Chapter 1
Runa called me on a Sunday morning.
“Sorry, Ryuto!” she said animatedly.
My third year of university had just started, and Golden Week was right around the corner. We’d planned to go on a date for the first time in a good while. I’d figured it was best to do something more relaxing so Runa didn’t get worn out, so we’d been talking about going to see a movie—something we hadn’t done in some time.
Since Runa worked in the clothing industry, Golden Week was a busy season for her. She’d be putting in a lot of hours during the holiday, but she had gotten the Sunday before it off in exchange.
“Remember how I said Haruna and Haruka both caught colds last week? They got better right away, but then my grandma got it, and Dad and Misuzu-san have been feverish since yesterday too.”
“I see...”
Unfortunate as it was, nothing could be done here. I started to think about spending the week playing multiplayer games on my computer. I hadn’t done that in a while either.
“So is it okay if I bring Haruka and Haruna on our date today?”
“Huh...?”
Her words caught me completely off guard.
Thus, we ended up going on a date as four, as Runa brought her sisters along on sudden notice.
“Hi, Ryuto!”
I boarded the train at Station K and met up with Runa on it. She stood in a space marked in pink on the floor with the pictogram of a stroller in the corner of the car, and her hands rested on the handle of a stroller.
As it was an outbound train on a Sunday morning, it was nearly full of people going on outings.
“Look, it’s Ryuto!” said Runa, facing the stroller.
It was a double stroller with two seats side by side. The girls in it were being noisy.
“Hi...” I said.
It wasn’t my first time seeing the twins—I’d said hi to them several times before when visiting Runa’s place. But since I didn’t have small children around me on a daily basis, their presence made me a little nervous.
“Aro!”
“Sneh!”
One looked at me and smiled while the other was staring out the window. Apparently being twins didn’t, in fact, mean that they were always in sync.
They’d been born in June during my first year of university, which meant they were now a year and ten months old. It still wasn’t really feasible to communicate with them by talking.
“Good girl, Haruna! You should say ‘hello.’ And you’re right, Haruka, there is a snail.”
Apparently, Runa could understand what the twins had said. And actually, I couldn’t even tell which was which. I was amazed that Runa could tell the difference.
The two girls in the stroller wore matching boots and two-piece outfits but still looked very much like toddlers. Their hair reached their shoulders and was a little thin, but even at a glance, their cute faces and large eyes made it clear that they were girls. If I had to say who they resembled the most in Runa’s family, I’d probably say Kurose-san.
“Telling them apart is easy right now! The one with scratches under her eye is Haruna. Looks like she got herself yesterday before I clipped her nails.”
“Huh...”
Now that she mentioned it, the one who’d said hello to me did have small red marks under her left eye.
“If you look closely, their faces are a bit different too. They’re fraternal twins like me and Maria, but they really look a lot like each other. They even get colds at the same time and recover together too.”
“Speaking of which, are you feeling okay?”
“Yep, still in good shape for now!” Runa nodded vigorously. Then, something seemed to occur to her. “What, were you thinking about the whole ‘idiots don’t catch colds’ thing?”
“What? O-Of course not!”
Her question rattled me—the thought had never crossed my mind.
Looking at me, Runa pouted. “It’s fine, I’m well aware of it myself! Man, I can’t imagine myself being good at studying... Can I really keep up...?”
In order to fulfill her dream of becoming a nursery school teacher, Runa had decided to go to a technical school. She had been too late to get into one in April, so she was preparing to get into a school that began enrollment in October. Because of that, she was in talks with her company about stepping down from her assistant manager position in September and becoming a contractor instead.
That said, the idea of studying and working simultaneously seemed to bring Runa her fair share of worries.
“Don’t worry. And you’re not an idiot,” I said.
Runa’s eyes lit up. “Wait, really? You really mean it?”
“Yeah.”
“It kinda makes me happy to hear you say that! Since you’re so smart and all.”
“That’s not true.”
Runa smiled innocently, and I smiled bashfully in return.
“When I got into university, I realized that there’s no shortage of people smarter than me,” I added.
