Chapter 43 - 7

Chapter 43: Chapter 7

25th of September (Friday) – Asamura Yuuta

It's Friday, the day of the parent-teacher meetings for both Ayase-san and I. The morning began the same way as usual, with the both of us eating breakfast while sitting at the dining table. My old man was already reading the news on his tablet.

"Here, your miso soup."

"Oh, thanks a lot, Saki-chan."

He happily accepted the bowl, and the front door opened.

"I'm home~"

Akiko-san's voice reached us in the living room.

"Ah, welcome back, Akiko-san."

My old man was the first one to respond, shortly after followed by Ayase-san and I.

"Yes, I'm home, Taichi-san."

"Great work out there. Do you want breakfast?"

"I'll eat some. I went home directly so that I could get a bit more sleep later, which is why I haven't eaten anything yet."

"I see. Will you be able to get up after taking a nap, though?"

"I think so. Oh, right, I'd like to check the times once again, Yuuta-kun, Saki."

The two of us took out our phones, confirming the time slots we both had.

"My meeting is at 4:20 pm, and it lasts for twenty minutes."

"Mine's right after. 4:40 pm to 5 pm. That's not much time to move, but our classes are right next to each other, after all."

While we explained that, Akiko-san also stared at her own phone, trying to remember the times we had just told her.

"Yup, it's fine. Seems like I got it down."

"But if we look at that schedule, you won't get much sleep from now until then, no?"

"I'm planning on getting a taxi that will take me to your school, so I should be fine if I leave a bit before 4 pm. I'll get up before that and take a shower, eat, brush my teeth, change into some fresh clothes, put on makeup... Yeah, if I get up at 2 pm, I should be fine."

"It's 7 am right now, so if you get to bed at 8, you can sleep for six hours... that's less than usual, no?" My old man commented.

Considering that she usually sleeps until the evening, I guess this counts as a short sleep.

"I can always get some more sleep after coming home since I don't have a shift tonight. The only problem is that neither of you two are home when it's time to wake me up." Akiko-san had made it clear that she sometimes has trouble getting up.

"Taichi-san, once it's 2 pm, I expected a turbulent wake-up call!" Akiko-san put her hands together, smiling.

"You can't trouble him while he's at work, Mom."

"Buuuuut!"

"Ahaha, it's fine, just leave it to me, Akiko-san. My work isn't so stressful that I can't even do that, so it's no problem."

Akiko-san's expression lit up, but Ayase-san only shrugged. Usually, my old man is a bit of a good-for-nothing, but at times like these he sounds so convincing and mature. Akiko-san seemed to have cheered up a lot, but that soon changed. She narrowed her eyebrows.

"But will this really be okay? Will I really be able to get up? Will the teachers think that I'm a weird mother...?"

"I don't think anyone in the world would call you weird."

"Y-You think so?" Akiko-san bashfully smiled after hearing what my old man said.

"Why yes, indeed." He accepted her smile, and they both stared into each other's eyes.

Both Ayase-san and I most likely were a bit perturbed by this flirty scene in front of us but we still reassured her that everything would be fine.

"Mom, if you're going to eat breakfast, then sit down already. You're just in the way if you stand there."

"Yes yes, understood."

"Are you still fine on time?" Ayase-san called out to my old man while glancing at the clock.

"Ah... you're right, I should leave now. Thanks." While seeing Akiko-san off who had headed to the bathroom to remove her makeup, my old man grabbed his bag and stood up. "Take care of Akiko-san, okay?"

Both Ayase-san and I nodded at the same time. Aren't you the one with the biggest responsibility, though? Akiko-san came back, sat down at the table with us, and started eating her breakfast.

"Mom, what about lunch once you get up? I can freeze some of the curry for later. I think you'll wake up just fine because of how spicy it is."

"I'd rather not eat something too spicy before meeting your teachers, so I'll just take the leftovers from this. Also, we still have another egg left, right?"

"Well... we do, but..."

"I'll take care of myself, okay? You two should actually be heading to school right about now."

Just as Akiko-san had said, it was about time for Ayase-san to leave the house.

"You don't have to worry about cleaning up either, Yuuta-kun. I'll take care of the dishes once I'm done eating."

"Okay, thank you very much."

As always, I waited a few minutes after Ayase-san left and then grabbed my bag.

"Alright, time to get a power nap in so that I can wake up in time!"

After leaving through the front door, I heard Akiko-san's motivated voice behind me.

The chime rang, signaling the end of the 4th period. We'll have parent-teacher meetings this afternoon, but I still have four hours left until it's my turn. While eating lunch with Maru, I began thinking about how to spend that time.

"See you tomorrow, Asamura."

"Yeah, catch you later!"

