The sister of the person Hayashi Megumi likes.

The memory I recall is inside a train.

The swaying carriage. As usual, I was nervous about heading to Yamamoto’s family home, and Yamamoto was soothing me with an exasperated tone. Before I knew it, exhausted, I had fallen asleep.

“Hey, Hayashi. Wake up.”

“Nngh.”

At Yamamoto’s words, I opened my eyes.

My body ached slightly, probably from sleeping while sitting upright in the seat.

“That’s what you get for not sleeping properly last night.”

“Sorry, sorry.”

“We’re almost there.”

“Okay.”

A few minutes later, the train arrived at the station nearest to Yamamoto’s family home.

Our hometown is in a basin, which makes it a bit warmer than the city. Even though it was almost October, the lingering summer-like atmosphere made me feel a touch nostalgic for childhood.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Yeah… By the way, is anyone picking us up?”

“Nope. We’re walking.”

“…Okay.”

I felt a slight pang of disappointment that no one was coming to pick us up. It was a bit presumptuous, but I wasn’t thrilled about walking for a while in this sweaty, humid weather.

“How far is your place from here?”

“About fifteen minutes.”

Well, that’s not too bad.

“But I want to stop by somewhere on the way.”

“Where?”

“The tutoring center.”

“Tutoring center?”

I tilted my head slightly.

It’s unlikely that Yamamoto is still attending a tutoring center. Maybe he knows a teacher there or something?

…No, knowing Yamamoto’s personality, that’s probably not it (sorry).

So then, why?

I remembered that Yamamoto apparently has someone he considers a younger sister.

Most likely, he plans to pick up his sister, who’s studying hard at the tutoring center, before heading home.

“By the way, how old is your sister? Is she, like, in high school already?”

“Nah, she’s in elementary school.”

…That’s quite an age gap between siblings.

I didn’t say it out loud, though.

“She’s in fifth grade this year. Next year, she’s got entrance exams for middle school.”

That’s why she’s attending the tutoring center, diligently studying.

Yamamoto’s words were concise and easy to understand.

“Tutoring from elementary school, huh? Even on weekends. Sounds like she doesn’t get much free time.”

“Yeah, I think so too.”

“‘I think so too’… Wait, didn’t you go to a tutoring center when you were in elementary school?”

“Nope, never been to one.”

Come to think of it, Yamamoto held the top spot in our grade’s tests all through high school.

His parents probably figured he didn’t need tutoring since he never struggled with studies.

We kept chatting as we passed through the station’s ticket gate.

We took the escalator to the north exit and started walking through the rotary.

“My parents are pretty hands-off. She said she wanted to go to the tutoring center, so they let her. That’s all there is to it.”

“Wow, she must be pretty driven to want to go to tutoring.”

Come to think of it, Yamamoto himself is… not exactly driven in the same way, but he’s stubborn and has strong convictions. Maybe that strong-willed nature is something everyone in the Yamamoto family shares?

“Well, more like her close friend was going to that tutoring center, so she wanted to go too.”

“…Friend?”

“You just thought something like, ‘Did I just hear a word I’d never expect from Yamamoto’s mouth?’ didn’t you?”

“Yup. How’d you know?”

“At least make some effort to deny it.”

In the distance, a cicada chirped, out of place for the season.

We walked along the road, the sound of car engines cutting through the air.

“…Well, because of our parents’ hands-off approach, she’s grown up a bit spoiled, but overall, she’s a cute little sister.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, Kasahara said she’s cute too, so it’s probably true.”

“Wait, Akari’s been to your house?”

“…Uh.”

Yamamoto’s face, walking beside me, took on a subtle expression.

“To be precise, she hasn’t been to the house. But she was so insistent about meeting my sister that I had no choice but to let them meet once.”

“…Huh.”

“They got along pretty well, actually. So when I told my sister we broke up, she bawled her eyes out and said she hated me.”

“Huuh…”

“What’s with you? You’ve been acting weird for a while now.”

“…I don’t know.”

“Alright then.”

Yamamoto’s response was unusually curt.

We walked on for a bit longer in silence.

Sorry for the story not moving forward.

I know I’m doing something bad, and I don’t think there’s room for improvement.

I probably could’ve acted smug and said everything was going according to plan without apologizing.

But instead, I decided to admit what’s bad is bad and apologize to everyone.

It’s not because I’m making all of you who are reading this anxious.

Or because I’m dampening the excitement of those curious about what happens next.

That’s definitely not what I’m thinking.

Nope, this is just me apologizing in advance to avoid getting scolded since this slow pace might continue for a bit.

A capable adult.

Spilling everything in my heart makes me a bad adult.

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