Chapter 37 - 1

Chapter 37: Chapter 1

3rd of September (Thursday) – Asamura Yuuta

During the final homeroom of the day, our teacher handed out homework at the end of the class.

"Alright, make sure to fill out the sheet and give it to your class representative by Thursday next week."

These were the teacher's final words, and the instant they were gone with the door closed behind them, the classroom instantly erupted in noise. Despite usually picking up their bags and leaving the classroom, all of my classmates remained seated.

"Hey, what about you?"

"What are you going to write?"

These types of voices filled the room. While some people took advice from others around them, others simply glared at the paper in front of them. Each of them had their own manner of dealing with the situation, yet they all were taking it seriously. After all, the paper we had been given asked us about our future plans after graduation. Our parent-teacher meetings will be held towards the end of the month. In other words, the future course aspiration questionnaire is regarded as part of schoolwork, and the teachers will be discussing it with both us and our parents present.

"I guess it's that time of the year again..."

I fiddled with the printout in my hand and spoke to the person in front of me, who happened to be my good friend Maru Tomokazu.

"We're second-years now. The severity of the situation is completely different compared to how it was before. But judging from your comment just now, you also haven't completely made up your mind just yet, huh?" Maru turned around with a scowl on his face.

"'Also?' You too, Maru?"

"Why do you look so surprised?"

"I mean, I just expected you to tread the path of baseball."

Our school's baseball club is fairly strong. And he's been a catcher, attending regularly for two years now. They might win at Koushien1, and he might become a professional. That might not be how things will go, but considering his skill at the sport, I could see him choosing a future related to that.

"You're totally right, yeah."

"What? Then why are you making a face like you just swallowed a bug?"

"A bug, huh? I've never had one before, so couldn't tell you."

"I don't think many people have."

Well, since it's an idiom, a lot of people probably have, but beyond that...

"Say, Asamura, even you should be able to understand that being part of the baseball club doesn't immediately correlate to my future job being related to the sport, no? Naturally I'd be troubled about it. And also, you're misunderstanding something."

"What?"

"I'm not bothered by my plans for the future or anything. I'm more worried about the parent-teacher meeting at the end of the month. Not to mention that they go on for two whole weeks. So what do you think will happen as a result of that?"

"I'm not too sure, myself."

I dropped my eyes to the printout in my hands. There were a few lines of information next to the line asking for your future plans. According to those, classes will be shorter during the parent-teacher meeting times, and classes will be dismissed during the afternoon.

"It seems like afternoon classes are gone and replaced by the meetings, huh?"

"Asamura, this means that our club training will be longer."

When I heard that comment from Maru, I finally understood what he was talking about. Still, it surprised me. Despite his motivation for the sport, I guess even he wouldn't want endless training.

"Of course I want that. I welcome any additional practice I can get."

"Hmmmm???"

"However, during the parent-teacher meetings, certain members will be absent, right? There are certain types of training we won't be able to do as a result. In other words, the training will be a lot simpler than before, making it feel less useful and fulfilling." Maru said. "I do like practicing, but I want to do it efficiently with the amount of time available."

It was an answer very much like Maru, someone who enjoyed spending time in video games. It made him seem like an efficiency freak of sorts.

"Asamura. Efficiency isn't the only attraction when it comes to games."

"My bad for using games as an example." I put my hands together, creating an apologetic gesture.

A master of one's craft is picky about their craft, I guess. Carelessly touching it would just give me a burn.

"By the way, is your dad coming to the meeting again? Or will it be your new mom this year?"

"Huh?"

It took me until that point to finally realize I not only had my old man at home, and that Akiko-san could possibly participate in the parent-teacher meeting, as well. But even so...

"My old man came last year, so I think it'll be the same this year."

When I said that, my mind drifted towards Ayase-san. Will Akiko-san come with her, I wonder?

Upon entering September, the color of the sky changed ever so slightly. The sunshine was still as strong as ever, but it wasn't as much of a clear summer blue anymore. It was duller and greyscale like you were looking through one or two layers of glass. These thoughts came to mind as I made my way towards my apartment's floor. The elevator stopped, but it took me a moment to start walking. It was all because of the printout I had stored away in my bag. Rather than worrying about my plans for the future, the idea of having a new mother had captured all of my attention. My old man was fairly laissez-faire when it came to my future, so he never expressed any concerns.

I wonder how Akiko-san would feel about it, though? I opened the front door, announcing my arrival, and made my way towards the living room. My guess from looking at the shoes in the entrance was correct, as I found both Ayase-san and Akiko-san sitting around the table. Akiko-san seemed ready to leave any moment, since she had her makeup finished.

"Welcome home, Nii-san." Ayase-san saw me entering, greeting me as she raised her head.

"...I'm back, Ayase-san." Hoping that she didn't notice my awkward pause, I responded.

