To The Big Apple

◆ Tsukasa

“Can’t believe one year has passed, eh?”

Tae says that as we walk into the gates for the last day of school of our first year. Around us, the sakura trees are flowering for the start of spring.

“You’re right,” Chiho comments, smiling as she distractedly rocks her bag back and forth. “I can’t believe it’s been so long since we came here for the opening ceremony.”

“And now we’re about to become senpais ourselves,” I grin. “Just try to imagine, Chiho-chan… We’ll be Tsukasa-senpai, Tae-senpai and Chiho-senpai in a few weeks!”

“Wonder if WE get some cute kouhai for Chiho-chan,” Tae grins. “I mean, we’ve already got our guys, so…”

“YOU,” I correct her. “You were the one who got the dramatic confession, Tae. Me and Chiho-chan are still single.”

“Yeah, Kou-kun really told me later he’d overdone himself that day,” she replies, her grin leaning a bit towards exasperation. “He was high on life and decided to do something, and the first thing that came to mind was… confessing to me.” She laughs. “Just wish I hadn’t completely crashed down so my makeup was still in order when I said yes.”

“You ruined it anyway when you two started making out in the back of the taxi,” Chiho points out. “With us inside. Like, hello, timing.”

“Poor driver,” I add. Tae blushes to her fingertips and shrieks at us.

“You bullies! You don’t know, but love’s all about timing. THAT was the right timing. To heck with the driver,” she shouts. We laugh until our bellies hurt as we enter the building for the graduation ceremony for the third-years.

The ceremony ends and we all clap hands as the third-years leave the stage with their certificates of graduation. Some of them, such as Setsuki-senpai, Iino-senpai and Hakanagi-senpai, are missing. It was some time ago that Iino-senpai was formally declared dead after his body was found, along with Setsuki-senpai’s, poisoned and then burned to death in a dumpster fire. Hakanagi-senpai was found much earlier, right after the election, by the late Itō-senpai.

As we stand up to leave, a familiar voice calls behind us:

“Hey, Tae, Nishimura-chi, Aishi-chan!”

It’s Enomoto-senpai, his usual dumb grin plastered all over his face. Following behind him, with an embarrassed frown, is Senpai.

“Enomoto, this is ridiculous,” he says. The other ignores him, promptly going to his girlfriend to plant a peck on her cheek before turning to look at us.

“So,” he says, “what did you all think of the ceremony?”

“Good,” Chiho says, staring at her shoes. “Although… it’s terrible that so many of our senpais never got to graduate.”

“Yeah.” Enomoto-senpai sighs. “Poor of them. I didn’t know much Hakanagi-senpai because he was so frigid, but Setsuki-senpai and Iino-senpai were nice folks. I cried a lot when their bodies were found.”

“It was Iino-senpai that gave you your headphones, right, Kou-kun?” Tae asks her boyfriend. He nods.

“I was just a first-year who was failing his grades back then. And then Iino-senpai came over, and gave me these headphones. Such a nice guy. If he hadn’t… done what he did, he would’ve been here today.” He smiles sadly as he stares at the podium. “When I graduate next year, I’ll remember this.”

Tae inhales sharply. “So, what do you all think… of going somewhere for spring break?” She asks. “Just the five of us, like the trip to Izu.”

“Hell yeah!” Enomoto-senpai exclaims, suddenly changing his mood from grim to excited. “But where?”

An idea springs to mind. “What do you think of NY? I can pool the money for the plane tickets, and my parents can give permission.”

Enomoto-senpai’s eyes widen. “New York? Like, the one with Broadway and all those stuff? Great idea!” He grins. “There’s just one issue. My parents will go mad if I don’t take Yuuma with us, ‘cause I suck at English and they don’t trust me without him.”

“They don’t trust the older brother without the younger one,” Chiho says, visibly shocked. “Usually it’s the other way around.”

“Owww, that hurts, Nishimura-chi!” Enomoto-senpai exclaims. “Tae, she’s bullying me!” He pouts, turning to look at Tae.

“Well, you asked for it, Kou-kun,” she replies, nonchalantly kissing her boyfriend on the lips and making him red all over before turning to look at us. “So,” she says, “when are we going off?”

“As soon as possible,” I reply, grinning. “To the Big Apple we go!”

***

“Tsukasa, what are these suitcases for?” Dad asks when he enters my room and sees me packing for the trip.

