"Time to wake up, Akira," Shouko said softly, sitting beside his bed and staring at his sleeping face.
When he didn't respond, she started gently rubbing his cheeks. His skin was smooth and fair—surprisingly nice to the touch.
Uncle Daiki and Aunt Shizuka were both very attractive people, and of course, Akira had inherited their good looks. He wasn't loud or messy like the other boys in their class. Instead, he was quiet, gentle, and always neat—except when he was teaching those bullies a lesson for her sake. But even then, she still liked him very much.
"If you keep rubbing, your fingers will rub my skin right off."
A sleepy voice, slightly annoyed, suddenly broke her thoughts. Shouko jolted in surprise and quickly withdrew her hands.
"S-Sorry, Akira… I zoned out," she said, embarrassed.
"What were you thinking about? You were staring for ages." Akira rubbed his slightly red cheek while raising an eyebrow.
"I… I was thinking… about the kite!" she blurted, then quickly added, "You said you'd make one for me tomorrow!"
Afraid he wouldn't believe her, she added with a forced smile, "Really, I was thinking about that. Nothing else."
Akira narrowed his eyes, but decided not to push. "There's still a whole day left. Don't rush."
Just then, Miyamura Shizuka's voice rang from downstairs. "You two! Are you planning to skip breakfast!?"
"I'll go first!" Shouko jumped up and ran for the stairs, ignoring Akira's voice behind her: "Don't run too fast!"
When Akira came down after changing, he was surprised to see Daiki Miyamura still at the table, reading the newspaper.
"Dad? You haven't gone to work yet?"
Today was the parent-teacher conference. Students arrived at school later than usual, so Akira had slept in a little. Still, his father should've been at the office by now.
Without looking up, Daiki chuckled. "It's your first conference, right? I want to come too."
About five minutes later, they arrived at Suimon Elementary School.
After parking the car, Daiki said from the driver's seat, "We're here. Let's go."
The moment she got out, Shizuka took Akira and Shouko's hands and led them toward the gate without waiting for Daiki.
As they walked through the gate, a woman with dyed blonde hair paused and asked with curiosity, "Are they twins?"
Akira turned to look. He recognized her—it was the mother of the hedgehog-haired boy who kept getting in trouble. He remembered seeing her once when she was called to the office after he'd helped Shouko deal with her bullies.
Shouko also glanced at the woman shyly.
Shizuka laughed softly. "Heh, no. These are my children."
The woman observed them and guessed, "Brother and sister?"
And then, as casually as ever, Shizuka dropped a bombshell.
"They're my son and daughter-in-law."
Shouko only caught the word "son," so she didn't react at all. But the woman blinked in confusion, unsure whether she'd heard it right.
Akira, long used to this kind of talk, kept his expression calm and quickly changed the subject.
"Auntie, where's Shouya?"
"Huh?" The woman was surprised that he knew her son, but smiled and replied, "He came home soaked yesterday. Not sure why. Now he has a bit of a fever."
Then she quickly added, "Don't worry. He's taken medicine and just needs some rest."
Why would I worry about him? Akira thought, keeping his polite smile.
"What's your name, kiddo? How do you know I'm Shouya's mom?"
"I'm Miyamura Akira," he said. "I saw you at the teacher's office last time."
"Miyamura… Ohhh! You're that Akira?" the woman exclaimed. "My Shouya and his teacher have talked about you."
Just then, Daiki caught up with them. "Why are we still standing here? Let's get going."
"I'll head up first," the woman said politely and walked toward the stairs.
Shizuka chuckled and turned to Daiki. "You came just in time to ruin my fun. I was about to hear some praise about our boy."
Daiki raised an eyebrow. "What praise?"
"He gets first place every year," Shouko said proudly, as if it were her own achievement.
Daiki laughed and patted Akira on the head. "Nice work, son. Keep it up."
"Come on," Shizuka said. "You two can walk up on your own now."
Outside Class 3-A, a timid girl with glasses and freckles sat at a table with a sign-in sheet.
"Um… parents, please sign here."
Shizuka stepped forward, smiled politely, and signed her name next to Nishimiya Shouko. Then she handed the pen to Daiki and pointed at the space beside Miyamura Akira.
"You couldn't just sign for me?" Daiki muttered, but obediently took the pen and wrote his name.
-------------
EXTRA CHAPTERS!!
POWER STONE!!!
Support me at patréon com/Lukas25