It's been around a month since she started calling me that. However, I still couldn't bring myself to call her 'Saki' in return.

"What were you two talking about—? Ah."

"You got it too, right? The future aspiration questionnaire."

On the table, I spotted another copy of what I had in my bag, the paper that specified the details of the parent-teaching meeting season. They were probably deciding on which day would be the best to participate.

"Perfect timing." Akiko-san said, looking at me.

"Yes?"

"I talked to Taichi-san about how we should handle your parent-teacher meeting."

"Mine?"

"Yes. The problem is... Taichi-san is very busy right now."

He mentioned to Akiko-san that he was given an important project at work, so he was having trouble even getting half a day off from work. I had no idea, honestly. My old man rarely ever speaks of his job at home. That being said, he still seemed to be trying hard to make room on any other day, but his workload was too much for that, so even half a day off was too much to ask. I had been wondering why he seemed so exhausted recently. That explains it.

As a result, Akiko-san offered to go with me to my parent-teacher meeting as well. It's exactly as Maru predicted. He's not some kind of psychic, is he? Well, jokes aside, there's actually one big problem about Akiko-san coming with me to the parent-teacher meeting.

"You never told anybody at school that you're step-siblings, right? Taichi-san said he didn't want to burden you about it at all, and I agree with that."

We were hiding the fact that we're step-siblings so that no weird rumors would go around at school. We even made it so that our last names wouldn't change until we graduated. However, if other students found out that Ayase-san and I had the same mother, they would eventually conclude that we're related. Of course, most students would be gone by the time the meeting would start, so it's not something to be too careful about—or so one might think, but Akiko-san was cautious in that regard.

"So that's what happened..."

"That's why I was thinking of coming to the parent-teacher meetings on two separate days."

""Huh?!""

Both Ayase-san and I expressed shock at the same time. Attending the meetings on two separate days would mean...

"Do you plan on coming to our school twice?"

"I mean, it's at least safer than holding both meetings on the same day, no?" She said, asking for our opinion. "What do you think?"

"...Are you sure?"

"Huh?"

"Well... my old man isn't the only one who's busy, right? You work late at night at the bar, so isn't it already a stretch for you to come to school during the day?"

Akiko-san's shifts were usually from the evening until late in the night, and since she had to clean up and prepare the dishes for the next day, she usually came home early in the morning and slept until the afternoon. Although she tries to match her waking hours with us on the weekends or days off work, she generally is a nocturnal person. I think it'd be pretty rough on her to make her come to school during the afternoon, let alone make her do it twice: Once for my meeting and again for Ayase-san's. Not to mention that she'll have to take more time off. However, Akiko-san ignored my fears with a smile and spoke in a gentle tone.

"It's fine~"

"No, but—"

"Ah... I'm sorry, Yuuta-kun, I really have to go now."

She glanced at the clock hanging on the wall and quickly grabbed her shoulder bag on the table, jogging to the entrance. After putting on her high-heeled shoes partway, she stepped on the ground once with each heel, knocking them fully into place. After that, she turned the doorknob and looked at me over her shoulder.

"We'll continue this conversation later. Think it through until then, okay?"

"Ah, yes."

"See you later!" She said her goodbye with an energetic voice and ran out of the door with a flustered "I'll be late at this rate!"

"Should she really be running around like that?"

"Don't ask me. I just hope she doesn't trip."

"Oh? Are you leaving too, Ayase-san?"

When I turned back around, I saw that Ayase-san had also gotten up. She had a sports bag hanging down over her shoulder.

"It's time for my shift."

"Right. Take care."

"Will do. Later, Nii-san."

Ayase-san brushed past the tip of my nose. Her hair faintly swayed with every step. After that, I heard the sound of the front door closing. I had no shift at work today. The days back when I had a shift with Ayase-san every single day now felt like the distant past.

After putting my bag down in my room, I sat down in the living room. I found myself surprised at the subconscious sigh I let out. I wonder what the problem is. What am I so disappointed about? Yet for some reason I felt relieved now that I was alone.

—Nii-san. Every time Ayase-san calls me that, I find it hard to breathe when she's around. What should I even call these feelings of mine? That's a rhetorical question. I already know what they are.

"Now, then. Is there anything left to eat, I wonder..."

Night arrived. I felt like I had grown roots into the couch, but I raised myself up and opened up the fridge. I found some vegetables, but there was no meat or fish in sight. Crap, I should have gone shopping first. Ever since September started, and the number of overlapping shifts I had with Ayase-san decreased, the kitchen work and use of ingredients changed drastically. I sadly wasn't big enough of a shut-in to force Ayase-san to cook for me after she came home late from work. Thus, we agreed that I would make dinner if Ayase-san had work, and vice versa.