The academic level of Houo University’s student body was at the top among private universities. Many people who’d aimed for a national university as their first choice—places like Tokyo University, for example—had ended up there. Seeing how intelligent some of the other students were had made me realize I wasn’t all that smart after all.
“And besides, I’d say being able to study or not has a lot to do with your personality,” I said.
“Whatcha mean?”
“I have this friend, Kujibayashi-kun...”
“Ah, I know him! He’s the guy you’re always talking about. The one who says stuff like ‘your stoolie’?” Runa looked proud of herself for remembering.
“Yeah, except it’s ‘yours truly,’” I replied with a smile. “He’s smart, but he also works really hard. He said that when he becomes curious about something, he remembers it and has to look it up later or it will bug him. Maybe it’s hereditary since his father is a college professor, but it’s also part of his personality.”
“Ehh, I’m not like that at all! I start thinking about other things right away and forget about whatever it was!”
“It’s the same for me,” I said, smiling at Runa’s honest reaction. “Looking up things on a regular basis is probably what separates knowledgeable people from the rest. Though, of course, it’s also important to have a good memory so you don’t forget what you’ve looked up.”
“Wow...” uttered Runa, sounding genuinely impressed.
Even as we talked, her eyes were on the twins. As always, she was doing a good job filling in for their parents.
“You remember things you’re interested in too, don’t you? Like the names of cosmetics and all... Like, what was that lip thing called again? Tinton?”
“Oh, tint?”
“Yeah, that.”
I always forgot things like that no matter how many times she’d told me. It was probably because I had no interest in cosmetics whatsoever.
“People like Kujibayashi-kun, who are interested in learning in general, are best suited for academic pursuits, but I’d say that anyone can look up and remember things that they’re interested in,” I added.
For example, at one point, I’d been able to recognize dozens of KEN Kids and rattle off their names just by seeing their skins in Yourcraft.
“And as a matter of fact, you can use all those fashion terms naturally since you’re interested in it. And you’ve managed to achieve something in that sphere, haven’t you?”
“I guess...?”
Runa smiled humbly, but I knew it was anything but easy to become an assistant manager in your twenties and even be offered a manager position in Fukuoka—even if she’d rejected it.
“So with that in mind, now that you’ve realized you want to be a nursery school teacher and you want to work hard for it, I’m sure you’ll be fine. I feel like you’re suited for studying for a goal like that.”
“Ryuto...” Runa looked down at the twins in the stroller, her eyes wavering. Then she looked up at me. “You really are smart. And you have a great personality too.”
Her bashful smile made my heart skip a beat.
“You always say things in a way that helps me understand.” Then, something seemed to have occurred to her. “You might be a great teacher.”
Her words made me recall things that Kurose-san and Umino-sensei had said to me.
“You’d probably make a good teacher or something.”
“You’re pretty suited to be a teacher, wouldn’t you say?”
“Huh... I guess maybe I really am...” I said.
“What, you think so too?”
“Nah... It’s just something I get a lot.”
Runa’s eyes widened. “Then it’s gotta be your thing, right? Or maybe you don’t wanna be one?”
“Well... It’s not that I don’t want to...” I mulled over my feelings as I replied carefully. “I can talk in private to people I trust, like you, but schoolteachers have to deal with many students at once all by themselves, you know? And considering my personality, I was thinking my heart might not be able to take it.”
“Ah... I guess since you’re so kind and all. Thinking back on it, lots of teachers at our school didn’t really care. It was like stuff was just whatever to them.”
“Exactly. They were probably like that because it was the only way they could go on. You have to be pragmatic to some degree when there’s too much stuff to do. I’d imagine that those who can’t do that end up quitting,” I said.
“Ah... But then what kind of job would be good for you? Since you can help people with the mental side of things, maybe a psychiatrist?”
“I’d have to be in a medical program, so that’s not happening...”
“Mmm... This is hard...” Runa folded her arms and tilted her head in thought.
Just then...
“Hey, look at that mom! Isn’t she super cute? She’s sooo gyaru.”
Looking where the voice came from, I saw two girls sitting nearby and looking at Runa. They seemed to be high school students.
“Wow, you’re right. I wish I could get her Instagram!”
“Man, I really love families like that. The young dad there looks kind too.”
