"Yum!" the child said as he scrunched his face up as he took a bite from an onigiri laid from a plate.
A red and white checkered blanket was spread across a patch of grass that was enough to fit four adults inside. The adults in question were Yuuji Akamatsu, my sister, Yuumi Akamatsu, and my schoolmate, Ayase Shimamura.
In our current situation, there seemed to be a small boy sitting on Yuumi's lap when me and Shimamura-san went to the spot where Yuumi had indicated she laid the blanket at.
In the phone call, she said something about a child suddenly coming up to her when she started laying down the food in the blanket, and then started asking for some onigiri. After that, he kept asking for more onigiri, but he still wasn't stopping, which takes us here.
"Y-Yuu-nii, can you help me out here already?" Yuumi asked as she had a worried tone. The tone seemed to scream "I don't want the onigiri to get eaten!" than "Get this child off me!"
"Akito, stop that!" Shimamura-san quickly walked towards the blanket and picked the child up, placing him outside the blanket. After that, she bowed her head towards Yuumi. "I'm terribly sorry for what problems my cousin just caused you."
"It's okay, but weren't you the one…?"
"She's an acquaintance of mine," I said to Yuumi. "When I insisted that you go find a spot for us by yourself, the reason was because I wanted to talk to her for a bit."
The weekdays had just ended, and Saturday came rolling in. The Akamatsu siblings didn't really have much to do in their free time in our house, so I suggested to Yuumi that we can take a picnic in the previous park where we once had one seven years ago.
"Oh, so that's why you stopped…"
"Yeah, and I suggested that she eat with us."
After I said that, Yuumi pouted towards me. She really was a bit of a glutton, but even if it is her we're talking about, she probably can't handle that much food she had prepared. But then again, it is her food, so maybe I'm just having doubts.
I looked at the blanket. There were so many foods there. There were onigiri in two plates, edamame salad, sushi rolls on two plates again, tamagoyaki sliced to bite-seized pieces yet again on two plates, and a thermos with miso soup probably inside. Water bottles and soda cans were out of the basket as well. The basic utensils were already laid down.
After looking at all of it, I really had doubts that Yuumi would be able to finish all this. It does look like she packed up food for four people in total, which is, by the way, the same amount we had right now.
I headed over to Yuumi and started whispering to her.
"Come on, isn't it fine?" I asked.
"No it isn't."
"Think about it. It would be boring for just the two of us to come on a picnic, so why not let someone keep us company?"
"So you're saying that I'm not enough?"
"No, no, that's not it. I'm saying that it would be better to have someone to talk to. If it's just us, two unsociable beings, things wouldn't end well, would it? Besides, this is a good opportunity to make some friends."
Yuumi sighed.
"Fine. But just because you said so."
Having Yuumi's confirmation, I directed towards the Shimamura relatives.
"You can both stay here and eat with us if you want."
"Eh? Are you sure?" Shimamura-san asked.
"I'm pretty sure I already said it earlier, didn't I?"
Suddenly, Akito-kun, Shimamura-san's little cousin and the one munching on the onigiri earlier, suddenly ran up to our direction and hugged Yuumi. Because of the age and height difference, Akito-kun only managed to hug Yuumi up to her legs. Akito-kun was just about the height of Yuumi's waist.
Then, he looked up at Yuumi, and then said his thanks.
"Thanks for letting us stay, Onee-san!"
"O-Onee-san?"
Hearing that being said to Yuumi, it felt rather…calming. I've only really viewed Yuumi as a little sister, but thinking about it, there would probably be a time that she'd become a big sister for someone as well. While that time could possibly be now, the fact that I'm witnessing it happen feels really reassuring.
Yuumi, not knowing how to respond to Akito-kun's words, just started petting him on the head. I could somehow see myself in Yuumi as she did that. Yuumi smiled and then asked him something.
"What's your name?" Yuumi asked, smiling like a warm smile of a big sister.
"Eh?" The boy looked confused. She looked over at Shimamura-san. "Um… Aya-nee, what was it again?"
Wow, he actually forgot his own name. Not most people, especially children, wouldn't know their name without a certain illness or being straight up drunk. I'm surprised he knows how to call Shimamura-san, though.
"It's Akito," Shimamura-san said. "Why can't you remember your name when you can clearly remember mine?"
"It's Akito!"Akito-kun said to Yuumi, completely ignoring Shimamura-san's comment on his memory. "What about you, Onee-san?"
"Me?" Yuumi asked. "My name is Yuumi. Nice to meet you, Akito-kun."
"If it's Yuumi, then…," Akito-kun started muttering. "Then, would Yuu-nee be fine with you, Onee-san?"
It looked to be that the final strike had been blown to Yuumi, because after she heard her other nickname, her face suddenly became red and started blushing before looking at me.
"Yuu-nii, what should I do?" she said in an almost panicky way. "Aki-chan is clearly cute sibling material…"
I'm surprised. Her usually calm and collected face suddenly turned to that of a proper growing girl in despair towards the world of cuteness. Now that I've seen her face, there is no way I'm erasing it from my mind. Enough of that though.
