The Last Day of Summer

The last day of Summer, well at least for Arata's sister, Ayami. She was going to have to head back to college today. However, she did want to see the kids he was babysitting before she left, to see how much they've grown since she last saw them. While she was occupied with all the kids, Arata and Yuriko were sitting on the couch as they usually did.

"Seems like your sister likes mine." He said to her.

"Yeah, well that's not a surprise." She replied. With not much to talk about this weekend, he had his notebook out. The heart still a mystery to him. "Isn't that the notebook you had during our vacation?" She saw him intently reading it.

"Yeah it is." He answered her. "It's just this one page I don't get." It wasn't a huge deal to him, just would've been nice to refresh his memory on who it was about though. He showed her the heart message left in it.

"A + Y?" She read. The heart around those letters. It was clear that this was meant to be a love promise. "I never realized you were the type to make love promises."

"Not now, this was when I was a lot younger. According to these dates, I was apparently about seven or eight when I wrote this." Being nearly a decade old, it was no wonder that he couldn't remember the events that led to this.

"Aren't there any clues in the book itself? Seems a bit weird for a boy to have a diary, don't you think?"

"It's a journal." He tried correcting her. "Plus, there's no names written in it. Anytime I seem to talk about this girl, I wrote her name as Y." He was upset at his past self. Why couldn't he have been more clear?

"That sucks." She scanned through the pages. "About as bad as your handwriting."

"I was seven." He got defensive about her criticism. His mystery wasn't embarrassing, but he wouldn't have told her if she was going to trash his childhood self.

"What are you two talking about?" Ayami was finished with the children for now. "Or did I interrupt some flirting?"

"It's nothing like that." He replied in irritation.

"Yeah, like I'd ever flirt with someone like him." She crossed her arms.

"But we're just talking about my childhood crush, because I apparently had one." He answered.

"Really?"

"Yeah, does A + Y mean anything to you?" Her eyes widened from hearing those letters.

"Did you just say A+ Y?" She stuttered. Quickly she grabbed his notebook, furiously searching the pages.

"Um…" He was speechless at her actions. So was Yuriko, who never thought she'd see this reserved girl like this.

"Oh thank goodness, I thought you took one of my old diaries." She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Did you have a crush on someone with Y as part of their name?" He asked.

"It's none of your business!" She shouted a little too loudly. The kids looked over to them, Arata told them to not worry and get back to playing. "S-sorry, it's not important right now. This is about you." He let it go for now. Yuriko's presence, a person that she was not really familiar with probably kept her from wanting to talk about it more.

"Okay, well do you remember me spending any time with a girl, about when I was seven or eight?" He asked Ayami, hoping that she'd have better memory than him.

"Oh right, I remember. There was a girl that you spent a lot of time with." She said, perhaps it was time to finally get an answer. "But I never got her name, you always called her Y when you came home." Or not.

"Really, I never once said her name?"

"If you did, then I don't remember it." She responded. "It was so cute, that you had nicknames for each other. She called you Ara."

"You really had nicknames for each other?" Yuriko questioned him. He felt the bead of sweat from having her hear that.

"I mean, we were kids." This was becoming his excuse for everything related to this. Still though, he was surprised he forgot this. At this point, he'd still have a few years before he got beat up.

"It's too bad she had to move away. I remembered you cried for a week straight after that." At this point, he was starting to regret Yuriko's presence while they were talking about this. It was also something he already knew, since that was the last thing he wrote in this notebook, until the vacation.

"Considering how close we were, I'm not surprised." He responded.

"I think it's too bad you never really tried to make any friends since then." She recalled that he wasn't the most outgoing child. Not the type to be super shy around people, more of the type to not go out of his way to talk to others. "Especially not after that day." She referred to his hospital visit.

"I guess if it makes you happy, he's got friends now." Yuriko tried to cheer her up.

"Yeah, it's really not a big deal, I just got beat up, that's all." He continued.

"It is a big deal." Her expression changed. "You know how worried I was when I heard you were at the hospital? Or how sad it was to watch you just avoid making friends? I swear, if I find whoever did that to you…" She said in a threatening tone.

"Y-yeah. Those bullies better watch out for you…." Yuriko nervously responded. He thought that was an odd reaction, seeing as she was the tough one of the group.

"I'm sure they're not the same people as they were then." Those girls would be in high school, just like him. He was confident that they had matured at this point.