“I’m going to NY with my friends for two weeks,” I tell him as I carefully line up another blouse inside the red suitcase. “I told you and Mom about it, remember?”

“And speak of the devil…” Dad sighs as Mom pokes her head into the room. “What?” She asks. Then she sees the suitcases. “Packing for the big trip, right?” She says.

“Yup,” I reply, grinning. “Two weeks in NY, going to Broadway, Times Square and maybe the Empire State Building. It’s going to be SO good!”

“Is your boyfriend going?” Mom teases. I whip my head to look at her.

“Mom, he’s not my boyfriend!” I exclaim. “Yet,” I add, just to throw her off. “But I think some American air will do his eyes a little good.”

Mom grins. “You’re just like my mother when she was your age,” she says. “She was all over a boy in high school, and they ended up getting married. We’re talking about your grandfather, you know.”

“Is it true that Grandpa was Grandma’s first love?” I ask Mom. She smiles.

“It’s true. Your grandmother told me that they met after they crashed onto each other in her first day of the second year of high school. What she told me of that day… was that it was the happiest of her life.” Mom smiles. “And you, Tsukasa? Years went by and you never looked twice at any boy. You blew them off left, right and center. And suddenly you’re all over this young man… what was his name again?”

“Haibara,” I reply. “Yukiteru Haibara. He’s my senpai.”

Mom’s expression doesn’t change but suddenly her smile stops reaching her eyes. “Okay,” she says. “One moment, I gotta check the kitchen.” She then disappears into the hallway. A few minutes later, I smell something delicious wafting from the ground floor.

“Mom, what’s for lunch?” I ask once I take a break from packing to go downstairs for lunch with Dad.

“Your favorite… katsukare!” Mom replies, grinning from ear to ear. “After all, your big day is tomorrow, right?”

“Yes!” I reply, sitting down between Mom and Dad in front of my plate. “Thanks for the food!” I hurriedly exclaim before I dig in.

To absolutely no one’s surprise, it’s delicious. Mom has a golden touch for cooking she claims to have inherited from her mom, but I’ve ALSO heard her say Grandma was a terrible cook when she was my age. Yup, totally not contradictory.

“Hope you enjoy it,” Mom says, still smiling, but it seems a bit forced for some reason. “I don’t think I told you, but it’s a family recipe, you know. This is the recipe my mother made that won over your grandfather so many years ago.”

“Really?” Suddenly an idea lights up. If I cook this for Senpai, maybe he will like me better then! Just like Grandma. If she got her first love at her youth in 2026, then I, who’s already much younger and wielding much more advanced technology, will definitely make it as well. “That’s very nice, right?”

“Yes,” Mom says, smiling. “Now eat because there’s someone at the door.” She stands up and walks to the door, where there has been a knock. She opens—and immediately slams it shut, locking it with the chain and running back in. All blood seems to have drained from her face, leaving it almost greenish, and her expression is that of pure, primal terror.

“Ayahi?!” Dad stands up and runs to her. He hands her a cup of tonic water and she drinks thirstily, her face recovering color bit by bit. Finally she speaks again:

“Thank you, Tokitsugu. I…” She hesitates for a moment, still catching her breath. “Nothing,” she says, finally. “It was nothing.”

I’m not convinced. “Mom, what did you see at the door?” I ask.

“Just… a branch. It nearly hit me, so… I got really scared.” She sighs, then smiles at me a bit forcedly. “Tsukasa, finish your curry. It’s getting late.”

“Really?” I stare at my plate. “Okay,” I finally say. “But please eat too, Mom. You made it, you deserve to get it.”

“I’ll do it,” she says, after a long and agonizing instant, but she doesn’t look at me.

***

I watch as Mom and Dad drive off from the airport parking lot just in time to catch Chiho’s grandparents’ car appearing in the distance. I wave until my arm hurts, but they notice me, and soon slow to a stop in front of me. Chiho and Tae the Ultimate Hitchhiker head in my direction with their suitcases in their hands.

“Sorry for the wait, Kacchan!” Chiho exclaims, smiling uncharacteristically brightly. “Grandpa had forgotten his glasses in the bathroom and Grandma forgot she needed to pick up Tae in the way!”

