CH 4

Chapter 4: Alliance

The first image that came to mind when describing Kazemiya Kohaku was that of a young girl.

If I had to put it into words, I would say “solitary”.

She was cool, unassuming, yet beautiful. A solitary radiance that would not allow others to come close to her.

That was my image of the girl named Kazemiya Kohaku.

I had never seen her speak to anyone. Although…I had seen her talking to certain someone. I hadn’t been classmates with Kazemiya since the second grade, which meant we’d only known each other for about a month as classmates.

Other than that, the only other time I’d seen her was at this family restaurant, and as far as I could tell, she never seemed to be chatting with her friends, or even making a phone call. The only exception would be when she was ordering from the waitress.

“……is that a question for me?”

“Who else is here?”

Of course, Kazemiya was sitting in the corner of the restaurant, and I was the only one next to her.

If she wanted to talk to someone sitting farther away, she would have turned up her volume a little more, and by process of elimination, I was the only one to whom Kazemiya was asking a question.

“With my mother……it’s not so bad, I guess. I think we have a good parent-child relationship.”

“With your mother, huh.”

I broke out in a cold sweat inwardly, saying, “Oh no.”

That way of putting it  was like coming clean and saying, “I don’t get along with anyone but my mother.”

Strictly speaking, my relationship with my new father wasn’t necessarily bad. I could tell that he was trying to reach out to me, and I just hadn’t responded to his efforts. As for my stepsister……well, unfortunately, bad was the right word to describe my relationship with her.

But Kazemiya Kohaku was surprisingly……perceptive.

I was careless with that one, but I didn’t expect her to notice it so well.

“Sorry. Since I suddenly heard something strange.”

I guess my caution must have rubbed off on her because Kazemiya apologized to me with a wry smile.

“I don’t mind. I indeed have a delicate relationship with someone other than my mother.”

“I see.”

Then there was silence for a few seconds, but soon Kazemiya opened her mouth again.

“…as for me. I don’t get along with my family very well.”

“Eh?”

The subject of family, which I thought was a minefield for her, came up, and I let out an involuntary gasp of surprise. Seeing my reaction, she must have guessed many things.

“I asked you a question about your family earlier. It’s not fair for me to just step in and leave it at that.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that.”

“I’m the one who cares about that kind of thing. Even though it’s my principle to not meddle in other people’s families.”

“Ah, me too.”

The words of agreement came out of my mouth, reflexively.

“Really?”

“I can’t afford to talk about other people’s families when I can’t handle my own.”

“Hahaha. Even the reasons are the same.“

—Kazemiya laughs like this, huh?

I was surprised to find myself thinking such a thought unintentionally, but only a moment too late. However, the face that Kazemiya just showed me was one that I had never seen in the classroom, and it was true that my eyes were involuntarily drawn to it.

“Hee…I see. So does Narumi.”

“Huh? My name…”

“Of course, I know. We’re classmates.”

Surprising, I thought.

I had thought that Kazemiya, from my point of view, was a girl who didn’t pay attention to her surroundings. I had assumed that even the names of her classmates were of little interest to her.

As for me, I had a couple of classmates whose names I still doubt I could remember. I’d better keep that to myself; it would be too awkward to reveal it in front of Kazemiya.

“Besides, if you always sit at the same place in your favorite family restaurant with your classmates, you’ll remember it even if you don’t want to.”

“Yeah, that’s for sure.”

Even if Kazemiya was not famous in school, I think I would have remembered her.

That girl who was always in the same seat. Had it been a classmate, she would have made a lasting impression.

“…then I guess you have the same reason for going to this store.”

“That’s true. I think it’s probably the same.”

“”I have a hard time staying home, so I spend a lot of time at the store.””

Our words were perfectly matched, without even needing to count “one, two, three.”

I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. And it was the same for Kazemiya.

“We’re on the same page.”

“Right. We get along pretty well.”

I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. I had no idea that other students were killing time at the same family restaurant because they had difficulty staying at home.

“Thank you for waiting. This is the chocolate ice cream.”

At that moment, the ice cream I ordered was brought to me.

“It’s arrived. An alibi dessert”

“I think it’s a waste of money. Even if I say so myself.”

“It’s not a waste. For me, it’s a necessary expense to buy peace of mind.”

“……really, we’re really on the same page.”

After that, the conversation with Kazemiya continued until the chocolate ice cream was completely eaten.

Perhaps it was because I kept moving my mouth rather than my hand with the spoon. The ice cream melted faster than I could eat it.

I didn’t measure the time precisely, but I think it took me longer than usual to finish eating it.

“I have to go home.”

“Right. Then maybe I should go home, too.”

We both got up with our bills and stood in line at the cash register. This time, there was no bumping into each other and giving in to each other.

When I left the restaurant, the sun had naturally set, and the city was filled with light as if to resist the encompassing darkness.

“I have a suggestion, can you take me home?”

I wasn’t so dense as to not understand the significance of that suggestion.

