"Wow! It's beautiful!"
Yotsuba was in a large field filled with flowers that looked like they were made from gold.
"What kind of flowers are these?!"
She turned towards her father, who stood by her with a relaxed smile.
"They're called dandelions, Yotsuba."
"Dandy-lions? Like actual lions?!"
Her father shrugged. "Well, not like actual lions, but I like to think that's where they got their name from."
Yotsuba turned back towards the field. It was large, vast and seemingly endless. It was late evening; the sun was setting which created a beautiful contrast between the golden fields and the pink and purple sky ahead of her.
She found herself running into the field. Laughing all the way.
"Daddy, come on! Follow me!"
"Yotsuba!"
She tripped slightly, but she continued running. She felt overwhelmingly happy.
"Yotsuba!"
She heard her dad calling her, but she just wanted to keep running. She felt nothing was going to stop her.
"Yotusba!"
…
"Yotsuba, wake up! You're going to be late for school again."
Yotsuba slowly woke from her dream. She felt her dad shaking her.
"Mmmph." She tried to turn away from him. She wanted to sleep more.
"Yotsuba, this is not okay. You can't keep staying up so late and not setting your alarm. Now, go get ready and come down and have breakfast."
Yotsuba sighed. "Fine, Dad."
As he left the room, Yotsuba crawled out of bed.
She slowly made her way to her bathroom, all the while she felt something in her brain swimming downwards. She wasn't looking forward to the day ahead of her.
After she entered the bathroom and turned on the lights, Yotsuba looked at her reflection. She had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was long and messy.
Another day, she thought. I'm so sick of doing this every day. Still, she had to look at least somewhat presentable. So, she touched up her hair, but not too much.
She walked into the kitchen and saw her parents.
"Good morning, Yotsuba!"
"Hi, Fuka." Yotsuba groaned.
"Yotsuba..." Her dad was annoyed at calling her mother by her first name.
"It's okay honey, haha."
Yotsuba sat down at the breakfast table and looked down at her food.
Eggs and toast. Boring.
She slowly ate her food, lost in thought about what the day ahead was going to bring her.
"Your hair looks nice today, Yotsuba!" Her mom chimed.
"Thanks..."
"Remember when you used to have it all in those pigtails? That was the cutest thing ever!"
"Hmm."
Her dad looked at both of them, keeping his usual calm and stoic looking demeanor. He was always a quiet man, only ever speaking whenever he wanted to tell them something or when being spoken too.
Yotsuba felt his eyes over her. She could tell he knew she wasn't feeling particularly happy, but didn't know what to say.
It's fine, she thought. He didn't need to say anything. At least, that's what she told herself.
There was a long silence as everyone was eating.
"Thanks for the food." Yotsuba sat up and made her way to the front door.
"Yotsuba." Her father said.
…
She turned towards her parents.
"Love you. Have a good day..."
She wasn't particularly enthusiastic.
"Love you too, Yotsuba! Have a great day!" Her mom cheerfully replied.
She always tried to maintain a happy atmosphere. Even when everyone else around her wasn't feeling particularly happy.
Yotsuba made her way out of the house and on the road to school.
As she walked, she couldn't help but reminisce about her old neighborhood where she grew up. During those short couple of years there, she was always doing something with somebody. Going over to her next-door neighbors' house and playing with the sisters there, going out to catch fish and bugs, collecting rocks and acorns and in general doing all kinds of fun stuff.
Back then, it was just her and her dad living together. Her mom didn't live with them until a couple years later.
Back then, she didn't really understand what exactly was a mom or a dad. That's just simply what she called them.
At least, until she eventually learned the truth.
After about twenty minutes, she made it to the high school. She stood at the entrance, debating on whether or not she'll go in today. She took a deep breath and exhaled. She reached into her bag and pulled out a surgical mask. She put it on, and slowly made her way in.
She looked around at her surroundings, everyone was wearing the same kind of mask.
It's been like this for over a year now... She thought.
Ever since news of the coronavirus became wide-spread, the entire world went into a frenzied panic and shut down various places, imposed mask mandates, and implemented social distancing measures in an effort to stop the spread. Initially, schools were closed down and Yotsuba had to rely on remote learning, but eventually, schools were opened back up again, but with strict measures in place.
What initially was thought to believed would last at most, a couple months lasted a year and a half.
