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“Those three actually want to go to school? Good for them, I guess.”
“‘I guess’—!? It’s a way bigger deal than that!” Ayano pleaded. “This is their first time ever!”
It was a random Sunday morning when she brought it up to me—not only that, but a passing comment. How else did she expect me to react? If it was supposed to be some grand unveiling, there were better ways of bringing it up than a random mention on our way back from the reinstated department store. Not only that, but the first thing she says after three whole minutes of silence.
“I mean, it’s not like I have any complaints. There shouldn’t be any problems with their ‘eyes’ anymore, right? If they want to go at it then let them.”
Pulling pranks with those powers might’ve been quite fun, especially for Kano. A shame he’ll never get that chance. At the same time, isn’t this what they’ve always wanted? Hearing their stories an endless number of times will never amount to what it must’ve been like to live through being treated as monsters. All the more reason why the dear older sister of those three shouldn’t be as downcast as she was when I’d found her.
To be honest, I wouldn’t understand why anyone would want to sit through monotonous lectures for a couple hours. What’s worse was when nothing the teacher said got through to those idiots. The life of a shut-in has done me well in that regard; I’ve never missed school. At least those three will get to see how it is for themselves.
“Well, I don’t really have any problems with them going either—I’m happy for them in fact—but...”
“...But what?”
Ayano paused. “What am I going to do without them around the house?”
Huh?
“Marry’ll still be home with me and all, but I’m going to miss having them around. I’m finally reunited with them and now they’re leaving me behind to their teenage responsibilities. I want stuff to do too... it’s not fair.”
That’s, uh, pretty childish of her. I wasn’t expecting her to respond that way at all. Actually, it was possible that so much time has passed that I’d forgotten she had that kind of side to her.
What an ironic thought from someone who used to ‘retain’.
“Hey, Shintaro?” She suddenly called my name. “Do you think I can find a way to re-enroll into high school...?”
“Get a job!” I leaned toward her to yell.
“I don’t wanna... I’m still young and sixteen.”
“You’re the same age as me! No, even older if we’re going by...”
I elected not to continue my sentence. It was in my best interest that I stopped there; neither of us wanted to delve into that topic.
“...A-anyways, you shouldn’t be worried about them. Momo is around their age, so they’d have at least one friend.”
“Isn’t she from another school?”
“Oh. About that...”
I brought to Ayano’s attention that Momo was interested in transferring schools in the coming semester. I overheard her mentioning to Mom that she wanted something of a fresh slate from her idol origins; her classmates still seemed to pester her about it even with the snake’s influence long gone. If Momo knew her precious Mekakushi Dan was looking to enroll somewhere, she’d probably stop hesitating and do it.
“So, how about that? They might even look to her for advice about how school works.” I glanced at Ayano, only to find her pouting.
“That could be nice—wait, how well does she do on tests again? I might need her to tutor them.”
Oh.
That completely slipped my mind. In that regard, Momo would be the one looking to them. It wasn’t like the crane-folding expert I’d been talking with was any better though.
“Nevermind that. The four—er, three—of them will probably do fine if you’re worried about academics.”
“That’s not the problem here! I know they will, but I can’t help but still feel... I don’t know, anxious about it.”
“Like I said, go get a job. That apartment isn’t free, and I imagine Seto will have a hard time balancing school and his part-time jobs. You should help him out if you’re so worried. It’ll calm your nerves.”
“You keep telling me to get a job, but how about you? What are you doing now—just for reference?”
Ayano mentioned the one thing a shut-in never wanted to hear. Bringing up such topics could only lead to them being turned back on me, given my predicament for the past few years. A NEET would crumble immediately upon hearing that ‘j’ word.
Yet, I couldn’t help but smirk.
The old me would’ve lamented hearing that, but I was a changed man. She didn’t know that I’d been blazing the road to stardom as we spoke. It wouldn’t be long before I graduated from my duty as guardian of the Kisaragi home.
“I’m glad you asked that,” I haughtily laughed. “As of yesterday, my name has been put on the map! My debut song has been published online!”
Even Ayano’s hard-to-please attitude was blown away in the presence of my greatness. She clapped in awe at my accomplishment—or should I say, the manifestation of my destiny.
“Congratulations!”
“Thank you, thank you. There’s only been ten views for now, but that number will soon grow to the thousands! After all, everyone who's seen it has given it a like without fail!”
They’ve undoubtedly seen my potential. In a couple of years, those initial viewers will be bragging about how they’ve watched me grow as an artist. My songs will take the world by storm, starting with this one hit!
