Welcome Home, Tsun Tsun (3)

꒰ঌ Welcome Home Tsun Tsun 3

.

.

Few days later. I was together with Naruko, and we had landed together at Narita International. We proceeded along a long passageway, almost like a procession of ants.

In the end… Naruko decided to come back to Japan. She cancelled her study abroad program. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it'd be for her to withdraw from the program. It seemed that, considering how competitive the program was, it was common for people to drop out. It made sense.

And I still hadn't figured out the reason my sister had let go of her own iron determination in order to come back. Did my argument actually persuade her, or was there another reason? In either case, Naruko wouldn't blame anybody else for all this. She wouldn't go up to anybody else and say "This is your fault!" She was just that kind of person. As she walked beside me, her expression was nonchalant and bright, but you didn't have to be me to see that she was just putting on an act.

"Mom's going to come meet us in her car."

"I see."

We grabbed our luggage and went through customs. The minute we went through the spinning gate, we saw someone running towards us. The girl stopped and seemed out of breath, her shoulders heaving up and down.

It was Ruby. It was the first time I had seen this girl like this. Naruko looked at her with her eyes widened. She was left speechless. Her mouth opened and closed a number of times, but the words had a hard time coming out.

"You…"

"Long time… no see…" Ruby looked like she was having a hard time breathing, and muttered that while remaining expressionless.

She was wearing her usual Blackrose costume, although it had been quite a while since I've seen her in that. And of course, I was the person who had told her the flight we were taking and our arrival time. And so, this was the moment of reunion between two friends who hadn't seen each other for quite a few months.

"Wha… you… why are you so out of breath? Did you run here from the bus station or something because you wanted to see me so badly?"

"Don't be ridiculous… haah… haah… we haven't met in… a few months… and that's the first thing you say to me? As always, you just a woman with no manners… aren't you…"

Was she seriously alright? She was panting pretty heavily there. How out of shape was she? Where the hell did she run here from? And as expected from Naruko, even though she was really happy Ruby had come to meet her, she just spat out unkind words instead.

"Geez… you two are the same as always." I watched over the two of them with a satisfied smile.

"Y-you idiot. You're an otaku shut-in, so don't overdo it." Naruko desperately tried to keep herself from smiling, and walked towards Ruby.

"Here, have some water." Naruko handed Ruby a half-drunken bottle of water.

Ruby downed the remaining contents of the bottle and sighed. "That wasn't necessary…" she grumbled. And then… standing right in front of Naruko, Ruby blushed and mumbled softly, "Welcome… back."

"Yeah… I'm home." Naruko gave Ruby a shy smile back.

After that, the conversation got much more jumbled. They hurled insults at each other over the game that Ruby had made, were quite excited as they made plans for Summer Comiket, and tried to get each other to admit that they were lonely without the other there. It was almost as if they were trying to make up for lost time. It reminded me quite a lot of that time a year ago when they were arguing with each other in a Starbucks in Akiba.

"Hmph. So you just lost every match and ran back here. That's pretty pathetic."

"Tch, you idiot. Who do you think you're talking to? I'm going to practice more, and then next time I'll knock out every single person over there."

"Oh? You weren't even a match for them last time, and you think you have a chance to win?"

"Fufufufu…"

Naruko slowly took out her iPhone. She fiddled with it for a bit, and showed the screen to Ruby and me. It seemed like an online news article. There was a photo of a girl running across a track. She had fair, white skin, bright blue eyes and reddish pink hair. She wasn't that tall, but her legs were long and slender.

"And this is?" Ruby asked the question.

Naruko seemed quite proud and pointed at the iPhone screen, "This is Chelia Blendy. She's the fastest and the cutest girl in the world… and she was my roommate in America."

"So in other words… she's faster than you?"

"I can't even begin to match her like I am right now. She's really cute, really young, and even on an international scale she's really impressive. She's one of the poster children of the sport. Hmph, and she also gets on the news too."

Naruko laughed self-derisively. To think she could also get like this…

"But, I've beaten her once."

Naruko's tone suddenly brightened, and she puffed out her chest. She didn't sound like she was lying. My sister would never lie when it came to her matches. She had a crazily high sense of pride, after all.

"Hmm… so you won against her just once?"

"Yeah. It felt more like I had caught her by surprise though…"

"But you still won."

"Yeah."

"I see. Well, that's good then." Ruby nodded, seeming quite satisfied.

That's great. So you didn't come back after only losing and running away. At least, that's what I saw in her eyes. In reality, she had made a single dent in the walls of the world. Naruko had said she hadn't accomplished anything over there… but that wasn't true, was it?

"By the way…" Ruby smirked a bit while she asked her next question. "Exactly when did you beat her?"

"…!"

For some reason, Naruko seemed at a loss for words.

"T-that's a secret."

Her face flushed red and she turned in the opposite direction. Ruby looked like she had guessed everything, and gave a huge grin.

"I see. So you just were lucky and challenged her when you were in top form."

"You really are infuriating, you know."

"Hmph… and what do you mean by that, I wonder? If you don't say it clearly, I won't understand, you know?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

Naruko once again turned away from Ruby. And then she realized that I was still there, and for just a moment, her eyes opened wide. And then… She stuck her tongue out at me and made a face.

What the hell just happened? I had no idea. All I could do is stand there by myself, confused. Well, whatever. I cleared my throat, and turning towards my sister who was standing on Japanese soil for the first time in a few months, I spoke.

"Welcome back home, Naruko."

.

.