Maru finished eating before me as usual and stormed out of the classroom. In the end, he's as passionate about his club as always. Now I was alone. In times like these, people of the go-home club like me have no other place to go. Most of the rooms were being used for the parent-teacher meetings after all. For a second, the library came to mind. As a book-lover, that is probably the place that you'd think of the fastest, but there's a good chance, and it often happens, that the library doesn't have the books I usually read. That's why I usually never go there.

But this might be the perfect chance to go check it out. I grabbed my bag and headed for the library. The library here at Suisei is isolated from the main building. To one side of the school grounds, we had the 'Library building', which is a two-floor building, and there's a passageway leading from there to the main building. The first floor has all sorts of music rooms, and the second floor has the library room. You might think that we would call it the 'Music building', but there's some historical reason for it that I don't remember.

As I approached the library building, I heard the brass band club playing. The parent-teacher meetings at Suisei are held at once for all three years, which is why there are no afternoon classes for all of the students. This results in most clubs starting their activities earlier, which doesn't make it feel like a very advanced high school.

After climbing up the stairs, I opened the door to the library room. Taking one step inside, I was greeted by the scent of old books. It's a distinct scent I fondly remember from the old bookstore at Jimbōchō Station. A lot of people disdain this scent, which is why they go for newer releases, but I didn't mind it. It smells like the inherited knowledge of all of humanity.

The inside of the room wasn't nearly as cramped as back when exams were around the corner. When I glanced around, I saw that only one out of three tables was occupied. On a whim, I started thinking about how Ayase-san might be killing time right now. While that thought crossed my mind, I walked through the library and looked around, not spotting that girl I was thinking about. However, in her stead—

"Ohhhh? What's wrong?"

I was greeted by Narasaka Maaya.

"I mean, I was just trying to kill some time. I have my parent-teacher meeting today."

"Oh, Asamura-kun too?"

"I guess that makes two of us."

She beckoned me over, so I had no other choice but to sit down next to Narasaka-san. If we sat too far apart, we'd have to talk louder, which would bother the people around us. Luckily, only Narasaka-san was seated at the table, and there was a bookshelf between us and the rest of the room.

"When?"

"At 4:20 pm."

"Oh, close. I'm the one before that, at 4 pm flat."

I see, so she's got the same amount of time to kill as me. Why isn't she with Ayase-san, then? When I asked her about it, she said that Ayase-san had apparently gone home. With how much time we had, she could easily make it back in time. I guess I could have done the same.

But if she goes home now... I looked around for a clock to no avail, so I took out my smartphone. It's still not even 1 pm... should I go home too? If I do... no, Ayase-san is home right now, so it'd just be awkward if I joined her... and it's not even just her, Akiko-san is home right now, sleeping. But she should wake up soon. Just then, what Akiko-san had said this morning came back to mind.

'The only problem will be if neither of you two are home when it's time to wake me up.'

Did Ayase-san go home because...?

"What's wrong, Asamura-kun? Are you lost in thought about something?"

"Ah, no, it's nothing."

If I go home now, I'll just get in the way of Akiko-san's few more minutes of sleep.

"Are you that worried about the parent-teacher meeting?"

"Not exactly, but—"

I was about to reveal my troubles. Maybe that was just a leading question on her part?

"More importantly, why didn't you just go home for a bit as well, Narasaka-san?"

"Well, I thought I might as well take a break from taking care of my younger brothers for once." She said and smiled.

According to her, her mother had taken the day off to attend the parent-teacher meeting, and is now taking care of her brothers while she's at school.

"Sounds rough."

"They're all adorable, you know? Just, from time to time, I want to stretch out my wings. But forget about that." Narasaka-san said. She put her cheek on the table and looked up at me. "Asamura-kun, do you like Saki?"

"No, I don't."

Maybe giving an immediate answer was a bad choice after all? Narasaka-san might seem like an airhead at times, but she can be oddly perceptive when it really matters.

"Really~?"

"You know, right? We're siblings, so there's no way."

"But, you know..."

"I know what?"

"You still call her 'Ayase-san', right?"

My heart skipped a beat, even if I didn't want it to. So that's what she meant?

"You said that you're siblings, but... you're not related, right? And you became step-siblings just recently. You're practically strangers. From how I see it, you two seem like two people who have feelings for each other~" It felt like she was explaining this to the desk rather than to me.

"That's not it at all."

"Hmm, maybe I looked too deeply into it." She muttered something again, lounging against the desk.

Does that posture not hurt, ma'am? She suddenly pushed herself upwards, stretching her hands towards the ceiling while letting out a groan.

"I see~ So you'd be fine if I supported another boy?"

"Um...?"

"I mean, if there's a boy who has feelings for Saki, then would you be okay with me supporting him in his attempts to win her over?"

The way she's saying that makes it sound almost like there's someone like that.

"I don't think you would need to ask for my permission in order to do that."