“So that’s why you bought all that stuff?” Ayano took a quick look at my bag.
“Yep. The keyboard incident from back then only made me realize how outdated my gear was, so I figured it was time to upscale my whole setup. Still, I didn’t expect to find you there...”
Now that I think about it... why was she at the department store? It wasn’t like she’d bought anything for herself, more so that she’d been sitting absent-mindedly to the side of a vending machine. If I didn’t recognize her on the floor, would she have stayed there all day?
As if reading my mind, Ayano somberly smiled at me. “I guess... my problem’s that I’m not quite used to this. I’ve waited for such a long time, and now that I’m finally here with everyone again, I... I don’t know how I feel. It makes me happy that you know what you want to do. I just wish I could be as driven as you.”
The giggle she forced afterward had put everything into place. For as dense as I could be, even this was unforgivable. Such an obvious question had been placed in front of me. If I’d considered Ayano’s circumstances at all, I would’ve known what was actually on her mind. That misunderstanding of my friends was what pushed me to closing myself off to begin with—hadn’t I learned anything since then?
It wasn’t about Kido, Seto, or Kano going to school. It was about her and the school years she’d lost.
She, as well as Enomoto and Haruka, were fundamentally different from me. I got to live while they were... killed or otherwise. Even if I chose to give up my high school life, they never had the same liberty. Their school lives were stolen from them; what should’ve been their best days were suddenly past them, and all they could do was accept that. Things might’ve ended up alright this time, but that doesn’t change their tragedy.
“Oh,” was all I could offer in response.
Debut song or not, I’m still the same Shintaro I was from the countless other routes we traveled down. I took too long, and not enough apologies in the world could fix that.
I try to think of my next approach to satiate Ayano’s doubts, but halt upon a realization. I recognized the feeling of this winding pavement beneath me. She froze as well before our gazes drifted to meet one another.
“Hey, this road is...”
...the one from that time. Only, rather than the sun dyeing the sky a fine shade of crimson, it was still a bright shade of blue. It was hardly even the afternoon yet. Just like back then, I’d been on the right side, while Ayano the left.
We both knew to turn towards one another by habit. Ayano held onto her smile, though it seemed a tad brighter than it was seconds ago. I couldn’t tell what expression I had, only that my cheeks were quite warm.
Once I came to my senses, I broke our gaze. Ayano bashfully did the same.
“It’s all over now, huh...” She uttered such wistful words to me.
“That’s right.”
—That was my answer to both her and the reflective thoughts in my mind. It happened, and that was all; everything was finished now. Our grand adventure spanning countless cycles of twists and turns had been all wrapped up. That stunning, slithering story was behind us.
All there was to do now was move forward.
“...Let’s get going.”
“Y-yeah,” Ayano hesitantly agreed. “That’s in the past now, right?”
The wind gently brushed against the side of my face as if to urge us along. The brief reminiscence we had was special, but that was all it’d been—a brief reminiscence. We can always remember those days, but never reclaim them. Otherwise, this route would be no different than the ones prior.
We returned to our prior positions, only not too long later, my free hand was wrapped in hers.
“...Thanks for talking to me. I still don’t know what I want to do, but I get the sense it’ll be alright somehow.”
I wanted to give Ayano a cool reply, but couldn’t. The words just wouldn’t form the way I imagined them to, made all the worse by my face melting into some weird abomination by the second. I stammered and stuttered quietly to myself, praying she wouldn’t turn my way to ask about what I was trying to tell her.
That feeling went on for longer than I liked. At least, until Ayano broke our silence with another passing comment similar to the one which started our conversation.
“Ah, that reminds me. I still haven’t sent that video to Haruka-san yet.”
Her casual reply stopped my weird behaviors in their tracks.
“What do you mean...?”
A giggle. “I know right? I thought he’d be the first person Takane-san would message, but she came to me instead to ask me to send it for her and—”
“—Not that, I mean, what video???”
An idea briefly forms in my head; I cringe at the thought of it being real.
“Your song! Takane-san sent it to all of us, so we had to watch and show our support! Didn’t she tell you she’d be doing that?”
“So those views and supportive comments weren’t from the humble denizens of the web, but you guys!?”
My newfound confidence crumples on the spot. I hadn’t made an impact on anyone at all—I was simply the recipient of their handouts.
With a bright smile on her face, Ayano turned to face me. “Yeah! Did you read the one I wrote? I’m proud of it!”