Once it started to get late, it was time for the children to return back to their homes. That included Yuriko and her little sister. This time, things had to end earlier than usual. That way, Ayami would be able to take the train back to college, which Arata had to be there to say goodbye.

Without the family car, walking was the only option. Thankfully it wasn't too long of a walk. The entire family was there to see her off once more.

"Well, it's too bad it's already over." Ayami said, as they entered the station. "It feels like I've only just got back."

"Yeah, I guess time flies when you're having fun." Their dad said. Maybe for them, Arata thought, but he had more than enough adventure to last a lifetime with these people. Then again, he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy it himself.

"Oh, I'm so sad that you have to go." Their mom gave her a big bear hug.

"Oh mom, don't worry I'll be back during Winter break, definitely for Christmas." She was embarrassed by the fact that there were witnesses to this moment.

"You know, you're always free to come back when you have free time." Arata noted. She had said she wanted her first quarter at college to be done straight though, to get used her new surroundings. Now with that out of the way, it wouldn't hurt if she came back if she wanted. The school wasn't far from home, nor was the fare expensive to travel back and forth. Ayami could even make it a day trip if she wanted it to.

"I think you're right." She said. "Maybe next time, I'll even bring back a couple of friends I've made too." Their parents certainly did enjoy the prospect of meeting her new friends. Along with spending more time with their daughter.

"Hey, mom, dad. Is it all right if I talk to Arami about something private? You know, before she leaves?"

"Of course you can." His mom allowed it. Believing that he was going to ask for advice on asking one of his new friends out.

"Yeah, we'll just go to the restaurant near here and get a table." Said his dad. With that plan set, they left the two to have one final conversation.

"So what did you need to talk about that mom and dad couldn't hear?"

"Who's Y?" He wasted no time in asking his question.

"Wh-what are you talking about…" She scratched under her eye nervously. An obvious tell that she was lying.

"I knew you wouldn't tell me the truth when Yuriko was at our house now." He didn't relent. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone else. That boy was probably just some crush from when we were little, right?" He figured that this was similar to what he had when he was a child. No major deal, at least not one he'd think that someone would want to hide.

"It's more then just some crush from when I was a kid." She said. "I guess you can say that I… still like him." She admitted. Despite living with her, he was never aware that she had feelings for anyone. Then again, this girl was always good with secrets.

"Really? That's cute." He teased her.

"If I tell you, then… Actually, can you help me?" She changed her tune, realizing an opportunity.

"Help you?" As if he didn't already have his hands full with someone else. "Of course, you're my sister after all." She was more than just his sister to him. This was probably the most important girl in his life at the moment, so helping her was no trouble for him. Except…

"Okay then. The boy I like is… Yogi Aono!" She confessed the truth to him.

"Di-di-did you just say… Yogi is the boy you like?" He was shaking from hearing those words. She couldn't possibly be referring to that boy of all people. Arata prayed that she was talking about a different Yogi Aono.

"Yes, when I saw you were friends with him. My heart almost beat out of my chest." She continued. "I met him, when he needed help with tutoring." She explained.

"I guess you could say I took that mantle." He commented, thinking about the time he spent studying with that dimwit.

"After that, we always ran into each other. Because the two of us were always helping out the teachers. I guess after a while, I just sort of…" She was feeling the heat of telling this story out in public. She didn't want to dare and say the L-word.

"R-right… I see." If she was nervous about talking about this. He was dying at hearing her talk. This was a wrench in his goals. His own sister, in love with that boy of all boys.

"Oh, then when I come back next time. You can help me out, right?" She grasped his hands, making a promise. "Because, maybe you can help him see me as a girl. You know, maybe he might fall in love with me…" She didn't really know how he'd help, but she was certain that his support would be nice.

Arata didn't respond. He was knocked speechless at this revelation. This was even more shocking to him, then when Erina presented her blackmail of him.

"I-I know it's not something that you'd do." She couldn't have been more wrong about that statement. "But maybe you can think about it before I come back. And you're free to say no, I won't get mad." She didn't want to force him to do anything he wouldn't want to do. She'd never done that to him before.

"I'll… think about it." Were the only words he could muster up.

"Great!" She gave him a kiss on the forehead. "The train's here, so I gotta get going." She left him at the platform. "Bye, love you!" She said her final farewell, he did the same.

As she left on the train. Arata stood still. This was a terrible way to end the Summer break.