Chapter 197 – Morning of Departure

After we finished talking, Riku-san and I returned to our respective futons and slept until it was time for us to leave. At first, I thought that we could sleep in the car, but he said…

'Mom's driving becomes… A little rougher whenever we get to a highway, so…'

After hearing that, I decided to let him get as much sleep as possible.

When morning finally came, we woke up and changed out of our yukatas. Umi and I packed ours and Riku-san's luggage before going down for breakfast.

There, Shizuku-san, dressed in her waitress attire, noticed us and came up to us with an apologetic smile.

"Good morning, Maki-kun, Umi-chan. Sorry for borrowing Rikkun for so long last night. We had a long talk about the old days and ended up drinking until dawn."

"Good morning, Shizuku-san. Riku-san is going to sleep until our departure, so he said you shouldn't make his portion for breakfast."

"I understand. I guess we got too carried away last night… I should properly apologize to him."

According to Riku-san, she drank quite a lot last night, but instead of looking hungover, she looked more energetic than usual.

I didn't know what exactly happened last night, but it seemed that they had a good time.

"Oh, right, can you spare some time before you leave, Maki-kun? Reiji wants to talk to you if it isn't a bother…"

"Reiji-kun? …Sure, I want to talk to him as well."

"Thank you. I'll bring him to the front desk later."

After that, Shizuku-san moved to prepare breakfast.

"You're popular now, huh, Maki?"

"Not really? Honestly, I thought that Reiji-kun would be attached to you… By the way, are you good with kids?"

"Hm~ So-so, I guess. I can babysit if I have to, but I'd rather not… What about you?"

"I'm bad with them. When I worked at a nursery for a class in middle school, those little devils took advantage of me and kept hitting me with their baseball bats."

"Ah~ That happened to you, huh?"

Reiji-kun was just an exception. If he was like any other kid, I wouldn't be bothered to even interact with him. Then again, I'd heard that children's personality came from their parents. Shizuku-san must have been a good role model for him.

We finished our breakfast and got ready for our departure. Sora-san messaged us that she was ready as well, so we only needed to wake up Riku-san and pick her up.

When we got back to our room, we found that Riku-san had already woken up.

"Welcome back."

"Why are you awake? I tried so hard to come up with something that will definitely wake you up."

"You little…"

"I'm joking. Maki is here, he'll definitely stop me before I get a chance to do it anyway. Are you done with everything?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

She was asking whether he had concluded his business with Shizuku-san or not. Instead of answering her, Riku-san seemed fidgety.

He was probably thinking about what kind of answer he should give her.

"Reiji-kun said that he wants to see us before we leave, so we'll be going down first, Riku-san."

"…Ah, okay."

I gave him a way out and told him that we'll be waiting for him at the front desk.

We were still on our holiday, but that wasn't the case for Reiji-kun. When we got to the front desk with our luggage, we found him wearing his kindergarten uniform.

"Heya, Reiji-kun."

"…"

I thought he would come running to me right away, but he hid behind Shizuku-san instead. He was probably feeling shy because there were other people here.

He really reminded me of my younger self.

"Reiji, didn't you say that you want to thank him properly? C'mon, don't be shy."

"…Mm."

After Shizuku-san urged him, he walked towards me. Noticing this, Umi, who had been holding my hand, immediately let it go and moved away.

"Thank you for everything, Big Brother. Let's play together again sometime."

"No need to thank me. And yes, let's."

"See you later!"

After saying that, he quickly ran to the bus stop to wait for his school bus.

That felt a bit anticlimactic, but we would see each other again anyway, we didn't need a grand farewell or anything.

Besides, this was how I normally said my goodbyes.

"He always hated going to the kindergarten, but today, he looks so eager to go… Thank you so much, Maki-kun."

"I didn't do anything, Shizuku-san. It was all him."

All I did was give him a nudge from behind.

I did the same with Riku-san earlier today.

"Did you wait long, Maki?"

"Not really… We'll be waiting outside, Riku-san."

"No, just stay here. It's hot outside, so stay here until I'm finished getting the car ready."

I see. He wanted me to stay and watch.

He could just say so. What a troublesome person.

"Stop with the tsundere act, idiot."

"Shut up. Why are you here anyway? Go away, idiot."

Those two really were siblings. They didn't look alike, but their insults were the same.

"Rikkun, if you called me here just to show me your sibling dispute with Umi-chan, I'm leaving, okay? I still have a lot of work to do, you know?"

"Ah, s-sorry… Move along, you two, just sit there or something…"

And we did. We walked to the couch, sat down and positioned ourselves properly to enjoy the upcoming show.

"…Um, sorry, Shi-chan. I acted strangely last night."

"I don't mind. We're childhood friends, you don't need to hold back."

"That's right, isn't it? We're childhood friends…"

There was no way that he would drop the topic at this point, right?

I mean, if that was the case, he wouldn't go out of his way to call out Shizuku-san when it's busy. 

He was up to something.

Riku-san took a deep breath before opening his mouth.

"Shi-chan… There's something I want to tell you…"

"What is it?"

