Sakayanagi Mom's Love

The next morning, following Kamuro Masumi's message from yesterday, Kiryu Yume arrived downstairs at the dormitory ten minutes early.

The elevator doors opened with a ding, and Sakayanagi Arisu stepped out.

The rhythm of her cane tapping the floor was slower than usual, and her silver-white hair was neatly combed.

But her complexion still held the faint pallor of someone who had only recently woken up, and her lips were paler than usual as well.

She paused at the elevator entrance, as though adjusting to the light and temperature in the lobby.

Kiryu Yume walked up to her. The words he had intended to say changed course at the last second. "Walk slower today. I'm not in a hurry."

"I wasn't planning to walk fast." Sakayanagi Arisu pulled a folded note from the side pocket of her schoolbag and handed it to him.

"I sorted out a few things last night. The blank items near the end should have answers. Check them against Mashima-sensei's notes. I got a little sleepy toward the end, so I might have missed something."

Kiryu Yume accepted the note, unfolded it, and gave it a quick glance. Her handwriting was messier than usual, but every keyword had been circled.

"What time did you go to bed last night?" After asking, he felt like he sounded too much as though he were checking up on her, so he added quietly, "Just asking."

"Midnight." Sakayanagi Arisu pointed her cane toward the exit, signaling for them to talk as they walked.

"You wrote all this between ten and twelve? You didn't stop once in between, did you?" Kiryu Yume followed her, slowing his steps to a pace she could comfortably keep up with.

Sakayanagi Arisu did not answer. After waiting several seconds without getting a reply, Kiryu Yume turned to look at her and found her tilting her head at him. There was a faint glimmer in her violet eyes, as if she were waiting for him to continue.

He could not keep it together under that gaze, and his voice softened first.

"Next time, stop at eleven, okay? If there are one or two fewer items on the note, I can look through the books and fill them in myself. But no one can make up for the hour or two of sleep you lose. Sakayanagi Mom, it's not like I'm taking an exam tomorrow."

The tone of that last sentence shifted from lecturing into pleading, and even he did not notice that the "Sakayanagi Mom" at the end was more than half as soft as usual.

After hearing him out, Sakayanagi Arisu's violet eyes rested on his face for two seconds.

"Little kitten, the first half of that sentence was you trying to manage me. The second half was you begging me."

Kiryu Yume stuffed the note into his schoolbag and walked forward without looking aside. "So are you agreeing or not?"

"Depends on my mood."

"What do you mean, depends on your mood?" Kiryu Yume turned to her, his tone growing half a beat more urgent before he stopped himself and lowered his voice. "Sakayanagi Mom, I'm seriously trying to discuss this with you."

The corners of Sakayanagi Arisu's lips curved slightly. Without looking at him, she continued walking.

"Mm, I could tell. When you seriously discuss something with me, you call me Sakayanagi Mom. When you're just randomly trying to manage me, you only call me 'you.'"

Kiryu Yume opened his mouth, then closed it again.

As they passed the vending machines, Sakayanagi Arisu tilted her head for a glance. Before she could speak, Kiryu Yume had already stepped forward.

"I'll get it. Stand there and don't move."

He bought two cans of black coffee. He pressed one against the back of Sakayanagi Arisu's hand to test the temperature. This time, he did not pull his hand away, leaving it there lightly for two seconds before placing the coffee into her palm.

"It's too cold. Warm it up first before you drink it."

Sakayanagi Arisu looked down at the spot on the back of her hand where his fingertips had touched, then at the can of coffee in her palm. She opened it and took a small sip.

"Little kitten, you didn't think of an excuse before touching me today. Did you forget to come up with one, or did you not have time?"

Kiryu Yume lifted his can to his lips and stared at the ceiling. "Didn't think of one. I'm not looking for one. Say whatever you want."

Sakayanagi Arisu did not respond, but she did not switch the coffee can to her dominant hand. She simply kept holding it in the hand closer to him as she continued onward.

When they reached the slope in front of the school building, Sakayanagi Arisu stopped. She walked this slope every morning, and before climbing it, she would always remain silent for a few seconds to adjust her breathing.

Kiryu Yume stood beside her and waited until she was done, then lowered his voice.

