78. Summer Day and Sunflower
*
As I walked home with heavy mentsuyu in my hand on the asphalt that seemed to be showing a mirage, I felt disgusted by the absurdity of the world. However, if I think that the most carefree and happy period in my life, which is said to be summer vacation for university students, will come in a few more days, then it’s putting worth up with it.
On a Saturday afternoon near the end of July, I went to a nearby supermarket to buy mentsuyu that my mother had asked me to. Unfortunately, my bicycle had a flat tire, so I had to go on foot. It’s my fault for neglecting maintenance because I don’t use it for commuting, but it didn’t have to break down on a day like this.
“…Like this, if I keep thinking about such trivial things, I’ll forget about various things.”
“Various things” means various things, of course. Of course, there’s the hell of tests, tests, and reports before summer vacation, but what I’m mainly trying to avoid thinking about is the mood of the heroes who support Japan.
Once summer vacation starts, I’ll lose my university excuse and inevitably spend more time with them. In particular, I can’t stop trembling at the thought of the high-difficulty mission of asking Akane-san out on a date. Uguisu- san has also been saying, “It’s nice to meet at home, but would you like to go out and play somewhere next time?” for a while now. I guess this means she wants me to suggest it.
For me, who last went out with a girl in elementary school, asking someone out on a date again is quite embarrassing. When I went to eat sunflowers and parfaits, the other person was a child, and the atmosphere was relaxed, so I wasn’t ‘t particularly nervous, but it’s difficult to plan something with the mutual understanding that it’s a date.
Speaking of sunflowers, I’m also worried that I haven’t been able to contact her properly since the Uguisu-san incident. That day, when I saw Himawari covered in blood, I inspired at her without thinking. In fact, my bad feeling was right, and Himawari was trying to kill Uguisu-san. After Uguisu-san regained consciousness thanks to the proposal, while I was contacting the doctor and preparing to take her to the hospital, Himawari kept muttering, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” as if in a trance. At that time, I was so preoccupied with the fact that Uguisu-san’s life was in danger that I couldn’t respond to those words, and I don’t know what happened after that .
I told her to call me anytime if anything happened, but I only got back a curt “I’m fine” that didn’t sound like Himawari. If I force her to talk or tell her that I want to meet her, she might listen, but I don’t want to force that kind of thing on her, who is afraid of making her own decisions. More than anything, I myself still don’t know how to deal with her. Doctor Gentian seems to want me to follow up on her, but I want to wait a little longer for Himawari to take action on her own.
“Really… why Uguisu-san?”
If I were more considerate, better at dealing with women, and more perceptive, would it not have turned out this way? Because of my clumsy and makeshift way of dealing with human relationships, like operating a bicycle, the bad state, like the heat coming from the asphalt, is gradually spreading to the soles of my feet, and I can’t help but think that I’ll get my comeuppance someday. Not only my future predictions, but also unpleasant delusions are coming to mind one after another, and I’ve been afraid to sleep at night lately.
I thought I was almost home, but then I saw a real summer mirage.
“…Himawari?”
Was it because I had been thinking about her energetic, petite figure? I could see Himawari wandering around near my house, which was far from the hero base. Dressed in a very casual white T-shirt and knee-length khaki pants, she was walking back and forth in the middle of the residential area without wearing a hat in this heat, tilting her head.
“No, this isn’t a hallucination… Himawari!!”
It seemed to be the real thing, so I ran up to her and called out.
“Oh, o, onii-chan.”
After twitching her shoulders like a wary wild animal, Himawari quickly turned to face me. She called out to me in a halting voice and fidgeted where she stood. Normally, she would have come running up to me, energetic as a dog in the middle of playing fetch, but today Himawari was like a shy child meeting a stranger for the first time.
“Um, um, well, that”
When I reached Himawari, who was mumbling to herself, I saw that her healthy skin was flushed an alarming shade of red.
“I, I, well, I don’t know what to do, um, I didn’t ignore your contact, that is, Miss Uguisu told me, um”
She fluttered her eyes nervously in front of me. But she wasn’t sweating unnaturally.
“Calm down, Himawari. Um, you came to see me, right?”
Surprised by my gentle words, she blinked her amber eyes and then nodded timidly. That was good. I had been worried that I had frightened her so badly with all that yelling. She seemed scared, but at least I could get her to talk.
But before we could have a proper conversation, I had to take care of something.
“Why are you at my house…well, that doesn’t matter right now.”
Akane and Momo were known somehow, so I wouldn’t be surprised anymore.
“Have you been looking for me for hours?”
“Um, since around nine, but I’m bad at reading maps, and I got lost, but”
She squeezed the crumpled piece of paper in her hand even tighter.
“Next time you come to see me, just call. I’m not always home.”
Relieved to have finally found me, and clearly exhausted from walking around in the heat for almost three hours, Himawari was visibly reaching her limit. I took off my baseball cap and plopped it on Himawari’s small, round head, and placed the lemon sherbet ice cream I had been planning to eat after lunch in her palm.
“Whoa!”
“You’re not sweating even though it’s this hot. You must have been walking around without drinking anything. There aren’t any vending machines around here, so let’s go to my house for now. You can cool down your neck with the ice cream.”
“Oh, okay.”
I wondered how I was going to explain this to my mom. Maybe I could say she was the daughter of an acquaintance from work. Well, my mom wasn’t one for details, so I figured it would be fine. It was a good thing my dad was at work today.
“…Thank you, big brother.”
I couldn’t see her face under the brim of the oversized baseball cap, but it must have been bright red from the heat anyway.
“I’m going to call my mom for a bit.”
I took out my smartphone with one hand and saw that I already had a LINE message from my mom. Was she asking me to hurry back with the mentsuyu?
‘Your friend is here, a girl. I let her in, so come back quickly.’