“I know, right? I wanna get married when I’m twenty or so too...”
“To Yu-kun?”
“What? No way. I mean, like, just the other day...”
At that point, their conversation moved onto a different topic and I stopped listening in.
Runa blushed slightly as her mouth twitched. I could tell she’d overheard the girls’ conversation too.
“This is kinda embarrassing...” she said bashfully, cheeks still pink. “I guess we do look like a married couple like this.”
“Y-Yeah...” I replied, flustered. “I-Is it because we have little children with us?”
Runa giggled.
We had yet to even have sex, so the thought was extremely embarrassing. Either way, this made me aware of how we appeared to other people. I hadn’t given the matter much thought when we’d suddenly agreed to go on a date while bringing children along. Runa’s parents had had a shotgun wedding as soon as they’d graduated from high school, though, so maybe it wasn’t so strange to find married couples around twenty years old who already had children of this age.
But wait, does this mean that people are seeing me as a father with his wife and twin daughters...?
All right... I’ll be the best dad I can today!
As I made that resolution, we reached our date spot for the day—Koshigaya LakeTown, a shopping mall in Saitama prefecture. As I didn’t own a car, we could only get here by public transit. The mall was located next to a station and was big enough that children could play around freely.
We rode the elevator, watching people ride the long escalator up to the entrance on the second floor. When we got out, we found ourselves in the large shopping mall with a wide aisle in front of us. There were separate paths leading in and out.
Since it was a weekend, even a place as spacious as this was full of family groups and young people.
Taking the entrance path, I observed the fathers with their families for a while, hoping to pick up some tips on how to act.
“An an aan!” cried out Haruna-chan, pointing at a cart passing by.
It was a children’s cart with Anpanman on the front—a pastry-headed superhero from children’s books. Carts like these were common in shopping malls. There were other carts around with various characters on them, so there must’ve been a rental place somewhere.
“Yep, that’s Anpanman,” replied Runa.
“Nannan! Nannan too!”
“Eh? But you’re already in the stroller with Kan-chan.”
It seemed Haruna-chan wanted to ride a cart.
“An an an! An an aan!”
Haruna-chan then started to scream. Haruka-chan looked uneasy seeing her sister act like that. Passersby looked at Haruna-chan, wondering what the commotion was all about.
“Fine... You want Anpanman, right? Sorry, Ryuto, I’ll bring a cart over, so would you mind pushing this?” said Runa.
“S-Sure...”
Runa left me with the stroller and ran on ahead but quickly returned with a cart. Incidentally, Haruna-chan cried all the while.
“H-Hey look, your big sister brought you Anpanman.” I finally had something to say to Haruna-chan after having been stuck pushing the stroller.
“An an an!” she cheered and stopped crying.
Haruna-chan moved over from the stroller to the cart, and from that point, I managed the stroller while Runa pushed the cart.
Case closed...or so I thought.
“Kantan too! Kantan too!”
This time, it was Haruka who started making a fuss after seeing her sister riding the cart next to her.
“You too? It’s not gonna work; there’s nobody to push another cart,” said Runa.
Runa gave me an awkward smile that said, I hate when this happens...
“Kantan! Kantan wants Toramon!”
“You want Doraemon? Like I said, though, we can’t.”
The carts could only hold one child, and if the twins were to ride different ones, we wouldn’t have anyone else to push the stroller.
“Kantan too! Kantan too! Uwaah!”
Before long, Haruka-chan started sobbing. She was gathering looks from people around us, just like when Haruna-chan was crying earlier.
Haruna-chan, meanwhile, was enjoying herself, making happy noises as she turned the steering wheel of the Anpanman cart left and right.
“I can just push the stroller with one hand and the cart with the other,” I offered.
Runa’s eyes lit up. “What? Really?!”
All right, time to show everyone what this dad-for-a-day is capable of!
At least that was the plan...
However, I ran out of strength after going less than ten meters.
“Sorry, I can’t do this after all...” I said.
“I kinda figured. This stroller weighs ten kilos, after all,” said Runa with a faint smile. “Okay, I’ll leave the stroller with someone. I’ll bring over a cart with Doraemon first, though, so could you wait for me here?”
“O-Okay...”
