The next day Akiko came to Glenn's house because she had an appointment to study with him. After calling him at home, Glenn opened the door and noticed her, slightly frozen. They said hello, and the girl entered the apartment.
"Don't mind me, it's just really cold outside."
"Okay. I'll go make you some coffee."
Glenn went toward the kitchen, and Akiko, hanging up her jacket, scarf, and hat on the coat rack, followed him. In a minute she was sitting at the table, drinking hot coffee, holding the mug with both hands. Glenn, too, was sitting across from her at the table, staring at her hands, flushed with cold.
"By the way, Lilia and Mari aren't in the house, have they gone somewhere?"
"Ah...yes. They said they were going for a walk downtown. Mari really wanted to show her the city."
"Hmm... And you let them go so easily? I mean, they're ten years old."
"No worries, I asked Tomoyuki-kun to walk with them."
"Really?! Was he okay with that?"
"When he talked to me on the phone, his voice was cheerful. To tell you the truth, I didn't want to get him involved, but he insisted. I think it was his way of making up for his non-existent guilt to us."
"That sounds like Tomoyuki-kun... Aren't you, Glenn-kun, worried about the girls?"
"No, nothing like that. They're adults now, and Marie knows the town as well as I do-she has a photographic memory. A genius, no less. Nothing to worry about..."
"You can see it in your eyes that you're worried."
"Doesn't Lilia-chan know the town?"
"She has some knowledge of the city, but hasn't fully walked anywhere. Despite having lived in Japan for almost ten years, she hasn't often had the chance to go out."
"And our older brother didn't deign to walk with her as a child."
"I've changed since then, and I don't want to leave Lilia in the lurch anymore. Yes...I should have gone with them. What if someone hurt them? Even if they are sensible, it was my responsibility to keep them safe."
"Quiet, calm down... You said they'd be fine, and Tomoyuki's no slouch, so nothing will happen to them."
'And how did you get so emotional? By golly, your appearance isn't what it used to be.'
"Of course... I completely forgot that starting today we have an important class to improve your knowledge. How could I have missed this day?"
"Thank you," she finished her coffee and set the mug on the table. "Let's get started."
Glenn was shaken by her restraint, and agreed. Thus began the first day of their classes together. They were studying for different subjects, and Akiko started with the class books just below, for she could not give the correct answers to the questions on the senior class test sheets. So Glenn began to help her catch up on her knowledge at the same time. At first, Akiko wasn't doing well, and gradually she became frustrated that she couldn't solve math problems. By accepting Glenn's help, she felt guilty.
At one quiet moment, after the Glenn sitting next to her explained the solution to one problem, Akiko softly apologized to him for wasting his time:
"I have a hard time with my studies, I've known that since I was in high school... Sorry again, but your explanations are really hard for me to understand."
"Akiko-chan, are you still having trouble solving this problem? Well, let me give you another example."
He put his hand near hers and moved a little closer to reach her notebook, on which her scribbles were scrawled. She felt sharply embarrassed and stunned, not expecting him to approach her that way.
"Take a look. You're solving the problem wrong for one reason..."
For Akiko, those few dozen seconds passed like an instant, and she couldn't even move a hand during his humble explanation.
"Something got hot... Aren't you feeling well? You were beginning to look depressed."
Akiko sat with her head down.
"Glenn-kun, you're too close."
Realizing that he had indeed sat too close to her, he looked at her with the same slightly puzzled look.
"Ah, yes," he ended up leaning a little farther away.
Akiko began to feel more relaxed, "How I hate math. Those equations, the problems... It will always remain a mystery to me what it was all invented for."
"There's nothing to be done about it."
"It seems I'll be sitting on your shoulders until the exams themselves..."
"That's okay. On the contrary, I like spending time like this. As long as I can't go back to school, I'll study at home. Come see me anytime."
A slight blush appeared on Akiko's face.
"Good!"
'I mustn't let this chance slip away!'
And she added: "I'll be ready to come at any appropriate moment."
'I inadvertently enjoy being with her,' Glenn thought to himself, smiling.
"We've been studying for an hour now without a break; we should move on to another subject."
