Day 9

Wednesday, February 9th

Morning

Another quiet morning. These mornings were always so odd to me, because usually by the time I got up, Dad had the TV on in the living room watching the news or some old cartoons, and Mom was making herself (or had already made herself) chamomile tea. Contrast now, where Dad was nowhere to be seen, usually still in their bedroom, Nana was in the living room sleeping, and Mom was the only one up still making her tea, albeit quieter than usual.

My walk to school with Aika was surprisingly met with another girl as well, Miyuki, today.

"Yeah," Aika replied to my curiosities, "Seems like we all have the same route anyway, so she messaged me and asked if we all wanted to walk together, and I was like 'hell yeah, the more the merrier!'."

I gave a bit of a chuckle. "Well, no issue here, welcome aboard the walk-to-school train, Miyuki. Just remember that Aika doesn't make stops for anyone~"

Miyuki gave a little sweet nod. "I've been late before for other things like casual meetups, but school is something I'm always on time for, so I probably shouldn't wait for Aika either if she's running late."

The enchanting, genuine smile Miyuki gave ending that sentence contrasted nicely with the faux-horrified look Aika gave in response. "Ack - you're a harsh mistress you know that?" Miyuki tilted her head a little, seeming slightly confused, before Aika backed down with a sheepish smile. "Eheh, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, s' only fair."

"I wouldn't mind too much if this is how we walked to school in the future, too." I replied rather cheerfully.

Miyuki gave an innocent smile, while Aika gave an over-the-top, highly animated grimace, delivering her next words with a low growl. "Ohh? Am I not good enough to be your walking buddy anymore? Or do you just want to have two beautiful women accompany you wherever you go now?"

It was clear she was teasing me as usual, but I fell straight into it anyways. With a mad blush, I gave a heated reply, "I-it's not like that at all and you know it!"

"Houh? Or maybe you've been secretly wanting Miyuki instead of Konata ever since yesterday?"

"W-what!? L-l-look, I'm staying the course for now with Konata, okay!?" My face must have been a deep cherry red at this point, and I noticed Miyuki's light blush accompanied with a rather puzzled, yet cheerful look as well.

"Yeah, for now." Aika replied mischeviously.

"Uwaaaa, I don't need to take this~ you're so mean Aika~~~"

"Yeah well, it's fun to watch you squirm!"

I silently puffed my cheeks as much as I could in response, to which Aika called me a blowfish, and we both started laughing. A lot of it looked like it was going over Miyuki's head, but she seemed to enjoy herself in the company regardless.

After Class

I found myself not really paying attention in class today. Instead, my gaze shifted to my left and a few seats up where Konata sat, letting that beautiful blue hair sweep my conscious mind away, but I also found myself contemplating. No, contemplating implies I was working through something and thinking about it - really, it was more like trying and failing to grasp conflicting feelings I was having that were nowhere near familiar.

I don't even think I heard the bell ring. It was only when a large portion of the class began filing out that I realized the lesson was over.

"Yo~" I heard a familiar voice call from behind me.

Turning around, I smiled at Kagami. "Hey there!"

"Got your trig stuff? I said I'd help you yesterday, remember?"

"Ah, right…"

"...you forgot, didn't you?"

"Look, after I logged off I basically passed out, I'm sorry!"

Kagami sighed a little. "Well, at least your excuse isn't that you constantly game all the time." she dryly stated, casting a wayward glance towards an approaching Konata.

"It's fine, it's fine~" Konata chimed, "I'm really good at cramming last minute, so why waste my time stressing about that sort of thing when I can just do good on the exam?"

It wasn't an awful idea to me, but Kagami clearly disapproved. To be clear, it isn't something I'd try, but if it works for her, I figured live and let live.

"Well," I began, "I didn't necessarily forget it. It's just that I got about halfway through and didn't finish it. Would you be willing to look over the stuff I did?"

Kagami looked slightly surprised. "Yeah, of course."

I pulled out the half finished paper I had and handed it to her, and it only took her a minute or so before handing it back. "Actually," she said, "Aside from number 8 where you mixed up again, I don't see anything wrong with what you have so far. Just keep it up and finish the paper after lunch and you should be good."

"Really?"

"Yeah, seems alright to me."

My eyes lit up. Never in my life had I been good at trigonometry, and now I finally seemed to grasp it more than not at all? "Uwah~ thank you so much Kagami, you've helped a ton!"

I don't think Kagami knew how to react, giving a meek smile. "U-uh...yeah, no problem."

Lunch

"Do you think they float?"

Konata had asked me that a couple of minutes after her, Kagami, Tsukasa and I sat down. No context at all. Just...out of the blue.

"Uh...do I think what floats?" I asked.

"You know~"

I blinked. "...no, I don't know."

"Those."

I tilted my head in utter confusion. Tsukasa seemed to be on the same wavelength as me, while Kagami had her mouth agape and her face red for some reason.

It took me a minute to realize what was going on.

"Oh. Those."

Now I was on Kagami's wavelength instead, nearly choking again on a piece of rice when I realized she was talking about-

"W-what, you mean boobs?" I asked incredulously.

Konata nodded with a cat like smile.

