Episode 3: A Childhood Friend Coming to Wake Me Up in the Morning Is Just Too Convenient!
There were a lot of adults in black clothes.
Someone was crying. Someone was talking in a low voice.
I couldn’t make out what they were saying.
I must have been about four years old, crying alone a little way off from the group.
It wouldn’t stop.
It just wouldn’t stop.
The tears. The runny nose.
Everything was a mess.
A small girl crouched down in front of me.
A black dress.
Slightly long black hair.
“Yotsuka-chan.”
Her voice was gentle, and her small hand quietly took hold of mine.
“Don’t cry.”
When I wiped my eyes, she looked like she was about to cry too.
But she was trying so hard to smile anyway.
Like she was trying to reassure me.
“I’ll be right by your side, Yotsuka-chan. Always.”
Squeeze.
Her small hand tightened around mine.
“Really? You won’t disappear, like Papa did?”
“I promise.”
“You’re not lying?”
“No. Forever, forever, we’ll be together.”
“I’m glad. Thank you.”
The scenery blurs.
“Yotsuka-chan.”
Her face too.
“Yotsu—”
Her voice too.
“Yo—”
All of it.
Fading further away.
◇◆◇◆◇
“—suka… Yotsuka~?”
“Mm, mmn…”
I open my eyes to a familiar ceiling, my familiar room.
And then.
“Ah, Yotsuka! Finally, you’re up!”
A face I know far, far too well.
“…Maki… na?”
Except this situation itself is nothing I recognize.
Why is Makina on top of the bed.
Why is she straddling me.
Why is her face so close.
Filling my whole field of vision, her soft-looking black hair, and a sweet scent drifting up from her chest.
…Close.
Close, close, too close!!
My heart slams hard in my chest.
I should still be half-asleep, but somehow this one specific part of my brain is wide awake.
“Ahh…”
And yet my groggy morning brain can’t process the situation at all. My body won’t cooperate either.
Okay. Calm down for a second.
First — her eyes are round and pretty, her face is gorgeous.
…No wait, that’s true every day.
Not the point!
Why is she this close?!
First thing in the morning?! Isn’t this a little too convenient??
“Yotsuka?”
Makina tilts her head, looking puzzled.
Cute.
—no, that’s not, ugh, that’s not the point right now.
But she’s crazy cute.
Wait. Come closer.
No, don’t come closer. But — a little closer.
Ah, I can feel her breath. Why does she smell this good, even first thing in the morning…
No, too close after all. But don’t pull away.
Argh, enough!
“Yotsuka~?”
Makina’s soft fingers pinch my cheek gently.
“Yes?!”
The instant she touches my cheek, my sleep-fogged brain snaps into gear.
More like it detonates.
“Morning! Come on, you need to eat breakfast!”
Makina climbs off me easily and starts tugging my arm.
“Okay, okay, I get it! I can stand up myself!”
“No you can’t. If I leave you alone, you’ll fall back asleep.”
“I would not!”
“You did yesterday.”
“I mean, I did, but—!”
“And the day before.”
“…I did, but—”
“And the day before that.”
“…………”
“See?”
“Ngh…”
I have nothing to say to that.
Makina nods triumphantly and marches me straight out of the room.
“Anyway, Makina, why were you on the bed in the first place?”
“To wake you up, obviously?”
“There are usually other ways to do that.”
“I shook your shoulder.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I called your name.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You didn’t wake up.”
“…Uh-huh.”
“So that was my last resort.”
“Your last resort was climbing on top of me?!”
“It was the most effective method, wasn’t it?”
Makina declares this with a smug, self-satisfied look on her face.
No, “effective” doesn’t even begin to cover it — my heart was in mortal danger, you know that?!
…Sleeping right up until the last possible second before school, and having your childhood friend come wake you up in your room.
That kind of overly-convenient scenario.
Honestly, this has happened plenty of times before, on and off.
Mostly because I’m just bad at waking up, admittedly.
But today is different from before.
What’s different, you ask?
Makina isn’t wearing her school uniform.
In fact, she hasn’t even started getting ready for school yet.
She’s dressed in something you’d only ever see inside someone’s house.
And she didn’t come from next door.
She came from the room right next to mine.
That’s right.
It’s been a month since our birthday now.
We’re living together.
Woken up like this, at this distance, every single morning.
And in pajamas, on top of it.
And bare-faced, no makeup.
And still cute.
However you slice it, this is an endurance test for my heart.
What even is cohabitation?
Is this supposed to be free content?!
Bringing food to my mouth at the dining table, my eyes drift over to the calendar on the kitchen wall.
A date from two weeks ago is circled in red marker.
Come to think of it, that circle was drawn the same night as that day, one month ago.
—That day. The day of our seventeenth birthday party.
◇◆◇◆◇
We’d finished the hamburg steak and the cake, and though the remarriage announcement was still hanging in the air, the living room had settled into a quieter, more relaxed mood.
Makina’s dad was in the kitchen washing dishes, and Makina was watching TV while finishing off the last of the cake.
Meanwhile, Mom alone seemed oddly busy.
“Yes, yes. That date works, then. Right. And the estimate can stay as it is.”
She nods along, phone pressed to her ear.
Hm? Estimate? For what?
“Alright, thank you very much.”
The call ends, and Mom sets her phone down on the table, looking pleased with herself.
“Okay! So, that settles it — Makina-chan and her dad are moving in the week after next!”
“…Wait, moving in?! What does that mean?!”