And there didn't seem to be any end in sight.
Yotsuba sat down in her desk. Spaced six feet apart from the other desks and began to space out. She knew she was supposed to be listening to the lecture, but she didn't see much point. She stared out the window and attempted to look back on when things were different. When things were better.
Eventually, she heard a ruler tapping on her desk.
"Koiwai, please pay attention."
"Uh huh." She half-heartedly mumbled.
Stupid teacher, she thought. What was the point in all of this? She hated going here. She hated having to listen to these boring lectures, she hated having to do homework and she hated having to come here every day and being surrounded by people wearing masks with gloomy looking expressions on their faces.
Well, almost all of them looked gloomy, she heard a boy to her right snicker a little bit. Someone who had bleached hair.
Bastard, she thought. He was always laughing at her expense.
She slowly attempted to retreat back inside her head. Only half paying attention to the lecture.
The rest of the day dragged on. When lunch came, she went in, made her way to an empty table and ate by herself. After that, she would head outside and find a quiet corner to just sit down and be alone.
Finally, the school day ended and she made her way home.
But not before being picked on by the bleach haired boy.
"Hey there, Koiwai-Chan! Heading home?"
"...Yes." She attempted to ward him off by expressing annoyance towards him. It never worked.
"Ah-hahaha, you're always so cute when you get angry."
She was getting increasingly annoyed by the second.
"You live only twenty minutes away, right? It's a big scary neighborhood filled with weirdos! You should have a strong and handsome man like me to guard you!"
"I'm fine, thanks." Yotsuba growled.
Truth was, the neighborhood she lived in was actually relatively peaceful. He just knew how to push her buttons.
"Well, hey, if you ever change your mind, I'm here." He pulled down his mask and gave her a big smug looking smile.
Yotsuba looked at him. She couldn't help but smirk a little, but then quickly frowned again. The one good thing about these damned masks was that he couldn't see her smile.
"Ah! Was that a smile I saw?! That's adorable!"
Never mind.
"Well see ya tomorrow, Koiwai-Chan!"
Finally, she thought. He left.
She made her way out of the school and pulled off her mask. It was always so refreshing to finally get it off. She hated wearing them so much.
As she made her way back home, she found herself looking at a playground. It was large, but mostly empty. She only saw one little boy with his mother watching over him. He was on a swing.
Yotsuba couldn't help but reminisce about the first time she went on a swing. She was five years old and it was her first day in her new home. She had no idea how it worked, but was then showed how to use it by a young girl name Ena. She still remembered going overboard and flying off the swing into a sandbox.
Turned out, said girl was her next-door neighbor, and she became one of her closest friends.
It's been years since she's last seen her. She couldn't help but wonder what she was doing.
There was once a time where Yotsuba couldn't imagine herself not being around someone, she loved people and always wanted to know more about them and the things they were doing. Everything fascinated her and she was always doing something new with those around her.
She remembered the couple of years she spent in her childhood home and all the things that happened there. She had a hard time remembering specifics, but she remembered feeling joy back then. Everything felt perfect. Everything felt so much simpler.
Things have changed since then. At some point, she and her parents moved away. Leaving behind all the happy memories she had from back then.
Things were still good for the most part, but slowly, Yotsuba began to withdraw from the world. She found herself spending more and more time in her room and by herself rather than outside and with her friends and family.
All the things that used to excite her became mundane and seemingly pointless. What was once magical and mysterious was now plain and boring.
It didn't help that this "pandemic" made things worse not just on herself, but everyone around her. Small businesses that littered the town she lived next to became shuttered. People were paranoid over getting infected by the virus. Even though said virus was shown to be not as deadly as many believed. Vaccinations rolled out, but they only seemed to have caused more harm than good. She heard of students missing school because the vaccines caused them to get sick or caused debilitating pain. She decided to opt out of getting one.
All of which prolonged this seemingly never-ending lockdown. The playground that was once filled with children was now equivalent to a ghost town. Some people still tried to hold on to some semblance of normalcy, but it was clear the damage had been done.
Finally, she made it back home. And as usual, she was greeted by her mother.
"Yotsuba! Welcome home!"
"...Thanks." Yotsuba muttered. "Where's Dad?"
"He's at the grocery store, he'll be back in a little while."
