Chapter 18

While walking around in circles in his bedroom, Shuya listened to the sound of his clock ticking. How many days had passed? It wasn’t even that long and it wasn’t even like they ended on bad terms that day at the resort, but it still stung in his heart whenever he thought about it.

I’ll see her tomorrow in school anyway, thought Shuya and stopped his endless strolling. Why am I even freaking out?

Suddenly, the sound of a phone ringing made him jump up high, and he nearly dropped his phone in the process of answering.

“Yes?” said Shuya, forgetting to even look at the caller ID beforehand. 

“Dude, what’s with the greeting?” Shuya heard Yusuke’s voice speak over the phone. 

“Sorry, I was a little distracted just now,” said Shuya and decided to sit down on his bed, hoping it would help him relax a little. 

“I was wondering if you had any plans today, it’s the last day before school begins again,” said Yusuke and continued. “We should make the most of it before we have to go back to that place.”

Shuya stayed quiet for a short while, finding it hard to think seriously about Yusuke’s proposal as several other thoughts still occupied his mind.

“So,” said Yusuke, when he got tired of waiting. “Are you coming?”

“What, yeah, sure,” said Shuya. “Have you heard from Iyori?”

“Iyori?” asked Yusuke, his voice sounding a little confused. “Not since the day we were at the beach. She wrote in the group chat later at night to let us know the birth went well. I haven’t heard anything from her since, why?”

“Oh… no reason,” said Shuya quickly.

“Are you still thinking about what happened that day?” asked Yusuke out of nowhere.

“What?”

“I mean, getting into a fight in front of the girl you like really isn’t the best move, so I get that you’re worried,” continued Yusuke.

“Girl I like… worried… Yusuke, what are you talking about?” said Shuya and heard a deep sigh coming from the other end of the call.

“Are you really gonna try and deny it? To me?” said Yusuke and Shuya tried to come up with something to say, but Yusuke quickly continued:

“Nevermind that, tell me what happened that day after you got into the fight.”

“What happened?” said Shuya, mostly to himself as he tried to recollect the events. He briefly explained what happened back at the resort, how Iyori scolded him for what he did. How she told him to never get into a fight again and how he promised to not do that. 

“That sounds like it ended well between you two, in spite of everything,” said Yusuke.

“I know! But then why hasn’t she been in touch?” said Shuya hastily, before he was even aware of what he said. “I mean… we… it’s not like we talk every day… but we usually study together… I mean, I tutor her…”

“Do you really think she wants to study during the last few days of her summer holiday?” asked Yusuke.

“I guess not…” said Shuya and the conversation suddenly came to a halt. 

“Look, I can tell you won’t be able to focus on anything else before you get this sorted out, so why don’t you just call her?” said Yusuke after a little while.

“Call her?” 

“Yes, call her, like you call up any normal human being when you want to talk to them,” said Yusuke in an ironic tone. “Do that, call her, get things sorted out and then come hang out with me.” The last part of Yusuke’s sentence finally brought Shuya out of his dace and he chuckled slightly.

“Do you really want to hang out that much?”

“YES!” yelled Yusuke and Shuya felt a smile creeping up on his face.

“Fine, I’ll call her, for you,” said Shuya and both of them laughed. “I’ll let you know when I’m on my way.”

“Great!”

After ending the call, Shuya looked at his phone and found Iyori’s contact. He hesitated a bit before calling. Was she busy? Was that why she hadn’t contacted him? Would she be annoyed if he called? Should he just wait until tomorrow? What was the right thing to do?

Just what are you thinking about, what are you doing right now? Thought Shuya to himself. Are you thinking about me or am I the only one?

***

Iyori looked at the water running from the hose,running at the same constant speed, while Iyori held her finger underneath it, waiting for it to turn cold. When it finally reached the desired temperature, Iyori reached out and grabbed the glass she had placed on the counter next to her, whereafter she filled it with cold water. She turned off the hose, and was just about to leave the kitchen, when she felt her phone vibrating. She quickly put down the glass and pulled out her phone instead.

“Hello,” said Iyori after picking up, but there was nothing but silence. She pulled the phone away from her ear for a moment, to check if the call was connected, but everything looked fine.

“Hello?” said Iyori again.

“Ah yes… hello,” said Shuya finally. “Sorry to bother you… um…” Iyori nearly fell backwards when she heard Shuya speak. ‘Sorry to bother you’? Never did she think she would hear those polite words coming from his mouth.

