Growing Pains
A girl and a boy unrelated and of the same age couldn't possibly live together, could they? Of Tsumugu, Chisaki, and awkwardness...and of rice krispies, sick girls, forbidden love, and rainbow dreams.
Grudgingly, Chisaki admitted that she had neglected watching her diet in recent days. She would usually cook for the three of them, but there were occasions when Grandpa Kihara showed his hand. He made a big haul early one day and the prize he fetched home was a few pounds of fresh marlin. He asked Tsumugu and Chisaki to run an errand to Saya Mart for some vegetables and shellfish and when they stepped back inside the house, a wonderful aroma of grilled fish welcomed their return. That evening, Chisaki sat down to a scrumptious dinner and ate to her heart's content.
Later, as Chisaki was entering the bath, shedding off her long-sleeved top, denim shorts, and thigh highs, she felt a slight straining around her chest when she unclasped her bra. She ignored it, though, only to find the following morning that she had to suck in her breath a tiny bit in order to hitch the hook to the nearest eye. And yet, she persisted on ignoring that nagging feeling.
"Chisaki! We're running late!" Tsumugu yelled from downstairs.
"Coming!" Chisaki snatched up her school bag, pummeling out of her room, pounding down the stairs, and pushing through the front door where Tsumugu was expecting her with his bag slung over his shoulder.
That day, they had Home Economics and the recipe was chocolate rice krispies, which was met by the girls with keen interest, but earned a dreaded groan from the boys, because they would rather skip out on the baking and preferred jumping to the taste-testing instead. By coincidence, Chisaki and Tsumugu were in the same group when they were divided equally and the two of them worked astonishingly well as a team. The chocolate rice krispies turned out perfect and Chisaki was fairly proud of their finished product, which proved true as she sampled, in her opinion, a modest few.
However, after that episode, Chisaki often felt short of breath, like a weight was crushing her lungs. It was not mere chance was it, that she could only find relief when she had finally unfastened the clasps of her bra? Chisaki studied the girl in the reflection. She was tall and big-boned, not willowy, and...Chisaki winced at the flab or blob, she would describe more, of skin she had clamped in between her thumb and forefinger.
"No, it must be baby fat," Chisaki might have convinced herself, the operative word being might. She was eating rather healthily. Somewhere, in the eddies of her mind, she tried to make an inventory of exactly how many pieces of rice krispies she consumed in Home Economics, the strawberry parfait and chocolate fudge sundae she enjoyed with her girl friends during a sweets binge not too long ago, the bag of assorted candies and potato crunch she alternatively popped into her mouth one after another during cram nights, and, not to mention, there were also the full meals she had been eating when Grandpa Kihara was in the mood to prepare dinner, which, as of late, was becoming more often. She could no longer ignore that nagging feeling anymore. Her biggest dilemma, of course, was regarding the changes in her upper region.
During dinner, Tsumugu noticed that she only seemed to be eating a much smaller portion than usual. Her reason was she did not have much of an appetite. Then, at school, she approached her two closest female classmates – Kaori Akiyoshi and Yuu Seiki.
"Can you help me do some shopping?" Chisaki opened up.
They both perked up their eyebrows in surprise. Yuu asked, "In the city?" To which, Chisaki nodded.
Kaori said, dubious, "Why not ask Tsumugu to accompany you? Not that we're not okay with the invitation, but you guys are already living under the same roof. You do stuff together."
Something about the way Kaori worded it induced Chisaki to blush. She blushed even harder for what she was about to whisper to Kaori and Yuu, beckoning them to come hither, "They're too snug now."
At first, Kaori and Yuu stared uncomprehendingly at her. Chisaki's next move was to lower her gaze to her chest and look back up at her classmates' unblinking faces.
"Eeh! Oh, that!" squealed Yuu in an excited whisper, but Kaori could not help bursting out, volume a tad overloud, "Oh, oh! What's your cup si–"
"Ssshh!" hissed Chisaki, signing the 'quiet' gesture and flailing her hands desperately. At this point, the whole class must have overheard them as she could feel their eyes pricking her back, Tsumugu's included, and she was so ashamed she buried her tomato-red face in her hands.