Yotsuba's father still worked from home as a translator, and while he didn't leave home as often as he used to, he still went out to run basic errands.
"Yotsuba, guess what? Someone came over to visit! Can you guess who?"
Yotsuba's ears perked up. A visitor? She couldn't remember the last time someone came over to visit. Especially considering what was going on right now.
"Come on! Guess!" Her mom was smiling ear to ear.
Yotsuba stood there, not really wanting to say anything, but she didn't want to be rude towards her mother twice in one day.
She came up with what she felt was a joke answer.
"Uh... Ena?"
"Wow! How did you know?!" A familiar voice rang.
Suddenly, a lady with long brown hair walked out from the kitchen. She was hiding and waiting to surprise her.
Yotsuba's eyes widened. She wasn't expecting to see her old friend again. A huge smile slowly formed on her face. That familiar happy feeling she once had had come back.
"Ena!"
She couldn't believe it. Just a few minutes ago, she was remembering all the good times she had with her. After what happened, she never thought she'd see her again.
She ran across the room and was about to embrace her. But then she stopped.
"Huh?" Ena said.
…
"Oh... right. Social distancing. Hehe."
The room fell silent. Everyone looked around awkwardly. Yotsuba's enthusiasm plummeted.
"Uh, let's go to the living room!" Yotsuba's mom chimed.
The three made their way to the living room. There was a lot of catching up to do.
"It's been such a long time, Ena! How have you been doing?" Yotsuba's mom started things off.
"Been doing good, been working a lot and was able to get some time off. I decided I wanted to see you guys again."
"It's kinda crazy, I didn't think you'd be coming over."
Ena laughed. "Hey, unlike Mom, I don't hold grudges."
"Hahaha."
Ena was actually her mom's younger sister. She was the first of the sisters Yotsuba met.
Yotsuba's memory was relatively foggy in some places, but the day she met all of them was something she still remembered pretty well. She remembered meeting her future mother for the first time. At the time, she was a second year in high school. She offered her to take her home back to her dad.
At that point, Yotsuba remembered her father's advice to not go with strangers who claim they know him. She then decided to run and make her way to someone who would help her.
The one who "helped" turned out to be the oldest sister, Asagi. At that point, she reunited with her father and all the sisters introduced themselves as their next-door neighbors.
Ena and Fuka talked for a while as Yotsuba sat in silence.
Eventually, she spoke. "How's Asagi?"
Ena turned towards Yotsuba.
"Oh, she's doing great! She and Tora got married and went off to America. We still write to each other every day!".
"Huh."
Tora was a close friend of Asagi, often hanging out around her. She knew they were good friends, but never realized they were that close.
"Is your mom the reason why they moved?" A hint of venom dripped from Yotsuba's lips.
Silence filled the room. The once happy atmosphere became uncomfortable. Her mom's hands started to curl up and she looked around the room for a bit.
"Uh... hey! Yotsuba! Why don't you show Ena your room? I'll go make dinner!"
"...Okay."
Yotsuba made her way to her room, with Ena following her.
As they both entered, Ena took a good look at the room.
"Wow! This looks... uh... Nice! Very nice!"
"Thanks."
Yotsuba's room had a drab vibe to it. There was nothing hanging on the walls, her bed had pillow cases and comforters that were both a dark grey. And the only thing on her nightstand was an old looking digital clock which she was supposed to use to wake her up, but she never set the alarm.
Her closet was open and revealed she had quite a few clothes, but barely any of them looked like they were worn. Most of them were pushed back into the corner with only a couple of worn-out looking shirts and jeans hanging off the rack. Suggesting that her mom tried to get her to try new looks, but she didn't bother trying them.
Yotsuba sat on her bed and looked at Ena for a bit. She had no idea what to say. She hadn't seen her since they moved. She knew her mom kept in contact with her, but she herself never tried to reach out to her. She couldn't help but wring her hands a bit awkwardly.
Ena walked around the room a bit.
"Must feel weird, seeing me come back out of the blue, huh?"
"...Yeah."
Ena walked over and looked into Yotsuba's closet.
"Hey! Isn't that... uh... what was his name? Jurlar... Dora..."
Yotsuba tilted her head in confusion. What was she talking about? She sat up and walked over to where she was looking. Deep in the corner of her closet, she saw an old and dusty looking teddy bear.
