| Omi | Because my surroundings changed so suddenly, I needed to grow up fast. |
| My mother died, and dad became an empty shell. |
| He managed to continue working, but he completely lost his feelings and expressions. He couldn't take care of his kids, much less care for the house. |
| My brothers were still young, and didn't understand that our mom had passed away. They were just so anxious. |
| Our family became four men, and a dark mood blanketed the house.
Even as a young child, I understood that we were teetering on the brink of collapse. |
| I need to be reliable—I'm the oldest brother.
That's what I thought, so I told dad, leave the house to me. |
| I taught myself how to clean, cook, use a knife, and make miso soup. |
| Every day on my way home from school, I would go shopping for dinner. Once I got home, I'd clean, do the laundry, and make dinner.
Once that was done, I'd prepare dad's bento for the next day.... |
| I didn't join any clubs or do any after-school activities at my elementary school.
I didn’t even hang out with my friends; I single-mindedly focused on household chores. |
| |
| Those days continued until one day, something snapped within me. |
| What set it off was something small. |
| My brother wouldn’t eat the dinner that I made. He said, “I want to eat Mama's cooking.”
Of course he longed for his mother. |
| Usually, I would've been able to soothe him, but in that moment, I couldn't say a word. |
| The next day, after school, I bought the ingredients for nikujaga—something our mother made all the time. But I stopped in my tracks on the way home. |
| I headed in the opposite direction of home, carrying the groceries with me.
I made it to the riverbed, sat down, and watched the sun set. |
| (What are dad and my brothers doing right now? Maybe they’re getting hungry....) |
| (But my second brother always says he wants delivery pizza. They might be getting pizza together.) |
| When I thought about it like that, everything I'd been doing made me feel like a fool. |
| If you put your clothes out for cleaning, you can get smooth, clean clothes.
Food, too—a combini lunch tastes better than the stuff I make. |
| But I... every day, I worked hard, like an idiot, without doing anything I really wanted to do...
Before I knew it, those thoughts drove me to sleep. |
| |
| I woke up to someone shaking my shoulders. In front of me stood a boy with sharp eyes. |
| "...Hey, are you running away from home too?" |
| He was around my age. He introduced himself as Nachi.
Apparently he attended a different elementary school in the neighborhood. |
| "I'm running away from home too. I do it all the time, though. Cuz my parents are always out late working."
"You're always running away from home?"
"Double digits now! I'm a real pro, so I can teach you all about it" |
| This professional runaway was so funny that I began to tell him why I had run away from home. |
| "Sounds fine. You should skip out on that as much as you want."
"But..."
"You haven’t gotten a break up till now, so they're not gonna complain if you skip as much as you want. You should go back to it whenever you feel like it." |
| Nachi's casual words moved me. |
| "Haven't you heard of a five-day workling?" |
| He got it wrong with such a proud look on his face—it was so funny that I laughed out loud. |
| After laughing for a while, he asked me if I really wanted to skip out. That's when I realized that that wasn't really the case. |
| Just as dad immersed himself in work, I focused on housework so I could forget the sadness of my mother passing away. |
| By working hard for my family, I might have been desperately calling out to my mother in heaven. |
| “We're all right on our own. You don't have to worry about us.” |
| I think I was putting my own heart at ease. |
| "I think I'll hold off on skipping as much as I want for a while."
"Why?" |
| Maybe, one day, my brothers will grow up, and I'll stop having to worry about dad. Maybe then I'll really want to skip. |
| That's probably a sign that my mother in heaven feels at ease. A sign that she's telling me, you can rest now. |
| So, until then.... |
| "Well then, when that time comes, I'll join you."
Nachi said, and grinned. |
| |
| It was midnight by the time I said goodbye to Nachi and headed home. But my dad and brothers were all awake, waiting for me.
When I took off my shoes, my dad apologized: sorry for leaving all the chores to you up till now. |
| He said he'd buy something at the combini, but it felt like a waste not to use the groceries I bought, so I made us a midnight meal. |
| The miso soup I made then tasted absolutely delicious, and my brother said, "it tastes like Mama's cooking."
We drank the rest of it without a word. |
| From that day on, little by little, my father began smiling again, and my brothers began helping me out with chores. |
| The dark feelings that had piled up within the house began to disappear bit by bit. |
| —I forgot about that professional runaway until we met again in high school.
My escape brought my family together—and allowed me to meet my one and only best friend. |
| |
| Omi | I think I’m like a mother because I tried to act like my image of an ideal mother. |
| The MANKAI dorms are like a family—we live together and eat together. That’s why I treat everyone younger than me like my little brothers without even thinking about it. |
| I think that’s what was throwing you off, Azami. I’m sorry. I’ll try not to—. |
| Azami | It’s fine. |
| Omi | Eh? |
| Azami | You should stay as you are. |
| I already said this. I just didn’t know how to react... It’s not like I hated it. |
| Omi | —I see. |
| |
| Azami | .... |
| Omi | You’ll help me wash the dishes? Thanks. |
| Azami | ...The meal. It was good. |
| Omi | I’ll make your favorite dish next time. Let me know if you have any requests. |
| Azami | ...Shishito peppers on a skewer. |
| Omi | Refined taste, huh. Then let’s have deep-fried skewers for dinner tomorrow. |
| |
| Juza | .... |
| Tsuzuru | .... |
| Kumon | Looks like they made up. |
| Juza | You’re right. |
| Tsuzuru | What kind of trick did you use? |
| Kumon | I taught him how to say sorry when you can’t do it with words. Whenever I couldn’t apologize to mother, I’d dodge the issue by washing the dishes. |
| Juza | Well done. |
| Tsuzuru | Looks like Autumn Troupe can work smoothly together now. |