"I don't think you should force it," Tsumugu spoke, worried lines etching his otherwise stoic face. Chisaki was already dressed in her school uniform, but she was hunched over, her brows twitching in pain as her hand curled like a gnarled claw clutching at her stomach. Tsumugu was careful to give her some space, but he was ready to trespass it anytime Chisaki showed the slightest inclination of collapsing right then and there.
"I'm part of the committee." The words came out strangled, like she having difficulties, but it came out like it was supposed to explain enough.
Chisaki meant to pass through Tsumugu and the door, but she fumbled in her steps and was on the verge of tipping forward only to be held back by a firm pair of hands.
Tsumugu's eyes bulged, for Chisaki's skin was abnormally hot. He immediately spun her around to face him and splayed his palm on her forehead. "You're running a fever." Despite her adamance, Tsumugu marched the sick Chisaki back to her room and stood guard at her door until he was certain she had changed into her pajamas and was tucked into her futon comfortably.
When Tsumugu was not budging at all from his spot at the mouth of her room, Chisaki pleaded, "Tsumugu, please! Go to school. I'll be a good girl and rest."
Resigned, Tsumugu uncrossed his arms, plucked his bag off the floor and left for school. Yet, although his body was going through the motions of school, for the rest of the day, his mind was distracted with Chisaki lying sick in bed.
After informing their homeroom teacher and Shun Sayama, who was also in the school festival committee, about Chisaki, Tsumugu decided to seek Akari's advise. He told Akari how, right after exams season, Chisaki was very busy with committee duties and had been going home later than usual, how she recently went through a phase of skipping meals but was now eating regularly again, and these things aside, he did not find anything unusual with her yesterday. When he described her symptoms - nausea, fever, stomache pains - Akari looked enlightened at the last bit and moved to stand in front of the calendar pinned to the wall, nodding to herself. "It all makes sense now."
Akari smiled knowingly. "Well, you see. Tsumugu, she's going through her..." She lowered her voice to a whisper.
Tsumugu's features did not betray any reaction but he seemed to take a while to digest the information. Finally, he turned to Akari. "What can I do to help her?"
Akari scribbled words on a notepad and then peeled off the top sheet. "Here. You can buy it over the counter at a drug store. You'll also want to prepare a warm compress for her. Chamomile tea is good too, if you have some. You don't have to worry so much about the fever. It'll just go away, but if her temperature becomes too high, please let me know. Hmm, what else? Oh, you might also need to buy those in the 'Feminine Care' section at the drug store."
Tsumugu made all his mental notes and thanked Akari.
"On second thought, you might feel embarrassed buying such things. Do you want me to buy them for you?"
It was like the world was on mute as Akari anticipated his answer.
"I can do it," replied Tsumugu and very nonchalantly, that he could win an award for it. Akari was amused and said something about 'brave' and 'mature'. Tsumugu exited Saya Mart while Akari shouted after him, "And tell Chisaki not to stress herself out too much!"
A trip to the drug store later, Tsumugu knocked perfunctorily on the wooden sliding door of Chisaki's room. "Chisaki? I'm coming in!"
"Mmm." He heard her weak response from the other side of the door.
Tsumugu put down the tray of gruel, tea, and warm compress close to Chisaki's head. He knelt over her futon, his hand feather-light on her forehead. "How are you feeling?"
Chisaki was swathed in layers of blankets with only her arms and head sticking out. She cracked an eye open and mumbled out, "A little better."
"Your fever's gone down, it seems. That's good."
Tsumugu helped her sit up and positioned the short-legged tray in front of her. He waited until she had scraped the bottom of the bowl. "This," he said, pointing at the warm compress, "is for your stomach." And then, he foraged through the plastic bag he brought with him. "And also, this. Akari said it's effective against cramps." He deposed a medicine tablet on the tray. The plastic bag rustled and its contents tumbled out to the side - painkiller and two packs of...Chisaki raised her eyebrows.