"Hmmm, really now?" Narasaka-san crossed her arms, and kept repeating the same "Hmmm" and "I see~" over and over.

I decided to leave her alone to her thoughts and went looking for a book to read. Since I still have more than three hours, I should be able to read two short ones. After a bit of searching, I spotted several older overseas paper books. There's Storm's Immensee, with 142 pages, and Ibsen's A Doll's House, with 148 pages. I think these two would be perfect for the amount of time I have available.

With these two books in hand, I returned to the table. Narasaka-san was gone, but since her bag was still there, she had probably just gone searching for books herself. I sat down and read for a while, and she suddenly sat down next to me when I looked up to take a break. We barely talked, simply reading our books in silence, as we sat next to each other.

"I'm going on ahead~"

The next time I looked up, Narasaka-san grabbed her bag and left the library room. It seems like it's her turn now, huh? That means I have roughly twenty minutes left. I read the remaining pages in one go and got up myself. Just then, my smartphone, in silent mode, vibrated. Akiko-san sent me a LINE message. The first part said that she would be here soon, so I decided to pick her up at the front entrance. I returned the books and left the library building behind me.

At 4:10 pm, Akiko-san showed up at the front gate.

"Sorry for the wait, Yuuta-kun."

"I just got here myself."

In contrast to what she normally wore for work, my stepmother was now wearing a tight and professional suit. It consisted of a deep blue jacket and a U-neck shirt below that, and she had gone with indigo blue pants instead of her usual skirt. She had a two-toned handbag draped across her shoulder. I guess this is what you would call casual office attire. It's not too stiff, but it's also a bit formal. This was the first time I had seen Akiko-san in such an outfit. I offered her a pair of slippers that were prepared for the guardians who would be attending the parent-teacher meetings.

"Could you lead me there?" Akiko-san said while changing into said slippers.

"Of course, it's over here."

Mine and Ayase-san's classrooms are on the second floor of the school building. I guided her to the stairs and led her there while giving brief explanations about the school.

"So your class is right next to Saki's, huh?"

"Yes."

"Had you never met before you two became a family? If you're this close all the time, I figured you would have run into each other at some point."

"We most likely did, but..."

Considering that we were in the same group during P.E. class, we most likely bumped into each other several times. Maybe we even saw each other occasionally while walking down the hallways.

"...But I don't remember."

"My, what a gentleman. Not even a cute girl can steal your gaze."

"That's not really how it is. Not to mention that simply staring at someone can be seen as sexual harassment nowadays."

"You're too concerned about everything. Nobody would mind if there's an ulterior motive involved."

"And you can tell? With a single glance?"

"Of course."

"How confident."

She's making it sound so simple, despite it being practically impossible to prove. This is one way in which she's different from Ayase-san. Well, not letting people feel any responsibility despite her words and actions probably shows best what kind of person Akiko-san is, and the business she's in. For a moment, I might actually believe her.

"It's fine to be confident. If you're wrong, a simple 'I'm sorry' will resolve everything."

"Stubborn to the bone..."

I reprimanded myself for even believing her for a single second. For crying out loud... she's completely ruined her formal attire with that kind of attitude. But I don't particularly hate it. As expected, walking around school with someone who had been a stranger now turned stepmother feels pretty weird. At the same time, though, I felt relieved to see her act the same way as she does at home.

Whenever my real mother came to school with me, she'd act completely different than at home, like she had been switched out for someone else entirely. Honestly speaking, when I was in grade school, I thought she was eerie and horrifying. However, she probably had her own reasons for ending up that way but still considered the time, place, and occasion. That being said, I can't really trust people who change personality to that extent. I felt oddly relieved to see Akiko-san act the way she usually does.

"Ah, it's right here." n/)O--v/.ε-)l))b(.I)-n

"Okay, thank you, Yuuta-kun. I'll do my best."

I don't really see what would urge her to work hard for a parent-teacher meeting, but whatever. I checked the time and knocked on the door. After the response from my homeroom teacher came, I opened the door.

"Please, have a seat."

We were offered seats, so Akiko-san and I sat down at the table, facing my homeroom teacher. I had a parent-teacher meeting back in middle school, and also one in my first year at Suisei, so this wasn't exactly a first for me. However, I can't say I have much experience having my mother with me, so I can't help but feel nervous. With the future aspiration questionnaire as the initial subject, my homeroom teacher explained their own general view.

As a matter of fact, my homeroom teacher is actually a male teacher who doesn't have any particular features that make him stand out, and the fact that his name is as basic as 'Suzuki' doesn't make him much more memorable of a person. By the way, Ayase-san's homeroom teacher is a female teacher with the equally common name 'Satou.'

This came up as a topic when Ayase-san and I were discussing our parent-teacher meetings, and we actually burst out laughing when we found out that both of these were in the top three of the most common family names in Japan1. It's not statistically unlikely, but the chances were fairly low despite that.

