Neighbor I like
The next day, I was called over by Tōko-chan’s mother, who lives across the street.
The two of us made pasta and had lunch together.
“So I heard the temporary club member did amazingly well yesterday?”
“Yeah… sounds like my brother said something unnecessary to Tōko-chan.”
“He’s worried about his cute little sister too, right?”
“I keep telling him not to worry about me, but… I actually like cooking and housework quite a bit.”
Tōko-chan’s mother laughed.
“I wish I had a daughter who said things like that.”
“She doesn’t cook or anything?”
“Not at all! She doesn’t seem interested in anything like that. Honestly… I wonder where I went wrong raising her.”
“But she’s brilliant at both academics and sports, right? There must be plenty of parents who’d kill to raise a child like that. You’ll get struck by lightning saying things like that.”
“I’m not a pushy education mom or anything. But honestly, no matter how smart she is, if she won’t even cook with me, as a mother it’s just not fun at all.”
“Then just tell her that.”
“I did.”
“And?”
“Well, she said, ‘If you want to cook with someone so badly, there’s Soto-chan across the street, isn’t there?’”
I gave a wry smile.
So… that’s why I was called over?
“By the way, I heard there was quite a commotion with the boys yesterday.”
“Boys?”
“The ones who saw you without your glasses. They were all shocked, right? Honestly, how rude. As if a pair of glasses were enough to hide Soto-chan’s beauty.”
I didn’t quite know how to respond to that.
“Do you have a boy you like, Soto-chan?”
That’s a rather direct question.
“Well… the unfortunate thing is…”
“You don’t?”
“Yeah. I just don’t really get the whole idea of romance.”
“You must have at least one boy you’re interested in, right?”
A boy I’m interested in…
Hmm.
For a moment, I remembered the boy who had been with Tōko-chan the other day.
But it was only a passing thought—nothing more than a small hook in my mind.
“Nope, none.”
Tōko-chan’s mother laughed.
“Confident, aren’t you.”
“By the way, did you have someone you liked when you were in high school?”
“Of course. At that age, that’s normal.”
“And what happened with him?”
“We’re living together now.”
“Huh? You mean you and your husband have been together since high school?”
“Just kidding. No way. I’m from Imabari, and he’s from Uwajima.”
“Oh… then what happened to your high school crush?”
“Nothing really. I never even told him how I felt.”
She looked off into the distance for a moment.
Even though she was much older, she somehow looked a little cute like that.
“Come to think of it, are you going again this year?”
She really does jump from topic to topic. I could barely keep up.
“The birthday date.”
“Birthday date?”
“You know, you and Miko-chan always go out together every year. For the whole day, somewhere.”
Ah.
She meant me and my brother going out together. Even if she called it a “date,” it didn’t feel like that to me.
“You two really do get along well,” she said.
“I guess so?”
“Well, Soto-chan takes care of everything, so I’m sure Miko-chan wouldn’t do anything to upset you.”
She chuckled.
“True. If he ever treated me badly, I might stop cooking for him.”
“Exactly.”
We both laughed.
Spring afternoon light filled the entire room.
“I’ll make some tea,” I said.
“Thanks.”
