Chapter 4.5
This chapter was translated by dei-hime, and proofread by dei-hime and yuugs!
'Happy New Year,' 'Let's have a good one this year, too!'
People's new year's greetings rang out from all around me at the shrine.
January 1st.
New Year's Day.
Having come to the shrine to pay my respects at the shrine for the new year, I looked about this way and that.
Chizuru Yukimura: "I don't think anyone I know is here, but if I just take a quick look around..."
I'd just come on a whim, which was fine, but it meant I hadn't made any particular plans with anyone… It seemed that I’d been naïve, thinking I would run into someone I knew just like that.
Chizuru Yukimura: "Well, it is how it is. I might as well go and pray, since I'm here."
At the very moment I admitted defeat with a sigh, my phone beeped that I had mail, and I looked down.
Chizuru Yukimura: "Huh? ...It's from Kaoru."
_____________
Sub: Where are you?
Chizuru.
Where are you right now?
_____________
« Happy New Year, Kaoru. I'm paying my respects at a shrine nearby. »
Typing out my reply quickly, I hit 'send.' ...But… somehow, I'd hardly even sent it before a reply popped up on my screen.
_____________
RE: Where are you?
...I only have one question for you:
You're not secretly meeting with someone, are you?
_____________
« No, I'm here alone. Also, wasn't your reply really fast? »
Chizuru Yukimura: ...?
_____________
RE: RE: Where are you?
It's not like I saw you looking around restlessly
and thought you may be waiting for someone or anything.
...Alright, if you're not, then it's fine.
_____________
I glanced around me. I was sure I'd checked already… I hesitated for a moment, feeling strangely uneasy, before another reply came from Kaoru, suddenly.
_____________
RE: RE: RE: Where are you?
But, I feel like standing around by yourself is kind of lonely.
It's beyond pathetic that you don't even have any friends
to go to the shrine on New Year's with, and it's making me worried.
_____________
Chizuru Yukimura: "Hmph..."
That kind of ticked me off, just now.
Chizuru Yukimura: "It's not like you have many friends yourself, with that sharp tongue of yours..."
Muttering that to myself, I glanced back down at my phone. At times like this, I should…
[Continue through text]
[Try calling him]
I knew I ought to properly counter his argument. Thinking that, I sent my reply straight away: « It's true I didn't make plans with anyone, but this shrine is near our school, so I thought I might run into someone I knew. »
Chizuru Yukimura: "It's New Year's, so I'm sure if I look around nearby, I'm bound to find at least one person I know..."
Feeling somewhat irritated, I looked upon the crowd of people. But, as if mocking my efforts, my phone pinged with another text.
_____________
RE: RE: RE: RE: Where are you?
It's no use looking around.
No one you know is around you.
_____________
Chizuru Yukimura: "......"
« How do you know that? It's as if you've been watching me this whole time... »
Chizuru Yukimura: "...... ...... ...Huh?"
Up until now, his replies came within seconds of my own, yet all of a sudden, they just...stopped. Three minutes passed...then five...
Chizuru Yukimura: "No reply. I wonder what happened..."
Finding his silence strange, I hesitantly reached for the 'call' button.
Chizuru Yukimura: "Hello? Kaoru? Happy New Year."
Kaoru Nagumo: "...You need something? Unlike you, I'm actually busy."
Chizuru Yukimura: "Oh, sorry. I just wanted to give my New Year's greetings to you properly....Wait a minute. There's a lot of noise in the background there. Where are you right now?"
Kaoru Nagumo: "I-It doesn't matter where I am! If that's all you wanted to say, I'm hanging up!"
...Something was off about him. No, rather, something was suspicious. Wondering about all the noise in the call background, I held the phone a little away from my ear. Keeping it there, I hit the redial button and called Kaoru one more time. When I did… directly behind me, I heard a faint answering ring. Feeling an odd sort of determination, I whipped around to look back behind meー
Kaoru Nagumo: !?
My eyes landed on him: Kaoru, hiding amongst the crowd.
Chizuru Yukimura: "...Kaoru. Could it be that… you've been over there all this time?"
Kaoru Nagumo: "......"
Chizuru Yukimura: "You were writing like you knew exactly what I was doing… Were you watching me the whole time?"
Kaoru Nagumo: "N-Not necessarily. If you make an embarrassment of yourself, you're embarrassing me, too, as your brother. So I came to check on you out of concern. Anyway, knowing you, you don't even know the proper etiquette for a New Year's shrine visit, do you? So I thought maybe I'd teach you."
That sounded like a pretty feeble excuse to me… But Kaoru left me no opening to call him out on it as he abruptly set off for the shrine altar.
Chizuru Yukimura: "If he'd only just say he wanted to go together to pay our respects for the new year..."
