Acting Like a Heroine
“See you tomorrow, Yuuki-kun.”
“See you.”
The one-night, two-day trip had ended, and Yuuki was driven straight home by car.
“Thank you very much.”
“No, it’s fine. I dragged you out against your will, after all. It was selfish of me.”
“Even so, thank you very much.”
Yuuki bowed his head deeply to Kyousuke.
He understood that Kyousuke was worried about him, letting him stay over and taking him on the trip.
“Well then. Don’t be late for work tomorrow.”
“I understand.”
“Alright, this time for real, see you tomorrow.”
Saying that, Kyousuke drove off.
Then, from the back window, Yume stuck her face out and waved with a smile.
As the car grew farther and farther away, until their faces could no longer be seen, Yuuki forced down the heavy feeling inside him and headed toward the entrance.
He had already told them yesterday that he would be coming home today so they wouldn’t file a missing person report with the police, so it probably hadn’t become that serious. But being scolded was troublesome, and he wanted no involvement with his mother or younger sister.
With a sigh, Yuuki felt that the front door, which had always seemed light before, now weighed several times heavier as he opened it.
When he entered the house, his mother came rushing toward him in a fluster.
“Yuu-kun. Where did you go? I was so worried.”
His mother, Aika, said that with such a panicked look it almost seemed as if the word “worry” were written on her face.
Yuuki ignored Aika completely and walked straight from the entrance to his own room.
“Yuu-kun? Wh-what’s wrong?”
As Aika tried to reach out to Yuuki, who wouldn’t say a word, he turned a sharp, glaring look toward her.
“Could you not touch me?”
“…Eh?”
For a moment Aika froze, unable to comprehend what he had just said, and so she couldn’t stop Yuuki as he tried to leave.
As Yuuki went up the stairs, she called out to him again.
“D-did I do something wrong? I’m sorry.”
At those words, Yuuki turned around with an expression of genuine disgust and replied.
“I don’t even know anymore why I ever tried so hard to trust you all.”
“Eh?”
“Back then, you didn’t even believe me. So why did I forgive you and try to trust you again? Really, I’m such an idiot.”
Spitting those words out, Yuuki went straight into his room on the second floor.
This time Aika couldn’t say anything, standing there stunned, completely dumbfounded.
She tried looking back and thinking if maybe she had done something to Yuuki the day before yesterday, but of course, nothing came to mind.
Just the morning of the day before yesterday, Yuuki had smiled and said “I’m off” in response to her “Take care.”
And yet now Yuuki had ended up like this, so she could only think that something must have happened while he was away from home.
She tried once more to take a step toward the stairs leading up to Yuuki’s room, but no matter what, her foot wouldn’t move forward.
“Back then, you didn’t even believe me. So why did I forgive you and try to trust you again?”
Yuuki’s words pierced into her like a deeply driven nail, and clutching her chest, she sank down right there.
Whether it was minutes or tens of minutes, she didn’t know how much time had passed as she sat there suffering from the pain in her chest, until she heard the sound of the front door opening.
“I’m home. …Mom, what’s wrong?”
The one who returned was Yuuki’s younger sister, Rei.
Seeing her mother, Aika, unable to move from beside the stairs, Rei called out to her with concern, but received no reply.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
When she asked again, her mother, Aika, turned her gaze toward Rei and murmured softly.
“Yuu-kun came home.”
“Eh, Nii-san came back? Thank goodness, he’s safe.”
Rei, relieved, placed a hand on her chest, but then realized something was strange.
Because if Yuuki had come home, there was no reason Aika would be this exhausted.
In fact, she looked even more lifeless now than when Yuuki had been missing.
Thinking that perhaps her older brother Yuuki had done something, Rei tried to go upstairs to hear what happened, but Aika stopped her halfway.
“No, don’t go. We mustn’t go.”
“Why not?”
“We mustn’t. I’m sorry, Yuuki.”
Murmuring that, Aika fell silent again, and Rei, unable to say anything, gently stroked her mother’s back as she sat collapsed on the floor.