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“Happy Mother’s Day!” Meguru yells out as soon as Yuu opens the front door. He goes in for the hug before realizing that his hands are full with flowers and chocolate, a dilemma that’s solved when she wraps her arms around him and his gifts instead.
“Meguru, you didn’t need to bring me anything! I’m just so happy I get to see you before you fly off to your big tournament.” When she pulls back, Meguru can see her eyes welling up and he can feel his own eyes starting to grow hot.
“Don’t cry or I’m going to cry too!” he says, but it’s no use, they’re both leaking tears as she gathers him back up in her arms. He didn’t realize how much he had missed his mom over the last few months, but her warm scent that’s always overlaid with a touch of paint fumes makes him feel like he’s ten years old, coming home after another lonely day on the soccer field to the one person who would always want him around.
It takes another good five minutes before they’re calm enough to walk inside. Meguru arranges the slightly crushed flowers in a vase while Yuu stores the chocolates in the cupboard for later.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I made reservations for our dinner tonight.”
“Eh? You don’t want me to make my special omurice?” It’s a tradition they’ve held since Meguru was old enough to use the stove by himself. Every year he tried something a little different with the topping: hot dogs, pollock roe, potato chips. Once he tried to make a sweet version with pocky and KitKats, but that didn’t turn out so well.
“Honey,” his mother says with a sigh. “I think you’re old enough to hear this now, but you are a terrible cook.”
“Oh.” He sticks out his bottom lip and focuses back on spreading out the clumped up leaves of the lilies. “I thought you liked my omurice.”
A soft hand reaches out and cups his cheek, forcing him to look down into yellow eyes just like his own. “I love how much care and effort you put into making me feel special, but let’s try something new this year, okay?”
Meguru considers this for a moment before nodding his head. It’s Mother’s Day after all, so she should get to pick what they do, even if he’ll miss having one last dinner together with just the two of them in the privacy of their own home.
“And we can still do everything else we normally do,” she promises, taking the vase away from him to set it on the window sill. “Let’s get ready to go visit Grandma.”
Visiting Grandma always started with a trip to the store to pick out three of the biggest, juiciest peaches before heading home again to pack their bags and get changed.
He hasn’t been in his room for so long that he almost misses the two additions on his table. The packages are neatly wrapped, one in brown paper and the other in a colorful red and pink handkerchief. The tags reveal them to be from Iida and Kame.
His mother's best friends were like typhoons, blowing in and out of their lives with unpredictable frequency and strength. They were both artists with careers that took them all around the world, but they made a point to visit any time they were back in Japan. Kame had been the one who taught him how to throw a punch, despite his mother’s disapproval. Iida had lived with them for a full month once. He remembers her reciting poetry in the kitchen as she made breakfast, always something different every morning. And then he didn’t see her again for a full two years after she jetted off to some island to find herself. They always come back, though, the closest thing to family he has beyond his mother.
He unwraps Iida’s gift first. There’s a short note tucked into the folds of the handkerchief congratulating him on making the U20 team. Beneath it is a little box of painted wood, inside of which sits a delicate blown glass soccer ball. He holds it up to the window, admiring the way the individual sections reflect and refract the light.
Kame’s package is thin and flat and turns out to be more letter than gift. He skims through most of the eight pages, a long rambling musing about growing up and self discovery and finding success in unexpected places until he reaches the end.
I was going to give you money, but I’m sure you’ll have plenty of your own soon, so instead, I’ve included something that will serve you better. Especially in Europe.
Curiosity piqued, he unwraps the foam from the other inclusion and finds himself staring at a variety pack of condoms. He stifles the burst of laughter before his mom can hear and start asking questions. The glass soccer ball goes on the window sill and the condoms get shoved in the far back corner of his closet. He’ll have to figure out what to do with those later.
Meguru’s suit is a little tight around his legs when he puts them on, but it’s too late now for alterations or a new wardrobe. Besides, he’s sure his grandma wouldn’t mind.
