Chikasugiru Karera no, Juunanasai no Tooi Kankei [LN] V2 Chapter 4.1

Chapter 4 - Something That Lingers In Them

That day, when I woke up in the morning, the air was dim and damp, and it looked like it was going to rain. The morning news said that a strong cyclone was approaching and that it would start raining heavily in the Kanto area later in the evening, so it would be better to go home early.

In the classroom, which is instantly getting buzzy after the day's classes are over, I clear off my desk and get up from my seat. It has been the exam period for final exams for a while now, and there will be no club activities for a while. Nagai, who was seated nearby, started walking with the other boys who commute to school by train. After exchanging a brief goodbye with them as they walked past my desk, I too walked out of the classroom carrying my school backpack that I used when I did not have club activities.

At this time of the day, the rain had not yet fallen, but fine particles of water, like mist, were dancing in the air. Gray clouds covered the sky without gaps, and the entrance gate was dimly lit.

I had planned to take the bus home if it rained, but I decided it was still safe to ride my bike now. But while I was heading home, a light rain began to fall, soaking my uniform. My bangs stuck to my forehead and cold winter water droplets ran down my cheeks and neck.

As I hurried toward home, I spotted a familiar red umbrella at the bus stop nearest my house. Izumi had just gotten off the bus, which had just stopped. She was wearing a gray duffle coat and a checkered scarf, and she was fidgetily packing the IC card case in her hand into her bag.

When her eyes met mine, she opened her mouth in the shape of an "ah" and her expression brightened. As I approached and slowed down, she looked surprised and said, "Kenichi-kun, you're soaking wet."

"Yeah......It's a little cold."

When I nodded, Izumi looked flustered and said, "Of course it is! Don't mind me, go ahead, you'll catch a cold."

Of course, that was my intention. I said, "Well then," and pedaled my bicycle. The house was just around the corner.

I parked my bicycle in the garden and entered the house. I took off my shoes and wet socks, and went up to the front door. My feet were wet, and the wooden floor felt cold. I threw my socks in the basket, took off my wet and heavy blazer, and was wiping my face and hair with a towel when I heard the front door open and Izumi's voice saying, "I'm home."

When I came out of the changing room, she took off her shoes and changed into her fluffy winter slippers.

"Is your uniform all right?" Izumi said, looking at me.

"Yeah. Fortunately, it's the weekend. I'll take the dry cleaning out tomorrow." 

"I see. It must be hard to commute to school by bicycle, isn't it?"

"I'm sure it's more troublesome for you because it takes a lot of time. You have to change buses and trains."

"Well, I'm gradually getting used to it......I'm sure it's a good amount of exercise, and when I get back home, I may feel like I'm not getting enough exercise."

"That's absurd," I said, and Izumi laughed.

November has come to an end, and the second semester is almost over. When the new year begins, she will return to her home in Tokyo. So she would only have a few more days left to go to school from this house. 

"You should take a shower and stay warm so you don't catch a cold."

"Yeah. That's what I'm going to do."

I nodded and went upstairs to get a change of clothes. I heard the sound of Izumi's slippered footsteps coming from right behind me.

I took a shower, then changed into sweatpants and a hoodie, and stayed in my room until the evening.

The sky was covered with thick rain clouds and the city was already quite dark even after three o'clock, so I turned on the light in my room. As I studied for my final exam, I could hear the sound of the wind, like the roar of an animal, mixed with the sound of me running my mechanical pencil and the rain.

Soon, it was six p.m. My concentration to study tended to break down. I went down to the living room and opened the refrigerator. There was some cabbage, carrots, and bean sprouts left. In the food cabinet, there was some leftover sauce from a ready-made vegetable stir-fry. I started to cut the vegetables, thinking that this would be easy enough, when Izumi came downstairs, dressed in her loungewear. She was wearing a long-sleeved sweatshirt with a small ribbon on the front of it.

"The wind is getting stronger, isn't it?" she said.

"Yeah," I replied, putting the chopped vegetables in the frying pan. The sound of oil popping echoed around us.

She helped me put dinner on the plate. She was busy in the kitchen, clacking her slippers, setting out plates, and putting out the pot of tea.

After we ate a simple dinner of instant potato soup and stir-fried vegetables that were left over at home, I made a pot of tea and went into the kotatsu.

It was a cold rainy night. The temperature outside was said to be below 10 degrees Celsius. The rain was heavy, and the news program at dinner reported that it was causing flooding and landslides in various parts of the Kanto region.

I was about to clean up the dishes and go back to my room when Izumi said,

"Kenichi-kun, you can take a bath first. I already filled it when I came downstairs."

"Ah, yeah. Sorry......I'll put in the bath salts from home."

Izumi nodded with a smile, "Yes," she said.

I put in the bath salts my mother had bought at the drugstore and soaked in the bathtub. It was quiet in the bathroom, and the sound of the wind and the rain could be heard loudly. After getting out of the bath, I dried my hair and headed for the living room.

