“Ah, I have homework from school, so~ could you help me?”
Dia rummaged through the randoseru on the floor and took out a notebook and pen.
“This old man’s brain might be too stiff to help.”
“Old man?”
Dia asked back.
“If that feels too distant, you can call me Uncle.”
“Th-then… c-can I call you… O… O…?”
“Ooh?”
Dia’s face turned bright red. As if trying to hide her feelings, she pressed both hands over her ears and looked away.
“Th-that is… like big brother… or… something like that….”
“Call me whatever’s comfortable. So what kind of homework is it that you need help with?”
“Ah…! Y-yes! It’s about researching a profession…! I wanted to learn about Trainers!”
I wasn’t sure whether a rookie Trainer was the right person to answer, but for elementary school level, it was an easy topic to talk about. I emptied my beer glass lightly and sat facing Dia.
“So what do you want to know?”
“I wanted to do it in a little more detail… is it okay if I ask you a bunch of things?”
“Yeah, yeah. Wanting to know your subject in detail is a great attitude for a Trainer.”
“I-I’d like to start with… your childhood….”
Was that something she had to ask while blushing like that? I started with how I’d come to dream of becoming a Trainer, then explained lightly how I studied, the Trainer training course, and some examples of famous Trainers.
“Now, now, Trainer-sensei. Please have this while you continue. It’s taking a little time to prep the ingredients.”
Thinking dinner was about ready, I glanced toward the kitchen, where the old man running the place held out a plate of salad. Walnuts, raisins, apples, and more. It was simple, but it had all the things I loved, so I accepted it happily.
“So… what was your childhood like? Family and all that….”
“Hm? I’ve got an older sister and a younger sister.”
“Your younger sister….”
“She’s older than Dia-chan, and she’s a stubborn brat who never listens and always bullies her big brother.”
“Do you have any representative anecdotes?”
“Anecdotes, huh…? She’s always causing trouble, so I’m not sure there’s one in particular….”
Dia fiddled with the brooch pinned in her side hair.
“Oh, come to think of it… there was a time when the kid who always listened to her parents suddenly started coming home late at night for several days. Even when I asked what was wrong, she kept saying it was nothing, and the mood was serious enough that she even called me and my older sister because she was worried about the youngest….”
I wasn’t much of a storyteller, so I didn’t know if it was interesting, but Dia listened intently, nodding along. On the notebook, under the things I’d told her about Trainers, the word “brooch” had been written in small letters.
“Turns out she’d lost the brooch, and she’d been going out every night to look for it. That brooch was one I’d bought her with tutoring money when she entered high school. If she’d just told me she lost it, I would’ve bought her another one, or even a better one, but the idiot kept wandering the streets for days, determined to find it.”
Just remembering it made me dizzy. I’d wondered if she’d gotten mixed up with bad friends, or if there was some problem she couldn’t bring herself to say. Even though it was only a few days, I think that was the most my mind had ever been in knots.
“Your younger sister sounds kind.”
Kind, my ass. She was just stupid. If a friend had been sitting next to me, I probably would’ve answered that way.
“It’s good to treasure gifts, but your own safety comes first.”
“You really do love your younger sister a lo~t, huh.”
“She’s family.”
We fought like crazy because of that idiot, too. She was the exact opposite of my older sister, so she was the type who couldn’t even raise her voice much.
“What kind of person is your older sister? No, wait. Hmm… thinking about my friends, your older sister seems like she must be really sturdy!”
“Oh~! How’d you know? My sister is….”
Dia broke into a grin. Before I knew it, I was giving Dia a brief rundown of my older sister too. She kept nodding several times, repeating, “I see,” “That’s right,” and “Ah, of course.”
“Ah, I said I’d help with your homework, but I’ve been talking about nothing but random stuff. Do you have any more questions about Trainers?”
“No, I think this is enough.”
She’d actually been taking notes on all the useless things I’d said. I felt bad, like I was just wasting her time. Dia closed her notebook. Just then, the old man brought my meal over.
“Your food is ready.”
“Ah, thank you.”
The old man smiled and gave a light bow. The same menu was placed in front of Dia.
“You really like grilled saury that much, big brother?”
“The outside is crispy and the inside is moist. It’s a real masterpiece.”
“It is, isn’t it~! You always said that.”
Whether the restaurant owner was just that good or the ingredients were excellent, I quickly emptied a bowl of rice. The contract paperwork with Oguri was ready, the meal was delicious, and it felt like only good things were ahead.