And so Runa brought over a Doraemon cart, Haruka-chan stopped crying and got on it, and then Runa left with the empty stroller.
I moved over to the side of the walkway, parked the carts side by side, and watched over the twins.
“An an an!”
“Toramon!”
They were having fun like that for a while. A while, yes... A mere two or three minutes, to be exact.
Haruna-chan looked at me and spoke in an irritated voice. “Buun! Buun!” She was pointing forward with her hand.
“‘Buun’...? Are you telling me to push...?”
I supposed that being stopped ruined the fun of riding a cart for her.
“Okay, here goes. Buun...” I said, not used to using a soft voice like this, and pushed Haruna-chan’s cart a little.
She laughed, sounding satisfied.
“Wow...!” I said.
I had finally managed to do something dad-like today. Moved by the fact, I kept pushing Haruna-chan’s cart for a while. At which point...
“Kantan too! Buun! Buun!” Haruka-chan, who’d been left behind, started shouting all of a sudden.
“O-Okay...!”
I parked Haruna-chan’s cart on the side of the walkway and hurried over to Haruka-chan’s cart.
This time, however, Haruna-chan started making a huge fuss. “Buun! Nannan! Buun!”
Moving one led to a stream of complaints from the other.
“Kantan too!”
“Nannan too!”
“I got you! I got you too!”
Man, I want to split myself into two!
I was consumed by pushing one cart after the other, strongly wishing for something I’d never sought even at the height of my chuunibyou days.
“Ah, there you are. Sorry for the wait!” Runa had finally come back.
“Runa!” My voice was practically a whine.
Runa looked like even more of a goddess in my eyes than usual at that moment.
“Sorry, sorry! I thought this might happen. Thanks.”
Runa seemed to have grasped the situation in an instant. Smiling awkwardly, she went over to the parked Doraemon cart and started pushing it.
This calmed down both Haruka-chan and Haruna-chan, and we could now proceed through the mall as planned.
Walking side by side with Runa while pushing carts with children really made it feel like we were a young married couple. It made me restless. If we were to get married in the future and have children, would this be how we’d go shopping on our days off...? The thought was exciting.
Runa looked at my feet. “Ryuto, aren’t your sneakers kinda old?” she asked.
“Ah, yeah. I was thinking I should get new ones.”
I was wearing the kind of sneakers you were meant to replace after wearing them out. Since I’d bought them half a year ago, they were already pretty battered.
“Well then, I’ll choose new ones for you! ♡ There’s an ABC-Mart in here, so let’s stop by later.”
“Oh, okay... Thanks.”
“Can you pick out some sandals for me too while we’re at it?”
“Sure, if that’s what you want.”
“Hooray! Okay, let’s wait for them to fall asleep first. ♡”
Seeing Runa wink made my pulse rise. This was such a “married couple with children” conversation...
Feeling moved, I did my best to support my one-day family.
We headed to a paid play area on the third floor. It had slides made out of a soft material, as well as a ball pit. It was a place for children to have fun while their parents watched.
It was like a war zone. Being the weekend, the place was packed to the gills with children and parents. If you were to look away for even a moment, you’d lose sight of your child. Children old enough to walk around on their own were constantly running around to various toys and equipment that caught their interest. Runa and I had split up to follow the twins around, and neither of us got even a moment’s rest until the sixty-minute time limit that Runa had decided on was up.
“Man, I’m exhausted...” I said, letting the truth slip after we’d gotten out of there.
“Same... I’m glad you were there, though! If I was by myself, I couldn’t have handled it without splitting into two.” Runa said the same thing I’d thought when pushing the carts earlier and smiled. “Now, let’s go eat lunch! Kan-chan, Nan-chan, what do you want?”
“Noonies!”
“Nooooonies!”
“Okay then, udon it is!”
We put the children back on the carts and headed to a food court.
“I guess they’re not on weaning food anymore?” I asked.
“They’re moving away from it little by little. There’s still not much they can eat.”
The food court here on the third floor was more spacious than a decently sized buffet area. As it was lunchtime, it was full of customers who were in a vicious struggle to find empty tables.
