It was the first monday after my date with Umi.
I fucked up.
I was talking about the album.
There were embarrassing photos of me back when I was a baby in there, so I decided to take them off the album before I showed it to Umi.
"Woah, so cute~ So Maki was this cute when he was a baby~"
"I know right? He was so clingy back then too~ Whenever I tried to leave his side, he would cling to me while saying 'mama~' it was cute."
"Hehe… I can imagine that somehow."
I forgot that Umi would come to my house early to pick me up.
When I woke up, she and my mom were already looking at the album together.
And my laziness bit me in the back. I haven't taken the photos out yet.
"Ah, good morning, Maki~ It's a nice day today, isn't it?"
"Nothing better than the feeling of dread, bright and early…"
"Oh yeah, I saw your picture, you look cute~ Especially your di–"
"Don't you dare say that out loud."
Now she had one more thing to tease me with.
"What are you upset about? Umi-chan will see it sooner or later anyway, relax."
"It's too early in the morning for this kind of talk, dear mother!"
If they hadn't reached those particular pages, I would immediately rip the album out of their hands, but apparently, I was too late.
I made my mom prepare drinks for all of us and quickly sent her off.
"It's fine~ I took out all the embarrassing photos so Yuu wouldn't be able to see them."
"And where are the photos now?"
"Obviously it's in my bag."
"Give it back to me, you thief!"
I ignored Umi's whining and retrieved the photos from her bag. I locked them inside my drawer.
I spent the whole Sunday slacking off… I should have done this earlier.
One of the things I hated about myself was that I would try my best to take care of Umi and the others, but when it came to things related to myself, I got really lazy.
"I have to go to work now, Umi-chan. Take care of Maki for me."
"Yes, you can entrust Maki-chan to me!"
"Stop doing that…"
"I'm off, Maki-chan, be a good boy~"
"Not you too, mom!"
It was early in the morning and I had to deal with this. Well, at least I didn't feel depressed this monday, I guess it was a fair price.
Also, the final exam would start this weekend, so I had to concentrate on my studies.
"Maki, sorry! I left my cigarettes and lighter on the table! Can you bring them to me? The yellow box!"
"Ah… Mm…"
The brand of the smoke was the brand that mom always used, but it seemed like she had been smoking more often lately since the box felt considerably empty.
I understood her urge to smoke because she was an adult, but I hoped she would take care of her health better.
"Here."
"Thank you. Also, I have something to tell you."
She made sure that no one was nearby before she whispered her words to me.
"…Don't tell Umi-chan too much about our family's situation, okay? She's a good girl, she will brood over it if you were to tell her."
"…Don't worry about that, I know better."
I trusted Umi, but the matter with dad was our family's matter.
I wanted to ask for advice from her, but I guess I should consider mom's feelings here too.
"Thank you, Maki. I love you."
After she took her cigarettes from me, she pulled me over and hugged me gently.
It was strange… This wasn't something she normally did… Maybe there was something wrong with her?
"I'm off. I'll do my best at work."
"Mm… Have a good day, mom."
After I saw mom off, I got back to the living room. As soon as I entered, I felt cold air brushing against my cheeks.
"Ah, sorry, Maki. I'm ventilating the room."
"Sorry, the room smells, huh? My mom's cigarette brand is very peculiar, you see…"
"When you say it that way it feels like you're implying that you smoke too. Also, is Masaki-san alright?"
As soon as she entered the house, she smelled a strong cigarette odor. She never experienced this before, so it was natural for her to suspect something.
By the way, no one in her house smoked.
"Who knows. Well, it's mom we're talking about, we should just leave her alone rather than bothering her about it. She'll be fine, don't worry."
After spending quite some time ventilating the room, we had our breakfast like usual.
I decided to make some pancakes for a change of pace. I ate them as it was, but Umi added maple syrup and butter as topping for hers. I'm glad that she's here, she eats the ingredients that I rarely use.
For the drink, we both had milk.
"Um, Umi?"
"Nom nom?"
"Swallow everything first."
*Gulp
"… What is it?"
"About this friday…"
"This friday? It's exam day, but do you have something planned? Wanna study and have dinner together?"
"…I'll be meeting my dad this friday…"
"Eh?"
Umi's expression soured instantly.
It was understandable. After all, she was with me that day.
"…Maki, are you okay with that?"
Umi didn't reach her hand out to me, but since we were sitting across from each other, I could feel her legs move as her feet suddenly touched mine.
"Well, we're just going to have dinner together like we've always been doing."
"Then, what about his subordinate?"
"Maybe I'll ask him about it. It's been bugging me after all."
It just felt wrong seeing my dad like that. I had no problem with Minato-san though.
I need to hear the truth from his mouth this friday.
"Since that's the case, our study session should be moved to another day. So, have you scheduled everything from your side?"
"The Princess said that she wanted to hold study sessions every day since the scale of this test is bigger than usual… She seems desperate too."
"Okay, then, today should be fine?"
"Sure, I'll let Yuu know."
I promised Nozomu to study together for the exam, but whether Amami-san would come or not, it was up to her.
This week will be a busy one. There were a lot of things to think about and all of them were quite troublesome. Despite that, I'll take care of each one of them.