Episode One Hundred and Fourty-Three
Right after returning from the trip, Ibara started sorting through her things in the room. She’d brought over an unusually large Boston bag from somewhere and was stuffing her belongings into it one after another.
Watching her back as she did it, I found myself the one feeling lonely, if anything.
My chest tightened with a wistful ache.
It was only half a year. But half a year is still half a year.
Half a year for a student and half a year for a working adult carry different weight. Ibara said she’d be attending a prep school too. For entrance exam study, of course — but something at the bottom of my heart stirred uneasily anyway.
Put simply: I was anxious.
More specifically — that she might forget about me, just like that.
“You don’t have to take everything with you, do you?”
I found myself saying it before I could stop.
“You can come get things when you need them. I’m planning to bring it all to the new place anyway.”
“That’s no good.”
“Why?”
Ibara stopped and turned to look at me.
“Because then I’d have a reason to see you.”
“Wouldn’t that be fine, once in a while?”
“No. With this kind of thing, being half-hearted about it is the worst thing you can do.”
Maybe that’s true, but.
“I’m not going to call much either.”
“Eh, really?”
I hadn’t heard about that.
That was — ordinarily worrying, was it an overreaction? If anything happened, Aki-san would surely get in touch.
Oh, right. Sereno.
“I’m planning to keep visiting Sereno as usual, you know.”
“That’s fine. I won’t be going to the shop side of things.”
“Ehhh……”
Thorough about it. Well, if any trouble came up, Aki-san would let me know.
Ibara isn’t a child anymore.
But even so——
“Lonely?”
“Waah!”
I looked up to find Ibara right in front of my face.
“Shigure-san’s lonely, isn’t she. Because she won’t get to see her cute little Ibara-chan anymore.”
“That’s not…… not entirely untrue, but.”
“Nhehe.”
She grinned, pleased with herself. Her usual teasing smile.
“No cheating on me while I’m gone, okay.”
“Same goes for you.”
At my light comeback, she blinked in surprise — apparently she hadn’t imagined herself doing such a thing.
That quality of hers is unbearably endearing.
I found myself patting her head. There, there, you adorable thing.
“I’ll be busy studying for exams, no time for that.”
“I know that.”
“I’m more worried about you.”
“I’m not exactly popular, so.”
“Waah. My worry-meter just went up about three notches from that.”
Is that so.
“Shigure-san’s the perverted-on-the-inside type, after all. If I’m not around, you might get frustrated and go after some other girl.”
“What do you think I am?”
“A womanizer.”
“I am not!”
That’s absurd.
I’d vaguely sensed it for a while, but Ibara and Runa both seem to have some kind of misunderstanding about me. I’m not that popular. Especially not with girls.
Ibara pressed closer and leaned her face in.
“Hey, Shigure-san.”
She whispered near my ear.
“Do you want, like, sexy photos of me?”
Pbht.
“Videos are fine too, you know. Would it help to have something like that?”
“I-I don’t need it.”
“You don’t? Won’t you get lonely?”
I might get a little lonely, but——
That’s not the point!
“You’re not allowed to do that kind of thing. Understand? You never know where data like that might end up leaking.”
“Okaaay.”
She deflated a little — so she hadn’t been joking after all. That’s genuinely dangerous. If she ever actually sends something, I’ll have to give her a real talking-to.
“Oh, then how about this.”
“What?”
“Draw a picture of me.”
“A picture?”
“If I have that, you won’t forget me, right?”
“I mean…… but I haven’t done portraits in a while now.”
“You used me as a model before, didn’t you.”
“That was within the scope of package design. Figure drawing is a completely different thing.”
“But you can still do it, right?”
That was.
Well — probably, I could. Even if I’m out of practice, the technique built into my hands hasn’t entirely disappeared.
I think I could draw her. If it’s just drawing.
“I want Shigure-san to draw me. All of me, as I am right now.”
I found myself looking down at my own right hand, unconsciously.
Can you do it? — as if it were asking me.
And that’s when it hit me. I wanted to draw her. Ibara. With my own hands.
“……Figure drawing takes a long time, you know. Like six hours or so……”
“I’m fine with that. I’ve got stamina.”
“You need proper materials too……”
“I know you’ve got them stashed in the back of the closet.”
“It’ll get in the way of your exam prep.”
“One day should be fine.”
Coaxingly, almost pleadingly, Ibara whispered it. I’m weak to this.
More than anything, she’d already gotten me in the mood for it.
“——So, should we do it……?”
“Yeah!”
She nodded with great energy and promptly reached for the buttons of her loungewear. Wait, wait, wait.
“Why now?! Why are you undressing?!”
“Strike while the iron is hot.”
It’s true that today, aside from tidying up, there’s nothing else on the schedule.
“Even so, you really don’t need to take your clothes off.”
“Okaaay.”
Ibara stuck out her tongue.
And I took the old, familiar tools out from the closet.
There was no hesitation left in me now. I was certain this would be the best drawing I’d ever made.
After all — the model couldn’t be better.