“…I wonder if they’ve already gone home,” I muttered while helping Iori-senpai in the student council room.
Usually I would’ve left school together with Ayana and Towa by now, but I had been called by Iori-senpai and not been able to refuse.
“…Haaah.”
“What’s wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
My sighing was noticed, but I somehow managed to gloss it over.
“…………….”
Being alone together with Iori-senpai in the student council room was making my heart so thrilled, but the one in my mind was always Ayana.
…Ayana.
To me, Sasaki Shuu, Ayana was a very important childhood friend.
I’d always been together with Ayana for as long as I could remember. We were very close, and knew both of each other’s family.
‘Ayana-chan!’
‘Shuu-kun!’
In our childhood, calling each other’s name, as well as cuddling close together had been the usual thing. Our families were also on good terms, so we would go to each other’s house, which was still continuing even today.
Ayana was already a part of my everyday life, and I was able to say that spending my time with her was my biggest happiness.
I’m sure that we… are gonna get married.
It was embarrassing to put it into words, but I had such a kind of hunch.
Ayana had always been by my side since childhood, and that didn’t change even now when we were already in our second year in high school… She was always by my side.
‘Shuu and Ayana-chan sure look great with one another.’
‘Yeah yeah! Onii-chan and Ayana-onee-chan are totally gonna get married!’
In the past, my mom and little sister would often say such a thing that would make me want to tell them to stop doing it in front of the person in question since it was embarrassing… Well, my sister would often say that to me even now, though.
“…Hahah.”
When I ended up thinking about Ayana and my family, I’d end up breaking out a smile.
I got looked at weirdly by Iori-senpai for suddenly laughing, but I cleared my throat and acted as if it was nothing.
After that, I was done helping with Iori-senpai and returned back to the classroom.
“…Ahaha, I guess they really have gone already.”
I’d thought Ayana and Towa would’ve been waiting for me, but they were already gone as expected.
When I checked my phone just in case, there was a message from Ayana, and the message was about heading home first with Towa.
“Then I guess I’ll just go home, too.”
Carrying my bag on my back, I left school.
It was the first time in a while for me to walk outside alone like this, but I ended up feeling that a day like this once in a while sure wasn’t bad either.
It might be because it was already just all too natural for Ayana and Towa to be in my daily life.
“Not just Ayana and Towa, I’m blessed with a family, too.”
Yeah, I was really blessed with a family as well.
It was a family consisting of me, my mom, little sister, and dad who was currently in a far away place on a job transfer.
My mom would always make tasty cooking and school lunch for me, and she would also praise me over small things and make me feel happy.
‘You’re the son we’re proud of, you know? You’re a really cute and good boy, we love you.’
When hugged while being told that, I could really feel at ease.
It seemed my mom knew that too, and would immediately notice if I seemed even a little anxious, so… to put it, I could tell that my mom really did treasure me.
Of course not just my mom, my middle schooler sister was adoring me, too.
‘Onii-chan! Help me study!’
I wasn’t the type who was that good with studying, but still, studying with me was… nah, being together with me itself was maybe something she really loved, but anyway, she was a girl who would like to be by my side.
I wasn’t sure if it was because she was my little sister, but to me she was truly important and was a cute girl also.
“And Dad’s counting on me, too.”
I’d talk often through a phone call with my dad who was on a job transfer, but each time he would always tell me to take care of my mom and little sister.
I didn’t think I could fill my dad’s shoes, but currently I was the only man left at home, so I was intending to firmly protect them both.
“Of course, I’ll protect Ayana, too.”
I would also protect Ayana, a childhood friend who was always by my side.
Precisely because she was an important childhood friend to me… precisely because she was a childhood friend I loved, I would protect her from here on out.
“I mean, Ayana helped me out too when I was bullied.”
I was used to people being jealous of me over Ayana since middle school.
So maybe because of that I’d also been bullied by various people, but each time, Ayana would come to protect me.
“…Ah, speaking of, Towa too, wasn’t it?”
