Raindrops and Memories

Watching the waves descend on the beachfront, I let out another deep sigh. Even in the rain, the ocean does have a sort of calming effect. I ruffled my hair to brush the extra rain off, wiping my forehead as well. True…if I had gone through with my original goal of a peaceful and quiet life, things wouldn’t have gotten so messy. Now that Yoshino has gotten an interest in deflating the club I was now a part of…the parallels to the past scare me.

I closed my eyes, as memories of the past several months flooded back. The anime convention, karaoke, live concert, Akihabara, and dinners at the izakaya. The people I’ve met: Tachibana, Gotou, Lafon, Wagner, Watson, Sato….

I smirked. Yoshino, if you want to play this game…you sure don’t know who you’re dealing with.

Running out like that probably gave the group a lot of questions and concerns…I should let them know I’m fine, at least.

I got out my phone to at least text them that I was okay, and was greeted by a barrage of buzzes and pings. Fifty notifications? Fifteen missed calls?! One from Tachibana, two from Watson, one from Lafon…the rest from Sato!!

“Iwasaki-kun!” A voice in the distance rang in my ears. I turned, seeing Watson and Lafon walking down towards the beachfront.

“Just letting myself cool off, I suppose.” I sighed. “Sorry…about earlier, and running off like that.”

“Not a big problem. Those guys were weird anyway.” Lafon nodded. “And good thing we have this Friend Finder enabled,” she pointed at the map on her phone.

“Right…” I pursed my lips. ”But...where’s Sato-san?”

“Oh,” Watson looked slightly concerned. “She took off right after you did… I don’t think she used the app, though, looking at where she is on the map.” Right, Sato was quite inept at these sorts of things…reminds me of when she was first figuring out the messaging app.

I pulled my phone to open the same app, and saw she had headed out further towards the pier. The thought of her getting lost makes me worry more than what happened in the past hour.

“I’ll go and find her,” I reassured them, getting back up. “You two can head back to the house and let them know I’m fine.” The two girls nodded, and we split towards our new objectives.

Using the map, I eventually closed the distance between the two of us. Scanning the surroundings, I searched for any sign of someone walking in the darkened evening. While the rain had let up, the mist and fog made it more difficult. She should be within a hundred meters according to this app.

Suddenly, I saw a hint of blonde as a figure passed under a lamplight in the distance.

“Sato-san!” I jogged over, my voice reaching her as she spun around. Still winded from earlier, I slowly closed the gap, not noticing her fastly approaching as well.

Dang, I’m out of breath again. In my tired state, I stopped just in time as she came over, an indescribable expression on her face.

“Hey….you’re….okay…” I managed to get out, catching my breath between words. “Sorry about…earlier, I…needed some time…to cool off.”

Regaining composure, I noticed Sato hasn’t responded yet. “Sato-san, is there–”

“Don’t do that!”

I stopped, watching as she looked down at the ground, making it hard to discern her expression. Don’t do…what?

Before I could ask, she spoke again.

“Don’t leave like that!” she continued, her breathing picking up. “I–I didn’t want you doing anything…that–” her head tilted down, yet I noticed glimmering drops of water falling to the ground.

I felt there was something I was unaware of…honestly, even after all the new things I learned about her, there were a lot I had no idea about. That running into the unknown had hurt her badly.

I closed the distance between us and placed my hands on her shoulder. “Sorry I made you worry, I’m alright, really.” She drew near, her arms wrapping around me with a gentle squeeze, as if to confirm my existence and wasn’t some illusion.

Several moments passed as we stood there; eventually, I guided her over to the bench a few feet away.

“I think I owe you an explanation,” I sighed. “Clear any…misunderstandings that Yoshino was throwing around.” The rain stopped, only the clouds lingering. Sato looked towards me, eyes still red from her tears, but under the lamplight, the greens of her irises danced around. She didn’t say anything, but nodded.

I inhaled, preparing my thoughts. “Where to start…”

***

“Vice Prez, glad you’re here!”