He doesn’t remember her very well, even though she took care of him for the first three years of his life while Yuu was still trying to build her career. His most vivid memory of her is riding on the back of her bike when he was five as she brought him to the vegetable market in the morning during one of their visits. She had a little platform mounted behind the seat to hold grocery bags, but it was the perfect size for a skinny boy to perch on as she pedaled through the streets. Once, the tip of his heel had gotten caught in the spokes of the back wheel, taking the skin clean off in a neat circle no bigger than his thumbnail. He’d cried all the way home and had only been appeased when she made him a bowl of sago pudding with big chunks of peach on top, singing softly to him the entire time.
The train ride from Chiba towards the northern outskirts of Tokyo only takes about forty minutes, but the landscape changes dramatically as they veer away from the city. Gleaming metal buildings melt into rolling countryside and solitary trees multiply time over time until patches become vast stretches of forest.
They get off in a little village with no buildings over two stories tall and the sidewalks are covered in dust. Meguru is here no more than a couple hours every year, so he only recognizes the more memorable sights, the bronze statue of a deer at the entrance of the train station, the main promenade paved in dark gray slate, the massive cedar trees that backdrop the houses in every direction.
Yuu, however, walks these streets like second nature. Meguru has a hard time imagining what it would have been like growing up in the country, far from the excitement of the city. Would he have had to leave home that much sooner to play on a youth team or would those dreams have withered away?
“Ah! If it isn’t Yuu-chan!” an old woman propping open the awning outside a little clothing shop calls out as they draw near.
“Tsuchiya-san!” His mother bows and Meguru does the same, peeking at the shopkeeper from beneath his bangs. He tries to place her, but neither her name nor appearance trigger any recognition. “How are you doing? You look well.”
“Just the normal aches and pains of growing old,” Tsuchiya-san replies with a smile before turning her gaze. “Is this Meguru? You’ve gotten so big! The last time I saw you, you were only this tall and you had the roundest cheeks. You were the cutest little boy, but I see you’ve grown into a handsome young man!”
“Oh?” Meguru pats his own face. “I would have been in middle school then.”
“You must be in high school now. Have you started looking at colleges yet?”
In truth, Meguru hasn’t thought one second about school in months. He looks at his mother with a sudden revelation. “Am I a high school drop-out?”
“Honey, you shouldn't put it like that,” she chides, before turning back to the shopkeeper. “Meguru is actually on the national U20 team. He’s a professional soccer player.”
“Am I?” he blurts out, to the amusement of the two women. “Oh, I guess I am.” Now that he was on the national team, he would actually get a paycheck for playing soccer. He wasn’t just another amateur with a dream of going pro anymore. That would take some getting used to. “Professional,” he muses, trying the word out on his tongue. It tastes pretty good.
After a few more minutes, they bid farewell to the nice lady and continue towards their destination.
He follows his mother from one end of the village to the other until they’re standing in front of a stone gate, gray granite gone green with moss. His mother didn’t raise him to be particularly spiritual, but he still bows before entering. As they climb the steps up the mountain, it’s like entering another world. The bustle of the village disappears behind the branches and quiet descends over them like a soft blanket. Looking up, he can catch glimpses of stone plinths peeking through the leaves.
They pay their respects to the temple keeper and stuff a few bills into the offering box before heading through to the back. He remembers where to go from there. Fifteen rows up and twelve plots to the left.
“Hello, Grandmother!” he says with a bright smile as he stands in front of the marker with her name inscribed.
They clean the grave together, pulling weeds and sweeping away the dead leaves. When they’re done, he takes the single lily he has threaded through his buttonhole and sticks it in the opening in the ground meant for incense. The flower smells much nicer.