Tae grins. “Forgetful grandparents, volume 400.” Then she turns to look at me. “So, when are the boys gonna arrive? I spammed Kou-kun for 20 minutes straight and he didn’t answer…”

A crashing sound makes me jump. Whirling around, I see them. Enomoto-senpai, struggling to help his poor suitcase from the sidewalk, and Senpai, standing next to him looking absolutely disgusted for some reason.

“Hey, Kou-kun!” Tae calls. “Need help with that bag?”

Enomoto-senpai blushes. “Aw, Tae, you really don’t need to…” He lets her anyway. She hoists it up without much issue and hands it to him with a sassy grin.

“You can’t lift up a suitcase and you call yourself the strong brave boyfriend?” She teases him. “C’mon, Kou-kun.”

“Well, sometimes a guy just wants to be spoiled by the angel holding his hand,” Enomoto-senpai retorts, looking down while beet-red. Tae blushes, too, and says nothing.

Suddenly I hear screeching tires behind me. I turn and notice that a motorbike, clearly out of control, is advancing in my direction.

“Aishi-san, watch out!”

A strong arm wraps around my waist and I’m thrown on the ground, and the sound of the tires finally stops after a second. I look up as I hear the sound of a catching, pained breath.

Senpai’s brown eyes stare back at me.

“Senpai…” He’s so close. So close I can almost feel his soft, shuddering breaths on my face. For a moment, I revel in the image, in his swirling brown eyes, filled with so much affection I could drown in it, so sweet all salt disappears. All the shock and the pain… is gone.

My mind snaps into attention when Enomoto-senpai shouts:

“Yukki, are you okay?!”

I look over Senpai’s physical state. His trousers are torn, and blood seeps from his raw ankles and knees. He got hurt… to protect me. My Senpai saved me from certain death. Only me. If he was hit he would’ve been killed, but he jumped for me anyways. Oh, Senpai. My knight, my protector. I promise I will pay back accordingly.

Senpai looks up, at the disappearing motorbike, and says nothing for a moment. Then, he opens his mouth and swears loudly and uncharacteristically.

“That guy…” He then adds a few adjectives after it that I cannot transcribe. “He could have killed her, the dirty — !”

“Hey, Yukki…” Enomoto-senpai starts, but Senpai glares at him so hard he almost staggers. Then, after another quivering breath, Senpai speaks again.

“Aishi-san… you weren’t hurt, were you?”

“I’m fine. But Senpai, you’re…” He lets me go slowly and I inspect the wounds on his knees and ankles. “You could’ve died there, Senpai,” I gasp, the shock finally subsiding and letting me grasp the reality of our situation. “So why did you…?”

“I won’t let any of my kouhais die under my watch,” Senpai says. “Especially not you, Aishi-san. You’re my vice-president, and… I care about you.” He blushes slightly and looks down. “Now, we have to get to our plane. New York awaits.”

He starts to stand up but I stop him. “Not yet,” I say. “Your wounds need bandages first.”

Carefully I pull out some gauze and sterilizing fluid from my bag and kneel next to Senpai. Gingerly I sterilize, then bandage his ankles and knees, the tips of my fingers brushing his skin every now and then while I do my best not to blush, because I’m touching Senpai. And it’s heaven, something I’m grateful I’m his soulmate to have.

I’m almost disappointed when I finish. “Done,” I say, smiling. “Now we go.”

Chiho coughs. “Ahem… did someone do the check-in online beforehand?”

“I did,” Senpai informs as we both stand up, and I discreetly brush dust from my skirt. “And Enomoto paid the bills, because he insisted.”

“Of course!” Enomoto-senpai puffs out his chest proudly. “I believe in sharing work, and besides, it wouldn’t be fair if Yukki did all the heavy lifting while I lazed!”

“Which is what you do every other day.”

“Ow, Yukki, that hurts!”

Tae chuckles. “You two are gold. So, Haibara-senpai, has our gate number been confirmed?”

“No,” Senpai says bluntly. “They only give out the number 30 minutes before the boarding time. We arrived early, so I would guess we still have four or five hours until then.”

“That long?” Tae pouts. “Oh well, at least there’s stuff besides the planes in the airport.” She turns to look at me. “Rainbow-chan, want to go to the bookstore? I heard the newest volume of Hollyhock Summer got launched, and it’s causing a fuss!”