He fixed his hair, whose front hair fell over his eyes.
"Oh man. It seems like they've already managed to grow out in one month."
"This hairstyle suits you. Please don't change it."
"Oh, okay. I'll just shorten the top."
"Now let's do it again."
"Where was I? Oh, yes. I don't want anyone else interfering with our time together."
"I mean the other thing, about this task!" Akiko pointed her finger toward her notebook.
"Hmm? I already explained the solution to this problem to you, didn't I?"
"But I still don't get it! Yes, I'm really stupid, but I didn't listen to your explanation at all, I just misunderstood!"
"Ah, well..." he gently approached her notebook this time and began to explain the solution to the problem again.
'He wants no one to join us,' Akiko pondered, glancing over at him quietly. 'What's he thinking, saying things like that? I'm... barely holding it in.'
***
On January 7, Mari and Lilia were in the bedroom of Glenn's house. Mari, for some reason, was trying her best to keep Lilia occupied so that she would seem more talkative. She was diligently dressing her up in the new clothes she had bought a few days before, and Lilia didn't understand her sudden and unrelenting decision to have a tryout on this particular day.
"We bought so much! I think we should try them all! Here, try this one."
Mari handed her a beige spring jumpsuit, and Lilia, seeing no other option, put it on.
"It fits great! Now put on this summer suit."
The suit fit her perfectly. Lilia couldn't choose words to express her misunderstanding, but she didn't try to show defiance, so she awkwardly continued to dress up in various winter and summer clothes, nonchalantly looking back at her slightly worried face.
"Look, but we dressed them up beforehand when we were in the store..."
"Really? I don't recall that at all. Here, try this one too!"
Putting on a light T-shirt and skirt, she soon bothered to interrupt Mari's non-stop chatter, and asked her:
"Mari-chan! What are we doing this for?"
Mari calmed down.
'I didn't even congratulate you today, but it's like you didn't care... like you didn't even take notice. That's why we have to try...!'
There was a ringing sound through the door, as if some hard object had fallen to the floor, a sound Lily couldn't help but hear. The sound came from the main hall, and an indecipherable whisper could be heard behind the door.
"Is someone in the hall? Are you by any chance hiding something from me...?"
"Yes, I am. That's why you should quench your interest in what's going on outside the door at the moment and be patient."
"Is today some kind of special day?"
"Don't be silly! It's your birthday, after all..." Mari stammered.
'Oh... I'm the one who should have been calmer.'
"Birthday...? And that's what you're pushing so hard for?"
Mari was confused by her friend's words. There was a knock on the door a couple of times, which signaled Mari to finish her part, and then she suddenly came up behind Lilia and started pulling her forward.
"What are you doing?"
Reaching the door, Mari opened the door. Not a second later, the girl was greeted on the doorstep by club members and blasted with holiday clappers. Puzzled, she asked what they were all here for. Marie ran ahead of the others, and they cheerfully congratulated her as a group.
"Happy birthday!"
Their voices stunned Lilia heard with deep delight, but she could not take the look on her face that suited her emotions.
"Happy twelfth birthday, Lilia," Glenn added.
"Dear brother..."
Mari stepped close to her and stated softly with a regretful face:
"Initially, I was saddened by how you didn't notice that you weren't congratulated on your own birthday..."
"This is a new experience for me...to celebrate my birthday with someone other than family."
"Anyway, appreciate the day! Don't miss the chance to celebrate it, because your day only happens once a year!"
Lilia grieved, "I'm so glad."
"No other words are needed," Mari answered her.
Lilia looked around the room and noticed how the interior of the entire hall had become more lively and festive, mostly thanks to the colorful balloons tied to many corners of the room and the garlands.
"This is the day I want to spend with you, am I allowed?"
The boys didn't let go of their sincere smiles.
"Not otherwise," Glenn said. "This day belongs entirely to you."
"Uh-huh."
"Let's celebrate now!" Mari added optimistically.
'Another miracle happened today that I never dreamed would happen. Slowly I'm beginning to realize how my life has changed in the blink of an eye these past few days!'