"I thought you might need those. But I wasn't sure which brand, so I bought two kinds," Tsumugu explained, keeping a straight face.
Chisaki stared bug-eyed and with mouth agape, then her cheeks grew flushed from the sickness or was it from another cause? Was she envisioning him being at a loss on which one to buy and having to ask assistance from the clerk, who tried her best to be non-descriptive and descriptive at the same time, yet in the end, he paid for the medicine and two different brands? She could not have possibly guessed but she was probably close. In a burst of motion, she gulped down the medicine and tugged her blanket, but not without tremendous effort, all the way up to her mouth. Tsumugu met her lambent eyes and heard her muffled voice. "Thank you, Tsumugu."
The school bell king kong-ed to announce lunch hour. Tsumugu opened his bag to put away his Math book and take out lunch. His hand touched a solid, blocky shape that he presumed was his lunch pack, but his hand pulled up, against his expectations, a lunch pack wrapped in a cloth of floral design, which was obviously not his. He made to get up in order to deliver the lunch pack into the hands of its rightful owner, when he heard his name. "Kihara-kun? He's here. Hey, Kihara-kun! Somebody's looking for you!"
A shade of cobalt hair materialized at the classroom's front door. It belonged to a tall (for her age), robust (not so petite) girl, of aquamarine eyes and with almost waist-length hair gathered in a high, side ponytail. Class 1-A was wholly intrigued about this visitor. Their loud whispers echoed, "It's Hiradaira Chisaki from Class 1-B!"
Lunch pack in hand, Tsumugu calmly crossed the floor, circling around the maze of desks. As soon as he was face to face with Chisaki, they both said, without missing a beat, "Bentou."
One, two, three seconds passed before Chisaki expelled a blithe laugh. "I guess, since our bags are identical, I was bound to mix up our bentous again."
This was not the first time it happened. Schools provided standard-issue bags, so there were times when Chisaki accidentally put her packed lunch (she portioned their lunches differently) in Tsumugu's bag and vice versa. And being in one class, it was easier to exchange their lunches in middle school. However, since they stepped into high school, they had been in separate classes during their first year. Chisaki was together with their middle school friends, while Tsumugu was alone in his class. Truthfully, Tsumugu would have wanted to be in the same class as Chisaki, but she had Kaori and Yuu, even Sayama and Egawa, at least, to keep Chisaki company.
"It's as much my fault. I didn't check before we left."
Chisaki smiled while she accepted her lunch pack from Tsumugu and he did the same. "This feels strange. We always see each other after school and at home, yet I don't think we have interacted much in school since the start of the year."
Tsumugu's face, normally unrevealing, mellowed. "You're right."
"Well, I better go back to my classroom now. Kaori and Yuu are waiting for me. Maybe, we can all take our lunch together at the cafeteria or on the rooftop some other time."
Tsumugu nodded quietly, waving his hand a fracture. He leaned beyond the door to watch her figure disappear into the room next door. He turned to go back to his seat, only to find the entire class staring back, the atmosphere hushed. Then, on cue, normal chatter resumed, punctuated by boisterous laughter from the boys and bubbly giggles on the girls' part.
The next day, oblivious to Tsumugu, rumors started spreading throughout the school, from the freshmen to the seniors. The accounts varied, but the chief topic was of one Tsumugu Kihara and one Chisaki Hiradaira. According to the witnesses, yesterday, they saw the couple exchanging boxed lunches and sweet smiles at the door and later on, said couple was purported to be going home together while the girl clung tightly to the boy's arm. The following day, reports said that the two of them arrived together and before they parted at the shoe lockers, they leaned towards each other to share a brief peck on the lips.