“Are you leaving? Oh, thank you! Don’t worry! Please take your time! Oh, I’ll wipe the table down myself! It’s okay! Thank you!”
While I stood there fidgeting in my usual introverted fashion, Runa spoke to a family who’d just finished eating and were cleaning up their trays. She managed to secure their table for us. Something told me we’d be like this even after getting married.
“Ryuto, you can go ahead and get lunch.”
“What about you?”
“I’m gonna have udon, same as these two. They’ll probably leave a lot,” Runa replied with an awkward smile while securing the twins down in kids’ chairs.
Eating turned out to be quite the ordeal too. Neither of the children could eat on their own yet, so we portioned out some udon for them. Runa fed Haruna-chan while I fed Haruka-chan.
“Wawa.”
“Okay, here’s a sippy cup with water.”
“No! Wawa!”
“That one’s mine, Nan-chan. You’ll spill it if you drink from a paper cup, so drink from yours, okay?”
“Wawa!”
“Whoa!”
“Oh, come on! Why’d you spill it, Haruka?!”
“I’ll get something to clean it up...” I said.
“Thanks. There are some towels over there!”
Once we managed to get through lunch, a terrible fuss was waiting for us.
“Choco!”
“I don’t have any. And Nan-chan, didn’t your mama say you can’t have chocolate yet?” Runa countered.
“Choco!”
“You too, Haruka? You just said you were all done a moment ago, you know.”
“Sh-Should I go get some...?” I offered.
“No, they’re just being like this because they’re sleepy. They always take a nap after lunch.”
“O-Oh, okay...”
“Sorry, can you look after them for a moment? I’ll go get the stroller back.” Runa then hurriedly left the table.
I had to deflect the twins’ complaints for ten minutes before she came back. She deftly put them into the stroller and breezily headed over to the walkway.
It took her a while to get back, though.
“Hey...” Runa said once she returned to the food court forty minutes later. She looked so haggard you’d think she’d aged five years since I’d last seen her under an hour ago.
The twins were now asleep in the stroller. Lifting the cover a bit and looking inside, I saw that even while sleeping, Haruka-chan looked like she was reaching out for the handlebar with both hands as if trying to get up. It looked like the aftermath of a battle.
“Good job out there...” I said, handing Runa a cup.
“Oh hey, bubble tea!”
Runa’s eyes lit up in an instant. I’d found a bubble tea place in the food court while I’d been waiting for her and bought two.
“Thanks! Man, this is great! My exhaustion’s just gone!”
Runa’s face looked rejuvenated in an instant and became adorned with her usual smile.
“Guess it was rough...” I said.
“It actually went better than usual, believe it or not. If one has a hard time falling asleep and keeps being loud, they’ll wake up the other one. Sometimes they both just keep crying loudly until I get them home.”
“Wow...”
Since I’d been with her since morning, I could more or less imagine the hell she was living in.
Now that the lunchtime peak was over, there were a few empty tables here and there at the food court. This area had glass walls, and there seemed to be tables out on the terrace too. Dazzling light shone in, and the weather was perfect for a calm spring date. Runa and I sat facing each other at a table for four with the stroller parked next to it. It was the first time we managed to talk without any urgency today.
“Raising twins seems like a real pain...” I said.
“Yeah. One child is hard enough, so when there’s two? Seriously.” Runa cracked a smile. “Still, Haruka and Haruna should grow up seeing the outside world just like children who aren’t twins, right? Misuzu-san isn’t really able to go out and take trains, so I’m taking them out whenever I can, even if I have to do it alone.”
“I see... It’s really admirable of you.”
I wanted to salute Runa for having made that a part of her daily life for nearly two years now. It explained why she hadn’t been able to find many opportunities to be with me.
“Then again, when I’m alone, it’s hard to keep track of them all the time. Sometimes they’ll be nasty to someone, and that someone will get angry at them, and then they’ll get depressed.” Sucking up a tapioca pearl through her straw, Runa gave me a mildly awkward smile.
“Well... You should probably go easy on them there. They’re kids and all.”
“But we can’t just tell them that, you know?” While keeping a calm smile on her face, Runa lowered her eyes to her bubble tea. “Kids make a lot of noise and don’t stay still except when they’re asleep. In places where adults want to lead quiet lives, they’re nothing but a nuisance. So it makes sense to me that in Japan nowadays, somewhere that’s utterly filled with adults, there’s not a lot of places for children.”