“That would help me stall going home.”

“You’re welcome.”

The fact that Kazemiya left the restaurant at the same time as I was was probably due to such considerations.

I walked shoulder to shoulder with Kaezimya on a road that was the exact opposite of my usual route home.

An unfamiliar asphalt road. Unfamiliar buildings. It felt strange to be walking with Kazemiya Kohaku on a street that, until yesterday, I would never have passed by.

…yeah, no kidding. It’s really strange.

Until midday, I had always thought of Kazemiya as a “solitary” existence.

I thought she was a person from a different world from mine.

I thought she was someone I had nothing to do with today, tomorrow, or in the future.

But now we were so close.

Even though she was a bit presumptuous, I could see her as a very close person to me.

It must be because I felt—-relief.

She didn’t get along very well with her family. She would not like to go home so much that she went all the way to a family restaurant and stayed there until night.

She was trapped in a curse that she could not escape from until she died called “family.”

There was someone just like me. I felt so relieved to know that.

“Narumi. What’s your excuse for coming home so late to your family?”

Like I said on the phone earlier, I was eating dinner on the way home from a part-time job, or taking a break because I was tired from a part-time job……there are various things.”

“But isn’t that too much to say that as an excuse every time?”

“Actually, I think it’s about time it reached the limit. I just wanted to ask for a reference, what about you?”

“I just said ‘It’s up to me.’”

“You’re so strong…….”

“I have to do it this way or I wouldn’t be able to do it at all. It’s always been that way. Even when I went out in the daytime, they would always suspect that I was doing something strange or whatever. Basically, I felt like they didn’t trust me. Well, if I got into trouble, it would cause trouble for my sister, so I had no choice.”

It wasn’t that they lost trust in her because she was out at night, but perhaps it was the other way around.

They didn’t trust her, so this led her to stay out of the house at night.

…If that was the case, I certainly felt like I would have no choice but to force my way through it.

“Your side seems more difficult.”

“Maybe. But you feel the same way when you stay at home, don’t you?”

“I agree with you there.”

“Will Narumi be at the family restaurant tomorrow?”

“Yes. I have another part-time job tomorrow.”

“Hmmm. I see…….”

The conversation was momentarily interrupted when Kazemiya made a gesture as if she was thinking about something.

“If that’s the case, I have a proposal.”

“Proposal?”

“Yup. I think it would be more enjoyable to pass the time by chatting like we did today, right? NARUMI and I get along surprisingly well when we talk, and……it would be easier to make up excuses”

I see. It certainly was true that we got along surprisingly well after talking with each other today.

And I felt that time passed more quickly than usual.

…to be honest, spending time alone for a few hours could be tough as well. If you had someone to talk to, you might be able to spend more meaningful time than if you spent it alone scrolling through social networking sites and websites.

“Besides…I can talk to Narumi, you know. Or complain.”

“Complaining? Of what?”

“Various things. School stuff, personal stuff—-family stuff, etc.”

When she told me, I burst out laughing.

“Family complaints, huh? I like that.”

“What’s so funny?”

“Sorry. I didn’t think of that.”

Feeling guilty about the family members. A house where it felt difficult to stay.

Sometimes I talked to Natsuki about it, but even so, I still had a hard time saying it.

The only person with whom I could vent to my heart’s content as a complaint would be Kazemiya—-with whom I can share the feeling of not being able to stay at home.

“We just complain to each other and listen. I won’t go any further than that…what do you think?”

“Yup. I like it. It fits our stance.”

“I see. Then it’s settled.”

“Yes. It’s an alliance.”

“An alliance. That’s good.”

Kazemiya’s feet stopped in front of a towering apartment building less than five minutes after leaving the restaurant.

“This is where I live. Thanks for walking me home.”

“You’re welcome…wow, amazing. ou live in a nice place.”

“It doesn’t matter much, though, because it’s uncomfortable.”

“You’re right.”

“That’s right.”

I checked the time on my phone and the time was over 22:00.

I was sure that I would be home later than usual when I got back from here.

“It’s time to say something when I get back. What would you say as an excuse?”

“For me, it would be, ‘I went to a family restaurant, chatted with my friends, and came home late.’”

“As for me, ‘I had to walk my female friend home since it was so late,’…I guess. Why don’t you add, ‘I’m going home with my friends, so I don’t have to worry about getting into any weird trouble’?”

“That’s good. I’ll use that.”

Of course, just because there were two people didn’t mean it was safe, and it didn’t mean there would never be any trouble. But it was better than a high school girl walking alone late at night. …There would be no need to explain such logic in detail.

“How about we exchange contact information before you go?”

“Sure. I might need it.”

“If necessary, can I call you and have you explain it to my mother?”

“Please don’t.”

“I’m joking, of course.”

Kazemiya could make a joke like this.

While I was thinking about this, we finished exchanging contact information.

“Good night, Narumi.”

“Ah. Good night, Kazemiya.”

“”—After school tomorrow, let’s meet at the usual place.”