Looking at Mari, happily chatting with Akiko and Tomoyuki in the center of the room, Lilia couldn't hold back tears of joy.
'How great it is after all... to celebrate your birthday with your loved ones.'
***
One of the next days, Yumiko, Akiko, and Ryou were in the club room during the school break. They were minding their own business, and Akiko, in particular, was tiredly lying face down on the table.
"You look tired, Attyan. Something has been bothering you lately."
"I haven't been myself since I started taking private lessons with Glenn-kun. But that's okay, except that I do my lessons at home too, so I can catch up with him faster and not make him work too hard, while helping Mari-chan with her studies..."
"It's been hard for you," Ryou added, reading one book that he had borrowed from the library the previous day.
Yumiko was aware that Ryou had started reading books, so she was glad to see him reading. She smiled in his direction, whereupon Ryou, who noticed her gaze, became embarrassed, and thought to himself:
'Oh, man... She stole my heart and now she's mocking me.'
"Of course... I began to notice how far behind I was in my studies. I hadn't thought about it before, but lately... I've been feeling sorry for myself. You know, it was for nothing, because I realized how far away I was from Glenn-kun. I realized that I had been running after him all the time, not just academically, but in general. And not just him, but all of you. I realized how empty I was compared to you, my best friends."
Akiko's voice felt dejected and slightly weary, but Yumiko did not escape the thought that even behind Akiko's relaxed body a handful of depression was popping out.
"I am poor in every moral way. That saddens me the most."
"Attyan... Don't say that," her chagrined friend replied. "Do your parents know that you go to his house?"
"I just tell them I'm studying at a friend's house. Honestly, I have enough contact with my family, but some things have to be hidden even from the people closest to me. Could it be a little different for you, Yuttyan?"
Yumiko, lowering her lashes slightly, said: "I don't exactly have a healthy relationship...in my family."
"Ah... it's creepy. It's hard when you can't talk to adults properly."
"I'll be honest, I've wanted to do something about it since early on."
"Don't you mean get out of the family!"
"It depresses me to bear that last name. If it weren't for my father's decision, I'd be walking around with the last name 'Higashikuni.'"
"Wow!" Akiko sparkled in joy. "What a beautiful last name!"
"But, the last name I'm wearing is fine with me overall."
'It's pretty popular,' she thought, 'which means no one will notice me. So, I am at least a little bit like an ordinary girl...'
"I like the Glenn-kun surname," Akiko said, hovering in the clouds. "She's very pretty... I wonder if she's popular?"
Ryou, opening the next page of the book, humbly asked her:
"Are you in love with Glenn?"
The girl lifted her head sharply and with her unknowing movements rudely hit the table and startled the others. The jerked table caught Ryou's hand and he scratched his finger with the edge of the thin page. His index finger began to bleed slowly, and Ryou didn't pay much attention to it, looking at the painless blood flowing from his finger.
"I'm so sorry..."
"It's not worth the candle. I'm fine..."
Interrupting him, Yumiko immediately got up from her chair:
"Ryou-kun! Are you all right?!" and slightly surprised the others with her over-emotionality.
Akiko was confused. Ryo asked incomprehensibly:
"I don't think anything happened. Why are you getting so worked up?" and showed her his slightly scratched finger, which didn't really bleed much. "It's just a normal scratch."
"How in the world...?"
The conscious Yumiko's voice trembled slightly.
"Yuttyan, relax a little... take away the tension," Akiko took hold of her shoulders and helped her sit up.
Yumiko's body movements were awkward, causing Akiko to touch her forehead to take her temperature.
"If you want, you can take today off..."
'I was really starting to get really worried about them...for no good reason.'
"Still," Ryou added gently, embarrassment showing on his face, "I'm very grateful that you're taking such good care of me."
Yumiko could not get out of her state of confusion, and chagrinedly revealed:
"What would I do without you..." without deigning to raise her head.
'I was previously unaware of such a feeling... How would I act while in this condition? Fear envelops me every time I see the worry on their faces... I have indeed become too attached to them... But was it worth it? For I see no other way. I can neither run away from them, nor stop settling around their warmth... It's not a normal relationship... Is this a symbol of addiction?'