"Duralumin?"
"Yeah! That was it!"
Yotsuba reached into the closet and pulled the bear out.
She took a good look at it. Coughing a bit over how dusty it became.
Somehow, she had completely forgotten about Duralumin. She started to remember carrying him around a lot.
"Uh... why was he called Duralumin?"
Yotsuba thought for a moment. "I... really have no idea. Isn't that like... a kind of metal or something?"
"Yeah, it is. Hahaha!"
Yotsuba couldn't help but smirk a little. She then raised her bear up to look at him from a different angle.
"Maaaaaaa..."
"It talked!" They both exclaimed.
She had completely forgotten about that part of him too. That was part of what made her fall in love with the bear to begin with.
Suddenly, she found herself flooded with even more memories of him. When she took him on a hot air balloon ride, when she took him around in a wagon and when he was attacked by a dog and Asagi had to perform lifesaving surgery on him to restore his voice.
She couldn't believe all the stuff she had forgotten.
Suddenly, she felt tears run down her face.
"Yotsuba? Are you okay?" She felt Ena place her hand on her shoulder.
Yotsuba flinched slightly. It was a long time since she felt the touch of another human being. Before she knew it, she found herself hugging Ena.
"E-Ena... I missed you so much!"
Yotsuba cried as hard as she could. At that point, she didn't care whether or not she could get Ena or herself infected. While hugging family members wasn't necessarily discouraged, she and her parents all silently agreed that it was probably safe not to touch each other for a while. At least, not until things settled down.
Even before then, Yotsuba found herself not hugging her parents much. Sure, they would still hug her, but she never really reciprocated. She found herself becoming more and more isolated and pushed away any social contact she could have had.
Ena hugged her back. She found herself crying as well.
"I missed you too, Yotsuba."
The two sat down on the bed. Yotsuba found herself talking more than she had in a very long time.
"I hate this pandemic. I hate how much everything's changed. I hate wearing these damn masks..."
"I know... I know." Ena looked down with her eyes half closed.
"I really miss the good old days. I missed when we used to play together. Me, you, Miura, Asagi, Jumbo and... Fuka."
"You still call her that?"
"Yeah... It's still weird... I loved her a lot back then... and I still do. But, then... She and Dad started seeing each other not long after she graduated. I remember everyone yelling at each other. And then everyone stopped talking. And then the three of us left."
Yotsuba then looked up at the ceiling.
"Then I found out, my dad... wasn't actually my dad."
Ena shifted uncomfortably.
"I... don't know anything about my real parents. I have no idea where they came from... Or where I came from..."
"You never asked them?"
Yotsuba shook her head.
"Dad simply told me I was adopted, but also told me that it didn't mattered and loved me all the same. I guess I was too afraid to know the truth to where I came from."
"...Why?"
"I don't know. I just am."
The two sat there quietly for a while. They both struggled to figure out what they wanted to say.
"Yotsuba... What happened back then, wasn't your fault."
"...I know."
They both continued to sit there. Ena wrapped her arm around Yotsuba, who continued to look down, holding Duralumin the entire time.
Eventually, her father returned home. They all sat together and ate dinner. Ena and her parents continued to catch up while Yotsuba ate in silence.
Eventually, it was time for Ena to leave.
"I'll come back to visit again soon, okay?"
She hugged everyone goodbye. She hugged Yotsuba particularly hard.
And then, she was gone. Things went back to how they were before Ena came. Yotsuba felt that familiar sinking feeling come right back. She was alone again.
"...I'm going to do my homework."
"Okay." Her father said.
…
The next few days continued like usual. Yotsuba walked to and from school in a seemingly never-ending loop. The same dreary school environment, the same empty streets and playground and the same quiet breakfast and dinners she would spend with her parents.
On her days off from school, she would spend all her time in her room sleeping in, lying on her bed listening to music, browsing the internet and occasionally cleaning her room when her father inevitably scolded her for not cleaning it for a long time.
One day, she was walking to school, lost in her thoughts again. She then felt something tug on her uniform.
"Excuse me... lady?"
Yotsuba turned around and then looked down.
It was a little girl.
"What is it?" Yotsuba didn't like being taken out of her thoughts by other people, she barely contained the annoyance she felt.
The little girl pointed towards the park. "What's that thing over there?"