"Sakayanagi Mom, during Saturday tutoring, just explain things verbally. Don't stand up to write on the board. Your hand was shaking by the end last week."

Sakayanagi Arisu fell silent for a moment. Something in her violet eyes was made thin by the morning light.

"You noticed even then. I thought you were looking down and copying notes."

"I sit in the front row. If I'm not looking ahead, I have to look to the side, and there's only the window there." Kiryu Yume paused, and the latter half of his sentence grew a little indistinct. "And your hand."

Sakayanagi Arisu turned back toward the slope and tapped her cane forward one step. Kiryu Yume stood at the bottom, watching that small, slender figure take several steps upward. Then he suddenly stepped forward, his voice half a beat louder than before, though the ending remained soft.

"Sakayanagi Mom! When you get to class, remember to put your head down and rest during breaks. I'll have Kamuro Masumi keep an eye on you, so don't find her annoying."

Sakayanagi Arisu did not turn around. She raised her cane and vaguely pointed it in his direction. The gesture translated to "Got it, stop nagging," but the cane lingered in the air a little longer than usual.

Third period that morning was Japanese class. The teacher was analyzing the structure of an essay at the podium, chalk making faint scratching sounds against the blackboard.

Kiryu Yume was copying notes when something lightly flicked the back of his neck.

He turned around. Morishita Ran was lying face-down on her desk, her chin resting on her folded arms.

Her blue-violet drooping eyes looked up at him from below. A transparent rubber band was looped around her left index finger, stretched taut by her middle finger, with half a broken-off eraser crumb resting on it.

She pulled the rubber band tighter and fired another shot, striking the back of his neck dead on. The eraser crumb bounced off the edge of his collar, rolled twice, and fell onto his chair.

Kiryu Yume lowered his voice. "How many more?"

"Two." Morishita Ran broke off a small piece from the intact eraser and placed it on his desk. "Loop it around your index finger."

Kiryu Yume took it and tried it around his index finger, testing the tension. He flicked the crumb back at her, but his aim was off. It hit the center of her open Japanese textbook.

Morishita Ran looked down at it. "Your aim's bad. We'll adjust it after class."

Hashimoto Masayoshi in the back row lifted his head from his notebook. The two of them immediately turned back around and pretended to listen to the lesson.

Less than three minutes later, Morishita Ran loaded another shot. She aimed at the pencil lying at the corner of his desk, and the eraser crumb grazed the barrel, knocking the pencil half an inch askew.

Kiryu Yume held down the pencil and turned to glare at her. Morishita Ran had already removed the rubber band and tucked it back into her pencil case. Lying on her arms with one eye closed, her lips moved silently: One left.

The moment the bell rang, Morishita Ran stood up from the back row, looped the rubber band over Kiryu Yume's index finger, and tapped the back of his hand with her fingertip.

"Once you pull it taut, don't lift your hand. Make small adjustments with your wrist when you aim."

Following her instructions, Kiryu Yume stretched the rubber band to its limit and fired at the intact eraser on her desk. He hit it dead on. The eraser slid nearly two inches before she caught it in one hand.

"Not bad. You learn as soon as you're taught." Morishita Ran lifted her eyelids slightly.

Kiryu Yume removed the rubber band and returned it to her. "How long have you been doing this? Your aim's so good."

"You get good with practice. I never trained specifically." Morishita Ran broke off another eraser crumb from her pencil case. "I flick whatever I see during breaks. Today's the first time I've flicked a person."

"Your first time flicking someone, and you're already that accurate?"

"I've been aiming at you for days." Sitting in her seat, she looked up at him. There was a faint glimmer in her blue-violet drooping eyes. "I wanted to flick you from the first day I sat behind you. I just held back until now."

Kiryu Yume froze for a moment, then leaned against the back of his chair and faced her directly. "You held back for days just to flick me four times in class today?"

"More than four times. Every day, seeing the back of your neck moving around made me want to flick it." Morishita Ran set the crumb on the rubber band and fired another shot at the pencil on his desk. It struck the middle of the barrel, making the pencil spin half a turn in place. "Let's have another round after school. No sneak attacks. The loser buys."

