Epilogue: Past and Future

Epilogue: Past and Future

Epilogue:

Past and Future

T HE DAY AFTER THE OPEN HOUSE WAS MONDAY.

Yes. Monday.

Waking up for school the day after a wasted weekend made for a very lethargic morning. I was beginning to understand how people turned into Amanatsu-sensei. Homeroom pretty much went in one ear and out the other.

“That’s all for announcements,” the peon herself said. I stopped slouching just in case she was in the mood for bullying, but she actually seemed pretty chipper today. “So we had quite the turnout at yesterday’s open house. Saw a lotta bright minds. And more.” She leaned against her desk with an ugly grin. “It ain’t easy being a teacher, lemme tell you guys. Just like it ain’t easy going through puberty. I get it. We’re only human.”

She was not talking about this. To her credit, it probably didn’t happen to her often. I allowed her a moment of jubilation.

“Now look, you guys, we all have our fantasies, but you’re all outta my strike zone. Everyone got that?” Amanatsu-sensei cackled. And on her thinly veiled bragging went, to little interest from the class.

Instead of listening to her ramble, I decided to think about what a whirlwind Valentine’s Day had been. I’d gotten chocolate. Chocolate . Only once, and purely as a thank-you, but still. That was a win. The lit club girls had been a lost cause, but that was a blessing in disguise, because having to get return gifts for them would have been a nightmare.

“Not long now till you guys say goodbye to the first-year life,” Sensei went on. “You’ll be in new classes taking different lessons. And you may think you’ve got all the time in the world, but blink and you’ll be third-years, and then you’re outta here. You all remember that and savor the time you’ve got. You don’t wanna grow up hoping they’ll invent time travel like me, do you?”

And now she was down in the dumps. The jubilation did not last long.

Amanatsu-sensei smacked her desk with the class roster. “That’s all from me! Now hunker down! Got a lot to cover this week!”

***

After school at the club room, I gave the gang the rundown of yesterday’s events. I wasn’t sure they believed me at first.

“Amanatsu-sensei,” Yanami muttered. “Wow. Who woulda predicted that.” She munched on some kaki no tane—mixed senbei and peanuts. “Sucks.”

“Tachibana-kun’s that kid you were walking with, yeah?” Yakishio asked, squeezing one of those grip strength workout thingamajigs. “Can’t judge a book by its cover, I guess.”

Komari glanced between them. “Sh-should we be worried?”

“Nah, Amanatsu-chan’s a good teacher. Usually,” Yanami clarified. Remembering I existed, she shook her kaki no tane at me. “Want some?”

“I’m good. Should you be eating those after all those sweets yesterday? You keep going on about how you need to start dieting.”

“I am dieting.” More nuts down the hatch. I sensed the burgeoning of yet more brilliance from the bright mind of Professor Yanami. “Plus, I skipped breakfast and lunch yesterday. Cancels out.”

“I’m not sure it does if you replace them with candy.”

Yanami shrugged. “Oh, Nukumizu-kun. You’ve much to learn about the art of nutrition. I’m accepting students if you’d like to enroll.”

“Do enlighten me.”

She smirked, accepting my challenge. “Lesson one: Dieting is about outwitting your own physiology.”

I was not disappointed.

“And how exactly do you do that?”

“You don’t give your body time to gain weight. When you skip meals, you fool it into thinking it’s not going to get to eat, and then you snack. And that’s not a real meal, so you’re basically fasting.”

We were rapidly departing pseudo-science and entering science-fiction.

“But if you’re eating the calories of a meal, how is it any different?” I attempted to point out. “Doesn’t the irregular food schedule just slow your metabolism, which would make it harder to lose weight?”

“Hey, I’ve tested this theory five whole times and it worked twice, I’ll have you know.”

Confidence-inspiring odds. But negative reinforcement was fragile at best, so I let her have this.

“N-Nukumizu,” Komari said. “R-remember to bring your sister her j-journal.” She handed me the three that her group had left behind. We never made it back after leaving yesterday.

I tried to take them, but Komari held firm. “Uh, there something else?”

“Wh-what happened with her?”