That being said, what I'm making barely scratches the surface of what you could call "proper food." Ding! My smartphone on the table notified me of a new LINE message. The start of the message flashed up for a second on the phone's lock screen, and I could read it before the screen turned black again. It was from my old man, saying that he'd eat out since he'd be home late. He really does seem busy.

Well, that just means I have to make less food for dinner. There's still some rice left in the cooker from when Akiko-san used it, so I just have to make the side dishes.

"I guess it's miso soup, then."

Making the best meal possible out of the fewest ingredients in the shortest amount of time was the most efficient thing to do. Ayase-san usually makes her miso soup with a soup stock base, so I'll go ahead and copy her. I filled the pot with water, putting palm-sized slices of kelp in there and leaving it alone for thirty minutes. In the meantime, I should decide on what else to make. I glanced inside the fridge again...

"Eggs... That's about it, huh?"

Several recipes based on eggs came to mind. That being said, this alone won't allow me to actually make those dishes, of course. My skills couldn't keep up with the recipe I wanted to make. The one dish with eggs I could make was—

"Fried eggs?"

Maybe boiled eggs, too. Yeah, I'll just go with fried eggs instead. I took two eggs out of the fridge, putting them on a plate. One day in the past I put eggs on the table without anything and they rolled off and broke. Ever since then, I've made sure that the same mistake doesn't happen twice. I also took out some vegetables, cut them up into big slices, stored them in a heat-resistant container, added water, and wrapped them up. I put that in the microwave, and then I waited around three minutes. If that wasn't enough, I could always cook them a bit longer. Since they'd be too unpleasant to eat if they were too hard, I would poke my chopsticks into them. If they were flexible, they were perfectly done.

I took them out of the microwave, putting them on a large plate. I can still divide them up later, and dressing can be added during the actual meal. More importantly, I should go back to the miso soup. I turned on the induction heater. From a bag I could hide my face behind, I took out some katsuobushi2 I had found, adding it to the boiling kelp inside the pot. This should do it for the soup stock. While that's cooking, I should...

"Ah, I didn't even prepare any garnish."

This was a clear mistake in my cooking order. However, I had already memorized a countermeasure for this mishap. My savior was an object I took out from the freezer—yes, frozen chopped onions! The voice of a certain blue anime robot3 came to mind. I guess being all alone like this for too long is making me go crazy and making me come up with monologues like that. Well, as long as they're just in my mind, it's fine. Ayase-san mentioned that she wanted to live on her own after graduating from high school. I wonder if she'd have monologues at that point as well?

Speaking of Ayase-san, I took the onions Ayase-san had previously chopped up from out of the plastic container. Without natto or fried food, let's go simple today.

"It should be about time."

I skimmed out some of the contents from the pot. With this, the soup stock is completed. After putting in the onions, I let it boil. Turning the heat down to low, I added the miso. Now I had to be careful to not let it burn. I turned off the switch, and now the miso soup was done as well. All that's left are the fried eggs. While I was frying them, I realized that a bit of sweat had built up on my face.

Unavoidably so, as it was the beginning of September. There was high humidity and heat outside, and here I was, cooking food on a stove. I turned on the A/C. With that, a two-person portion of fried eggs was done as well. It went fairly smoothly today. I didn't even break the egg yolks. After that, I finished up Ayase-san's fried egg, doing the same with the boiled vegetable salad...

Since she's going to be home soon, I could just wait for her, but I didn't feel like running into her for some reason. Keeping a bit of a distance between us would be for the best right now. That way, these feelings I have should calm down a bit. As for the note I was going to leave with the food... I was wondering what to write, pen in hand, only to start thinking about something else again. As a matter of fact, even while cooking, I had been thinking—about the parent-teacher meeting.

Not even realizing that my old man was busy at work made me feel guilty and kind of pathetic, but could we really put such a large burden on Akiko-san simply so that Ayase-san and I could spend our days at school in peace? Of course, this isn't something I alone should decide. I will have to consult with Ayase-san. So I stopped sitting around in my room like I usually would and waited for her to come home.

It's debatable if being able to waste hours just looking at your phone is a good or bad thing, to be honest. I was working through the ebooks I had yet to read, and right when I finished my second one, I heard the sound of the front door opening, followed by a quiet 'I'm back'. Must be Ayase-san. She probably considered the possibility of me and my old man being asleep, which is why she kept her voice low. Well, my old man has to put in some extra hours, so he isn't home just yet. When Ayase-san entered the living room, she seemed a bit surprised.

"You haven't eaten yet?"

"Yeah, not yet. You'll be having dinner now, right? Why don't we eat together? It's been a while."

Ayase-san nodded.

"Perfect timing. There's actually something I wanted to discuss with you..."

Both Ayase-san and I went quiet for a moment, only for us both to speak up at the same time.

""About the parent-teacher meeting...""