He kneels down in front of his grandmother and tells her all that’s happened to him in the last year. He can normally finish in a few sentences, but this year, he can’t stop. Every time he thinks he’s done, there’s something else to tell her. So much has happened since the last time he was here. He’s met so many new and exciting people, a few he can even call friends. He tells her about all his teammates and his rivals, from Team Z all the way up to Barcha. He tells her about Chigiri’s hair and Nagi’s laziness and Barou’s intensity. He tells her about Yoichi, how he’s everything he ever imagined his monster to be, but even better in ways that surprise him. And so, so real, with a solid back he can lean on and strong hands to pull him up. His knees are aching and sore by the time he wraps up his story.
“And in a week, I’m flying to Poland to play in the U20 World Cup with the Japanese National Team! It’s going to be so much fun! Next time I see you, I’ll tell you all about Europe, okay?”
When he looks over at his mother to let her know it’s her turn, he finds her smile quivering at the edges.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m just glad to see you so happy,” she says, reaching out to tuck a strand of his hair behind his ear. “You’ve grown up so much in this last year.”
“Kaachan!” Meguru whines, embarrassed now, even though it’s just the two of them here.
“Sorry, sorry!” Yuu laughs. “Here, I’ll go next.”
Meguru shifts into a cross-legged position as he listens to his mom talk about her upcoming exhibition, about the big project she’s been working on for years that might finally come to fruition over the next few months. He knows most of this already after spending all morning together. His ears perk up though, when she starts talking about Blue Lock.
“I was so worried at first. They didn’t tell us anything about what was going on, only that it was a special training camp sanctioned by the JFL. They didn’t let the boys keep their phones so none of the parents really knew what was happening in there. That first month, I was really angry at myself for signing that waiver, knowing that if anything bad happened to Meguru, it was my fault for allowing it.”
“Kaachan,” Meguru says softly as he scooches over and grabs one of her hands. He remembers when he was small, his entire hand would be enveloped in one of hers. Now, though, it's his fingers that nearly go all the way around. She gives him a little smile, but doesn’t stop her narrative.
“One of the kids was the son of the head of Mikage Corporations. His father started a petition to get Blue Lock shut down and one of their representatives showed up at my door trying to get me to sign.”
Meguru listens quietly. He knew that there was a parents’ protest, but he never gave much thought to the pain and grief that inspired it. All his thoughts were on surviving past each elimination, and he can’t bring himself to regret it, no matter how he made his mom worry.
“But then I remembered that look in Meguru’s eyes when he got the invitation letter. Ever since he entered high school, it was like the light inside him was growing dimmer. No matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to bring back the spark for longer than a few moments. But when he got that letter, it was like someone turned the electricity back on. So I told that man to get off my property and that I never wanted to see him again.”
Meguru smiles at the thought of his mother telling off some corporate goon.
“I started searching. I posted on Twitter every day, tagging any soccer-related user I could find. I even made a bunch of TikToks. Eventually I got in contact with the parents of the eliminated kids and found out what happened during those first few weeks. Most of them were really upset, but all I could feel was relief. And I was so, so proud that Meguru was able to succeed where all of them had failed.”
Yuu stops addressing the grave marker now to look directly at him, her smile a mirror of his.
“And then I got to see him play against the Japan U-20 team and I almost didn’t recognize him. Or I did, but it was a him that I hadn’t seen in a while. He looked so happy playing soccer in that game, like he used to when he was a little kid. That night I apologized in my head to Ego-san and Anri-san for every horrible, nasty thought I’d had about them. I was grateful, because no matter how many kids went in only to have their dreams crushed, it was all worth it as long as I got to see Meguru smile like that again.”
“Kaachan,” Meguru says, “that’s so heartless!” But he’s laughing because it is a truly wonderful thing to be loved.
"I’m allowed to be biased,” Yuu answers back, leaning over to press a kiss to his cheek.
They break out the peaches after that. Yuu and Meguru take big bites out of each of their own, letting the juice drip down their fingers onto the stone beneath them. They leave Grandma’s in a shiny red lacquer bowl on the ground next to the lily.