The supporting people – people who were known to be linked to the two – like Kaori Akiyoshi, Yuu Seiki, Shun Sayama, and Takeshi Egawa, were further interrogated about the two's relationship. The facts were fragmented, coagulated with fiction. Chisaki was an orphaned sea girl adopted by Tsumugu's grandfather. Tsumugu was living away from his family in the city and when he met the beautiful sea girl, fell in love and vowed to stay with her in Oshiooshi. From this, another strand was weaved, that Chisaki Hiradaira was really in an arranged marriage with Tsumugu Kihara and was living with the Kiharas for training to be a wife. And yet another tale was borne of this, that Chisaki and Tsumugu were already married, but being underaged, were living together under the supervision of the grandfather and forced to hide their relationship status until they graduate from high school.
"Wait! Stop right there! That's getting out of hand! I only said Chisaki-chan was under the care of Tsumugu-kun and his grandpa because she doesn't have any other family on land!" exclaimed Kaori. Tsumugu, Chisaki, and their middle school classmates were eating their lunch at the rooftop, which was presently empty except for their group.
"And I said the same thing, I swear!" Shun spoke through a mouthful of rice.
Takeshi snickered. "But both of you must have phrased it in a lewd way."
"So how the heck did it turn into a romance novel!?"
"So how the heck did it turn into a visual novel game!?"
The two, Kaori and Shun, bursted out in tune, with coordinated drastic hand movements. At the same time too, both of them slumped back like the energy had been sapped from their bodies. And then, as one, the group shifted their attention to the actual subject matter or matters, to be more precise.
Chisaki was blushing furiously, like all the blood had circulated to her face. She opened and closed her mouth, then opened it again, like a fish trying to breathe on land, but no speech was coming out. In contrast, Tsumugu was almost his usual self, if not, on closer look, for his dipped brows and far-off gaze.
"R-romance novel!?" Chisaki, getting a hold of her voice, managed to stutter out.
It was true that she and Tsumugu exchanged lunches and they went home together, like they often did when there were no club activities, but Chisaki only happened to cling to his arm because she lost her footing on the road. That moment at the shoe lockers was Chisaki fixing Tsumugu's askewed tie. Their heights were different enough that Chisaki had to tilt up her head and feet and Tsumugu had to bow a little for them to meet halfway.
The wild speculations went unrestrained until somebody finally dared to hear it straight from the horse's mouth. It was one of the girls in Tsumugu's class, a girl with doe eyes and a fringe of hair just right above her eye line, shy but bold enough to approach him. "Kihara-kun, is it true? A-are you and Hiradaira-san...?"
"Do you know about the hibernation of the sea villages?"
The wide-eyed girl bobbed her head, her bangs bobbing in agreement.
"She wasn't able to join her family and friends in time for the hibernation. She's the only sea person left of her age. My grandfather took her in because she was like him."
The girl sniffled a bit, moved. "Oh, poor Hiradaira-san. She must miss her family and friends from underwater."
"She must get homesick a lot." Another female classmate joined in. "And the hibernation happened during the Ofunehiki too, right? I saw waves so big they could topple the boats!"
Soon, the whole class was drawn into the discussion of the events during and after the Ofunehiki. The townspeople were largely aware about the gist of the story and were likely to be present during the event, but most of them, if not all, lacked that feeling of connection as personal as Tsumugu.
"Wow, Kihara-kun. You're surprisingly honest. At first, we thought it was hard to talk to you."
The misconceptions surrounding Tsumugu and Chisaki were now cleared up, yet Chisaki Hiradaira's name became infamous for other reasons. Tsumugu was on cleaning duty and volunteered to carry the trashbin to the furnace. As he walked towards the back of the school building, snatches of conversation drifted within his range of hearing.
"Man, did you see her? I was walking towards the annex when we crossed paths. She smiled at me! Smiled! At me!" detailed an enthusiastic, spiky, auburn-haired boy, who slightly resembled Egawa. One of the sophomores, if Tsumugu remembered correctly. He was hanging out with his circle of friends at the fence.
Tsumugu would have left them to their own devices, but, "Do you think I should court Hiradaira-san?"
Now, that gave Tsumugu pause.