"That being the case—" My homeroom teacher's words brought me back to reality.

I'm not usually a big fan of hearing a teacher's impressions about me, which is why I just let it flow one ear in and out through the other, but it seems like this is in regards to my future aspirations.

"If Yuuta-kun continues his efforts the way he has so far, there is a good chance that he might pass the entrance exam to a famous university within Tokyo."

That positive evaluation genuinely surprised me. When I glanced to my side, I saw Akiko-san with relaxed cheeks. She must be happy, I bet. However, her expression froze up immediately after.

"This surely must be because of your thoughtful education—" Suzuki-sensei uttered some usual praise he'd make for parents, but he remembered too late that my father only recently married Akiko-san.

Without a moment's hesitation, I picked up the ball.

"Yes, I am very thankful to her."

I said these words with as much honesty as I could while making eye contact with my homeroom teacher, so I wasn't able to check what kind of expression Akiko-san made. From the corner of my eye, though, I might have seen her eyes widen in shock. Suzuki-sensei faltered for a moment, but eventually continued with his previous statement, saying that if I continued studying the way I am now, I should be able to pass the entrance exam at any university I could wish for.

After giving our final farewells, Akiko-san and I left the classroom. The next parent and child combo were already waiting outside. They passed us and closed the door behind them. It seems like we used up all the time we had available. Looking at the time, it was 4:38 pm. Only two minutes left.

"Ayase-san's classroom is over here."

"I have to hurry! And, thank you for just now, Yuuta-kun. I'm so happy that you've accepted me like that that I almost started crying."

Because she told me these words with a bright smile, I felt my own heart warm up. This person is so happy because of a few words from me?

"I'm really happy!"

"H-Hey, don't pull on my arm."

I didn't think she'd just hug me right then and there. And yet, I was surprised at myself the most, not disliking this comfortable sensation in the slightest. Even though I should only be 'Asamura Taichi's son' in her eyes, I was forced to realize that she had accepted me as part of her family from the moment we met. I can't remember the last time my real mother hugged me like this, if ever. At the very least, not after I was old enough to remember. But at least I can finally smile like this as a grown teenager. Yeah, I'm glad that my old man decided to marry this person.

After walking for a bit, we reached the next classroom, but nobody was seated in the chairs. I was confused for a bit, but then I saw Ayase-san walking over towards us from the direction of the shoe lockers. Akiko-san called out to her, walking over. Right as I passed the two of them as they were about to enter the classroom, Ayase-san turned towards me. For a second, I wasn't sure what to say. Maybe I should say something?

"Good luck with the parent-teacher meeting." These were the only words I could come up with in the heat of the moment.

"Yup. See you later, Nii-san." She said and entered the classroom with Akiko-san.

Now then—Since all my plans for today ended, and since I don't have a shift at work...

"I guess I'll go home and relax a bit."

I started making my way towards the shoe lockers, but right as I passed around the corner, someone called out to me when I reached the stairs. I raised my head. It was a boy wearing tennis clothes and with a tennis racket in hand.

"You're Asamura-kun, right?"

"...Yeah?"

Who was he? I feel like I've seen his face before.

"You don't remember? It's me, Shinjou Keisuke."

When I heard his name, I finally remembered him.

"Ah, from last summer."

"Yep. yep."

He's one of the people who went with us to the pool, one of Ayase-san and Narasaka-san's classmates. Thanks to Narasaka-san's special introduction back then, I immediately remembered him as soon as I heard the name.

"First up, let me apologize. I didn't mean to eavesdrop or anything."

"Huh?" I tilted my head, confused.

"It's actually my turn to go to the parent-teacher meeting next, which is why I left club activities a few minutes ago. Then, when I came here—"

Ahh, is this what I think it is?

"The woman, who I'm assuming is your mother, left the meeting with you, and now is going with Ayase-san to hers... What exactly does that mean?"

For a moment, I found myself unwilling to tell him. But then I remembered Akiko-san's overjoyed smile just earlier. I really shouldn't deny it here, huh?

"We're siblings. Though we're not that open about it."

"Huh? But, your name is Asamura, and she's..."

He was probably wondering why our family names were different.

"Our parents remarried."

"So, basically...?"

"This happened recently. That's why, in simple terms, Ayase-san is my younger step-sister." The moment I finished those words, a bitter taste filled my mouth.

"I see, I totally thought you were—"

Were what, exactly?

"Anyway, I have to go."

On my way home, while I was pedaling my bike, I pondered it all. On one hand, I felt the warmth of Akiko-san's smile fill my chest, and on the other hand, I still had a bitter taste in my mouth from admitting that Ayase-san is my younger sister. I pondered about the two of them for a while after that.

───

1 Fact checked, is true