My stepmother's burden is my ex-girlfriend.

Page 13

It's clearly some kind of malfunction. If an abnormality in biological function is called illness, then humans are born susceptible to disease—I'm trying to speak in the tone of an ancient philosopher, but in short, this is a story about illness.

Get ill.

That being said, I had never suffered from any life-threatening illness before. That kind of thing was left to the seemingly vibrant yet somewhat ethereal and fleeting beauty. The illness that struck back then was just a cold. And the one who was affected was not me, but that woman—Irito Yume.

It was around November when we were in our second year of junior high school. On a chilly morning as winter approached, Ayai didn't show up at our usual meeting place.

Back then, I was a kind and gentle man, so I worriedly contacted her by phone, only to find out she had a cold and needed to take the day off. I texted her, "Oh, I see. Take care." Then, for the first time in a long time, I went to school alone.

Then after school—

Because the school is an old-fashioned organization, it still consumes a lot of paper, like lecture notes, even in modern times. Personally, I think why not just email them to avoid them getting lost? But only in this situation did this phenomenon bring me any benefit. The homeroom teacher said:

--Does anyone want to help deliver the lecture notes to Ayai who is on leave?-

Of course, no one volunteered. Usually, in these situations, the errand boy, who is called the class monitor, would be asked to run errands, but the task this time couldn't be considered a simple errand.

In an instant, I came up with an excuse. This excuse would allow me to voluntarily send the lecture notes to Ayai without arousing suspicion.

They've been hiding our relationship all this time, and now they're reaping what they sowed. But at least I'm smart enough to come up with a perfect excuse in an instant.

—Um… my house is in the same direction as hers, so…

Looking back now, I can't sense any intelligence or talent in it at all; it was just an extremely mediocre excuse. But anyway, that's how I was able to legally visit the Ayai family.

The visitation incident then occurred.

I arrived at the address I'd asked my homeroom teacher for. Looking up at the house number, I immediately tensed up. What if a family member answered the door? Should I just hand over the lecture notes and leave? No, no, no, Ayai lives with a mother and daughter; at this hour, only Ayai should be home—

I thought to myself, she must be very lonely.

When I caught a cold, I was also home alone—so I can really understand how Ayai feels right now.

I had originally planned to surprise her by ringing the doorbell, but I guess the patient doesn't need any surprises. I contacted her by phone first.

--Ah! I-Irito-san? You're already here? Right at your doorstep?

Even making a phone call startled her.

I was glad she still had the energy and stamina to give me a good scare. I was going to ask her to open the door...

--Wait, wait a minute...! Just a minute!

-- ...You don't mean you want to change your clothes, do you?

—Because of…!

--Don't worry about your appearance when you have a fever. I don't care either.

I want to see her in her pajamas. To put it simply, that's what I meant.

You should just go die, you teenage boy.

All my persuasion paid off; Ayai came out to greet me wearing a light pink nightgown. She was undeniably cute—well, not really, just average. Just the kind of nightgown a woman would normally wear.

Of course, I couldn't just hand out the lecture notes and leave, so I went into Ayai's house and took meticulous care of her while she was bedridden.

While they claimed to be incredibly attentive, it was really just about small things like peeling apples and feeding us sports drinks. I must strongly assert that there was absolutely no incident of wiping my body or anything like that.

When there's nothing else to do, I just end up sitting on the edge of the bed.

Ayai's mother should be back early today. Just as I was starting to think I should say goodbye, Ayai, who had pulled the blanket up to cover her mouth, looked up at me with her feverish, flushed face.

--...Irito-kun.

--Hmm? Is there anything you want me to do?

--Uh...that...

Ayai tossed and turned in bed for a while, then stretched out her right hand a little bit.

—If…you could hold my hand, I would be…a little happy…

Of course, I wouldn't fall for such a small thing (I just wouldn't!), but I think I can understand how she feels.

When I have a cold, I sometimes feel inexplicably depressed. This is especially true if no one else is home. So, I sometimes feel an inexplicable urge to feel other people's body heat…

-- It's a small matter.

I gently grasped Ayai's right hand.

Her hands were hot and small, almost like a baby's.

--Hehe...

Ayai smiled happily and shyly, then soon began to doze off and started snoring quietly.

I really wanted to just hold her hand like that forever—okay, I won't make excuses. That's what I really thought at the time.

The real problem is that if I continue to stay at Ayai's house, I'll run into her mother sooner or later. She definitely won't be happy to have a man barge in while her daughter, who has a cold, is at home.

After listening to her soft snoring for half an hour, I reluctantly let go and quietly left the Ayai house.

Looking back now, I think I brushed past Aunt Yu-ren on my way home, so it really was a close call.

◆

"Huh? By the way, isn't Irito-san here today?"