His friend said, "But isn't she close to that first year, Kihara Tsumugu? I heard they're living together due to some circumstances."
"So, he's sort of her brother?"
The friend was silent and only shrugged.
"Oh, come on! You think there's something more?"
The same friend released a sigh and walked away. Another one gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "Good luck, buddy," he told the spiky-haired sophomore and followed suit.
Indignant at his friends walking out on him, he yelled, "You guys watch me! I'll confess to her tomorrow after school!"
The morning after seemed like any other ordinary day, except Tsumugu's eye caught the slip of white that was tucked into the narrow gap of Chisaki's shoe locker. It could be none other than Chisaki's would-be suitor's doing. If Tsumugu was the jealous type, he would have swiped away that love letter the moment Chisaki opened her locker, never ever to be seen again. But he was not the petty kind to resort to such tactics. Was it luck, though, that Chisaki overlooked the letter, was instead looking at him – cheerfully recounting a funny incident that happened yesterday – while she was taking out her indoor shoes, and it fluttered unnoticed to the ground? Indeed, Tsumugu was not petty, but he never breathed a word about the slip of paper.
As soon as Chisaki alighted, the door hissed close and the bus rumbled down the road, leaving her to stand alone at the bus stop. She unleashed a small sigh of relief. Grandpa Isamu was recovering well, the doctor said. She could not wait to tell Tsumugu, who could not come with her because he had cram school today.
Chisaki trudged downhill, thinking that she ought to cook a little something special to celebrate the good news and they would have another one with Grandpa Isamu, once he was allowed to eat regular food again. So, on the way home, she made up her mind to take a detour at Saya Mart to buy ingredients.
When Chisaki came into Saya Mart, Akari caught on her jovial mood and could not help but remark on it. "Did something good happen, Chisaki?"
"Yes! I just came back from the hospital. The doctor said that grandpa's condition is improving a lot. He can't be discharged from the hospital yet, but he should be able to eat regularly again."
"Oh, that's good news indeed!"
"So, I want to buy some meat and cook up something extra delicious."
Akari chatted with her more as Chisaki paid for the beef and dried mushrooms at the cash register. "How's Tsumugu doing? Haven't seen him in a while."
"He's busy with cram school. We may have the same classes at school, but there isn't much opportunity to talk and I hardly see him at home too."
"Senior year, ugh." Akari made a grimace while the barcode scanner made a beep sound. "I remember how it was for me too. Didn't have much time for fun. I wanted to be a comic book artist back then and was so determined to make it work out that I was spending a huge amount of time in the library studying drawing techniques and then I was also practicing my drawing on this big sketchpad. I actually brought it with me to Oshiooshi!"
"Haha. I'd love to see your drawings some time. Thank you." Chisaki's fingers went through the plastic bag's holes and she hefted her purchase off the counter.
Akari heaved a sigh, her eyes going misty. "Those were the days. And maybe it's because I didn't have much time for my best friend, Miori, that I didn't realize behind my back that she was already an adult. You and Tsumugu, too. You're both grown up now."
Chisaki shook her head, her tone and expression pensive. "He's the one who's grown up. I'm the one who still has to be guided by him all the time."
At that, Akari only smiled, which somehow, lent Chisaki reassurance. She was making her way out of Saya Mart when the daily congregation of neighborhood wives started arriving. A portly woman came over to Akari's place at the cash register, simpering. "Akari-san! The pickled plums your store sells are delightful! I was just telling my daughter, Akiko, here." Beside the portly woman was her exact replica, but in her twenties, was much thinner, and much more reserved.
"Thank you, Nakajima-san."
"By the way, I heard that Kihara Isamu got hospitalized two weeks ago. Have you heard anything about his current condition?"
"Oh, yes. Chisaki told me he's stabilized now, though he's not to leave the hospital yet."
Another voice chimed in, a voice whittled with age and belonging to an old lady with thin, graying hair. She had come hobbling from the back room of the store. "Chisaki? Do you mean the sea girl who was separated from her family in Shioshishio?"
