Beep, beep, beep... Beep, beep, beep...
I couldn't hear the gentle sound of Sara-san's voice.
I couldn't hear the rhythmic tapping of a knife against a cutting board, either.
The mechanical alarm of my smartphone rang out, forcefully dragging me into consciousness.
"Good morning."
I offered a morning greeting to the Sara-san who wasn't there. When I picked up my phone, a message was waiting for me on RAIN.
"Good morning, Kazunari-san. Please make sure to eat a proper breakfast. You mustn't skip it just because it's a hassle, okay? I am looking forward to our time to talk again tonight. It is only the second day, but let's do our best. From Your Sara..."
The polite wording, so characteristic of her that it didn't even feel like a typical text, was incredibly dear to me. However, I couldn't help but feel a bit shy seeing the phrase "Your Sara."
How should I reply...?
I tried to think of something to pair with her closing, but would "Your Kazunari" be too strange?
In the end, I couldn't come up with anything better, so I sent a standard, safe reply. I stared at the screen for a while, but she must have been busy; the message remained unread.
Today was the second day of Sara-san's school trip, and the second day of my new part-time job.
I washed my face and styled my hair. The man reflected in the mirror was the same unremarkable guy as always. I changed into a shirt Sara-san had laundered for me and nibbled on a piece of toast I'd popped in the toaster while standing up.
"Honestly, Kazunari-san, you have such bad manners. No, no!"
If Sara-san were here, I was sure she would have scolded me gently like that.
I turned on the TV to let it drown out the silence. News about celebrity affairs and divorces—things that didn't matter in the slightest—began to play. I reached for the remote to find something a little more substantial, when—
Ding-dong...
Huh? At this hour?
It had been over six months since I'd moved into this house, but I'd never had a visitor at this time of day besides Sara-san.
Ding-dong...
The second chime echoed through the room.
Well, I had to see who it was.
"Yes?"
Before opening the door, I called out to whoever was on the other side. A familiar, soft woman's voice answered.
"Good morning, Takanashi-san~"
Wait, what? Why was Mayumi-san here?
Click.
I hurried to unlock and open the door. Standing there was a woman who shared much of Sara-san's elegance. I'd already recognized the voice, but it was indeed Mayumi-san.
"Ma-Mayumi-san?"
"Good morning, Takanashi-san. Is it alright if I come in for a moment?"
"Ah, yes, of course! Please."
"Then, excuse me."
I couldn't exactly leave her standing in the hallway, so I invited her inside. As for the time... since I was alone today, I still had some leeway. Actually, since I wasn't meeting up with Natsumi-senpai, I didn't even need to worry about being a few minutes late.
"I'm sorry for barging in so suddenly," she said.
"No, it's fine. But did something happen?"
"Hehe... I wanted to give you this."
With that, Mayumi-san reached into her bag and pulled out something wrapped in a floral-patterned drawstring bag.
"Here, Takanashi-san. This is your bento for today."
She held it out with a beaming smile, and I reflexively took it from her.
"A bento? But... why?"
"Well, since Sara-chan is away, you won't have any lunch, right? That's where the Mother-in-law makes her grand appearance!"
She struck a triumphant pose. I didn't quite follow the logic, but I found her enthusiasm rather charming. She'd gone to the trouble of making it for me, so the least I could do was accept it gratefully.
"Thank you so much. But... did you come all this way just for this?"
"It was no trouble. That man takes a bento to work as well, so I just made yours at the same time."
"In that case, I'll gladly take it. But what were you planning to do if I wasn't home?"
"Why, I would have gone to the school to deliver it, of course. I'm an OG there, so I have teachers I'm friendly with, and other connections too."
That was a close one. If Mayumi-san had shown up at school with a bento for me, everyone would have demanded to know who she was. I probably would have faced a full-blown interrogation from my classmates.
Relieved that I'd been spared that fate, I tucked the bento carefully into my bag and turned off the TV. Mayumi-san seemed to sense that I was getting ready to head out; she moved to the entrance without me saying a word, put on her shoes, and prepared to leave.
She turned back to look around the room for a moment, then muttered a quiet "Ah" as if she'd suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, right. If you have any laundry, bundle it up and give it to me. I'll take care of it for you."
"Eh? No, I can manage that much on my own—"
"Now, now, leave it to your Mother-in-law. If you won't let me take it... maybe I'll just have to do the laundry here at Takanashi-san's house instead~"
Whoa, please don't! If that happened, I had a feeling Mayumi-san wouldn't stop at just the laundry. I was already constantly being taken care of by Sara-san; letting her mother do my chores was just too much. But since I clearly wasn't going to win this argument, I figured I'd at least leave out my underwear when I handed it over...
"Now, don't you go thinking you can leave out the underwear, okay?"
How... how did she know?
Mayumi-san grinned at me and poked my forehead.
"Hehe, you're just like a certain someone. You're so easy to read. But the fact that you even thought of that—has Sara-chan not washed your underwear yet, Takanashi-san? That girl would never be disgusted by anything of yours. It's perfectly fine to leave everything to her."
"H-Haha..."
Even if she said that, making Sara-san wash my underwear felt... wrong. It was beyond "taking care of me."
"Well, I'm sure Sara-chan will just start doing it by force eventually. Anyway, don't be shy!"
"Y-Yes!"
Faced with Mayumi-san's blinding smile, I had no choice but to obey.
The chime signaling the end of fourth period rang through the halls. As soon as the teacher left, my classmates all began to move at once. Now then, what should I do for lunch today?