There are a few restaurants in the village but they always end up eating at the same place. The yakisoba stand sits on the sidewalk outside of a bicycle repair shop and the owner still remembers Yuu from when she was a little girl, so he shovels an extra fried egg on top of each of their orders. They eat the noodles from plastic bags while perched on tiny white stools located at the edge of the curb. It’s an awkward, messy affair, with cars whirring past to one side and pedestrians skirting by on the other. Only by divine intervention does Meguru manage to keep any sauce off his white shirt. If some ends up on the dark fabric of his pants, no one has to know.
Yuu produces moist towelettes from her purse and proceeds to wipe down Meguru’s fingers like he’s still five and he fidgets the entire time, protesting that he can do it himself. She only hums and ignores him until all ten fingers are squeaky clean.
There’s a park on the south side of the village, which is a fancy way of describing a path built along the edges of a natural lake, with paving stones as old as they are uneven. The concrete that’s been poured between them is missing in large chunks, though the foot traffic is enough to keep weeds from growing in the gaps. Meguru remembers losing countless soccer balls in the lake as a kid, when he would insist on bringing one everywhere. He’d kick it across the uneven surface of the walkway, giggling as it bounced in unexpected directions. He was about ten or eleven before he could make it all the way around without landing the ball in the water. He kind of wishes he had one now, but it’s also nice to have this time, just him and his mom.
He’s not sure how long it will be before they see each other again. Ego might give them another break after the U20 tournament is over, but he could just as likely have something else already planned. Even if he doesn’t, Meguru has an offer from Barcelona sitting in his back pocket. Not literally, of course, but there is a PDF out there with a sample contract with his name written on the same line as Fútbol Club Barcha. There’s another offer too, from the Kawasaki Breakerz, but he already knows which one he’s going to take once his time with Blue Lock is over.
“I’ll visit you as often as you can stand me,” Yuu promises. “Though I’m sure you’ll be too busy with your exciting new life in Spain to want your mom around very often.”
“I’ll always want you around!”
“You won’t, and that’s a good thing, Meguru,” Yuu insists. “How many times in the last few months did you wish I was there with you, hm?”
He considers it for a moment before admitting she’s right. He hadn’t wished himself home even once, but Barcelona is a completely different story. It’s on the opposite side of the world, where he barely understands the language and doesn’t know how anything works and most importantly, “In Blue Lock, I had Yoichi and Chigiri and Kunigami and Aryu and Toki and everyone else. They won’t be there in Spain.”
“So is it Yoichi now?”
Meguru can feel his ears go red. He hadn’t meant to say that out loud. The only times he’s dared to use his first name have been to tease him during a match. The rest of the time he was still just Isagi, even if in his head he’s been Yoichi for a while.
“I’m glad you found such a good friend.” Yuu reaches over and ruffles his hair.
“But I-” Meguru takes a moment to make his tongue work properly again. “I don’t usually call him that.”
“Maybe that’ll change soon, don’t you think?” she says in a thoughtful way that makes the hairs stand up on the back of his neck.
“I don’t see why it would.”
“Well,” she says, glancing over at him with a smile, “You could always ask him to call you by your first name and maybe he’ll reciprocate.”
“But that would be like saying-” He brain skips forward several steps and he has to force himself to rewind. Oh. Oh . Today is a day full of revelations.
“You don’t need to be embarrassed about your crush,” Yuu says gently.
Meguru twists around to look at her so fast he nearly trips over the next dip in the path. “How did you know?” He hadn’t even figured it out until a few seconds ago.
“You’re not very subtle, honey,” Yuu says, wry smile on her face.
Her statement sets up a quiet panic in his chest. “If you know,” he says with a sinking feeling in his stomach, “then do you think Yoichi knows as well?”
“I have no idea,” she says with a shrug. “That’s something you’d have to ask him.”
“I can’t do that!”