And now all three of us, Tsukasa, Kagami and I, were on the same wavelength face-wise.

"H-how the hell would I know!?" I cried, "I don't have those, remember!?"

"Neither do I." Konata replied with the flattest, most defeated tone I think I've ever heard her have, which just as abruptly rebounded into the exact opposite - a jovial, proud tone, "But that's not a bad thing y'know~!"

"...you know Konata, sometimes you make me feel like I'm detached from reality." I replied. Kagami laughed a little and Tsukasa gave a meek 'ehe'.

"Why don't you just ask Miyuki?" Tsukasa chimed innocently.

This was cause enough for Konata to give a low grin. "Houuh, I didn't expect that out of you of all people, Tsukasa~"

Tsukasa blushed. "I-it's not like that, I j-just figured that would be the best place to go since she...um…"

"Has them." Kagami finished.

A brief moment where everyone looked down at themselves occurred. My expression was blank, although all three of the other girls looked utterly crushed.

"Miyuki really…" Tsukasa started

"...does have…" Kagami continued

"...the biggest!" Konata wailed to finish.

"...we should probably just ask her then." I said bluntly. "To the library?"

All three of the girls looked like they very badly did not want to move.

"Uh...guess not."

After School

The day was winding down and coming to an end. Aika, Miyuki and I all walked home together. It occurred to me that I could just ask Aika, as her chest, while not as large as Miyuki's, was nearing that range.

"Yo Aika, super weird question," I started, "Do boobs float?"

"Yeah, why?" she responded as though we were talking about the weather.

"It just came up today at the lunch table and none of us really knew."

"Yeah, they do. Some sciencey reason behind it or something."

"Well," Miyuki suddenly chimed in, "Fatty tissue in general tends to float on water. That, and if large enough, I would imagine buoyancy would also be a factor."

I was stunned for a short moment. "Well...uh...who'd have thought?"

The walk continued with an awkward silence for about fifteen seconds before Miyuki said something.

"You know, you and Aika seem very comfortable with each other."

Aika and I both looked at her with a 'huh, interesting' sort of look.

"Well yeah," Aika replied, "We've known each other since we were...what, 9 or 10?"

"Yeah," I replied, "Since 4th grade. That'd make it a solid seven years or so, so it's only natural."

"I'm a little surprised you two aren't together." Miyuki chimed with an innocent smile.

"E-eheh...well, I dunno, it just never occurred to me, really." I sheepishly answered.

"Uh...yeah, me neither honestly," Aika agreed in nearly the same manner, "S' always been the sort of thing where it's like...nahh, why complicate stuff like that when what we've got right now works so well?" I nodded enthusiastically in agreement, which made Miyuki hum thoughtfully, but she didn't say too much more on the subject.

"An' besides," Aika added, "I gots my own man~" I gave a little smile at that, genuinely happy for her.

"Ah, this is my stop." I mentioned as we came up to my house. My folks' car wasn't in the driveway. Wonder where someone went...the store's easily within walking distance.

"...are you alright?" Miyuki asked. I turned to her to see a rather concerned face. Aika had a look of caution about her.

"...yeah, why?"

"You look really weirded out." Aika replied

"...ah, do I? Sorry...I should probably get going though, later." With that, I quickly walked my way in through the front door.

Quiet still. Even quieter than usual. I peeked around the kitchen. Nobody. Down the hallways? Nobody. In the living room?

The living room looked emptier than it had been in the past few days. The gurney-bed and wheelchair were absent entirely, the space left behind unaccounted for.

Mom was in the corner couch. Just...sitting there, elbows on her knees, hunched over. Her eyes were red. It was pretty obvious she'd been crying previously.

I took a deep breath and sat down on the sofa next to the corner couch.

"Has she…?"

I couldn't say anything more. I tried, but it felt like a coin was stuck in my throat. It was all so sudden. I wasn't prepared for this. I thought after a week Nana would go back either to the hospital or some sort of care facility to live out what little days she had. I...wasn't prepared at all for the possibility that it would all just happen right here, crashing down. I wasn't prepared to encounter this head-on at such close proximity so abruptly. Not after a relatively cheerful today.

Mom only nodded.

I inhaled and exhaled deeply and slowly, leaning forward and mimicking the pose Mom held now. This was...the very first time mortality had ever been so close to me. A lot of times I saw in movies people crying, screaming or thrashing about when their loved ones died, delivering grand soliloquies. Other times I saw death in media, and loved ones reacted with simple silent mourning, possibly accompanied with eyes closed and heads lowered.

It was like I wanted to cry, but moreover, I felt disemboweled. My insides felt empty. My head suddenly felt empty. It was as though all my bodily functions halted for those few minutes. Is this what shock feels like, I wondered briefly?

The truth was, I was scrambling to come up with the proper feelings to feel, but I couldn't figure out exactly what that was. So my face remained a blank board. I stood up silently, in a daze, and stumbled my way back to my room wordlessly.

I briefly thought about telling someone about this as I glanced to my computer, but my legs automatically collapsed me bed-ward. I don't know how many hours I just stared at the ceiling feeling distressingly empty and uncertain.

I didn't get much sleep that night, if at all.