"Excuse me~"
The polite greeting and healing type voice entering the room belonged, of course, to Todo-san.
"Takanashi-kun, it's lunch time~"
To anyone else, it might have sounded like an exchange between two small children, but Todo-san's aura made it feel perfectly natural. It wasn't just her, though; Hayato entered the classroom right alongside her. Naturally, the eyes of the class—specifically the girls—followed them.
Setting that aside, I was just glad to see things were going well for the two of them.
"Kazunari, shall we go?"
"Yeah."
I grabbed my drawstring bag and headed for the door, walking between the two of them. They both seemed quite curious about the bag in my hand. It made sense; with Sara-san gone, it was probably strange that I had a bento at all.
We arrived at the usual deserted flowerbed and sat on the bench. The order was the same as yesterday: Hayato, Todo-san, and then me.
"Hey, hey, Takanashi-kun! Where did that bento come from?"
I knew that was coming. Todo-san was the first to speak up. Since I figured they'd be curious, I decided I might as well explain that I was working at the Satsukawa house. I could have been vague, but there was no reason to hide things from my friends.
"Kazunari, you don't usually cook for yourself, right? And with Satsukawa-senpai away..."
"Actually, this bento was made by Mayumi-san."
I laid out the whole story: how I'd ended up working at the Satsukawa house thanks to Masaomi-san's kindness, how I hadn't realized he was Sara-san's father at first, and how Mayumi-san had been making me both dinner and lunch. Since Todo-san didn't know who Mayumi-san was, I explained her connection as well.
"Wow, talk about a coincidence. Satsukawa-senpai mentioned before that her meeting you was destiny... but when things are this connected, you really start to believe it! How wonderful... a destined encounter."
As expected, Todo-san seemed to love this kind of topic. She looked genuinely moved, clearly having a soft spot for the idea of fate.
In truth, I felt the same way. I thought of my meeting Sara-san as destiny every single day. With so many perfect coincidences stacking up, it was hard to argue otherwise.
...Maybe that was a bit too romantic of me.
"But what's the plan?" Hayato asked. "You'll have to talk to her father eventually, right?"
"That's the problem. Mayumi-san told me to just act normally, but I don't want Sara-san to find out if I can help it. I'm going to keep things as they are until her surprise birthday is over. Once that's done, I'll give him a proper greeting from my side."
It was the truth that I hadn't known who Masaomi-san was at first, and I planned to be honest about that. Plus, Mayumi-san had promised to back me up later.
"Oh my gosh, does that mean you're going to say, 'Please give me your daughter!'? It's just like a drama!" Todo-san's eyes sparkled with excitement.
"No, that's more like a pre-marriage greeting..."
I decided to keep the fact that I'd panicked and thought the exact same thing yesterday to myself.
"True, you have the surprise to think about," Hayato noted. "If you're going to be thorough about the explanation, it makes sense to wait until after her birthday. Still, the fact that you're going to formally greet Satsukawa-senpai's father... I really respect you for that, Kazunari. We're the same age, and you're already doing all this."
Hayato seemed completely sincere, nodding with a serious expression. I wasn't entirely sure if it was something worth of respect, but I appreciated the sentiment.
With the conversation winding down, it was finally bento time. Mayumi-san's cooking was delicious. Perhaps it was because the seasoning was so similar to Sara-san's, but eating it gave me a sense of peace.
Of course, that only served to make me miss Sara-san's cooking even more. A luxurious problem, to be sure.
With the three of us working together, the flowerbed maintenance was finished in record time. I split off from them to hit a vending machine, but my phone vibrated in my pocket. It was a RAIN message from Yuji.
He was checking in to see how I was doing and if I was okay. I figured a call would be faster than typing everything out, so I dialed his number. It only rang a few times before he picked up.
"What's up, Kazunari?"
"Hey. Thought a call would be quicker. You got a minute?"
"Yeah, I'm good. So, how's the job going?"
I gave him the same rundown I'd given Hayato and Todo-san, explaining how I'd ended up at the Satsukawa house.
"I see," Yuji said after listening quietly. "When coincidences pile up like that, even I'm tempted to call it destiny."
I guess everyone felt the same way.
"Got it. Just make sure you don't overdo it, okay? Natsumi-san was worried about you, too."
Wait, Natsumi-senpai? I knew people tended to worry about me, but...
"I see. I'll have to apologize to her when I see her. By the way, Yuji... are you in touch with Natsumi-senpai?"
"Wh-What's with the sudden question?"
"Well, saying she 'was worried' sounds like a very recent conversation."
"She just sent me a message to ask how you were doing. That's all."
Hmm. The fact that she was checking with Yuji instead of Hayato, who was right there at school with us, felt significant.
"Oops, sorry, I'm running out of time on this end," Yuji said.
"Ah, my bad. Anyway, that's the situation with me."
"Understood. I'll let Natsumi-san know."
"Thanks. Talk to you later."
I hung up and checked the time. I was cutting it closer than I'd realized. I needed to get back to class.
As I hurried down the hall, I thought back to the call. Yuji had called Natsumi-senpai "Natsumi-san." He definitely used to call her "Yuzuki-san."
Maybe those two were getting closer than I'd realized. If that was the case, I wanted to support them however I could. I'd definitely have to talk to Sara-san about it.
Still, looking back, I was just glad that Yuji, Hayato, and Natsumi-senpai hadn't ended up in some messy love triangle...