Yuu looks over her shoulder at him where he’s stopped in his tracks. “Why not?”
“Because he’s my best friend!” Meguru finds his hands clenched in the front of his shirt, wrinkling the already distressed white linen even more. “I don’t want that to change.”
“Meguru,” she chides, stopping and turning around to face him. “Since when were you afraid of trying something different?”
The answer comes to him without thought. “Since I found something I’m afraid to lose.”
Yuu sighs and holds out her hand to him. Meguru is a little hesitant but he takes it and lets her tug him back into motion. “I saw you two together on tv, when you played against the Japan U20 team and a little bit during the NEL. You looked really close.”
“I know I’ve only known him for six months, but it feels like I’ve known him forever.” Meguru still remembers that first moment when he saw Yoichi standing there over Igarashi with his foot paused over the ball, that feeling of recognition even though they had never spoken a word to each other.
Yuu smiles. “It’s wonderful, isn’t it, meeting people like that?”
Meguru is stunned by the implication. “That’s something that just keeps happening?”
“Yes, if you let it,” Yuu replies. “It’s only happened a couple times in my life, but they’ve always become some of my closest friends. It was like that with Iida and Kame.”
“Was it like that with Hachiro?” Meguru hated saying that name. It meant nothing to him, but it always brought something brittle into his mother’s eyes.
“No. It wasn’t.” Her words are firm, but not sad or angry. She turns to him then, pulling him to a halt. “Listen, Meguru, the people worth having in your life won’t leave you just because you tell them something they don’t want to hear.”
Meguru bites the inside of his cheek. His mother is usually right about these things, but it took so long for him to find Yoichi that the thought of losing him is just too sad, even if it's for the better.
Then again, it wasn’t like he needed to worry about that right now. After the break, they’d be launching straight into one last week of intensive team practice before flying to Poland and he’s sure he won’t have time to think about any of this during the U20 World Cup itself. He probably wouldn’t even have a chance to talk to Yoichi alone until after that, and maybe not even then.
They finish the walk with no more mention of crushes or loss or inevitable change. Instead, Meguru tells her about the teams they’re expecting to face and which ones seem the most fun to play against. And defeat, of course, because Meguru is going to show the world that his way of playing soccer is the best.
It’s mid afternoon when they make it back to the cut-off towards the village. Normally, they’d head home for a few hours of rest before dinner, but Yuu mentions that the restaurant she made reservations at is in Koto City, so it wouldn’t make sense to go back to Chiba first.
“Koto City?” Meguru asks. “I would have expected you to pick somewhere trendier.”
Yuu shrugs. “It was a recommendation from a friend.”
They end up at a movie theater halfway back into the city. Unfortunately, they’d been too preoccupied with finding one that was close to a station to check the show listings before they got off the train. Instead of picking between Doraemon, Avengers, and Fly me to Saitama, they’re faced with a slate of European films that neither of them has ever heard of.
“Are any of them in Spanish?” Meguru asks the clerk, eager to practice his listening skills. There’s only one that fits the bill, a film called Pain and Glory released a few months earlier.
That’s how he finds himself riveted by the story of a man facing his own physical decline against a backdrop of disappointment and lost connections. He’s not sure he understands it all correctly, but a few scenes are unmistakable. A letter from his first love is found decades after its intended receipt, when the opportunity to reconnect has withered away to impossibility.
He’s grateful that Yuu doesn’t mention anything as they walk back out afterwards into the sun. He’s half distracted for the entire ride to Koto City, thinking about the man, Salvador’s, choice not to pursue either of his lost lovers. It made sense in their given context - none of them were the same people they were when they parted. Still, he can’t help but think what would have happened if they never had to part in the first place. What if love really had been enough?
“Wake up, Meguru, we’re here,” his mother says with a shake to his shoulder. He must have been so quiet that she assumed he’d fallen asleep. He doesn’t bother correcting her.