“Hollyhock Summer?!” It’s one of my favorite shoujo, and now there’s a new volume, right on the same day we’re set to go to New York! Fate must have a hand in this. “Sure! I want to see how this is going to end, since they put this huge cliffhanger in the previous volume!”

“Um, I want to see if there’s another of the remastered Tomie,” Chiho hesitantly speaks. “The site said this was the last volume, and I don’t want to miss it.”

“I’m going with them then!” Enomoto-senpai exclaims. He then turns around to look at Senpai. “Yukki, are you going too?”

“I decline,” he replies. “I’m not feeling very well. I think I’m going to the infirmary.”

“Well, with that stunt you pulled we can’t blame you for not feeling well…” Enomoto-senpai sighs. “Well, meet us at the bookstore in Terminal 1 when you’re feeling better.”

“Okay,” Senpai says. He walks ahead, slowly dragging his suitcase, and vanishes into the automatic doors in front of us.

“He doesn’t look so good,” Enomoto-senpai says. “And I don’t mean the bruises, either. I mean… the way he’s acting. It feels like something’s about to happen.”

“Really?” I gulp. The friends always have good intuition. Maybe…?

I turn around and quickly pull out my phone, tapping the Search app. Thankfully, the FlyTag registers the position in the place within the airport grounds as the infirmary.

How did he get there so fast, I wonder.

Hopefully he won’t notice the FlyTag I put between his bandages. Unless the nurse inspects them, everything’s fine.

Quickly I send Senpai a message:

Senpai, have you arrived at the infirmary?

The phone buzzes immediately:

Yes. The nurse complimented the bandaging and told me that it’s just anxiety affecting my well-being. She just left to get some aspirin.

Good! I hope you’re well, Senpai.

Thank you for your concern, Aishi-san. It’s always a relief to hear your kind words.

I blush as I look at the screen. Really, Senpai just has a way of triggering all of the blushing possible. But well, you know, Senpai is Senpai. Soulmates should trigger reactions in each other.

But he’s too adorable for his own good.

***

“No.”

That’s the only thing I say as I close shut the volume of Hollyhock Summer I just bought. And it’s a valid reaction.

Because… Yoshichō-sensei, WHY? You made Asahi finally confess to Shiomi after something like 15 volumes of pining and web-noveling, and she just… says no? If your intention was to break someone’s heart, then you accomplished it. You broke me, Asahi, and at least half of the otaku population of Japan.

Right now, I’m sure someone is ranting online about why Yoshichō-sensei should get a restraining order for this plot twist. If there is, I’ll join them. Because me and Tae are Asahi stans, and she doesn’t like that her ‘sweet boy’ gets slam-dunked into the trash can like this. Neither me, although for different reasons.

“Rainbow-chan…” Tae is dead-serious. “You read what I read, right?”

“Yes, I have,” I reply, not smiling. “May this volume burn in hell for this.”

“Agreed.” She huffs and pulls out her necessaire to apply another touch of lipstick. “Girl, this sucks. When Kou-kun is back with Chihocchi, I’ll shout about it all day long, ‘cause, you know… I love Yoshichō-sensei’s works, but this time she really washed out on plot twists.”

“And speak of the devil…” Enomoto-senpai comes running, smiling, accompanied by Chiho and a boy who looks just like him.

“Sorry we’re late!” He exclaims. “Had to pick up Yuuma ‘cause Mom and Dad were late in getting here.”

“Then who brought you here?”

“Yukki’s mom. She got a break from work to bring me and Yukki to the airport… in exchange for some crepes.”

Oh, information about his family? I grab the chance. “By the way, Enomoto-senpai, how is Haibara-senpai’s family like?” I ask as the three plop into chairs next to us.

“Well, how do I start…” Enomoto-senpai sighs. “Yukki’s dad is very chill. He has a patience off the charts, but I can count on one hand the times Yukki told me he talked to his own family members. And Yukki’s mom… her true love is Python. She codes video games whenever she has the chance, workaholic or whatever you call it, and only interacts with her husband and son once a day, during dinner. Oh, and she’s also a crepe addict. She eats those like a fiend.” He chuckles slightly, but I can feel the loneliness in his words.

Senpai… he gets neglected by his family? And I’ve only seen him talking to Enomoto-senpai, besides me. So sad.

But it’s better, in another angle. I’ll have less possible candidates to stealing him from me. His parents won’t make much of a fuss, and Enomoto-senpai probably will follow suit. Yes, that’s an advantage.