Towa would also protect me together with Ayana, wouldn’t he? That should’ve been the case.
“I’ve been helped out in all kinds of things by Towa too, haven’t I?”
Like Ayana, I’d known Towa for so long and I thought of him as very important.
Wanting to become a good-looking and caring guy like that… surely becoming a person that people wouldn’t complain about even if I were to stand next to Ayana was not something I didn’t dream about either.
‘Hey Towa, I hope you’ll support me with Ayana.’
Long ago, I’d also told him this and gotten a nod from him.
That being the case, I was able to trust that there was nothing happening between Towa and Ayana, and I believed that Towa had always been, and would always be my ally in the future, too.
It seemed I’d ended up standing still and stopped in my tracks, perhaps because I’d been thinking too much about various things.
“…Ah.”
My stomach growled. I let out a small bitter smile and ran quickly back home.
On the way, there was the sound of an ambulance siren echoing, maybe an accident or something happening somewhere. I spontaneously shifted my gaze to that direction.
“…!”
I hated the sound of an ambulance siren.
It wasn’t like it was because the sound was noisy, but it was a sound that would make me remember an unpleasant memory, so I hated it.
‘Shuu!’
‘…Eh?’
Trying to forget the memory that was almost coming back up, I shook my head and I broke into a run at once.
I arrived home, and I also stopped minding about the unpleasant thing that had almost come back up right around when I was passing through the entrance.
“I’m home~!”
My sister would usually reply back, so it seemed she wasn’t home yet today, which was rare.
“Welcome home, Shuu.”
As if doing it in place of my sister, my mom came out of the living room.
My mom smiled as she approached me and hugged my face to her voluptuous chest.
“C-Come on, Mom?”
“Hey, don’t try to get away. My cute son has returned home, so it makes me wanna do this, right?”
“…Is that so?”
“Of course♪.”
It was embarrassing being done this kind of thing now as a high schooler. But she was my mom, so I just resigned myself to it.
“You’re home late today, did something happen? Could it be that you had a date with Ayana-chan?”
“No, today I was helping out with the student council president’s work. Ayana should’ve gone back home ahead of me.”
“Is that so? Fufu, but that’s my son, helping out with the student council president’s work. Aren’t you a big-shot now.”
It wasn’t something praise-worthy like that, but feeling like it also wouldn’t be good to self-deprecate so much, I just gave my mom a slightly vague smile.
“The bath is ready so you should quickly go in.”
“Okaaay.”
I headed for the bath after putting my stuff in my room.
While taking a warm shower, I thought about it again; about how I myself was really blessed with a wonderful family.
I’d thought about this too earlier, but I was really grateful for this fate.
Among all kinds of families existing in this world, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that I was without a doubt surrounded by the best family.
A kind mother, a cute little sister, and a father who would rely on me… and then the best childhood friends who would always be by my side. Only at a time like this I was feeling like a protagonist in a game and I spontaneously grinned.
“But…”
However, there was just one thing bothering me.
It was such a kind family to me, but for some reason, their response was rough regarding Towa. How to put this, they would make a blatantly unpleasant face when I talked about Towa.
“…I wonder if something happened.”
I’d love for them to get along if possible, but I felt like something like this was something that would already be resolved by the time you realized it, and I felt like someday they would get along with Towa, too.
“Me and Ayana, and then Towa have always been together. And that’s why I want everyone to get along.”
Like, eventually… when Ayana and I someday would really, umm… get married or anything like that, I really would love for Towa to give some speech as a friend representative, too.
“…Ahaha, I’m just too hasty. But… I guess I’d love for that future to come.”
It was something coming out of my mouth, but it was a little creepy. But imagining something like this was common and not something anyone would complain about.
Besides, I believed that that future would truly come.
‘Shuu-kun.’
‘Shuu.’
While remembering the two I’d always spent time together with, I finished taking my bath and returned to the living room where my mom was waiting.
TL notes:
1707 words
Support the author by buying the book here!
I Can't Read Japanese TL 
ahhh idk about that one man
LikeLike