
I still knew very little about what had driven Sayu to run away. However, I was sure that whatever it was, her mother was a big part of it.
Sayu was such a good-hearted girl. I couldn’t imagine why her own mother would treat her this way, and it was starting to make me angry.
“You mean Sayu’s mother never even wondered…” Before I knew what was happening, words were coming out of my mouth. Sayu and Issa both turned toward me. “…why Sayu ran away in the first place?”
When I’d finished, Issa’s eyes darted around the floor for a couple of seconds. Then he gave a few small nods.
“…I can’t say she’s never wondered. But I doubt she’s put any deep thought into it.”
I couldn’t help but sigh. “…I’ve never asked Sayu exactly why she left home, but…” If Sayu’s mother really cared this little for her own daughter, I suspected she was the main reason Sayu had run away. “I feel like I’m beginning to understand.”
Issa let out a sigh of his own. “I’m not proud of any of this.”
Once again, silence filled the room. I hung my head, an indescribable feeling of disappointment swirling around in my chest. That was when I sensed Sayu looking my way.
I glanced up to find that she was, in fact, looking at me. Our eyes met.
“What is it?” I asked.
Sayu was quiet for a moment. Then she smiled sheepishly and lowered her head.
“I’m sorry. You must be shocked…hearing all this so suddenly…”
I felt something like rage bubble up inside me at her words.
But I didn’t know why I was angry or who that anger was directed at, so I took a deep breath and held it in.
“This was a shock for you, too, though…wasn’t it?” I asked, wringing the words from my chest. “Deep down…I think we both believed it’d be up to you to decide when you were ready to go home.”
“…Yeah.”
“And now… Well, it turns out it’s not that simple.”
I tried to summarize the situation as simply as I could, but the more I tried, the more keenly I felt our loss of control.
Sayu nodded once. Then she looked down and fell silent.
“Does Sayu—” I looked over at Issa. “Does she…have to go home no matter what?”
Issa furrowed his brow for a moment, then nodded once in silent affirmation.
“What our mother says goes,” he said. “At any rate, it will be difficult for Sayu to keep running away like this.”
“Can you just give her a few extra days?”
“A few extra days…?” Issa repeated, mulling this over.
I held his gaze as I continued.
“Sayu’s been working hard to build up the courage to go home on her own, but it seems like she needs a little more time. Besides, if she was willing to give in and go home just because someone told her to, I doubt she’d have run all the way here in the first place.”
Issa listened to me in silence.
“That’s why I’m asking for an extension. Just a few days would be enough. She needs some time…to think things through.”
When I finished my appeal, Issa looked me right in the eye for a few moments. Then he turned away and appeared to think it over.
His reply came slowly.
“Can you give Sayu and me a few moments to ourselves to discuss the idea? I promise I won’t run off with her in the meantime.”
His expression was serious—he didn’t look like he was trying to trick me. We might be in my apartment, but this was Sayu’s future we were discussing. Issa clearly had the right to make the decisions here. Going out of his way to promise he wouldn’t run off with her was a show of respect to both Sayu and me.
“…Go ahead.”
Unable to think of a reason to say no, I nodded.
Issa looked relieved. Then he turned toward his sister.
“Is that okay with you, Sayu?”
“…Sure.”
Sayu nodded meekly and got to her feet. It was then that she suddenly realized she was still in her pajamas. Glancing around the room in embarrassment, she asked, “Mind if I change first?”
Her brother nodded, a wry grin on his face, and told her he would wait for her in the car. Then he offered me a polite bow and left the apartment.
Sayu and I were now the only ones in the room and, once again, silence filled the air.
“…I-I’ll go change.”
“Y-yeah, okay.”
Sayu’s voice was stilted and awkward, and so was mine.
I sat on the bed facing the wall as Sayu briskly went about changing her clothes. As I heard the fabric brush against her skin, a restless feeling came over me that I found hard to define.
Sayu was going home.
This had been our shared goal from the very beginning.
And yet, now that the moment was finally here, I didn’t know what to do.
And Sayu… How did Sayu feel about it?
“Mr. Yoshida.”
Just as I was thinking of her, her voice called out to me from behind, causing me to jolt with surprise.
“What’s up?”
I was about to turn around when I felt a warmth at my back. I saw Sayu’s arms appear at the corners of my vision as she wrapped them around my shoulders. Soon, I realized that she was hugging me from behind.
“Wh-what is it…?”
I was still in shock at the sudden gesture when I heard Sayu’s voice coming from behind me again.
“…I’m…a little scared.”
I struggled to come up with a reply.
“I knew I had to prepare myself for this… But now that it’s finally happening…I keep hesitating.”
She pressed her head against the base of my neck and said quietly, “It made me realize how…weak I am.”
I shuddered at Sayu’s words and reflexively took her hands, still wrapped around my shoulders, into mine.
“It’s all right,” I said before my mind could catch up. “I’m the same… Right now—”
I could feel my voice shaking, but that didn’t matter. I had to tell her how I was feeling.
“…I’m terrified,” I said.