Kiryu Yume stared at her precise aim in silence for a moment. "You flicked a person for the first time, and the person you flicked learned how to fight back. Strictly speaking, there's no winner or loser."

Morishita Ran's blue-violet eyes narrowed. "You finally said something pleasant today. I'll treat you after school. No need to compete."

"Why aren't we competing anymore?"

"Because you put me in a good mood." She removed the rubber band, tucked it into her pencil case, and opened her textbook to wait for the bell.

After school, Kiryu Yume went to the library. The notebook Mashima Tomoya had given him lay open on the table, with Sakayanagi Arisu's note pressed beside it.

He filled in two entries and was still flipping through books to look up the third. The chair across from him was pulled out.

Ichinose Honami sat down, her short golden hair bouncing against her shoulders as she leaned toward him.

"Kiryu-kun, what are you filling in?"

"Notes to make up for the basics. The homeroom teacher gave them to me. I have to trace the clues from the beginning and look up every box myself."

Kiryu Yume turned the notebook cover over and showed it to her.

Ichinose Honami looked at the notebook, then at the note. "Sakayanagi-san's handwriting."

"You can recognize her handwriting too?"

"I saw Mashima-sensei's notes on the blackboard when I went to the office to hand in our class report last time. There were the same kind of note papers spread out on the desk beside him. But I'm not here to spy on intelligence. Someone from our class is studying here, and I came with her."

Kiryu Yume looked toward the table against the wall in the borrowing section. Shiranami Chihiro was looking down at a math workbook, turning pages slowly. Every now and then, she picked up her pen, wrote two lines on scrap paper, then crossed one out.

"She spends a long time on every page."

Ichinose Honami nodded. "After a month of catching up, she can stay around the passing line now. It still takes her a long time to solve a problem, but getting it right is what matters."

She took a piece of candy from her uniform pocket and placed it beside Kiryu Yume's notebook.

"I saw you ate the one I gave you last time. This one's for you too."

Kiryu Yume picked up the candy and looked at its wrapper. After thinking for a moment, he finally said what he had been holding back, drawing out the words.

"I never thanked you for that candy last time. That day, I was standing outside your classroom, and you gave it to me without even knowing who I was. Then when we ran into each other in the cafeteria hallway, you were the one who greeted me first. I thought you were strange back then, and I still think you're strange now. Who gives someone something first before talking to them, no matter who they are?"

Ichinose Honami froze for a moment, then lowered her head and smiled.

"Because you were standing there looking like you didn't know what to do, so I gave you a candy to help you relax. Later, I realized you were just standing there watching, and I felt bad letting you leave empty-handed. It was nothing, so don't remember it for so long."

She waved a hand, her short golden hair swaying beside her ears.

"Still, you're taking these notes seriously. Looking up every box yourself before filling it in helps you remember better than copying."

"I didn't pass last time. I have to take it seriously."

Ichinose Honami's expression did not change at all. She only blinked once.

"Then you'll definitely do better next time. Someone who can sit down and fill things in box by box won't keep failing forever. Chihiro is an example."

Kiryu Yume tucked the candy beside his pencil case. "How many people like me, who just happened to appear in front of you, did you help when school started?"

Ichinose Honami paused, then smiled and shook her head.

"I never counted. If I see something, I just help out. I saw you sitting here filling in your notes, so I came over to say hello. It's the same as giving you candy outside the classroom last time. Just happened to."

Kiryu Yume pushed the math reference book on the table an inch toward her.

"Then once I finish these notes, I'll treat you to a drink. Don't think it's anything special either. Just happened to."

Ichinose Honami looked up at him, and the smile in her blue eyes shifted from casual to slightly surprised.

"The total amount you spoke to me last time wasn't as long as that one sentence today. Good luck studying."

She stood and walked over to Shiranami Chihiro, sat down beside her, took the pen from her hand, and marked two points on the scrap paper.

Shiranami Chihiro gave a quiet acknowledgment, pulled the paper over, and redrew the problem. There was a fist's worth of space between their shoulders.

Kiryu Yume turned his phone face-down on the table and tucked the note into that page of his notebook. Sakayanagi Arisu's crooked circles had not all been filled in yet. He opened the first page of the math reference book, while the candy beside him lay quietly in the gap between his pencil case and notebook.