"You're little sibling material," I said. "How do you think I've been coping with your cuteness all this time? I want you to figure that one out."
This one should be pretty easy for someone like Yuumi. After all, she is my little sister, and she definitely knows how I can hold myself from holding her.
"Um, you hug me?"
"Bingo. Try doing that to Akito-kun."
That's exactly the answer. I won't hold myself back, and just completely have her for myself. After all, there wouldn't be a single person that would want to embrace Yuumi. She's just way too cute, after all.
"Um," Yuumi asked in Shimamura-san's direction. "Would it be fine to just straight up hug him? I am a stranger, after all…"
"It's alright," Shimamura-san said, giving her confirmation. "I can already tell you're not a bad person, and I feel like I can trust you with taking care of Akito."
"T-Then, I'll help myself."
Akito-kun let go of Yuumi, and then Yuumi hugged her. Looking at it again, I really did see myself being projected in Yuumi's place. She looked exactly like me now; despite being unsocial, she can't seem to hold back when it comes to the cuteness around her.
"Well, why don't we eat?" I said. "Wouldn't want the food to go cold now, don't we?"
And so, we all started eating.
It truly was delicious. The onigiri had many different flavors, up to the point that after eating three, I completely forgot the flavors.
The whole bunch also started eating. Shimamura-san got some edamame salad, Akito-kun ate the onigiri and the tamagoyaki, and Yuumi ate a little bit of everything. The only thing I feasted on was the onigiri and miso soup.
One by one, the food that Yuumi prepared for us vanished, going to the very place that every single food was destined to go, which was our stomachs. After a bit, I finished the food that I was eating, and after sipping the final bits of my miso soup, I drank the water to finish it off.
"I gotta say," Shimamura-san said. "You're quite talented with cooking. I've had some of everything here my whole life, but this is by far the most delicious one I've eaten."
"I don't think my cooking's that good, though," Yuumi said. "I'm only following the natural recipes of the food."
"Even if you did say that, this is quite an unusual taste. There's some flavors that are out of place that wouldn't fit with the food, yet it's just as good. It seems like you added some additional things in the recipe, but I don't know what."
For that, we'd have to thank Mom.
We have a secret recipe that only the women of our family know. Not even Dad nor me, the only ones who can't cook, knows about them, so it's a big mystery. I figured that I wouldn't need to know the contents they add if it's just going to be as good.
"Thanks for the food!" Akito-kun shouted. His plate was emptied out, not even a chunk nor a piece left behind. I know that he's a growing boy, yet I'm surprised at how he ate everything there without any help.
Not only that, he didn't seem to have any visible stains on his face, which most children do when they eat vigorously, yet this boy managed to keep his face tidy. Looking at the other girls, they didn't seem to give that much notice on that part.
The next one to finish was Shimamura-san, followed by Yuumi. Unsurprisingly, Yuumi was the last one to finish due to her emptying out every single plate that she placed in the blanket.
And with that, the plates that once had their contents, vanished into the depths of our stomach. With that, the picnic of the Akamatsu household and the feast of the Shimamura relatives was over. Though, it didn't feel like that.
"Thanks for having us," Shimamura-san said. "It's been awhile since I was last satisfied with the same food that I've had. If you don't mind, we'll be taking our leave now."
"Ehh, already? I haven't even talked to Yuu-nii yet!" Akito-kun said.
I was rather surprised. I thought he just mispronounced calling Yuumi, but he looked at me, which definitely did indicate that he was calling me. And worse, he's calling me the way Yuumi does.
"Well, don't worry Akito-kun," I said. "I can probably convince your big sister to stay for a bit."
"Really?! How will you convince Aya-nee to stay?"
"Yuu-nii, you're not saying…?" Yuumi said.
"Come on, take them out from the basket."
Yuumi sighed. She probably had no intention of sharing it with anyone, but after specifically saying that both of the Shimamura relatives could stay, it meant that Akito-kun as well would be staying.
After Yuumi cleared out the empty plates, she laid down another set of food, which were snacks, which was meant for dessert. There were sweets such as cookies, candies, just sweets that you can find in the local store. There's also some cake from a place that's almost on the other side of Japan. The flavours were cheesecake and matcha.
Other than the cake were dorayaki and anmitsu, and there were also some tea cups and a thermos in place, separate from the miso soup that we had earlier. The amount was just about enough to once again fill us up.
"Uwah…!" Akito-kun was surprised with the amount of dessert that was placed yet again on the blanket. "Aya-nee, Aya-nee, we can stay, right? There's cake and everything!"
"Uu…"
Although I know it's not exactly what it looks like, even Shimamura-san was overwhelmed by the amount of food that was placed again. Not just any food, but specifically the cake.
She kept thinking about it. Thoughts came flying inside her head, and it seems like staying is winning. Finally, after a few seconds, she responded.
"F-Fine. Let's just stay here for a little while longer."
"Yay!" Akito-kun shouted.