“I was just wondering if you were okay. If… we were okay…” Shuya’s voice was soft and low, making it hard for Iyori to hear everything he was saying.

“I’m not sure I understand,” said Iyori loud and clear, giving Shuya a bit of a kick to speak up too.

“You have been completely off the grid since the beach, I know things ended on a good note between us, at least that’s what I thought, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe you look at me differently now.”

“What?” said Iyori after listening to Shuya’s rant. “Why would I look at you differently? You’re just as annoying as you’ve always been.” 

“Annoying?” said Shuya, a little insulted, but he didn’t allow himself to get off track. “No, that’s not what I meant. I mean... I just want to make sure... you don’t... hate me now... right?”

“Hate you?” said Iyori. “Why would I–”

“Nevermind, it was stupid of me to call.”

“No wait, if this is about what I said, then I’m sorry. I just spoke without thinking,” said Iyori, her voice a lot softer, which made Shuya’s heart calm down a little. “I don’t hate you. Why would I? Sure, I was shocked that day, I didn’t like what I saw. But we talked it out, didn’t we? And you promised me never to get into a fight again, didn’t you?”

“I did,” said Shuya. “I’m glad you don’t hate me, but... why haven’t I heard from you at all?”

“Ah... I’ve just been a little busy looking after my sister-in-law. Even though everything went well in the end, I don’t want her to strain herself, so I want to give an extra hand at home before I go back to school.”

“That’s nice of you,” said Shuya. “And what about your studies?”

“Please don’t mention that, at least let me wait until tomorrow to worry about my studies,” said Iyori, already sounding tired by the mention of it.

“Okay, let’s not talk about it now,” said Shuya. “Anyway, I just called to make sure everything was okay. Seems like it is, so I’ll just see you tomorrow in school.”

“Sure, see you tomorrow,” said Iyori and ended the call. After putting her phone back in her pocket, she took the glass from earlier and walked into the living room.

Aiko was sitting quietly by herself in the arm chair, rocking the little baby girl back and forth in her arms, with the TV turned on in the background.

“Here,” said Iyori and put the glass down in front of Aiko. Aiko finally took notice of Iyori and looked at her in confusion.

“Did I ask you to bring me water? I don’t remember that,” said Aiko.

“No, you didn’t. I was a bit thirsty myself and I thought you might want something too.” Aiko looked at Iyori with a soft smile while Iyori tried to divert her eyes.

“Thank you, that was kind of–” Before Aiko could finish her sentence, Iyori had already left the living room. Aiko just smiled even brighter and took a sip water.

“Was that Iyori I just saw?” said Hina as she curiously stuck her head into the living room.

“It was,” said Aiko. “That was the second time today she brought me water without me even asking for it.” 

“I think she’s worried about you,” said Hina while walking further into the living room.

“There’s really no need, I’m fine,” said Aiko.

“What do you want me to do? If she’s worried, she’s worried. Just enjoy it,” said Hina and shrugged her shoulders. “Anyway, I’m gonna go out to shop for dinner. Will you two be alright until then?”

“Of course,” said Aiko. “Off you go.” Aiko waved goodbye to Hina, and soon after she head the front door opening and closing.

While the TV kept going, the sound so low Aiko could barely hear it, as she was afraid any loud noises would wake up the little girl, she watched the same boring news playing over and over again. Corruption, war, sickness. There was barely any good news among them, and even if there had been any, the news stations would never feature them. Good news simply doesn’t sell.

Even still, Aiko continued to sigh every time she watched the news, wondering what kind of world she would be bringing her daughter up to live in. In the end, she reached out for the remote and started browsing through the channels. But it didn’t matter what channel she changed to, everywhere was filled with negativity, and in the end she simply turned off the TV and put the remote back on the table.

“Rather watch nothing, than watching something so depressing,” said Aiko. She looked down at the little girl who had opened her eyes just a tiny little bit. She wasn’t entirely asleep and not entirely awake either.

“Don’t worry,” whispered Aiko to the little girl. “The world isn’t all bad. Actually, there’s a lot of good people in it, like your aunt Iyori.”

“Did you call for me?” Aiko looked up in surprise and saw Iyori standing right next to her. Then she looked down at her hands and saw a plate with an omelet on it.  

“Your lunch?” asked Aiko with a smile, but she quickly got confused when Iyori handed her the plate.

