Hayashi Megumi and the Wedding Dress
A few days after finishing the speech for the maid of honor.
I was swaying on the train with Akari. We were headed back to our hometown, taking advantage of Akari’s weekend off to visit.
Today, we were set to go with Ichi for her wedding dress fitting.
Ichi had asked us to come along for her wedding dress fitting earlier this week, on Monday. Apparently, it’s customary to go with your fiancé or family for something like a dress fitting, but Ichi’s fiancé and family were all busy on the day of her appointment. So, she invited us instead, figuring it’d be fun.
“Kyaa, Ichi!”
“Oh, Akari! It’s been a while!”
At the station in our hometown.
Ichi came to pick us up in a white compact car.
“Sorry for the trouble, Ichi.”
“Kyaa, Meguu!”
“Kyaa! Kyaa!”
“…Akari, why are you screaming too?”
The car was noisy.
I climbed into the back seat with Akari, shooting her a cold stare.
I’d once called Ichi hard to pin down, but come to think of it, Akari, sitting next to me now, was just as elusive in her own way. I’d completely forgotten.
“Ichi, you got your driver’s license?”
“Yup. Piece of cake.”
“Is this car your parents’?”
“Nah, it’s mine.”
Living in the city, I’d grown out of touch with this, but our hometown was a car-centric place. A car was practically a necessity for daily life here.
Still, realizing that someone my age already owned and drove their own car made me feel a strange sense of alienation.
“We’re here!”
“Thanks!”
“Thank you.”
We got out of Ichi’s car.
That’s when I noticed it—a scratch, like something had scraped against the frame near the rear tire.
“Ichi, this…”
“Meg, sometimes not noticing things is the kinder choice.”
“Oh, uh, yeah.”
She definitely scraped it.
Seeing Ichi’s smug expression irritated me, but I decided to let it go.
After that, Ichi checked in at the store, led us to the elevator, and headed to the fitting room to change.
While Ichi changed into her wedding dress, we were left waiting outside.
“Akari, do you ever dream about wearing a wedding dress?”
“Huh? …Hmm, I don’t know.”
“…When I was little, I did. But when Ichi got engaged, I started thinking about it again. Like, do I really want to wear a wedding dress or have a wedding?”
“You should. You’d look beautiful, Meg.”
“Don’t butt in. …It’s just, weddings seem to cost a ton, don’t they? I heard renting a wedding dress alone can cost nearly a million yen sometimes. So, I started thinking, maybe it’s not such a big deal.”
“Whaaat…”
“Why do you sound so disappointed?”
“Because you’d definitely look amazing in a wedding dress, Meg.”
“…You think so?”
“Not confident?”
“Not really, no.”
…What if I had the kind of figure everyone envied?
Would I have ever been a victim of domestic violence?
Would Yamamoto have been head over heels for me?
Lately, I’ve been struggling to feel confident in myself.
No, maybe it’s not just lately. Even back in high school, when they called me the queen bee, I don’t think I was ever truly confident. That’s probably why I surrounded myself with a clique and acted like I ruled the roost.
“High school was fun, wasn’t it?”
Back then, I didn’t even like those days.
I knew I was forcing myself to act a certain way.
But it was only after losing that time that I realized how precious it was.
“I want the three of us to hang out again.”
“We can.”
“But Ichi’s getting married.”
“Getting married doesn’t mean we can’t hang out.”
Akari’s words left me silent.
She was right.
Sure, we might not see each other as often as before, but still…
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“You know, Meg, you can be kinda dense sometimes.”
“I’m not dense.”
“Yamamoto was complaining the other day that you mixed up sugar and salt when you made onigiri.”
“Hold up!”
“Heh heh!”
“Why are you even talking to Yamamoto?”
“…That’s what you’re worried about?”
Which one is it?
Akari looked a little troubled.
