The next day.
I decided to tell mom about everything.
Not about Umi visiting the house yesterday, but about Christmas.
After slipping out of my bed, I went to the living room where my mom was sipping her coffee with a cigarette in hand.
"That's rare, mom."
"Good morning, Maki… Ah, right… Sorry about this."
"It's okay, mom, just smoke if you want to. Are you busy at work?"
She didn't smoke at home out of consideration for me, but I knew that she was a smoker.
Actually, I saw her smoking last year too.
"Yeah, well… This year is especially busy… Not as bad as last year though…"
She said as she extinguished her cigarette in the ashtray she kept by her side.
Last year, huh? I guess she still couldn't get over it.
Anyway, forget about that…
I don't want to talk about something so heavy this early in the morning.
"Right, mom… About Christmas…"
"Ah, did Umi-chan give you the ok?"
"Well, how should I say this?"
I explained my plans for Christmas to her.
About the party and stuff, how we would only be able to hang out after the party, which meant it would be quite late at night. Also about how we decided to invite Amami-san too.
And since we would only be able to start late at night, that meant they were going to get back home late as well.
…Also, about the sleepover with Umi… After we discussed it, we decided not to do it. We invited Amami-san along too, so that meant if Umi were to stay over, Amami-san would have to walk home by herself.
There was no way that we would let it happen, so we decided to call it off and we'll be the ones to escort her back home.
As a consequence, our time together would be cut short, but we didn't mind it.
"Not only Umi-chan, but that super ultra cute blonde girl too? Maki, you're on a roll!"
"Stop that…"
My life isn't some kind of harem manga, the development she was expecting wouldn't come.
And I only had Umi in my eyes… No one else really mattered.
"Alright, I'll talk to Asanagi-san about this, okay? Just prepare your pinky if you mess up." (T/N: You know, yakuza style)
"I won't mess up that badly. Besides, why would I need to do that?"
At that moment, something came to my mind. I imagined the possibility of me messing up again; Umi staying over and getting back home in the morning. Since her dad, Daichi-san was home for his end of the year vacation, I wondered what would happen to me?
Suddenly, I felt a shiver run down my spine.
…That said, I didn't know what Daichi-san and Riku-san looked like…
* * *
[Asanagi: Huh, you want to know what my dad and brother look like?]
[Maehara: Just in case we bump into each other somewhere, you know?]
[Asanagi: How would that even be possible? You never leave the house…]
[Asanagi: Well, whatever…]
[Asanagi: Ah, by the way, everyone in my family knows your face.]
[Maehara: How the hell?]
She showed me a family photo from a trip they took two years ago.
[Asanagi: The big man in the middle is my dad and the man in the corner is my brother.]
Daichi-san looked exactly as I had imagined. He was standing next to Sora-san, who was smiling while making a peace sign. He had a serious look on his face.
He seemed like a nice person, but at the same time he seemed strict.
As for Riku-san… I wasn't sure whether he was looking at the camera or not. His long hair hid one of his eyes. He wasn't as tall as Daichi-san, but he was still quite tall, probably around Seki-kun's height. He looked really thin though.
The photo was from two years ago but both Umi and Sora-san didn't seem to change that much, appearance wise.
[Amami: What are you guys up to? Woah, a beach house, that's so nostalgic!]
[Asanagi: Maki asked me to show him my dad's and brother's faces so he could run away if he were to bump into them.]
[Maehara: Screw you, I never said that.]
[Amami: Ah, is that so? Should I show mine too?]
[Amami: I took some photos back in middle school!]
Amami-san showed us her family photo. Apparently she took it back when she was still a freshman in middle school. She looked even more angelic than she was right now, wow.
[Amami: Ah, those people surrounding us are my grandparents, they live abroad. Also, those children are my relatives'…]
There were so few Japanese in the photo. Only her grandmother and father looked Japanese. The rest of her family had either blonde hair or silver hair.
[Amami: What about you, Maki-kun? Do you have old photos too? I want to see you as a kid! You too, right, Umi?]
[Asanagi: Of course.]
[Asanagi: Come on, Maki, bring them all out.]
[Maehara: Well, I mean…]
[Maehara: I'm not photogenic, so I barely took any pictures…]
[Maehara: The only photos of me that I have are the ones from the school festival.]
[Asanagi: Aw… Too bad…]
[Amami: What about graduation photos? Don't you still have them?]
[Maehara: I don't know… I don't remember seeing it anywhere in this house… I probably left it in my old house.]
I sent that message without thinking, then I realized I shouldn't have done that.
My old house. The house I lived in before I came here with my mom. Currently, dad should be living alone in that house.
[Maehara: Whoops, sorry about that…]
[Amami: No, don't be! I asked strange things, I'm the one who should be sorry…]
[Amami: C'mon, Umi, apologize to Maki!]
[Asanagi: Why are you bossing me around?]
[Asanagi: Sorry, Maki.]
[Maehara: No, no, it's fine. I was the one who started all this anyway.]
[Maehara: Well, I'll look for some of my old photos later. Maybe mom kept some of them somewhere in the house.]
[Maehara: If I find them, I'll show them to you both.]
[Amami: Really? That's great! Are you happy now, Umi?]
[Asanagi: What are you on about?]
[Amami: Tsundere ~]
[Asanagi: Sorry, I have something to do.]
At that moment, the bell rang for lunchtime. After that, I heard a ruckus in the direction of Umi and Amami-san's seats.
Because of me, the conversation became delicate for a moment there, but nothing problematic happened, thankfully.
But, old photos, huh? Because of the timing of my graduation and moving, I was all alone in my middle school graduation photo. And my grade school graduation photo was left on my old house.
What kind of photo should I show them?
As I pondered about this, I tried to leave the classroom by myself…
"A-Amami!"
A certain boy's voice stole the attention of the people inside the classroom.
"Do you have a moment? I have something to talk about…"
"Eh? Sure… What's up?"
Amami-san stared at the person in front of her, Seki-kun. He looked incredibly nervous.
I knew that this would happen sooner or later, but, isn't this too soon, Seki-kun?