LMLCG – Episode 10 – Fragments of the Past

“Ah! It’s onii-chan!!”

While walking to school, a little kid suddenly came running up to me.

For a second I was confused, but then I realized, it was Mio-chan, the girl who had gotten lost in the shopping district before.

“Good morning, onii-chan~”

“Yeah, good morning, Mio-chan.”

Her friendly smile was adorable.

She was still a little girl who went to daycare.

She came right up to my feet and looked up at me with a big grin, raising both of her hands.

It was obvious she wanted to be picked up, so I gently scooped her into my arms.

Sometimes I run into Mio-chan like this on my way to school.

And now, holding her like this every time had become the norm.

Right at that moment, her mother arrived.

“Good morning, Takanashi-san. I’m sorry as always, Mio’s just…”

“No, it’s totally fine.”

Looking at Mio-chan, I couldn’t help but be reminded of someone from my past.

I first met this girl in the shopping district, on my way back from buying a bulk box of cup noodles from Donki. (TL Note: Donki is Japanese discount store chain.)

A little girl was wandering around, glancing around nervously as she came closer.

I tried to avoid her, of course, but she stepped in the same direction and we ended up bumping into each other.

She only staggered a little and didn’t fall or anything, but then she burst out crying loudly.

“Mamaaa! Where aaare you!!”

Just as I suspected, she was lost.

She was right in front of me, and there was no way I could just walk away. So I crouched and spoke gently.

“Hey there. You can’t find your mom?”

I tried to use the softest voice I could, but she showed no signs of stopping her tears.

I quickly looked into my shopping bag to see if there was anything that might help, and my eyes landed on a cat mascot toy that came as a freebie on a bottled tea cap.

I slipped it onto my finger, held it up to her, and began speaking in a cat character voice.

Back in the day, I used to calm “her” down with stuffed animals a lot, so I’d gotten pretty used to this kind of thing.

“Nyan nyan~ Your mom’s not here?”

“…Yeah.”

Encouraged by her response, I kept the conversation going and managed to find out which shop she’d gotten separated from her mom in. Then I took her by the hand and headed there.

Watching her walk beside me, holding my hand, I couldn’t help but see the shadow of “her” in that small figure.

“Hic… hic… Kazu-chan…”

“Ah, geez, stop crying already.”

The girl I once held by the hand as she cried like this was Sasagawa Yuzuha, my childhood friend.

We lived next door to each other, and when we were small, we always played together.

She always smiled so brightly when we were together, but she was also a bit of a crybaby. Even though we were the same age, I had to constantly comfort her.

Even when we entered elementary school, Yuzuha stayed timid.

She couldn’t make any girl friends, so she was always with me, which meant I didn’t really make friends myself either. So almost all my childhood memories were with her.

Apparently, she’d even been bullied without me knowing.

Not that I ever found her a bother, if anything, I was always worried about her and couldn’t take my eyes off her.

If I wasn’t watching, she’d end up all alone…

Looking back, that might sound arrogant to others, but I couldn’t help thinking that way. I was genuinely concerned about her and tried to stay involved in her life as much as possible.

When we became middle schoolers, Yuzuha made some girl friends.

At that age, boys and girls hanging out together often got teased, and neither of us liked that.

So, naturally, we started keeping our distance.

Yuzuha, now surrounded by friends, probably enjoying the novelty of those new connections, started getting more involved with them, visibly more proactive than before.

…And in turn, we almost stopped interacting altogether.

I was happy for her, truly. But I also felt a small sense of loneliness growing inside me.

By the time we were in our third year of middle school, I had friends too, but we ended up in different classes.

I couldn’t say I was especially close to anyone in my current class.

And Yuzuha…

Caught up in her friendships, she started changing under their influence.

Her hairstyle changed, her hair color changed, her speech changed, her skirt got shorter… You could call it “modern,” but honestly, she turned into the type of girl I didn’t like.

Worried by how drastically she’d changed, I once tried to talk to her.

And she responded with…

“Haa? Why the hell are you saying that to me?”

Her reaction rubbed me the wrong way, and we almost ended up in a fight.

Even so, I still cared about her.

I’d spent so many years worrying about her that I couldn’t bring myself to just walk away.

At least, not until that day came…

“I’m off, onii-chan~!”

Apparently satisfied, Mio-chan got down from my arms and headed off toward her daycare.

“Take care!”

I waved her off with a smile.

She turned around midway, waved her hand big and wide, then grabbed her mom’s hand.

Alright, time to get to school myself.

I started walking down the usual path toward school.

Completely unaware that someone had been watching me the whole time…