That night, I had a dream.
I dreamt of our old house. I was dressed in my school uniform, surrounded by four adults.
Two of them were my dad and mom, glaring at each other. Next to them were two people I didn't know, dressed in suits.
'I'm his mother, so I'll be taking him with me!'
'I'm his father, I could provide him with everything he needs, I'll be taking him with me!'
'You'll prioritize your job over him, what's the point? You'll end up abandoning him when he needs you the most!'
'I could say the same to you. Without money, what can you do for him? This matter isn't a joke, you know?'
Both of them were arguing in front of me, who stood by myself beside the table.
By the way, this wasn't a memory from my past or anything. Every discussion they had regarding the divorce was held outside our home, and I was never present at any of those discussions.
The scene I was seeing now was merely a dream.
This probably happened because of the conversation I had with my dad. Still, having this kind of dream at times like this…
'Without me, he will—'
'No, without me—'
Inside the dream, both my dad and mom seemed to be fighting to take custody of me, to the point that they would concede their alimony, property divisions and other divorce-related arrangements.
As I watched them arguing, my turn to make a decision eventually came.
''''Who do you want to go with, Maki?''''
They asked me at the same time.
"I…"
'You'll go with your mother, right?'
'You'll go with your father, right?'
"Ugh…"
The two people in suits pushed me for an answer that I failed to give out.
Rather, I couldn't decide.
Dad and mom might be strangers now, but both their blood runs in my veins.
My mom was kind and my dad was cool. I'm proud of both of them and I love both of them.
I can't choose one or the other.
But now both of them are divorced. I've seen them arguing a lot of times and I had to pretend to be asleep in my room whenever they did that.
A trial was held and a bunch of adults I didn't know involved themselves in this case.
I was a kid back then, but I knew that even if I tried to be selfish, I wouldn't be able to change anything.
'Maki!'
'Maki…'
"Dad… Mom… I…"
I looked at both of their faces.
"…I'll follow along with whatever you decide, mom, dad… I don't really care either way…"
I don't care.
That wasn't something I wanted to say…
But that was the only thing I managed to say…
* * *
"Haa–!"
I woke up from my dream.
Maybe because I had a nightmare, my whole body felt hot, my heart was pounding and I was drenched in sweat.
I took a deep breath to calm myself.
"…It's still midnight…"
It felt like a long dream, but my phone showed that it was barely past midnight.
After parting from Nitta-san at the station, I quickly went home and straight to bed after changing my clothes.
That happened around 10 p.m., so I had only been asleep for around two hours.
I noticed missed call icons on my screen.
[11.01 Asanagi Umi]
[11.10 Asanagi Umi]
[11.22 Asanagi Umi]
[11.30 Asanagi Umi]
[11.39 Asanagi Umi]
[11.53 Asanagi Umi]
"…Whoops…"
Seeing the missed calls from Umi woke me up.
I was mentally exhausted after talking with my dad and it seemed like I forgot my promise to call her after everything was done.
I immediately sent her a text.
[Maehara: Sorry, Umi.]
[Maehara: Are you awake?]
Bzzt!
"Woah!"
The moment I sent that, my phone immediately vibrated.
For some reason, I felt an intense emotion coming from my phone.
Umi was probably angry at me.
"U-Um…"
{…Idiot…}
"Sorry… I fell asleep as soon as I got home… I broke my promise, sorry…"
{It's fine, you're calling me right now anyway… But, jeez, you really fell asleep? What about your father? What happened?}
"Everything went as planned. I ordered the most expensive food, asked him about Minato-san and gave him a piece of my mind, that's all."
I wasn't lying. Though he didn't answer all my questions.
I told Umi about his relationship with Minato-san.
The fact that their relationship happened after the divorce and how she was supporting him as both his subordinate and lover.
Maybe they had started a new family back at my old home.
{I see. Well, I expected as much. I mean, if it was an affair, your mom wouldn't let him off the hook that easily.}
Right. If it was an affair, mom would completely cut him off and would never allow him to see me at all.
"Anyway, that's that. I don't want to bother them anymore, just let them live their lives."
{Well, I wanna give your dad a piece of my mind…}
"Let's do that if we meet him again."
By the way, my relationship with Umi's will continue as usual. There would be plenty of opportunities for us to seal the deal anyway.
I could confess to her next Friday when we'll be alone at my house or on Christmas, there's no need to rush.
"Well, it's late already, sorry for calling you this late, Umi. Good night…"
{Mm… Good night, Maki, have a good dream…}
"You too."
After I hung up, I put my phone away and collapsed into my bed.
"…Everything will be fine…"
I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my sleeve before I got lost in my thoughts.
Mom and dad's relationship is pretty much finished. Dad acted strangely today, but it was certain that they won't get together ever again.
Thinking about them is pointless, so I should just think about myself.
I still have Umi, Amami-san, Nozomu and other people who care about me.
Instead of moping about my parents, I should think on how to have fun with them.
I tried to go back to sleep, but I failed since the previous nightmare kept haunting me for the rest of the night.