The sun has already begun to set, casting the streets in shades of blue and purple. They head downtown, where the sidewalks are still full of people from lone businessmen rushing about on their phones to groups of teenagers who walk so slowly they block the flow of traffic.
“Have you been here before?” he asks his mother as she navigates with apparent confidence.
“Just a few times, to meet up with a new friend.”
“Your artist friends dragged you out here to Koto instead of Ginza or Asakusa? How old-fashioned!”
Yuu nudges him with her elbow. “Who said they were artists? I have other friends too, you know. And we meet here because it’s a good halfway point between where we live. Ah, here we are!”
They stop in front of a large building with a flat gray facade, though the doors are made of warm stained wood and large glass panels. Yuu stops him before they go in, pulling a comb through his hair and straightening his collar to turn the day’s mess into some semblance of order.
“Ready? I think you’ll like this place!” she says when she finally deems him acceptable.
“Oh? Is the food really good?”
“It’s not bad, but that’s not what I think you’ll like,” she says mysteriously. “Come on, I don’t want to ruin the surprise!”
Meguru’s interest is officially piqued as they walk in through the front door into the reception area. Immediately he can hear something curious coming from behind the wall separating the lobby from the dining room. Laughter. Splashes. And a briny smell that speaks of the sea.
They only wait a few moments as the hostess looks up their reservation and then Meguru is greeted with one of the coolest interiors he has ever seen. Wood planks shaped into the bow of a boat rises from the center of the floor with diners seated at tables along the rail. Around it on three sides are tanks of water brimming with fish and people wielding fishing rods and nets as they try their skills.
“I’ve heard of this place!” Meguru grasps onto his mother’s shoulders and jumps a little. “You eat whatever you manage to catch!”
“Yes! You never know what you’ll get! You might want snapper and end up with bream or bass! And there’s no refund,” Yuu explains. “Once you hook the fish, it’s yours.”
“Ok, you win,” he admits as they follow the hostess past the tanks to their table. “This is better than omurice.”
“See?” she teases. “Your mother is always right.”
The dining room isn't particularly large, but Meguru’s focus is solely on the fishing area, so he doesn’t notice who is sitting at the table next to theirs until a familiar voice calls his name.
“Bachira?”
He freezes in his steps and looks down to see warm blue eyes smiling up at him.
“Isagi?”
“Ah! Iyo!” his mother squeals. “Did we have the same thought to take our boys here for Mother’s Day?”
“It seems like it!” The woman sitting with Yoichi stands up and gives his mother a hug.
“This is perfect! We can try more dishes this way. Did you order yet? Oh, can we push our tables together?”
The last question is directed at the hostess who smiles and nods. There’s a crowded, awkward shuffle as they try to rearrange the seating without disturbing the other diners before Meguru finds himself sitting next to the boy who’s come up so many times that day, it’s as if he’d summoned him there with his thoughts.
“We really can’t get away from each other, can we?” Yoichi asks with a smile as they both lift up their menus.
“I swear if this is something our mothers planned and kept secret all day then I hope they only catch the smallest, most flavorless fish!” Meguru glances over the top of the menu to glare at the two older women who are laughing at something on one of their phones.
Yoichi chuckles. “I don’t think my mom would do that. I didn’t know they knew each other, though.”
“Me neither!” Meguru feels a little betrayed. Why would Yuu leave that out?
The waitress comes by to take their drink orders and suddenly the menus are no longer an effective barrier.
“I’m glad I get to meet you, Yoichi-kun!” Yuu says, reaching across the table to offer her hand to shake.
“Same to you, Bachira-san.”
“Well that’ll get confusing, dontcha think? Call me Yuu. After all, I think we’ll be good friends, especially with you taking such good care of my Meguru out there.”
“Kaachan!” Meguru protests.
“Actually,” Yoichi says, glancing over at him with a smile, “It’s the other way around. Playing with Bachira always gives me the courage to do better.”