“I just told you what happened. She was helping Tachibana-kun meet Amanatsu-sensei.” I snatched the journals while her guard was down.

I hadn’t told them about our short conflict. None of them would understand, and it wasn’t their business anyway.

“Actually, she’s got a point,” Yakishio chimed in. “Thought you’d be a lot more excited about her not having a crush.”

“I mean…”

I opened the journal, fleeing from her inquisitive gaze, and it just so happened to be on Kaju’s story. The siblings in it went their separate ways. The brother would go on to a new life, while the sister was left all alone, but the time they’d spent together wasn’t going anywhere. Suddenly, with the context of Kaju’s anxieties about the future, the subtext made a lot more sense.

Then the door flew open. “Oniisama! Kaju has arrived!”

She beelined straight for my lap, where she plopped right down before anyone could parse a single thing. She threw her arms around my neck.

“Wh-what are you doing here?! Shouldn’t you be at school?!”

Completely unfazed, she flaunted the badge dangling around her neck. “Look, look!”

In big letters was the word “VISITOR.” And next to that was the issuer—the student council.

“They gave that to you? Why do you have that?”

“I’m going to be shadowing the Tsuwabuki Student Council from now on. To learn the ins and outs.”

“You mean just for today. Right?”

Her arms tightened around my neck. “The president really likes me, so she says I can stop by whenever I want!” Oh dear god. “Now we’ll be together forever, Oniisama.” She nuzzled my cheek with the top of her head.

So she was just going to be popping up at random now? This was going way too fast.

“Let’s take a second and calm down.” I pulled her off of me.

“It’s been a second, and I’m already calm.”

“Then just listen. You have your own student council to worry about.”

“And I’ll learn to juggle them both.”

That’d be some circus act. I wasn’t getting anywhere with this.

Kaju peered up at me, beaming. “What you told me yesterday opened my eyes.”

“Opened your eyes, did it?”

“Widely, yes. To worry myself so much over the future is to lose sight of the present. Every second that passes defines the next. So I want to spend every single one with you while I still can. While there’s still a past I could be building.”

“You do, do you?”

“I do, yes.”

Well, this was a pickle. I looked to Yanami, Yakishio, and Komari for help. Unfortunately, they were busy cringing. Hard.

“Easy on the PDA, Nukumizu-kun.”

“Uh, congrats?”

“D-die.”

An entirely predictable response. Still made me sad, though.

Kaju smiled at them. “Oh, I baked madeleines for everyone!”

“Welcome to the club!” And down went Yanami.

“Komari-san, I hope you’ll come over again sometime. I’ll make sure we stock up on some new bath soaps.”

She croaked and hung her head. “Uh, o-okay.”

Wrinkles manifested on Yanami’s brow instantly. “Bath? Did you say ‘bath’? Komari-chan, I’m gonna need details.”

“I-it’s not what it sounds like! N-Nukumizu ran one for me, s-so…”

“I what?” I never signed up for hot potato.

Yakishio’s eyes turned deadly. “What’d you do to her, Nukkun?”

“She’s making it sound worse than it was! Tell them, Kaju!”

My dear sister nodded, understanding her task perfectly. “My dearest Oniisama can do no wrong! Anything that occurred or will occur has my seal of approval!”

“What did you do?!” the girls snapped together.

I didn’t deserve many things, but this least of all.

But like, actually. I actually hadn’t done anything this time.

I stood up, Kaju still clinging tight. “Forget all that! I hereby call today’s club meeting to session! Let’s go over the open house.”

“You’re gonna go there? Really?” Yanami glared over a madeleine hanging from her mouth.

A necessary sacrifice. This was all to get them to forget the bath thing, which I knew Komari would be eager to do as well. Then we could get back on track for real and I’d be—

“R-really?” she stammered. “D-die.”

“Kinda insensitive, even for you,” Yakishio added.

The plan had backfired. Now everyone was glaring at me for an entirely different reason.

Why? Why always me? What had I done to deserve this?

As I stared up at the ceiling in despair, Kaju whispered in my ear, “Together forever, Oniisama.”