"What are you pointing at?"
"C'mon, I'll show you."
Yotsuba felt the girl's little hand grab hers and got pulled along into the park. She had a surprisingly strong grip.
"H-hey! I've got to get to school!"
The little girl ignored her. She was dead set on her destination.
Finally, they stopped at a large jungle gym.
"The... jungle gym?"
"Jumble gym? Why's it called that?"
"No, jungle gym. And it's called that because... uh... huh. I actually don't know." Yotsuba scratched her head.
She then looked at the little girl. She was staring at the jungle gym without the slightest clue at what to do with it.
Yotsuba smiled, "Here, you climb around on it like this!"
She began to climb around on the jungle gym.
"Whoa!"
She went back down and pointed the little girl towards the gym.
"Now, you try!"
Nervously, the little girl grabbed onto one of the bars. Little by little, she began to understand how it worked and how to move around on it.
"Wow! This is awesome!" She had a huge smile on her face.
Yotsuba decided that was enough.
"Well, have fun. I gotta get to school now!"
As she walked off, she couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic. How funny that she would end up teaching another child how to use playground equipment.
But then she remembered what happened after learning how to use a swing.
She turned around and saw the little girl standing on top of the gym. She looked like she was barely holding her balance.
"Shit!" Yotsuba ran as fast as she could back to the little girl.
"Hey, what are you doing? Get back down!"
"Catch me!"
"Wha-"
The little girl began to jump off the jungle gym straight towards Yotsuba. Yotsuba ran as hard as she could and opened her arms.
She grabbed the little girl and found herself stumbling backwards and falling on her behind.
"Hahaha! That was funny! You fell on your butt!"
Before Yotsuba could formulate a response, she heard another voice.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!"
She saw an older lady come and gently take the little girl out of her arms.
"I'm really sorry, she ran off from me and I saw what happened! Hana, that was very dangerous! Don't do that again!"
"Sorry, Mommy..."
Yotsuba stood up.
"No... it's okay. She... reminded me of myself when I was her age."
"Did you jump off a jungle gym too?"
"Nope, a swing."
"Oh my..."
"Nobody caught me, but I fell into a sandbox. Thankfully."
The mother sighed. "Well, thank you for what you did. Hana here is so full of energy; I have a hard time keeping up."
"It's no problem."
"What's your name lady?" The girl still had a huge smile on her face.
"...Yotsuba."
"Ahh, kinda similar to Hana's name. Very beautiful!"
Yotsuba blushed and turned away slightly. "...Thanks."
"Well, you should probably head off to school. Don't want to be late now!"
"Bye bye, lady!"
"...Yeah. Bye."
Hana and her mom left. Yotsuba stood there for a while, digesting everything that just happened. She took a good look at the playground, from afar, it looked drab and boring, but up close, it actually looked like a ton of fun. She wished she didn't have to to go to school today.
Eventually, she looked at her phone and realized she was late.
"Dammit..."
…
Yotsuba entered the classroom, awaiting her lecture.
"Koiwai, you're late. I warned you about your tardiness. As punishment, you have to clean the classroom later today."
"Hmmph." She sat at her desk. The bleached haired boy to her left snickered again.
At the end of the day, she began to work on cleaning the classroom.
"Man, Koiwai-Chan, stinks that you have to stay at school! Would have loved to take you home!"
Yotsuba did her best to ignore him.
"If only you had a responsible and hardworking man to help you out! You need only but to find him and ask!"
His teasing grated her.
"Yeah, too bad there isn't one here."
"Ah, you wound me! Well, gotta go! Have fun, Koiwai-Chan! Heehee!"
Yotsuba was alone again. Guess it was time for her to work.
She started off pushing the desks to the side so she can start sweeping the floor. At first, she was angry over having to spend time doing something as punishment just because something out of her control happened.
Stupid little girl, she thought, why did you have to bother me? I wouldn't be doing this right now!
She found herself sweeping really hard to the point where she accidentally flung something across the floor.
Snapped out of her trance, she walked over to the small object.
It was an eraser. Someone must have dropped it as they were leaving.
Yotsuba stared at the eraser for a while. And then she had an idea.
She set the eraser straight up, lined up her broom and swung. The eraser flew up and bounced around the room.
