22: As Important As Me?

“Barefoot Tom! Barefoot Tom! You slipped on a banana—skip your turn!”

“Hey! Don’t break it! This isn’t a silly cartoon!”

“Why do you always take your shoes off in the sandbox?”

“’Cause my shoes’ll get all dirty!”

The two of them, still tiny kids, had started playing in the sand again.
Tom was super focused, using both hands to build a big sandy hill.
Rena looked at it with a proud face.

“Do you know what that’s called?”

“Huh? A castle?”

“Nope! It’s a sand castoe! Did you know?”

“Sand… what’s that?”

“When you say ‘sand castle’ in English, you say sand castoe! My grandma told me! Isn’t that cool?”

“Huh… that sounds kinda awesome. Like… a really strong sandwich!”

“……………”

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

“Tom said I’m cool!! You said something nice to me!!”

“Hey! Don’t hug me like that! You’ll wreck the castle!”

Rena hugged him tight, and Tom wiggled and whined, his face turning red.

“Then I’ll study! I’ll study English! That way you’ll praise me more, and you’ll play with Rena more too, right?”

“O-okay! I like cool stuff. But if you break this, we’re not friends anymore!”

“Ehh!? What’s more important, the castle or me!?”

“Uh… I dunno…”

“How important is it? As important as I am to you?”

“Huh…?”

That one line echoed in his mind—pulling him back into the present like a snap.
He wasn’t a little kid building sandcastles anymore.
He was sixteen now, a high schooler chasing his dream of becoming a novelist.
The weight of a single, undeniable truth dropped deep into him like an anchor, shaking him completely.
Then—dizziness struck, way worse than before.
Tom shut his eyes tight and fell to his knees, hands sinking into the warm sand.

“Hey, Tom… How important is it?”

“…Huh?”

“Is it… like… as important as me?”

“W-Wait… you’re…!?”

“About that time… when I asked before… I really wanted to know.”

When Tom opened his eyes again, the little girl in the dress was gone.
There, crouching in front of him, was the usual Rena, wearing her school uniform,
looking straight into his eyes with a serious expression.