Surprised by each other's statement, our gazes drifted towards the other. With such odd timing, we both couldn't hold back a faint smirk. I see, so she was concerned about it as well.

"Let's talk about it while we eat, okay?"

"Got it. Let me put my stuff in my room."

While Ayase-san was changing, I warmed the miso soup and fried eggs up and set the table. After we both sat down, we started eating with our chopsticks. Honestly, ever since I began to cook myself, this is what makes me the most restless of all. I can't help but watch the other person take their first bite before I can eat anything.

"Mm. Delicious." Ayase-san said while taking a bite of the fried egg.

"Glad to hear it."

"It looks visually appealing as well. You've gotten a lot better. Did you leave mine soft-boiled on purpose?"

"I figured it'd make it easier to eat."

Both Ayase-san and Akiko-san liked to eat their fried eggs seasoned with salt and pepper, but my old man and I are of the soy sauce faction. After we noticed the differences in our tastes, we left it to the other person to add the seasoning, so the middle of our table turned into a banquet of different seasonings. With that in mind, I decided against seasoning the fried eggs during the cooking process in the first place. n--0velBIn

That resolved the problem of seasoning, but tastes when it came to the actual meals are even more complicated. After watching Ayase-san and her eating habits for a while, I noticed that she clearly preferred it when the egg yolk was only soft-boiled. When it was hard-boiled, she'd eat it with miso or some other soup at the same time. That's when it dawned on me. Since my old man and I eat our fried eggs with soy sauce, it doesn't matter if the egg yolk is hard-boiled, but when eating a hard-boiled fried egg with only salt and pepper, it can make your mouth feel dry.

"You really keep a close eye on these things."

"And yet I didn't even pay attention to what we still had in the fridge, so I feel bad more than anything. If I had noticed that it was practically empty, I would have gone shopping on the way home. So I just used some green onions."

"Ah, I didn't tell you about that."

"No, it's my fault for not checking. Even though I knew you had work today."

"But I should have—"

"No, I didn't—"

We looked at each other, flashing wry smiles.

"So, about the parent-teacher meeting," I brought up the main agenda of this conversation. "If people find out that we're siblings, it'll cause a lot of trouble—but that's only for our own convenience, nothing more."

Ayase-san nodded. I continued.

"That's why I don't think it's right for Akiko-san to carry an even bigger burden. I'd feel bad stealing time from her on two separate days."

"I was also thinking about how selfish that was."

"I personally don't mind if people find out that we're siblings. But this isn't just my problem alone."

Ayase-san nodded once more.

"Thus I wanted to discuss this with you."

"Same here. It's not something I can decide just on my own. But I've also seen Mom working so hard to the point that she almost collapsed."

So that's...

"That's even more of a reason not to, then. I don't want either my old man or Akiko-san forcing themselves to do something for our sake."

"Yup. It's decided then," Ayase-san said, and I nodded in agreement.

Once again, I realized that the way we think about things is oddly similar, especially during times like these.

"If my old man really is that busy, then let's have both of our meetings on the same day. That'll save Akiko-san one trip to the school."

"Agreed. Not to mention—" Ayase-san muttered. "It isn't just because she's busy. I want us both to have a joint parent-teacher meeting, which Mom can attend once."

Her voice was awfully quiet, making me wonder if she actually wanted me to hear this, or if these words just simply slipped from her mouth.

"Okay, I'll let Mom know then."

"Let her know that I feel the same as you about it."

"Got it."

Both of us had finished eating around the time our conversation ended. Ayase-san grabbed her tableware and was about to stand up when I stopped her.

"I'm sure you must be exhausted from your shift, so let me take care of that."

"Then let's just do it together," Ayase-san said with a smile.

How long has it been since we stood next to each other doing the dishes? While holding a vague and meaningless conversation, we made our way through washing the dishes. Since we didn't even use that much tableware, there may not have been any need to do so, but I just felt like doing it. Or did Ayase-san feel that way too, by any chance?

We talked about things that had happened at school, books we read recently, and funny videos we found online. Our dishwashing was done in no time. After Ayase-san finished washing the final plate with care, she immediately returned to her room. This blissful time lasted for only a brief moment.

"But this is fine."

In this world, there are bound to be siblings who end up distanced from each other because of the smallest trigger. I should count myself lucky to be able to do housework together like this. I should be satisfied with this—Or so I told myself.

When our parents decided to get married again, they surely must have considered our feelings, worried if high school students of the opposite sex would be fine living together. I bet that my old man and Akiko-san both want us to get along. I couldn't bring myself to betray their hopes and wishes. That's why I have to suppress these feelings of mine, put a lid on them, and lock my desires away. After all, Ayase-san is my step-sister.

───

1 Where the Japan National High School Ball Tournament is held

2 Small pieces of sliced dried bonito

3 Doraemon.