Meguru perks up at that and decides to steal some of that courage for himself. “Yuu was right about that being confusing, you know. You should call me Meguru for tonight!”
His friend takes the suggestion in stride, not blinking an eye as he agrees. “Alright, then you should call me Yoichi.”
Meguru’s heart sings a little. “I’ll do that, Yoichi!”
They discuss what they all want to eat before deciding on one tempura, one grilled fish, a plate of sashimi, a shellfish soup, and deep-fried mantis shrimp. When the conversation turns to division of labor, Iyo tugs at her sweater and says, “Oh, I’m not very good at fishing. I’m afraid I’ll just mess up our dinner. Yoichi, would you please take care of my portion?”
“What a good idea!” Yuu exclaims. “What’s the point of having two big strong sons if we can’t make them do all the work. Meguru, make sure you get us the biggest, tastiest fish!”
“Okay, okay,” Meguru agrees, pushing his chair back. “Looks like it’s just the two of us then!” he says, ignoring the quickening of his heart as Yoichi gets up to stand next to him.
“Like old times, huh?” Yoichi knocks their shoulders together as they head towards the tanks. The attendant hands them their tools and points out which fish they’re looking for before leaving them to it.
Meguru stabs the hook into the bait and drops his line into the water, sticking his tongue out in concentration as he watches for the right fish to come along.
“So,” Yoichi says as he does the same in the next tank over, drawing Meguru out of his immersion. “You didn’t seem too happy to see me earlier.”
Meguru jerks his head up to look at his profile. “Why do you say that?”
Yoichi shrugs without looking up. “Just the feeling I got.”
“I was just surprised.” Meguru turns his attention back to his own fishing rod, fiddling with the reel, but no matter how much he tries, he can’t focus back on the task at hand. All he can think about is the absurd turn of events that has Yoichi standing next to him on the one day they were supposed to spend apart. There’s a voice in his head that sounds a little like his mother and a little like the Spanish man in the movie but mostly like himself. It says This might be your last chance . It says You don’t want to find yourself in Spain living in retrospect . It says Do not be afraid of change .
“Actually,” Meguru says, turning to look back at his fishing partner. “There’s something I wanted to ask you.”
Yoichi actually looks up at that, curiosity in his gaze. “What is it?”
Meguru takes a deep breath and goes for it. “Did you know I have a crush on you?”
The silence that follows is oppressive. It shuts out every single sight and sound of the bustling restaurant until all Meguru can see or hear is the boy standing in front of him. Yoichi blinks once, then twice, eyes unfocused, before finally saying something. “Oh.”
“Yoichi!” Meguru can’t help but whine. “What does that mean?” He needs to know what to feel right now, whether that’s disappointment or hope or joy or grief. He can’t just have all of them swirling around inside him at once, building up pressure until he pops.
“Oh!” Isagi says again, really looking at Meguru this time. “No, I didn’t know.” He reaches up with one hand and scratches at the back of his head. “But I guess that makes sense.”
“Makes sense?” Meguru wants to reach out and shake him until he starts making sense.
“You don’t treat me the same way you do Chigiri or Kunigami,” Yoichi explains. “I thought it was just because we’re best friends. Everyone’s closer with their best friend than they are with their other friends, right? And I've never met anyone like you! You're so different from any friend I’ve had before, so I thought that was all it was.”
Meguru sifts through his words like he usually has to when Yoichi gets analytical. Sometimes he just gives up and charges forward, but this time, he really tries to pick out what he’s saying.
“So,” he starts slowly, “does that mean we’re still best friends?”
Yoichi cocks his head to one side. “Why wouldn’t we be?”
Relief floods through Meguru as he abandons his fishing pole to wrap his arms around Yoichi from behind, letting his chin drop onto his shoulder. “I’m glad. Now I won't have to explode into a million little pieces.”
“You’re so weird,” Yoichi says with a chuckle.
“I was worried you wouldn’t want to be friends anymore if you knew.”