Kawanami Kogure came to my seat as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and started talking while looking around the classroom.

I knew someone would ask, so I answered him with a pre-prepared answer:

"That guy caught a cold and is staying home in bed."

"Huh, really?"

"Really...sigh, the environment has changed quite a bit, I guess I'm just exhausted."

Changing my surname and moving house, and then eventually having to live under the same roof as me—it's no wonder I'm exhausted in that kind of environment. Even though I'm perfectly fine.

"What?! Yui isn't coming to school today?!"

An unusually loud voice slammed into the back of my head.

My consciousness almost reflexively shut down, but a petite girl darted into my field of vision before I could. Her ponytail bounced up and down.

This girl was petite, about the same height as Yui, a second-year middle school student, but she was inexplicably very active and attracted a lot of attention—perhaps because of that, or perhaps because she was always sticking to Yui, I actually remembered her name.

Her name is Nan Xiaoyue, and she's part of a small group of girls centered around Irito Yui. Every time that guy comes to school, this girl is always the first to greet him.

Nan leaned over my desk.

"How's her cold? What's her fever?"

"They said...they said it was thirty-eight degrees..."

"Thirty-eight degrees! Isn't that a serious illness?!"

"Minami, calm down. You've scared Irito."

Kawanami grabbed Minami by the neck like he would a cat and pulled her away from me. I was saved. I'm not good at dealing with people who inexplicably like to get close to others.

"What are you doing, Kawanami! Stop scratching me like a cat!"

"Yes, yes, yes."

"Mmm!"

Kawanami loosened his grip, and Minami fell flat on her backside onto the floor. Just like a cat.

But those two are talking so casually. I glanced at Kawabata's expression.

Do you know Nan?

"Huh? No... Well, we know each other, I guess. We went to the same cram school in junior high."

"Yeah, yeah. I just never expected this guy to get into this high school!"

"You're about the same."

I see. Junior high school students aiming for these prestigious schools probably all attend similar cram schools. But my daughter and I are completely self-taught.

But these two don't seem like they'd actually take tutoring seriously at all...

"Let's not talk about that now!"

Nan jumped up straight up as if she had springs in her body.

"Could it be that Yuzuriha is home alone right now?"

"Yes, yes... that's right. My dad and Aunt Yu-ren—my mother is working, and I can't take time off."

Even if I could take leave from school, I would never want to take care of that woman all day.

"What?! How pitiful! I wonder if Yui is lonely..."

...A scene flashed back into my mind.

The image of a girl, who was a world apart from Irito Yume, appeared in my mind, hoping that I could hold her hand.

"Okay, I've made up my mind!"

Suddenly, Nan slammed her hand on my desk.

"I'll go visit her after school! Is that alright, Irito-san?"

"What……"

"Don't make it so obvious that you think it's too much trouble!"

"Oh? That sounds like fun. I'll have some too—"

"Ah, no need for Kawanami."

Why are you doing this!

...Well, anyway, I'll have to take care of that guy until Dad or Aunt Yu-ren comes back... If Nan-kun can do it for me, that would be even better.

And so, after school, I invited Nan to my home.

Of course, Kawabata is not allowed to follow.

"Your house is quite big—I think it used to be Irito's house?"

"Actually, it's not as new as it looks. My dad has lived here since he was a child."

"Oh, okay—then I'll be bothering you!"

As soon as I unlocked the door, Nan walked right into the entryway. This guy really isn't afraid at all!

"Is she on the second floor?"

"It's in the last room, but if you suddenly run there, even the bravest guy might get scared, so could you please behave yourself?"

"What—I meant to scare her..."

"Patients don't need any surprises."

"That's true."

I didn't expect her to be so obedient.

I led Nan up to the second floor and knocked on Jie's door. Knocking before entering someone else's room was one of the rules we made when we decided to live together.

There was no response. Perhaps she was asleep.

"I'm coming in."

I'll let you know first before I open the door.

The cardboard boxes from the move have all been removed—in their place are piles of books, but at least you can still see the floor in my room.

Judging from my praise of this place, you can probably guess that this room doesn't really have a feminine feel. If you had to pick one, the only things that could be considered girly are the retro cartoon character cushions lying on the floor and some bottles of cosmetics on the table.

The woman lay on the bed.

I had hoped she would be better from her cold by the time we started class, but it seems that wasn't the case. She had her long hair tied back on both sides, wearing a light and thin polka-dot nightgown, her chest rising and falling with her steady breathing. Even though she's usually such a sarcastic person, her breathing when she's asleep is actually quite cute.

"...Is Yui sleeping?"

"It seems so."

When we reached the bedside, Jie Nu fluttered her long eyelashes and slightly opened her eyes.

I don't know if we woke her up, or if she was just a light sleeper to begin with.

"……Um……"