"She's living with the Kiharas," added Akari helpfully.
"Ah, yes. I recall. I also recall Isamu's grandson. Such a well-mannered pair they were when I met them. I wish my grandson was half as respectful and caring."
"Oh, but I think your grandson is caring enough, Sayama-san."
The old lady wrinkled her nose and eyes. "Bah!"
"Oh, but does that mean that the sea girl and Isamu's grandson are living in the same house unchaperoned?" It was Mrs. Nakajima's turn again.
Akari was quick to jump in defense, placating the woman by raising her palms. "There's nothing to worry about, Nakajima-san! I know them. They can be trusted."
"Still, you never know what could happen between two high school teenagers left alone in the same house! That's why, I never let my daughter out of my sight."
The next few seconds were laden with thick silence as the women shed their sympathies for twenty-something Akiko Nakajima. They also prayed for her freedom. However, Granny Sayama broke the silent spell. "Bah! Natsuko, why are you such a prude? It shouldn't surprise you nowadays! Why, I got married when I was younger. My husband was seventeen and I was fifteen. Ah, we were so young and innocent then. But, by the time I was eighteen, I was already popping out my second child!" the old lady cackled at the end. Mrs. Nakajima's little 'hmph' went by unnoticed.
"Granny! What are you doing here!? You shouldn't be out of bed!" a new voice interrupted.
"Shun, you've stacked those boxes already?"
"Yep, Akari-san." Then, gentler, "Now granny, let's get you back to your room, okay?"
"Bah! It's not caring, I tell you, Akari. It's nagging! Nagging! And see how disrespectful he is!" Chisaki could hear the unrelenting, fretful Granny Sayama being prodded as gently as possible by his grandson, Shun, to go back into the residential area. The Sayama house was attached to the back of the store.
Chisaki, obscured from view behind one of the aisles, took that opportunity then to slip her way out of Saya Mart before she could be noticed. She stepped outside and out of the line of sight of Mrs. Nakajima and anybody else who might recognize her, casting her eyes heavenwards, towards the ominous, darkening clouds and frowning, for she did not have an umbrella with her. When she looked away from the sky, her sight latched onto a familiar figure, making its way across the road, heading closer and closer in her direction.
"Tsumugu?"
"Chisaki?"
They said to each other at the exact same moment.
"We just had mock exams today and finished early," explained Tsumugu, coming to halt a few feet in front of her. "You're back from visiting grandpa?"
Chisaki nodded, smiling as she delivered the good news about Grandpa Isamu to him. For Tsumugu, there was no eruption of words or gust of feelings, just a quiet, "I'm glad."
As for Chisaki, she only needed to gaze at his aureate eyes to grasp the real depth of those feelings. And then, she found him eyeing the goods in her hand and lifted his brows as if to say, "Is that what I think it is?"
"Hmm? Oh, this?" Chisaki raised the plastic bags up in the air with gusto. "Beef. To celebrate grandpa's recovery!"
Plop plop. All of a sudden, in a miraculous turn, thunder cried, followed by the sky's tears. Droplets of water pitter-pattered to the ground, drenching the whole town. The summer rain had arrived. Luckily, they were still sheltered under the awning of Saya Mart.
"Oh, dear. It's raining! We'll have to wait this out, won't we?" Mrs. Nakajima's voice filtered from inside the shop, reminding Chisaki that she was also unlucky.
She was debating whether to let the rain subside first or if she should drag Tsumugu along and blunder out in the rain right that instance, when Shun Sayama came dashing out of the store. "Uwa! I have to get these in before they get wet!"
It was good timing that Shun turned his head and saw them. "Chisaki-chan? Tsumugu-kun? You two were there? Can you help me move the dried fish under the shade?"
Chisaki and Tsumugu exchanged glances and then dropped beside Shun to help him move the canvas laid out with dried fish far away from the rain's reach.
"Phew! Thanks! I don't know what I would have done without you two!" Shun crouched down to rearrange the dried fish on the canvas. "So, what brings you two here? You sure picked a weird place to date," he commented thoughtlessly.