“Dia-chan, don’t you like saury?”
“No, I do like it, but… I’m not really used to taking fish apart….”
At the sight of Dia’s technique, which looked less like filleting fish and more like tearing it apart, I picked the meat off the fish myself and neatly set it aside on the edge of her plate.
“Ah, thank you! I’m sorry….”
“My younger sister couldn’t even use chopsticks until she was in middle school. I’m used to it, so it’s fine. Come on, eat up.”
While sipping my beer, I helped Dia with her meal. She really did remind me a lot of my younger sister when she was little. More than that, she had this strange feeling of making me want to take care of her, of being impossible to look away from….
“Ah, if you keep taking care of me so much, I’ll feel bad… I’ll pick the fish apart for you too!”
“Hm? I’m eating my ri—”
The old man quietly slid a bowl piled high with rice in front of me.
“Now, now, here you go~! Aaah~!”
“I can eat on my own, I can eat on my own….”
“Aaaah~! Come on, hurry up. Big brother! Hurry! Aaaah~!”
She was stubborn in such a weird place. Or maybe it was because I was treating her too much like a little kid. Wanting to look grown-up was probably a common trait among children. It didn’t seem so bad to go along with Dia’s insistence.
Like she was feeding a child, Dia scooped rice with her spoon and placed fish on top, and I had no choice but to accept it.
“How is it? Is it good?”
“Yeah, it’s insanely good because Dia’s feeding me.”
Oh my. Oh my. Dia made those little sounds and covered her bright red face with both hands. I brushed it off casually. Children fall in love far too easily.
I tend to think of that as admiration, but for the person on the receiving end, it’s important to keep a proper distance without crushing the child’s innocence.
“Now, now, you’re still hungry, right? Aaaah~!”
When Dia held out another spoonful of rice topped with a thick piece of fish, I shook my head. I reached for the spoon in her hand…?
“No, big brother. I said I’d feed you.”
Before things could even get serious, her grip was too strong for me to take the spoon back from Dia. I was supposed to eat with chopsticks anyway, but if I didn’t rein this in soon, it looked like this would keep going forever.
“Dia-chan, I’m going to eat by myself, so don’t worry about it….”
Dia looked at me silently, then promptly put the spoon she was holding into her own mouth. She chewed on it with the spoon still in her mouth, then handed it back to me.
“Are you pouting?”
“Nope. I just wanted to say ‘aaah~!’ for you. I’m an only child, so I’ve never known what it’s like to have siblings, and I was curious!”
“Now, now, big brother. I’ll pick the fish apart for you, so hurry up and scoop the rice! I watched you do it earlier, and now I’m confident!”
With the frantic momentum unique to children, I found myself shoveling rice onto the spoon as if being chased. Dia, as if she’d been waiting for it, placed the fish on top, and only after I moved it into my mouth did she smile in satisfaction.
And only then did I realize that the spoon had been in Dia’s mouth. Well, she was a child. I let it slide without thinking much of it.
“All right, that’s enough.”
Seeing that Dia didn’t seem to have any intention of eating her own meal, I slid the plate to the left, putting distance between it and her so she couldn’t interfere.
“Uu… that’s unfair!”
Even with her cheeks puffed out, there was no changing it anymore. My meal with Dia ended in roughly that kind of atmosphere. This time, she paid properly and saw me off with a casual wave.
After ordering one more beer and skimming through the materials, I was just starting to feel tipsy and stood up to pay.
“The young lady already paid and left.”
I’d been had. An adult getting treated to a meal by a kid? Next time I saw her, I’d have to give her a proper scolding.
“Didn’t I order one more beer after she left?”
The owner thought about it for a moment, then nodded. And he only charged me for the beer. I’d wanted to pay for the meal too so I could give the money back to the girl next time, but the old man said he had to close the shop and practically kicked me out.
I stood waiting for the bus, blankly in the darkening city. It had been a long time since I’d felt this relaxed. No matter how much work there was, tomorrow’s work could wait until tomorrow. Once I shook off the anxiety, the setting sun didn’t feel so frightening anymore.
Tomorrow, I’d need to time Oguri’s lap run, do basic physical ability tests, talk about her target race, and discuss the schedule going forward. What was going to happen with Tachyon and Fine Motion?
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t reach a conclusion. I also needed to find a place to live and get insurance. I’d be busy, sure, but somehow it felt like I could manage from here on out. I let out a long yawn for the first time in a while.
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