It was quiet in the car.
The unfamiliar vehicle’s peculiar smell of leather and rubber lingered in my nose.
I sat in the back seat, staring at the passing landscape through the rear window. Although we were moving at a decent speed, the ride was smooth. The car was clearly an expensive model.
That was when it hit me.
It’d been about two years since I last visited the house where I grew up.
After getting a job and moving out on my own, I occasionally visited my parents. These visits made them much happier than I would have expected. I didn’t think they needed to get so worked up, and it kind of embarrassed me.
In middle and high school, I used to talk to them every day when I came home… I took our relationship for granted. And yet, the moment I left, I completely forgot how to talk with them.
How were they doing?
I wonder if they’re worried about me…
I gazed out the car window, deep in thought. Gradually, I became so distracted that I almost forgot where I was and what I was doing.
Eventually, I looked over at the seat next to mine. Sayu was there, staring out at the scenery, just as spaced-out as I was. As I watched her from the side, I tried to imagine what was going through her mind, but I soon realized that wouldn’t be so easy.
Sayu was still a high schooler, but she’d been away from home for a long time.
And now…she was going back, even though she didn’t want to.
As each building and tree flew past outside the car, we inched closer and closer to that dreaded destination.
I couldn’t even begin to imagine what Sayu was feeling as she watched it all roll by.
“Hmm?”
As I stared blankly at her profile, she happened to turn toward me, and our eyes met.
She tilted her head to one side like a little bird. Her expression was clearly asking, “What?” But I just shook my head.
“It’s nothing,” I said.
“Are you sure?”
Surprisingly calm, Sayu tilted her head again in the opposite direction and smiled. As she did, her long hair fell softly on her shoulders.
When I saw this, I realized something.
“Your hair’s gotten a bit long,” I remarked.
“Huh? Yeah, I guess it has.”
After she started working at the convenience store, Sayu had gone to the hairdresser a few times by herself. But I got the feeling her hair had grown out again since her last haircut.
“So you’ve finally started noticing stuff like that, huh?” Sayu’s voice was teasing, and I averted my gaze, unsure how this made me feel.
“It just happened to catch my eye.”
“Hmm, if you say so.” She hummed in acknowledgment before letting out a snicker. Then, turning to look back out the window, she mumbled, “…I guess I’ll get my next haircut at the salon back home.”
I was unsure how to reply, but before I had the chance, Sayu continued. “…I wonder if my old stylist still remembers me.”
She sounded different suddenly, and her voice was a little shaky.
“I’m sure they will,” I said. “You don’t just forget someone you’ve seen countless times.”
She’d been on the run for more than six months.
That must have felt like a ridiculously long time for a high school student.
But once you grew up and started working…and you had the same routine every day, six months could go by in the blink of an eye.
“Yeah… I guess not,” Sayu said, still staring out the window. “I hope not, at least.”
Her last few words, like a little prayer, seemed to be sucked out into the scenery beyond the car window.
We were now on our way to Hokkaido.