"No, no! It's nothing like that! We met here by coincidence." Chisaki denied vehemently, then, offhand, she said under her breath, "Jeez. You too?"
"What? Me too?" Shun arched a quizzical brow.
Chisaki trained her eyes elsewhere, hoping to hide her blush from Shun, as well as, Tsumugu. "It's nothing," she dismissed again.
"There, done." Shun sprung to his feet and dusted off his palms. "Why don't you come inside and wait until the rain passes?"
A loud shout spilled out. "Upon my word! They thought they could fool me. I saw their decors and they were all in bad taste that I immediately cancelled my order!" Chisaki eyes flickered towards the interior of Saya Mart.
Shun rolled his eyes. "Oh, that's Nakajima Natsuko-san. She's always like that. It's nothing new. For every positive word, she has five other negative things to say. She always gives me a stern look whenever she thinks I'm ogling at one of her daughters. It's no wonder that the lot of them are unmarried. Anyway, did she say something to you?"
"N-not really. Sayama-kun, can we borrow an umbrella? I do want to get this meat home as soon as possible." Chisaki turned to Tsumugu for his permission. "Is it okay, Tsumugu?"
Tsumugu acknowledged with a brief nod.
"Alright. I'll get an umbrella. You two wait here."
While waiting for Shun to fetch an umbrella, Tsumugu offered to carry the grocery, to which Chisaki complied. A moment later, Shun returned with a blue umbrella. "Sorry I couldn't find anything else. Will this do?"
"Mm-hmm," hummed Chisaki. "Thank you, Sayama-kun! See you on Monday!"
"See you!" Shun replied, going back inside.
Chisaki wrestled with the umbrella until she succeeded in spreading it wide open. The size was a bit small, but they could fit under. She noted the design. Blue polka dots. They were one of Miuna's favorite patterns.
Tsumugu stared at it and remarked, "It's a kid's umbrella."
"An old one of Miuna's, I think." Chisaki hoisted the umbrella above her head and gazing up, she was caught off guard by Tsumugu stretching out his hand and prying the umbrella away from her, then he extended his left elbow. It took a while for Chisaki to register that he was inviting her to take his arm. And instantaneously, everything from earlier replayed in her consciousness. Normally, Chisaki did not mull too much about such things, but today made her too tense, too self-conscious in her actions towards Tsumugu. She barely touched his sleeve, only pinching the edge of it as they began the walk home.
Tsumugu said, not for the first time, "Come closer."
"I'm fine," Chisaki insisted, not for the first time as well, despite half of her body already sticking out from the canopy of the umbrella. They had quite some space in between them.
Tsumugu knew this too and pointed out drily, "You're getting soaked."
And in turn, Chisaki knew she was on the losing end of the argument and at last gave in. Gathering her courage, she inched closer to him, looped her hand through, and rested it lightly on the crook of his arm. Tsumugu was not the type who worked out, but he was neither muscled nor skinny and Chisaki could feel the firmness and strength in his arm through the fold of fabric. The rain persisted and so did silence all the way until they were halfway home.
"So, nursing," Tsumugu introduced out of nowhere.
Chisaki tensed up, throwing him a sideways glance. "Nursing?"
"I accidentally saw it, your career consultation form, when I borrowed your stapler from your room. It was hard to ignore, what with the stapler sitting right on top of it. Sorry."
"Oh."
"I'm not too sure about it yet."
"It's something I wrote on a whim."
Chisaki answered in pieces, her voice growing weaker and weaker until it faded out and her eyes faltered and plunged to the wet asphalt. "Maybe..."
"Is it because of what happened to grandpa?" Tsumugu asked.
Chisaki looked introspectively. When Grandpa Isamu went into E.R., she was so afraid that it would be the last time she would see him. That dreadful emotion gnawed at her raw insides and her chest felt like it was binded too tight. Not this again. It was so unbearable, the thought of never again seeing the people she cared for. After surgery, grandpa was relocated to a semi-private room. When the doctor said he would live, the binding around her chest had unwound but she still could not breathe easily.