I check the Search app again. Senpai’s still in the infirmary. Or the FlyTag, at least.

Hopefully he’ll be back soon.

The boy—Yuuma I heard Enomoto-senpai call him—turns from his seat to look at me. “You’re Aishi-san, right?” He asks.

“Yes,” I say. “And you are?”

“Yuuma Enomoto. This guy’s brother,” Yuuma says, yanking slightly at Enomoto-senpai’s ear, making him wince. “Both nii-san and Yukki-san talked about you a lot. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, Yuuma-kun,” I reply, smiling. “In which grade are you?”

“Third grade. I was put up two grades.”

“Wow, that’s very nice!” I exclaim, smiling. I’m dealing with a six-year-old, but not an average one, clearly. “By the way, your brother mentioned you’d come along.”

“Yes, because our parents don’t trust him alone without me.”

“Ow, that hurts, Yuuma!”

“But it’s the truth. If it is saccharinized, then it’s not true.”

“Regardless!”

Finally Senpai appears. He still looks a bit ill, but better than before. “Hello, everyone,” he says. Then he sees Yuuma. “Enomoto, why didn’t I see your brother before, come to think of it?”

“Mom and Dad were late to pick him up from summer school. They ran out of gasoline.”

“Why do they still insist on using gasoline? Electric cars exist for a reason.”

“Yeah, but Dad doesn’t believe in climate change. If anything, he says global warming’s for the best. Says that everywhere will end up like Cancun.”

“If he wants a beach, then he should move to Okinawa,” Enomoto-senpai complains.

“Which will be flooded if global warming persists,” Yuuma points out. “He is supposed to be a doctor, and yet he thinks like a surfer. Actually, even surfers are more conscious than him.”

“Says the guy who just yesterday made a point in summer school about the pros and cons of gasoline cars.”

“It was an activity.”

“Details.”

Finally Tae breaks the conversation with a groan. “Kou-kun, did you buy something at the store?”

“Of course,” he replies, pulling a small fabric bag from inside his jacket. “I bought some bentos, a bag of Pocky, some tubes of breath mints…” He goes on numbering the items. Senpai sits next to me and looks at the glass window, towards the landing site where the planes are being loaded.

I study his face for a moment, the lines of his cheekbones in a concentrated frown as he gazes at the planes. For a moment, all else vanishes, as I relish internally at the sight of my soulmate.

He glances at me and smiles. “Interesting, isn’t it?” He asks.

“W-what?” I choke out. Oh crap, he noticed!

“The planes. They’re the biggest demonstration of how humanity overcame the odds of survival,” he explains. “For the longest time, humans dominated the land and the sea, but not the sky. Until one day, a group of people decided to study the birds. They studied how their wings were shaped, how they took flight. And then the people imitated them. Even though their first attempts at flight ended in chaos” — and he smiles in fond exasperation — “with time, they did it. It was less than two hundred years ago, but they did it. Humanity took to the skies, and now, they go about with planes like it was nothing.” He frowns. “I get the feeling, though, that nowadays people are forgetting how hard it was to get to how they are today. It annoys me.”

“I agree, Senpai,” I tell him. “I remember Grandma telling me how difficult it was to be a knife collector in her time, and how people were always looking at her weird every time she bought another. Nowadays, the internet buying system is 100% private, and the deliveries are made at night, when no one is looking. It’s comforting, that nobody can peep into your mail anymore, but it’s good to know that it wasn’t always that way.”

Senpai nods. “When I was a little boy, I used to collect bugs. Every day, I went out into the garden, net in one hand and glass pot in the other, in the old-fashioned way, trying to catch a bug. Sometimes I was lucky, and I caught a butterfly or a cricket. Sometimes I got nothing. But every time, I delighted with my discoveries. Every day was something new.” He blushes slightly and glances down. “I’m sorry, I guess I talked too much,” he murmurs. “This is so embarrassing.”

“No, it’s fine, Senpai,” I quickly reply, blushing myself at the mental image of a tiny Senpai waddling in a big green garden with a net and a glass pot. So adorable my brain nearly fries. “I’ll always be listening to you, even when it’s embarrassing. I’ll never laugh.”

He looks up at me, smiling gratefully, traces of the blush still on his face. “Thank you, Aishi-san,” he says.