“No, yours,” said Iyori.

“Really? You didn’t have to do that,” said Aiko, although she happily accepted the food.

“It’s fine, I had nothing to do anyway,” said Iyori. “Anyways... I’ll go...” Iyori spun around on her heel and was about to leave when Aiko spoke up again.

“You don’t have to worry about me, you know.” Iyori turned around again and looked at Aiko while she continued: “Just because I had a c-section, doesn’t mean you have to fuss over me this much.”

“I’m not fussing over you...” said Iyori firmly.

“Really?” said Aiko and Iyori nodded her head. “Well... that’s fine then. Thank you for the omelet.”

“You’re welcome,” said Iyori.

“Wait, before you leave,” said Aiko quickly. “It’s a bit difficult to eat with this one in my arms. Would you mind holding her while I eat?” Iyori looked down at the little baby girl, who looked back at her with a huge eyes.

“Me?” said Iyori nervously.

“Don’t worry, she won’t bite,” said Aiko and laughed.

“Okay then...” said Iyori, still a bit reluctant. She walked closer to Aiko and reached out her arms. Aiko gently guided the baby girl to her and told her how to hold her closely to her body. After the transition, Iyori slowly sat down on the sofa, next to the arm chair Aiko was sitting in.

“She likes you,” said Aiko. “Look, she’s smiling.” Iyori looked down at the girl again, and true enough, she really was smiling.

“Did you choose a name yet?” asked Iyori while still looking at the girl.

“Not yet, but we have a few names we're considering,” said Aiko.

“Can I hear?”

“Sure. We talked about the name Reina, or Mei,” said Aiko. “Oh, and we also talked about Natsumi.”

“Natsu, like summer?” said Iyori, referring to the kanji it was spelled with. 

“Yes, and Mi as in beautiful.”

“That fits her so well, a beautiful summer child.

“You’re right,” said Aiko and looked at her daughter. “I’ll have to see if I can persuade Haruki, he was a bigger fan of Reina.”

“No, please don’t let my opinion mean anything,” said Iyori quickly.

“Why not? I like the name Natsumi a lot, it’ll always make me think back on this wonderful summer I got to spend with all of you,” said Aiko and looked right into Iyori’s eyes. “Besides, I think Haruki will come around when he hears that his little sister likes that name so much.”

“Do you really think so?” said Iyori. “I don’t even know if Haruki and I have that kind of relationship. I mean, there’s a 7 year age gap.”

“Haruki cares about you girls a lot more than he lets on, he just isn’t very good at showing it, “ said Aiko. “I actually think you two have a lot more in common than you know. He wasn’t fond of school either, and he’s spontaneous and passionate, just like you.”

“At least Haruki was able to finish school with decent grades,” whispered Iyori.

“What?” said Aiko, but Iyori just shook her head.

“Nothing, make sure you eat the omelet before it gets cold.”

“Ah yes, of course,” said Aiko and quickly took a huge bite. Iyori continued to hold the baby girl close to her, rocking her gently back and forth.

“School starts tomorrow, right?” asked Aiko and Iyori nodded. “Are you dreading it?”

“It’s okay,” said Iyori and shrugged her shoulders.

“You seem a little happier about school lately, that’s nice.”

“I don’t know about that,” said Iyori.

“Oh but you do,” said Aiko firmly. “Something has changed, I can tell. I just don’t know what caused this.” Aiko looked at Iyori with curious eyes, but Iyori didn’t budge.

“Who knows,” said Iyori and Aiko threw her hands up in the air.

“Come on, just tell me,” said Aiko frustrated and Iyori laughed, hoping they weren’t making too much noise for the little girl.

“Let's be quiet, she’s just about to fall asleep,” said Iyori.

“Yes yes, just use my daughter as an excuse. Just wait, I’ll find out what the reason is that you suddenly view school in a new light.”

“I don’t view it in a new light, I still hate it,” said Iyori and Aiko just looked at her in confusion.

“You’re not easy to understand,” said Aiko with a sigh.

“I never said I was,” answered Iyori.

Hello everyone!

I'm a bit behind on the updates for the story, sorry about that. I've been busy with my new job and participating in Nanowrimo 2021 last month. I was able to write 50k words so I'm very happy about that!

Hopefully I'll have time to get back on track doing my holidays, until then the updates might be a little sporadic. 

I hope you're all doing well and are staying happy and healthy!

Take care.

Love, Annalise~