“I wouldn’t do that, even if I didn’t like you,” Yoichi says breezily. “Oh, a bite!” There’s a flurry of excitement and too much shouting and laughter as Yoichi pulls up the yellowtail dangling from the end of his line. Meguru tries to help with catching it in the net, but he really only succeeds in getting water all over his sleeves before the attendant comes by to give them a hand.
His heart is pounding by the time the fish has been spirited away to be cleaned and filleted and he grins over at Isagi whose face is a little red where he managed to get himself slapped by the tail in the commotion.
“We just have to do that three more times!”
“I hope we get better at it.” Yoichi rubs the mark on his face.
“Practice, practice, practice! Not like we’re not used to that!” Meguru stretches his arms out to roll up the wet ends of his shirt sleeves. He’s taken up his own fishing rod again by the time Isagi’s last words register in his mind. His head snaps sideways as his mouth falls open. “You like me too?”
Yoichi looks up from where he’s resetting his bait. His smile is genuine and sweet. “Of course I do.”
Meguru’s heart bursts in his chest, releasing a wave of delight that warms him from head to toe. This time when he hugs Yoichi, it’s from the front, and he revels in the feeling of being held back, even if the end of Yoichi's fishing pole digs into his side. It only lasts a few minutes, though, before Yoichi pulls away just far enough to look him in the eyes.
“Come on, we can talk about this later. Right now, we have dinner to catch.”
Meguru nods in agreement, though he doesn’t make any moves to step away. He can only stand there, beaming at Yoichi. Now, later, none of that mattered. They’re in this together, just like they have been from day one, but with the promise of something else, undefined and full of potential, hanging in their future. Nothing could make him happier.
“Meguru, I’m disappointed.” His mother’s voice snaps him back to reality. “Not only are you slacking, but you’re distracting Yoichi too?” She tuts and with her hands on her hips.
“We came to help,” Iyo adds, voice gentle, “Since it was taking you a while.”
“I’m sorry we’re making you wait!” Yoichi says quickly as they untangle themselves from each other.
“Here!” Meguru shoves his fishing rod in his mother’s hands. “I’m going to go get a hook. I bet I’ll catch the next one!”
“You’re already down one-zero,” Yoichi calls out after him. “I won’t let you catch up!”
“Just watch me!”
Meguru does manage to hook the next fish, but it’s Yuu that ends up beating them all, catching two in quick succession while Iyo picks through the shrimp and clams and mussels to round out their selection.
The food comes out in waves and Meguru thinks this might be the best meal he’s had in his whole life. It might be that the restaurant truly has the best seafood chef in all of Tokyo, or it’s Yoichi’s foot knocking against his under the table and his smile every time Meguru looks up. He’s giddy all through the night, even as they’re hugging good-bye, because he knows he’ll get to see him again tomorrow and every day after that.
He practically skips down the sidewalk on their way to the train station, stopping to swing around lamp posts and dance atop benches.
“I’m guessing something must have gone well,” his mother says as they wait on the platform.
As an answer, Meguru grabs her by her waist and whirls her around in a circle. “He likes me too,” he says, a little breathless, as he sets her down again.
“Oh, Meguru! That’s wonderful!” She reaches over and smooths down his hair. “You really have grown up,” she says again, wistful.
This time, Meguru doesn’t shy away from it. His world is changing so fast and in ways he can never predict. If he looks at her, really looks at her, he can see his mother is changing too. There are streaks of white in her hair now, and laugh lines on her cheeks. But the way she tucks his hair behind his ears is the same. The same smile. The same care.
He doesn’t know where he’ll be this time next year. He doesn’t know who he’ll be. He does know this. He will be grateful for everything she has given him and, no matter where or who or how, he will find a way to celebrate Mother’s Day with her again.
"Motherhood is the biggest gamble in the world.
It is the glorious life force.
It's huge and scary—it's an act of infinite optimism."
—Gilda Radner