Chapter 0: Prologue

It has been 10 years since I last saw her. The last time being at the elementary school. I never saw her after that. Well, it was me who moved away. So I kinda, want to say that, a part of it was my fault. That little girl cried a lot and even tried to run away from home along with me. Well that was kind of excessive, but I wonder, if still she remembers me and is still there?

I Kazuya Shiina, moved away from the city 10 years ago due to the death of my parents and lived with my aunt, from my mother's side, because my father was an orphan. I was now on my way to that city with my aunt who wanted to live in her sister's house.

To be honest, my mother's will contained that I go to the 3rd City School there, which was her alumni. It was there where she met dad and dated and married him. She even went as far as becoming a teacher there. Well my aunt is a civil servant so she will be joining the Public Works department here so we decided to live in that old place, full of memories.

"How much more time is it going to take?!"

"Another 30 minutes."

"Then please give me your lap to sleep! I wanna sleep so badly now!"

With bags under her beautiful green eyes, Kanzaki Mahiru or Mahiru-nee-chan pleads to me in a very loud voice. A upright woman in the society but a total miser in personal life. Not a rose with a thorn, but a rose with bug!

(At least try to sleep by leaning against me! Lending my lap to you in the middle of a subway is so embarrassing!)

"My~ Shiina, are you embarrassed? Come Onee-chan will spoil you more~"

"Aren't you the ine who is getting spoiled here?"

(Argh! So embarrassing! The nearby aunt is giving a thumbs up for some reason!)

I managed to push her away but she grabbed onto my shoulder and forced herself on me.

(If someone from the police saw us, then you are going to get arrested for sure!)

Can't you just keep your eyes open for a mere 30 minutes?!

We crossed the river and the train went inside the forest for a while and nearly 20 minutes later came out on the other side. A beautiful sea-side location spread out, full of nostalgia, in front of me. I remembered my days when I used to hang out with that girl in the low lying cliffs and how I used to catch fish with my parents.

[The last station has arrived! Please enjoy your stay on the beach!]

There were not many people left on the train. As soon as the station announced those greetings I shook Oneesan and got her up to depart.

The station was looking much better than 10 years ago. What used to be here, a wood cabin, had now become a long platform of around half a kilometre. It was a nice seaside station, worthy of being photographed.

×××

We reached at the house at around, 13:00. As it was lunch time and as we were tired to the point of not trying to cook, we decided to look for a restaurant in these parts. If not then we will have to fill ourselves with pizza or soba noodles.

Fortunately, at the street corner there was a family restaurant, but it was kind of traditional. My memory went into a flashback mode and I remembered that the girl used to live in a restaurant and we used to eat ice candies in summer vacation which her mom made.

In order to get some more we often tried to steal those from the freezer but her mom caught us and complained to my mom and I was grounded home for a week.

"Fufufu ....."

"Shiina, what happened? You're giving a creepy smile. Are you not satisfied with this shop?"

"No I just thought of an old memory."

"I see ... Then good for you. After all it's your debut after 10 years! Be sure to tell the girl your feelings that you have accumulated this far."

"I never said that I loved her, did I?"

"Tch .... No fun at all!"

Oi! Did you just click your tongue at me! I will not make you dinner today! Hmph!

The door made a *cring* *cring* sound as we entered. A strong smell of spices caught my nose. It seemed like today's menu had something spicy in it. My stomach growled at the same time too. I decided to look for a seat, but suddenly a sweet voice called out to me.

"Excuse me! Are you looking to eat or take out?"

"No we want to eat! Give us something good as fast as possible!"

Before I could even think of saying something, Oneesan ordered for the store recommendation and dragged herself to the counter seat.

Long black hair, perfectly straight and tied with a white ribbon that looked like that of a rabbit's ear and a pair of feather earrings on her made her look like an idol. I wonder if she is a model ir something?

"Hey ... What are you gawking at?"

"I'm not!"

She suddenly threw a strong word there, unfitting for her cute image. I was definitely not gawking at her, I was just a bit surprised. I had never seen a girl this beautiful before. Wait don't look at me like I'm some kind of pervert!

"I'm Kazuya Shiina and I will be moving with my aunt Kanzaki Mahiru to the house across the street. Nice to meet you."

"... I'm Tachibana Rinka, the poster girl for the Tachibana eatery and nice to meet you too. By the way are you a high-schooler?"

"Yes! I will be joining the 3rd City School as a freshman this year."

"Is that so? Then good for you, I guess."

"???"

The smile she gave was very warm and the curry was spicy but it had a very strong flavour, just like that of the Indian ones. I'm glad that I came to eat here. By the way, Onee-san, who is badbwith spicy things had to eat only white rice with pickled radish as a side dish. It was hell for her.