Izumi was still in the kotatsu watching TV. It was unusual for her to sit still and watch TV by herself for so long.

Read only at Musubi Novel

"The bath, I'm done."

When I called out to her, she looked at me and nodded, and then replied. 

"Okay.......but, I thought I'd watch this first."

Hearing those words, my sense of discomfort grew stronger. Izumi always bathes as soon as it is her turn. She had never seemed to have a favorite TV program.

On the TV with a text message about heavy rain was a documentary program about a university's marathon team, which is said to be a formidable team.

"Izumi, did you like athletics?"

When I asked, "Eh?" Izumi said in a puzzled tone.

"Hmm......it's not like that."

There was a short pause. The sound of the rain, pounding hard, echoed through the house. Izumi returned her gaze from me to the TV screen.

"It looked like someone who might be my father was going to appear......."

Now it was my turn to be puzzled.

"Izumi's father? Eh? Why?"

"He's probably the director here."

Izumi said that and pointed at the TV screen.

I looked at the screen, still not understanding what was going on. On the screen was a group of college athletes practicing.

I sat down on the sofa. I heard the sound of Izumi drinking tea and putting her mug on the kotatsu.

Soon, a video of the director being interviewed began to play. The name Yoshioka Tadateru was written on the screen.

The person did not give me the impression that he resembled Izumi at all. One would think that a person with a close bloodline would have some similarity in atmosphere, but I did not feel any such similarity through the screen. He looked like an ordinary man of about 50 years old.

"This person?" I asked.

"Don't know. Maybe he has the same name. Cause I only know his name. We don't look alike at all, so it might not be him."

"......How did you know his name?"

I was not sure if it was okay to ask or not, but I did. Izumi did not seem shaken and replied in the same way as she would in a normal conversation.

"When I was little, I once went into my mother's room when she was away and found some documents. There were a lot of papers with his name written on them, along with my mother's name. I wrote down that name in my notebook. After that, I asked my mother, "Who is this person?", "Rina-chan doesn't need to know who this person is!" She got very angry. That's when I learned that the man with this name is my father."

"So that's what happened......"

When I heard about Izumi's parents the other day, she said they had a fight and broke up, but she wouldn't even tell me his name, so I wonder what happened between her and that person.......

"I always kept the notebook, so I still remember it, and when I started using my cell phone, I would search for it every once in a while. That's how I found out about this program......."

"You really have never met him at all?"

"Yes. When I was little, I had a feeling that I wanted to meet him, but now I don't really care. I've never had any problems without seeing him, and since I grew up assuming he was not there from the beginning, I didn't feel the loneliness of not having a father."

"I see......"

As we were talking about this, my phone, which I had left on the dining room table, trembled and made a faint sound. I got up from the sofa and looked at the screen to see that it was an incoming call from my mother.

"What's wrong?" I put the phone to my ear. She said, 『Oh, Kenichi?』 and then,

『I'm staying at the office today. The road I'm using seems to be closed. Is everything okay over there?』

She said. I looked at the TV screen. The text message said that the heavy rains were causing rivers to rise and landslides to occur, adversely affecting the traffic situation in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

"I'm fine. Nothing to worry about."

『Rina-chan is already home?』

"Yeah. We came back when it was still a light rain. Right now, she's drinking tea under the kotatsu."

『Thank goodness. Then, take care.』

When I hung up the phone, Izumi looked at me as if to say, "Who is it?"

"My mom, she said she won't be home today. I heard that the road is closed."

"---That's terrible. But it's dangerous, so maybe it's better that way."

I put my phone in my pocket and sat down in the chair. The moment I saw the profile of Izumi looking at the TV screen in my eyes, I suddenly became conscious of her figure, which I had not thought about before.

Thinking back, this was the first time we were alone together until morning. But what difference would it make to the days before, just because my mother was not home at night? There's nothing, I told myself.

The sound of the wind rumbling can be heard from outdoors. I hear the sound of something breaking, perhaps a flowerpot from some house that has fallen over.

""Ah.""

My voice overlapped with hers. Suddenly, the sound of the TV went off and the whole house went dark. I got up, thinking that the circuit breaker had tripped, but the electricity was soon restored.

Izumi was standing very close to me. Maybe she was trying to walk somewhere too, just before we bumped into each other. Her breath brushed against my neck. Her moist, lukewarm breath tickled my skin. The electronic sounds of appliances turning on echoed through the house. 

"S-Sorry......"

I apologized, taking a step backward.

"No......"

Izumi shook her head and sat back down in her place.

"I wonder what that was."

"Don't know......I didn't hear any sound, but maybe some lightning hit the power substation." 

The sound of heavy rain and the wind kept echoing.

Just like, I thought.

The dimness of the enclosed equipment room, the sight of Yuriko drenched in rain, the feel of her lips and tongue, and other jumbled memories of all five senses came to mind.

Just like that summer day when Yuriko and I kissed.

☆ ☆ ☆