The old man was still sleeping on their first visit. The attending nurse was replacing his IV drip and greeted them with a warm smile as they arrived. "Are you his grandchildren?" Chisaki perched on the stool while Tsumugu stood by the side of the bed. The nurse continued, "That's a mighty frown he's got, huh? Is he also like that when he's awake?"
Chisaki met Tsumugu's eye and a small chuckle escaped from her lips. "Yes."
"Then, he's not yet done worrying about life. People are stubborn like that, old people especially. So, you don't need to worry about him. He'll be fine. He's a strong man. He knows there are people still waiting for him."
And just like that, her mind and heart were at ease. Everyday, it made Chisaki feel better just talking to the nurse or merely seeing her hold the trembling hand of a senior, affectionately patting the head of a toddler, or having, in general, the compassion to care for another life.
"I wanted to be like that nurse," Chisaki breathed out wistfully.
They were almost there. Once they turned around the next corner, they would reach home. Chisaki did not know what thoughts were brewing in his mind, but she knew that he had listened to her story. He always did, sincerely.
"Go. Follow your dreams."
Those words. They were the same words she had given him when he first expressed his desire to study oceanography. At that time, they just finished with their meal and as he put down his chopsticks, he gazed levelly at her. Chisaki realized then that he was about to tell her something important. His uncomplicated words and his calm, even tone gave nothing away, so she peered closely at his face and tried to read the current of emotions in his deep, soulful, aureate eyes. And what his soul conveyed was hope and ambition and then, reluctance and indecision.
Ah, she understood now.
He had discovered his dream, but he would only pursue it if he had her blessing. If Tsumugu passed his entrance exam, it would mean that he would be going away to live in the city, possibly for long periods that he would only be able to visit home once or twice a year during breaks. She would be left all alone in that already-too-quiet house.
"Go. Follow your dreams."
If he wanted to pursue his dreams, then she would support him, because that was what family did, right?
Plop plop. Rain pitter-pattered to the ground, drenching the whole town and drenching her.
"Chisaki! You're getting wet!"
Splash splash splash. Tsumugu all but sloshed through the puddles, desperate to reach Chisaki, who, along the way, had somehow detached herself from his arm and now stood sopping wet in the rain.
A shadow fell over Chisaki and she glanced up to see Tsumugu closing in to shield her from the cold and the rain. A question leaped out of her mouth, so unexpectedly even for her. "Tsumugu, do you think I'd make a good nurse?"
Yet before she could wait for an answer, she was distracted by the absence of something.
"Ah, it stopped raining."
Tsumugu extended his hand palm up and away from the cover of the umbrella. Indeed, the rain had stopped as abruptly as it came. Tsumugu was shimmying the umbrella close when Chisaki squeezed his arm and pointed at the horizon. "Look, a rainbow!"
Upon the hill they stood, they admired the streak of colors painted across the sky. For Chisaki, it was a fortuitous sign, that of good things yet to come.
Beside her, Tsumugu spoke. "I don't think you'd make a good nurse."
She flinched in discouragement, her head drooping.
But Tsumugu was not done at all. "I think, you'd make a great nurse. You already take care of us very well."
Chisaki's eyes grew wide. She was pleased at the compliment, blushing a pretty pink. "Thank you."
"No. Thank you."
I meant to finish the next half of Mermaid Tears but Kaname won't agree with me, haha. Then, this series of short stories cropped up. The first series is light-hearted and more of fluff, but I hope you enjoyed! I wasn't too sure if sea women would experience having those monthly things, but I couldn't get the idea out of my head, how Tsumugu would handle living with a girl. The school bits were inspired a bit by the fanart and fics I've seen/read on Pixiv. So, there. Haha.
I already have the next series planned out, which may be more mature and serious, and would like to get down to writing it if I have some time, so please do look forward to it! As always, please do leave me your thoughts. I love reading comments.