"Ahahaha!" She found herself laughing. How did something so mundane looking cause her to do this? She continued to hit the eraser around the room for a while until it hit the window.
Yotsuba flinched for a second. Thinking she broke the window. Thankfully, she didn't.
She walked over to the window and found herself looking outside.
It was absolutely beautiful out. Her classroom was on the third floor of the school, so she had a good view of the town. She looked at all the tress that covered the place, stared out at the mountainside, listened as birds sang and watched little kids run across the street as if nothing was wrong. As if they weren't in a pandemic.
Finally, she looked out towards the sun as it began to set, signaling the day's end. Yotsuba found herself wondering when the last time she really stared at a sunset was.
"I better finish up here." So, she cleaned up the rest of the classroom and made her way home.
On the way back, Yotsuba couldn't help but notice some flowers growing out in one of the fields. They looked like sunflowers. She decided to go over and take a better look at them.
She remembered picking one of these flowers as a child. It was hard to believe that at one point they were all taller than her. She found herself touching and smelling one. The feeling she got was amazing. Noticing that it was getting darker, she went back on her way.
"Yotsuba, you're late. What happened?"
"I had to stay at school because I was late."
Her dad folded his arms. "And, why were you late?"
"A kid wanted me to show her how to use a jungle gym."
"Hmmm." He didn't seem convinced. "Well, dinner's almost ready. Make sure you wash up."
"I know, Dad."
After Yotsuba left the bathroom, she began to head downstairs. She stopped suddenly. She turned back to her room. An idea began to form in her head. A smile creeped across her face.
"Yotsuba, dinner's ready!" Her mom placed the food on the table. As she sat down, she looked towards the entrance to the kitchen and saw her daughter.
She was wearing underwear on her head.
Yotsuba's parents looked at her in confusion.
"What are-"
"I AM PANTY WOMAN! I HAVE COME TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD AND RUIN YOUR DINNER! MUAHAHAHAHA!"
Her mother stared in disbelief.
"I..." She then saw her husband leave the table. "W-where are you going?"
A few moments later, Yotsuba's father came in where a pair of boxers on his head.
"NOT SO FAST! I, BOXER MAN WILL NOT LET YOU TAKE OVER THE WORLD OR RUIN OUR DINNER!"
"BOXER MAN! MY ARCH-NEMESIS! I WILL DEFEAT YOU!
"N-NOT IF I HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT!" Her mother declared. "I, uh... AM BOXER MAN'S GIRLFRIEND AND SIDEKICK! I DON'T HAVE A NAME YET, BUT I'LL EARN ONE ONCE I DEFEAT YOU!"
"MUAHAHA! NEITHER OF YOU ARE A MATCH FOR ME! BRING IT ON!"
The three proceeded to run around the house. Firing imaginary lasers and performing imaginary super moves on each other. The house was the loudest and most exciting it had ever been in a long, long time.
Eventually, the three found themselves on the floor. They all laughed so hard, tears were coming out.
Eventually, they sat there for a while, basking in the moment. Eventually, Yotsuba's father broke the silence.
"We should probably eat now before the food gets cold.."
"Yeah.."
The three went back to the table and ate like usual. The mood was much brighter than it had been before.
"I can't believe you remember Boxer Man, Yotsuba. I haven't done that since you were five years old."
"I remember when I first encountered him." Her mother added. "It was pretty shortly after I met you two. Back then, I thought you were probably the strangest pair of people I met in my life."
"Are we still?" Yotsuba smirked.
"Hmm.." Her mother leaned back in her chair. "I would say so, yeah."
A big smile formed on her face. "But it turned out that was just what I needed. I love you both more than anything, and I am glad to have met you."
"I'll admit..." Yotsuba's father spoke. "I didn't think I would fall for you as hard as I did."
"Hahaha, it was only a matter of time before you fell for my charms!"
He then turned to Yotsuba. "And I'm so glad I met you. You showed me just how amazing life can be and you filled me with a sense of purpose. I know I haven't been done anything...fatherly for a long time now, and I just want to say, I love you, Yotsuba. And I'm sorry."
"Dad..."
"Ena told us about... how you felt and we just wanted to let you know that we're very sorry for what happened back then. Your mother and I fell madly in love and we both made some bad decisions that split our family. So, if you'd like, we can try and bring everybody back together."