With her eyes still on the bubble tea, Runa spoke calmly. Her smile didn’t leave her face.
“So if kids take one step out of the house, you have to teach them how to behave, make sure they don’t get lost, protect them from weirdos... Parents out there are probably always feeling the strain. Even inside the house, you have to always be careful so they don’t get into something dangerous. I wanna make it so that parents can forget their worries about their kids and rest—however little I can. I want them to be able to live their lives at their own pace again, just like before their children were born, even if it’s only for a moment.”
At that point, Runa looked up and gazed at me. Her eyes shone with a dignified light of resolve.
“I want them to genuinely believe that they can leave things to Runa-sensei at nursery school and it’ll be fine. I wanna be the kind of teacher who’ll let parents focus on work or family affairs while their kids are at nursery school.”
“Runa...”
She had so much on her own plate every day, but she still thought this way. She was determined to get the future she wanted. Her ambitiousness filled me with reverence for her, even though she was my girlfriend.
I met her gaze. “If it’s you, I’m sure you’ll make it happen,” I said sincerely.
She smiled bashfully and averted her eyes. “To do that, I have to study children and childcare a whole lot. I know Haruna and Haruka more or less, but there’s all kinds of children out there.” Runa looked at me again. “Thanks for today, Ryuto.” She smiled and blushed a little. “It made me realize all over again that you’ll definitely make a good dad.”
“Eh? Really...?”
Hearing Runa say that filled me with happiness.
“Yeah. I wonder if I’ll make a good mom too...?” Cutely resting her chin in her hands, she gazed at me with blushing cheeks.
“You already are,” I told her.
Runa pouted a little. “What’s that supposed to mean? Are you saying that’s how old I look?”
“N-No! I mean... I kinda... I really admire you.” Choosing my words carefully, I laid out my honest feelings. “You understand the girls and look after them so well... At this point, it’s like you’re less of a big sister and more of a mother to them. It’s amazing, since you’re the same age as me.”
Runa lifted her chin from her hands and smiled. “Aha. I guess that’s how it ends up when you’re too far apart in age from your siblings.” As she looked at the two girls sleeping peacefully in the stroller, a gentle expression appeared on her face. “You know I have an older sister too, right? She’s seven years older than me and Maria, so by the time I was aware of things around me, she was already pretty grown-up and had everything together. She could do everything for herself, and for me too. I depended on her way too much.”
“Huh.”
The only one in Runa’s family I’d yet to meet was her older sister. Since she lived with her boyfriend outside of Tokyo and rarely visited her family home, apparently even Runa barely ever saw her.
“She was like an extra mother to me,” said Runa. “Twins are more work than children born one at a time, and she covered for my mom when my mom couldn’t deal with everything herself. I’m still really grateful for it.” As she spoke, the look on her face made it clear how deeply she cared for her older sister. “I want you to meet her sometime. I’m really proud of her.”
“Yeah, I really want to meet her too.”
“Oh, but you’d better not fall for her!” she warned. “I know she’s got bigger boobs than me, but still!”
“What?! O-Of course I wouldn’t!”
What makes her think I care that much about breasts?
“Just kidding,” she said with a smile. “Ever since these girls were born, I’ve been thinking about my older sister a lot, wondering if this is how she felt when taking care of us.” As she looked at the stroller again, a gentle expression appeared on her face. “I wanna give them the same amount of love that she gave us.” With that, Runa looked at me and smiled a bit awkwardly. “Our moms may be different...but they’re still sisters to me.”
She’s really grown up, I thought to myself. I wished that I could show Runa the way she was now to her from Christmas Eve of our second year of high school. That was when she’d cried after seeing her father show up with Misuzu-san. Your father will give you a new family and new happiness. So you’re okay—that was what I wanted to say to her old self.
“Besides, when you see them sleeping like this? They’re so cute,” said Runa.
As she gazed at the sleeping twins, her profile looked divine to me—like the deeply affectionate face of the Virgin Mary.
I was once again filled with love for Runa.