...Then I'd have been happy to go with him. Releasing a breath that was part sigh and part exasperated laugh, I followed after Kaoru. We waited our turn in the long lineup, and Kaoru took his chance to nitpick and nag at me all the while when we made our prayers… When we passed the shrine office, he wanted to take a look there, too. We also chatted as we drew our fortunes.
Kaoru Nagumo: "Well, it's not like I actually believe in fortune telling or anything. I just figured it'd give us something to talk about. So, Chizuru. What did you get?"
Chizuru Yukimura: "Umm...it says, 'luck with romance is promising. If you look to those around you, you could find love soon.'"
Kaoru Nagumo: "...... Well, that seems true enough, but you shouldn't trust fortunes. Pig-headed, contrary, shameless, and happy-go-lucky guys. Loose cannons and idiotic student council presidents… There aren't any decent men around you, and you're still too young for romance, anyway."
Who was ‘pig-headed’ or a ‘loose cannon’ to him...? I was curious, but looked back down at my fortune slip instead of asking.
Chizuru Yukimura: "For health, it also says I should beware of unexpected accidents..."
Kaoru Nagumo: "Haha, that's far more realistic than the romance bit. You're so unbelievably slow and clumsy that it's hard to believe you're my sister."
Chizuru Yukimura: "Even if you say that..."
Kaoru Nagumo: "If you don't want to hear it, then step up your game a bit. Well, anyway, should we go tie these to the blessing tree?"
Chizuru Yukimura: "Yeah, let's..." With a sigh, I glanced about while we went. As I did...
Chizuru Yukimura: "Agh!?" As I reached for one of the sacred tree's branches to tie my fortune slip around it, my foot caught on a root, and I fell flat on my face. "Ow, ow ow..."
Kaoru Nagumo: "We just talked about this and you've already tripped? Jeez, you're soー"
Chizuru Yukimura: "...Ngh..."
Kaoru Nagumo: "...? Hey, Chizuru?""
Chizuru Yukimura: "......"
Kaoru Nagumo: "W-What's wrong? Did you twist your ankle?!"
Hearing a note of panic in Kaoru's voice, I…
[Forced myself to stand]
[Stayed crouched over my foot]
Chizuru Yukimura: "Ngh..."
When I moved my right foot, I felt a stinging pain shoot up my leg. After attempting to stand on it a few more times, I bit my lip and forced myself to admit...
Chizuru Yukimura: "...Sorry. I don't think I can stand just now..."
Kaoru Nagumo: "...... ....Geez, such a hassle. Come on."
Chizuru Yukimura: "Kaoru?"
I stared, uncomprehending, at his outstretched hand. Seemingly losing patience with me, Kaoru grabbed my hand himself and clicked his tongue.
Kaoru Nagumo: "...Come on, I'll lend you a hand, so let's make for those steps and have a seat. We'll wait there until you can walk again."
Chizuru Yukimura: "...Thanks. Were you actually worried about me, Kaoru?"
Kaoru Nagumo: "Hmph. As if." He turned his face away at my question.
In the end, it was some time before I could walk and Kaoru gave me a piggyback ride. As one would expect, it was embarrassing, so it wasn't for very long… But, in the light of the first sun of the year, his profile somehow looked a little gentler than it had before…
The both of us smiled wider. The pain in my leg was fading little by little, but it seemed a waste to tell him right away. I decided I'd like it better if I had Kaoru spoil me for just a little while longer.
The pain in my leg gradually receded, and the feverish heat in my ankle also subsided. Eventually, I was able to more or less walk on my own, and we slowly made our way towards my home.
Kaoru Nagumo: "Well, well. It seems you're fine already."
Chizuru Yukimura: "I don't think I injured the bone or anything… At any rate, it's not enough to stop me from walking."
Kaoru Nagumo: "Well, that's not exactly an expert opinion. You should have Uncle Koudou examine it. He's a doctor after all, isn't he?"
Chizuru Yukimura: "Yeah, Father said he'd come back for a short break after New Year's. I'll ask him to look at it then."
Kaoru Nagumo: "'Father,' huh..."
When I'd said that word, Kaoru made a face. The man I called my father took me in after our real parents died. He wasn't my ‘real’ father. It was also the same for Kaoru and his adoptive family. He and I were the only ones left of our biological family. Yet we siblings were always kept separate, raised in different households. Kaoru never spoke much about the Nagumo family, yet I always wondered whether, one day...
Kaoru Nagumo: "Then, I'm off. Even if you trip again, I won't be here to save you."
Chizuru Yukimura: "I-I'm not going to trip again!"
It would be nice if a day would come when we could take our time talking. I thought about that as the two of us set off for our homes together until our paths split.
Then, that night…
As usual, after I finished having dinner alone, I went upstairs to my room. A New Year's program was playing on TV, but I just couldn't bring myself to watch it… In my daze, I stared blankly out my window.
Chizuru Yukimura: "Hehe..."
The events that happened today replayed in my head, making me almost giddy. The night of New Year's Day drew to a close as I dwelled on those memories.