Yotsuba smiled. "...That would be great."
"And... about the... nature of your adoption. I know we've never really talked about that, so if you ever..."
"No, Dad. It's okay."
Yotsuba took a deep breath and looked at both her parents.
"I'm... fine with not knowing right now. As far as I'm concerned, you're my parents. And you always will be."
After dinner was finished and the table cleaned, the three all shared an embrace.
"I really missed this." Her mother was crying and struggling to maintain her composure.
"I did too... Mom." Yotsuba closed her eyes and savored the moment. And told herself she will savor every moment like this from here on out.
An alarm rang. Yotsuba sleepily pawed over her alarm clock and turned it off. She slowly got up and proceeded to the bathroom.
She looked in the mirror. The dark circles under her eyes have mostly disappeared. Thanks to sticking to a sleep schedule for the past few days.
She took a look at her hair. She felt like she wanted to change it up. Give herself a new look.
...Or, perhaps bring back an old one.
She grabbed some small hair bands and got to work. It had been a while since she did her hair in this way.
She gave herself four short pigtails on each corner of her head. While also keeping at least some of her hair down to give her a more mature take on her old style.
"Today's going to be a good day." She said to herself.
She made her way to school. Making sure she was on time.
She stopped at the entrance again. She knew she still had to wear a mask to get in, and while she still hated that part, all she could do was just to keep going forward and make the best of things. Even if this pandemic never ended, there was always still things to look forward to.
She arrived to class on time, she paid full attention to the lectures. She even got to solve a problem given to her on the board and showed the class what she was capable of.
"My my Koiwai, you've really pulled yourself together. I'm happy for you."
"Thank you, sir!"
Later on, at lunch, she saw a group of girls from her class outside eating and talking. They were all laughing and sitting pretty close to each other. Yotsuba, despite feeling nervous walked over to them.
"E-excuse me... Mind if I sit with you?"
"Not a problem, Koiwai-Chan!"
Despite some initial awkwardness, Yotsuba found herself meshing well with the other girls. They all laughed and talked about many different things. Including boys.
Boys...
Yotsuba couldn't help but think of that bleach haired boy. She knew he was probably going to bug her later. But for some reason, she was actually looking forward to it.
As the day ended and as Yotsuba began to leave and make her way out of the school, sure enough, the boy came up to her.
"Hey hey! That's a cute new style you got there, Koiwai-Chan!"
She could see the smug grin he was making underneath his mask. Before it annoyed her, and it still did to an extent, but she also couldn't help but find something charming about it.
Yotsuba decided to play it cool. "Yeah, thought I'd try something new."
"And no dark circles under your eyes anymore! Have you ACTUALLY been sleeping? I'm also surprised at how you've become such a model student! Showing how brainy you are up at the classroom! Why didn't you tell me you knew so much?"
Yotsuba rolled her eyes. "Why would I tell you?"
"Because I'm such a charming and romantic person?" He pulled down his mask again, giving his usual smirk.
Yotsuba then grabbed his mask and pulled it off.
"Wha- Koiwai what are you doing?"
She took off her mask.
"Yotsuba... My name's Yotsuba."
She then kissed him on the lips.
The boy blushed hard.
"I...Uh...Wha..." He was at a loss for words.
The students surrounding them stared at the two. Bewildered and confused at the spectacle Yotsuba created.
Yotsuba then ran off, blushing and giggling all the way.
She then made her way to the playground. She saw Hana again and ran up to her.
"Hey, Hana! How are you doing today?"
"I'm doing great lady! What are we doing today?"
"It's Yotsuba... And today..." She turned to the right and pointed. "I'm gonna teach you how to use a swing!"
"Wow!" Do you think I'm ready?"
"Heck yeah, you are!" Yotsuba grabbed Hana's hand and led her towards the swing set, and whatever adventure she had planned for her.
Today is always the most enjoyable day
Author's note: Thanks for taking the time to read this. I know it might not be what people might expect, but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. Please don't hesitate to provide constructive criticism and feedback. I'm by no means a great writer, but I'm willing to improve.
I've always been passionate about Yotsuba&! as a series ever since I've read it when I first started high school. Today, as someone who's about to enter his thirties and working full time during a pandemic, I still love it and look to it to help remind me of what's important in life.
I wish you all the best.