“Nanami-san, no worries; the proposal you have for the festival’s fine, just a few of these dimensions–”

“Vice Prez, you’re a lifesaver, thanks!”

I sighed, dropping the rest of the papers in the file and packing my bag to head home. Another long day of reviewing initial proposals for the culture festival. It wasn’t for several months, though some clubs with more elaborate plans needed to show their drafts before summer break for approval.

But no more thinking about that, I have to cook dinner. Fumbling the keys to the front door, I managed to open it and enter without dropping the shopping bags. Parents were both out of town for work, so the past few days have been hectic with keeping the house tidy and cooking.

“I’m home!”

“Welcome back!” A girl popped out and greeted me cheerfully.

“Shoko, how was school?”

“Great! Suki-chan and I knitted these bracelets in art class!” She beamed, showing her wrist.

“Awesome! Oh, is Kaede back?”

“In her room,” she nodded.

“Alright, I’ll let her know I’m making dinner, could you help set the table?”

“Sure!”

I placed the groceries on the counter, heading down the hall to put my bag in my room. Passing by Kaede’s room, I shouted, “Kaede, dinner will be out in half an hour!”

No response. Probably studying…she may be a social butterfly, though she does study hard.

I returned to the kitchen, whipping up a quick curry dish with some leftover vegetables, with an extra treat: pork katsu.

On sale too, a lucky day!

Once dinner was ready, I called out, and Shoko eagerly sat down at the dinner table. Noticing Kaede was not yet there as I served the katsu curry, I let Shoko know I’d get Kaede.

“Oi, Kaede, dinner’s ready.”

No response. Maybe she had her headphones in?

“Kaede? Everything alright?”

I slowly opened the door, noticing the room was dark inside. Was that sobbing? I swung the door open, flicking the lights on. Kaede was slumped over her bedside, still wearing her school uniform, albeit disheveled.

“Kaede!” I rushed over to her side, and she slowly moved over and leaned onto my shoulder. She turned to face me, eyes red and teary.

“I don’t want to go to school anymore…” Tears rolled down her cheeks, as I stifled to contain mine.

As I grabbed a box of tissues, I noticed the messy array of belongings. Her school bag was set to the side, stained with what appeared to be soda. Her notebooks were soaked in the same dark brown color, lay out on her desk.

“Who’s doing this to you??” I contained my anger as I questioned her with a concerned look. “How long has this...”

“I-I don’t know…” She looked back down. “For…about a month..”

Thinking back, she did buy extra notebooks a few weeks ago…I assumed they were for extra studies. I didn’t sense anything off over the past weeks, as she was her usual cheerful self. Did I miss something while I was busy with council duties?

“Kaede…we’ll figure out who’s hurting you like this and I’ll…” I stopped. “I’ll figure something out. Your big brother’s got this.” I hugged her. “You’ve been strong, it’s ok. It’ll be fine.”

***

The next afternoon, I felt the stress of council activists building on top of my concern for Kaede. Shortly after classes ended for the day, I found myself alone in the student council room again. The others must be heading out to karaoke now.

“Vice Prez, sorry to bother! But you’re sister, Iwasaki Kaede, right?”

I froze in place.

“There’s a bit of a commotion at the entrance, I think President Miyaji’s there too.”

I got out of my seat and ran toward the door as he held it open.

Miyaji? What’s going on??

“C’mon, karaoke? Everyone loves karaoke!” I heard his voice from around the shoe lockers. I turned the corner, moving past a group of students that was slowly forming.

Miyaji stood next to Kaede, looking like. Behind Kaede was her shoe locker, open and filled with dirt and other pieces of trash.

“Kaede! Miyaji, what’s going on here?”

Miyaji turned, unimpressed by my sudden appearance from the background. “Iwasaki-kun…what a coincidence! I was just talking to your sister. She’s had a rough day, so I just thought it’d be great to invite her to karaoke!” He grinned as Kaede looked on with discomfort.

“Miyaji, leave her out of this!”

“It’s more like you’re the one interrupting us, Iwasaki-kun.”