Chapter 13: The Past Year

Sachi continued.

"It was about a year ago. Yuki-san nearly got hit by a car. She fell and hurt her leg — nothing broken, but Matsuda-san was there. He helped her. And then he just… stayed. Like a stray dog. Unwanted, but persistently present. Unlike you, onii-chan."

I clenched my teeth. Sachi had a talent for naming the parts of myself I liked least. Running away was practically second nature to me. I’d been deeply reluctant to come home at all — I probably wouldn’t have, if not for that voice message threat.

Sachi looked at me, satisfied I wouldn’t interrupt. "I’ll spare you the details. But I saw it too. His persistence." A reluctant pause. "He was serious, onii-chan. About his apologies, and about his feelings. We could all see it."

"The next thing on his list was to apologise to you personally. He kept asking when you’d be back, but you never told anyone, so nobody knew." She sighed. "He even…"

The pause made me look up.

"He even helped Kenji confess to me."

My jaw dropped. And my spoon. Sachi flinched at the clatter, then regained her composure and fixed me with a look that dared me to say a single word. I wasn’t going to. My shin still remembered the last kick.

"So, Kenji had this whole thing planned after his graduation. Flowers, the beach, the whole thing…" Sachi started to flush.

I coughed. A pointed reminder that we were not here for her love story.

Sachi shot me a look. "Anyway — Kenji forgot the flowers. Even though I’d already told him exactly what my favourites were." She rolled her eyes.

"Then Matsuda-san overheard him panicking before the graduation ceremony. He ran to the florist’s, bought the flowers, and handed them over to Kenji afterwards."

I reached for the chocolate milk and stared at her. What is he, a saint?

"He even got in trouble for missing his own graduation because of it." Sachi huffed. "See? An idiot. But not a bad one. He bought the wrong flowers, and they were all bent from running with them, but still."

"I wouldn’t have rejected Kenji over the flowers anyway. I’d have made him sweat a little, but I’d still have said yes." Sachi smirked.

I half-closed my eyes and tilted my head, gesturing for her to get to the relevant part. I popped the straw into the milk carton and took a sip.

"So. After Kenji and I started dating, Matsuda-san asked Kenji for permission to ask Yuki-san out." Sachi’s eyes drifted to the carton.

I pressed my lips together. She was getting to it.

"Kenji was reluctant. He knew you liked her — and he’s loyal to a fault. But Yuki-san was the one who made the call." Sachi shifted in her seat. "The distance between them closed gradually. They started spending time together. And one day they just… came home and told us they were dating. That’s all I got from Hana-chan, anyway. The rest is history."

A few seconds of silence. I turned it over in my head. It made a horrible kind of sense. Daiki had been there when I wasn’t. He’d apologised and made amends with everyone. And then something else landed.

I’m the only one still living in the past. The same Ryo as two years ago — while Yuki-chan, and everyone else, moved on.

"When did they start dating?" I looked up.

"About two or three months after Kenji and I got together."

Silence.

"That’s everything you wanted to know." A pause. "Can I have some of that, onii-chan?" She smiled, pointing at the carton.

So this is what you were after, you sly little mink.

I slid the carton across the table. Sachi’s expression lit up as she picked it up.

"Thank you, onii-chan!" She sipped with great satisfaction. Then: "So. What happened when you met Matsuda-san just now?"

"Nothing much. He invited me to lunch tomorrow. To explain things."

"Oh." A loud slurp. She wrinkled her nose. "You drank a lot of it."

I ignored that. “Should I go?”

Sachi looked at me. "That’s your call, onii-chan. Stop letting others decide things for you. Except for me."

"You haven’t exactly had a great track record of seeing things through. Even when you decide to do something, you give up halfway." She sighed. "I don’t know what she sees in you."

I glanced at her. “‘Saw’.”

Sachi shrugged. "I’m just saying. There’s a reason you’re in this mess. Yes, Yuki-san’s partly at fault too for not telling you. But most of it is on you."

I put my head in my hands. A lecture. From my little sister. Brilliant.

"So I just need to decide and get on with it. Easier said than done." I muttered.

"Give me your phone."

"Why?"

"Just give it."

I handed it over, watching her carefully.

She unlocked it with her finger without hesitating. "Still the same lock pattern," she muttered. A few taps. She handed it back with a smug expression.

"There. I’ve accepted the lunch on your behalf."

"You can’t just —"

"Onii-chan." Her voice went very calm. "Learn to face things head on. Before you miss it… again."

Again? What does she mean by that?

My phone beeped. I looked at the screen.

Ryo: Lunch tomorrow sounds good. ❤️

I stared at the heart emoji and looked at Sachi.

"Oops. Force of habit." She stuck out her tongue.

Daiki: Great! See you at twelve 👍 The diner by the lighthouse.

Sachi leaned over to read it. "Good. Settled." She gave me a firm pat on the back and stood up.

"Good night, onii-chan. Thanks for the milk." A pause at the door. "We’re all rooting for you… Yuki-san too." Then she left.

I looked at the empty bento boxes and the near-empty milk carton.

She hadn’t cleaned up after herself.

* * *
— Yuki Inoue’s Room —

Yuki was texting Daiki.

Daiki: Hey. I’m having lunch with Hayashi-san tomorrow.

Yuki: You what?! 😳

Yuki: After everything I just told you???

Yuki: How did you even arrange that?

Daiki: I ran into him just now. After I left yours.

Daiki: He looked… bad.

Yuki: …

Yuki: What’s your plan?

Daiki: Apologise. Properly. For what I did two years ago.

Yuki: And after that?

Daiki: We’ll see. 🙂

Daiki: I need to do this, Yuki-chan.

Yuki: I know… I should probably say something to him too.

Daiki: Take your time. One step at a time. 💙