***
While the twins were asleep, Runa and I quickly but calmly did our shopping around the mall. Once the girls woke up, we started making our way back to the station.
The twins were behaving themselves in the stroller—perhaps they’d had a good nap and were in good moods.
“Oh hey, there’s a strawberry festival,” said Runa as we walked down a walkway. There was a poster on the wall. “Looks like it’s at a fountain here. I wish I was there... I love strawberries. ♡”
“Do you want to go now?”
Runa shook her head, a faint smile on her face. “Nah, it’s fine. I’m tired after everything.”
I was tired too, so I was glad she’d turned down my offer.
“I wanna go pick strawberries sometime. I’ve never done that, though there’s no real reason I haven’t,” she said.
“Oh. Same—I’ve never gone either.”
“Oh hey! That’s another ‘first’ we get to have together,” Runa said, smiling happily.
Even if we hadn’t made any specific plans, I was already looking forward to it.
“Where can you go pick strawberries? Do you have to go far?”
“Come to think of it, I saw a sign at the LakeTown station earlier about strawberry picking,” I said. “And I saw on TV that Koshigaya has a lot of farmers who grow strawberries.”
“Oh, I see! I wonder if that’s why they’re holding the festival.”
“Maybe.”
As we had this somewhat trivial conversation, we walked slowly to the station. It was like we were relishing our last taste of being a married couple with children.
I looked at Runa while pushing the stroller. At first, I’d had a hard time figuring out how to move it well, but I’d grown pretty used to it in just half a day. Now, even I could push it around on a flat enough surface like in a mall.
“Now that I look at you, you really look like a dad, Ryuto,” Runa teased.
“Really? So I’m finally looking like I know what I’m doing?”
“Yep. ♡ Thanks for today, Ryuto-Papa.” After saying that in a joking manner, Runa’s expression turned serious all of a sudden. “But really, thanks, Ryuto.”
And just as she gave me a sincere smile...
“Ryuto!” came a voice from the stroller. Haruka-chan had turned around and was looking at me.
Seeing that, Haruna-chan pointed at me too. “Ryuto, Ryuto!”
“Ryuto!”
“Wow!” Runa brought her hands together in surprise and looked at me. “They still have a hard time saying people’s names properly, so this is unexpected.”
“Really? I did it, then!”
Completely exhausting myself for half a day hadn’t been for nothing.
“Ryuto!”
“Ryuto!”
The twins kept saying my name as if competing with each other. Their angelic, smiling faces were soothing to look at, and I could feel my heart melt.
Ah, so this is it right here, I thought to myself. No matter how much work it was to raise children, moments like these were what helped people keep at it.
“Aha ha, they’re all over you already,” said Runa with a happy smile.
We were now close to the entrance of LakeTown and were navigating the crowds on a skyway with glass on both sides of us.
Runa’s profile was lit with orange light from the sunset. As I watched her, I imagined the household we’d have one day, and my chest grew hot enough that it’d overpower the evening sun.
***
We were now in front of Runa’s house.
“Thanks so much for today,” she said.
I’d lost track of how many times she’d thanked me today.
“Sorry our date went like it did, even though we don’t get to go on them often,” she added.
“It’s fine. I made friends with the twins, and it was fun for me too.”
The girls were still in a good mood. At the moment, they were eating cookies and having some sort of staring contest.
“All right, so...” I began, letting go of the stroller to get ready to make my way back to the station.
“Ah, wait.” Stopping me, Runa took a few steps toward me.
After quickly looking both ways down the road, she swiftly lowered the canopy of the stroller and brought her face close to mine. At that point, I realized what she was going for, so I closed my eyes for a moment, and we shared a kiss. It was a short one, lasting only half a second or so.
“Okay, see you,” said Runa after pulling her face away. She had narrowed her eyebrows a bit.
Flushed cheeks, moistened eyes, and a pained expression... Her face made me recall the summer from three years ago.
***
During the summer of my last year of high school, I had been swamped with studying. There were times when I was unproductive because I couldn’t focus, but I was still at cram school from morning to evening. Even when I didn’t have classes, I was holed up in the study room.
In the midst of all that, there were only two days when I managed to make summerlike memories.