"So, you know that I'm currently unemployed, right? I managed to fulfill my dream and became a member of the SDF, but I couldn't get used to the job, broke down and quit. Now my body isn't exactly in good condition…It's because I've been wasting my life away at my parents house. Doing nothing but playing games all day."

"Mhm, I can see that. You're really out of shape, Rikkun."

"H-Hey, stop touching my stomach, it tickles!"

"But, it feels soft and fluffy~ Let me touch it~"

She pinched his flabby stomach while giggling.

Her words sounded like she was admonishing him, but her expression was gentle.

"A-Anyway, back to the topic! I realized that I can't go on like this, so I've been trying to look for a job. But I didn't know what I wanted to do, that's why I've also been searching for a new goal in my life…"

I've heard about the circumstances on why he quit his previous job and I understood that it was inevitable. But I agreed, it wasn't a good idea to let his current situation continue indefinitely.

He wore a resolute look on his face. Most likely, he managed to find a new goal.

"Shi-chan… I want to work here."

"Huh?"

His statement shocked Shizuku-san.

It shocked all of us.

…I see, so that was his decision.

"Of course, this isn't something we could decide on our own. I have to talk to your parents first. Also, I know that I'm being unreasonable here, but I'm going to do my best… I'm telling you all this because I want you to hear this from me first."

"B-But, if you're going to work here, you'll either have to live here or move into Granny's house. Are you sure you want that? Besides, your salary would be small…"

"Yes, I am. I want to work here because I want to stay with you, Shi-chan."

"…"

This was the answer he came up with.

He continued, ignoring Shizuku-san who had been blushing furiously for a while now.

"I love you, Shi-chan. I realized that I was acting like an idiot when I rejected you. I always regretted that, but like I said last night, I can't take back what I said. That's why I want you to give me another chance."

"I-I'm happy that you think that way about me, but… I-I have Reiji with me, you know? Are you really sure?"

His name kept coming up, but yeah, Reiji-kun's existence would be a massive hurdle in their relationship.

Yes, Riku-san and Shizuku-san were childhood friends and they were familiar with each other, but to Reiji-kun, Riku-san was nothing more than a stranger. If Riku-san suddenly became Shizuku-san's lover, things might get a little messy.

This was a problem, so what was the solution to this problem? It was Riku-san's answer. By becoming this inn's employee, it would be easier for him to get closer to Reiji-kun.

"Though, I know that we still need more time to rekindle our feelings. We've been separated for more than ten years, after all. You might be having some doubts about me because of it, so I will take the time to make you trust me completely. Of course, I will get closer to Reiji-kun too. For that to happen, I think that it'll be best for me to work here, so I can stay close to both of you."

"Are you saying that you want to take care of both Reiji and me, Rikkun?"

"I know I'm not qualified to say that yet, but yes, that's pretty much it."

In response to her question, Riku-san nodded.

Suddenly, Umi, who was standing next to me, threw out a mocking remark at him. Contrary to her words though, she was trying very hard to hold back both her tears and her smile.

I didn't have that strong of a reaction to Riku-san's words, though. I just thought that this was such a Riku-san answer.

"Why? …Why are you being so nice to me? I'm not even a good person… I said I liked you, but I got married to someone else as soon as you stopped being nice to me for a moment…"

"Stop that. Don't blame yourself. I was completely at fault, okay?"

"You were not! It was me who was selfish back then. I didn't even consider your feelings, and selfishly pushed my feelings on to you and… Reiji must be feeling bad for having such a horrible mother like me…"

"This is why I told you to stop. Jeez, you're always like this…"

Riku-san then stepped forward and held Shizuku-san gently.

"Look, I don't care if you're a horrible person or whatnot. I like you, that's what matters here. That's why I resolved to try to work here."

"…Are you really sure? Taking care of us is tough, you know? Me aside, Reiji-kun gets lonely easily, you know? He would cry at night because of it and most of the time, you won't be able to sleep properly because of him. Sometimes, you'll have to go to the kindergarten to meet with his teachers whenever he gets into trouble. Not to mention that you have to work under these conditions. Are you really sure that you want to do this?"

"Of course. I mean, you're my precious childhood friend after all. I would do anything to make you happy."

"…Dummy."

Shizuku-san started sobbing in Riku-san's arms.

She was still human after all. She finally got to let out all those pent up emotions that she bottled up for years, and found someone to lean on.

Even adults should be allowed to cry in this kind of situation.

"Umi."

"…Yeah, we should leave those two alone for a while. I'll tell mom that we'll be a little late."

We left the front desk to get some fresh air.

It felt like we would start to cry too if we stayed there any longer.

"I can't believe that stupid brother of mine have that much backbone… Right, earlier today, when you pretended to go to the bathroom, you were actually having a talk with him, weren't you? What did you say to him?"

"I didn't say anything important though…"

The words that I told Riku-san were simple.

"'Being together with someone you love is fun'. That's it." (T/N: In other words, he flexed his relationship to the poor guy to make his point. Absolute chad move.)