That summer, Runa once again got about two weeks off work and went to stay with her great-grandmother in Chiba. Kurose-san went with her. And for the last weekend she was there, me and the rest of our airsoft group visited Runa. The summer festival was taking place that weekend too.
“Ryutooo!”
After we had lunch at Mao-san’s beach hut, Luna Marine, the other two guys and I were taking it easy when Runa, who’d gone with Yamana-san and Tanikita-san to play at the beach, came back.
“I saw some crabs near those rocks. Let’s go watch them together,” she said.
“Huh? Okay...” I replied.
Why crabs? Did I ever say I like crabs? I do like eating them, I guess...
With those thoughts on my mind, I got up from my seat.
“Seriously? Crabs?” For some reason, Icchi expressed interest in what Runa’d said. He looked at Nisshi next to him. “You coming?” he asked him, starting to get up.
“Nah, and you shouldn’t either,” Nisshi said coldly as he grabbed Icchi’s arm to stop him.
I felt sorry for making them be considerate of us.
When we got to the rocks, Runa had a faint sparkle in her eyes.
“We’re finally alone together,” she said.
She’d brought me to the shallows where the water was up to our knees. Many of the rocks here were far taller than people, making it shady and hiding us from view. The shallows at the beach and near the beach hut had more people there, but here, it was just us. And like Runa had said, it felt like we were finally alone together.
“And you’ll already be leaving tomorrow already...” Runa said melancholily.
“Yeah... I’ve got classes and all.”
“Right...”
Hanging her head, Runa took my arms and pressed herself against them.
“W-Wait, Runa...”
I was flustered, being in a pose like I was embracing her from behind.
Her voluptuous, swimsuit-clad body was already too stimulating for the eyes. Touching her smooth skin and her supple hips and breasts like this was going to make my swim trunks take on a different shape.
“Just a bit longer...” Runa said coyly, leaning back into me even more.
“S-Stop...”
Despite Runa’s slim figure, her butt was full and round. She wriggled it seductively next to my hips. Feeling it through the thin fabric of my swimsuit was too much.
“Ah. ♡” Runa immediately noticed the change in blood flow happening within me. She turned around and started pressing her hips against me again, from the front this time.
I had been completely defeated. With her playing around with me like that, grinding against my torso, there was nothing I could do.
“Did this make you horny?” she asked.
“Of course it did...” My voice sounded pathetic, and I was sure my face must’ve been red as a tomato too.
“Heh heh. You’re so cute.” Runa seemed to be enjoying herself. Still pressing against me, she wrapped her arms around my waist and smiled happily. “Look—the crabs are watching.”
She motioned toward the rocks. Looking over, I could see small crabs the same color as the stones leaning halfway out of the crevices between them.
Runa, however, was still grinding against me.
“R-Runa...” I pulled my hips away in a hurry. “I... I can’t take much more of this...”
“Ehh?” Though she sounded discontent, Runa moved her arms and hips away from me. Suddenly, a mischievous look appeared on her face, and she looked at me with upturned eyes. “I guess teasing you like this is actually pretty fun. ♡”
“Sheesh...”
When would I ever be able to win against her? Such a day might never come. But oddly enough, I realized I was actually okay with that.
“Hey,” Runa said in a coy tone, prompting me to look at her again. Standing in front of me and facing my way, her eyes were closed, and her chin was lifted slightly.
Seeing her bright cherry-colored lips, I knew what she wanted from me. I briefly sealed her lips with mine. It frustrated me that this was the extent of what I could do right now, and Runa seemed to feel the same way. When she moved her face away from mine, there was a pained look on hers.
“Oh well...” she said. Making a sigh that sounded like the trembling of a heart, Runa looked up at the sky. “Can’t spring come any sooner...?”
Her voice disappeared into the blue summer sky. It dazzled to the point of irony.
***
It had been three years since then, yet I was still causing Runa to make that kind of face. Thinking about it made me feel a bit guilty, but the fire in me immediately washed it away.
It won’t be long now.
The thought of it put a spring in my step as I headed to Station A.
I just had to wait until August. There was nothing I was looking forward to as much as our upcoming summer trip to Okinawa.
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