Volume 3 - CH 2

It has already been almost two years since we were accepted to college, and next April we will be entering our third year of college. It was almost time for us to start thinking seriously about our future, but before that, we had a serious mission.

Two months later, at the beginning of February of the following year, the four of our four best friends decided to start living alone at the station nearest to the university. We are planning to live in the same apartment so that we can come and visit each other at any time.

———

It was at the end of July when the cicadas began to buzz energetically, that the plan to live alone came up on the agenda for all of us.

The four of us gathered at a family restaurant to make plans for our summer vacation, and as soon as we sat down, Satoru let out a loud sigh. This pattern is a sign that I can ask “What’s wrong?” because he seems to have a problem right now.

I didn’t want to play right into Satoru’s trap, but I didn’t want to move the conversation forward at this point, so I said, “What’s wrong, Satoru?” How kind of me.

“Listen to me, Yuuri. Actually, I just can’t get up in time for the first period, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to finish my classes before graduation if I don’t get up on time.”

“So it’s a problem of not being able to get up in the morning. ……”

“I wish Yamagishi-kun would tell him. He doesn’t wake up at all even though I try my best to call him or something.”

“Ummm. I can only tell him to put on his alarm. And don’t stay up too late?”

“I guess so. Even if I call him and he answers, he’ll fall asleep a second time after I hang up. I don’t want to leave Satoru behind and graduate.”

“Uu… Kozue~ Don’t abandon me~”

While Satoru was engaged in such farce, Kanade seemed to be thinking about something the whole time. Then, perhaps having reached an answer, she turned to all of them and proposed.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Why don’t we all start living on our own in April?”

“What does that have to do with Satoru’s problem of not being able to wake up?”

“If we live closer to each other, even if he wakes up late now, he won’t be late because we’re closer, right?”

“No, in Satoru’s case, I think he’ll think, “I have more time to sleep, yay” and repeat the same thing.”

“Oh, I can imagine what that might be like…”

“You guys need to take this more seriously!”

Satoru was slightly teary-eyed, but next to him Tanuki-san said, “Yeah. That might be a good idea.” We were surprised and asked Tanuki-san what was on her mind.

“If I lived alone, I would probably just end up spending more time sleeping, Yamagishi said. But if we lived together in the same apartment, I thought I could wake him up right away. If I get a duplicate key, I can get in even if I’m asleep.”

“Oh, that’s true.”

“Moreover, it is a little scary for a girl to live alone, but it would be safer if your boyfriend is nearby, wouldn’t it?”

Tanuki-san said, “Right?” as she winked at Satoru while saying that.

Satoru was excited by Tanuki-san’s suggestion and continued the conversation.

“Then, Yuuri and all of us should live alone in the same apartment!”

“Then we can meet up anytime we want!”

“Yeah, I think it’s a good idea! How about you, Yuu-kun?”

I hesitate for a moment because I’d always wanted to live on my own someday, but I hadn’t decided when yet. So I decided to tell them what I was thinking, prepared to lose the excitement of the situation.

“I’ve always wanted to live on my own someday, but I haven’t told my parents yet and I don’t have a lot of money, so I can’t give the OK right now. I’m sorry if I sounded like I was putting a damper on things.”

“I think it’s probably okay. I asked Yuu-kun’s mom about it the other day, and she said, “It’s fine. If you’re in your third year of college, you’ll be 20 years old already, and living alone is a good experience.” she said”

Well, as expected of Kanade. She’s never changed in the way she always covers up before proposing a plan to me. I mean, is living on your own going to be okay? There are things I need to look into, like moving expenses and the money needed to live on my own, but if my parents are okay with it, I want to live on my own with them.

“I’ll check with my parents again, but if they say it’s okay, I’m fine with it. If anything, I’d be willing to live on my own right now.”

“I’ll have to actually check with my parents, so for now, let’s all check shortly and report back.”

We nodded to Tanuki-san’s words and then shifted the conversation to how to spend the most recent summer vacation. However, we concluded that since we would need money to live on our own, we should not play around too much and work part-time.

Hmmm, looks like I’ll be working a lot of part-time jobs this summer…

———

“Since then,, you worked very hard at your part-time job, right Yuu-kun?”

“I didn’t want to say that I couldn’t do it because I didn’t have enough money since my parents told me it would be fine.”

I went home that day and asked my parents about living alone, and as Kanade said

I asked my parents if I could live on my own, and they simply said, “No problem.” But they also nailed me with a nail in the coffin saying, “But we’ll send you money for rent included, but if you want to live somewhere else than that, you’ll have to earn your own money.”

So I increased my part-time work shifts, desperately trying to balance my studies and my part-time job. This meant that I had less time to play with Kanade, but we saw each other almost every day at school, so there was no problem.

“But because of that effort, I’ll be able to live alone in the same apartment as Kanade, so it wasn’t hard at all.”

“I’m glad that I saved up enough money so that we can be closer to each other.”

“Yeah, I’m really happy.”

By the way, we were standing in front of the roundabout in front of the station.

We were about to go to an Italian restaurant near the station to discuss together what we were going to do with the property. When we were in high school, we used to go to family restaurants all the time, but we’ve come to go to fancy little restaurants too, haven’t we?

“Yo! Sorry to keep you waiting!”

Satoru crept up behind me and jumped on my back.

“Don’t do that in the city, it’s embarrassing.”

“Don’t be embarrassed! We’re about to live in the same apartment.”

“This has nothing to do with that!”

Seeing our usual exchange, Kanade giggles, and Tanuki-san makes a dumbfounded face.

“Don’t annoy Yamagishi-kun, Satoru. He’ll really abandon you someday if you keep on being such a pain in the a*s.”

“No way! Yuuri, I’ll have a lot of trouble if you leave, please don’t abandon me!”

“No, I won’t abandon you, but I might at least leave you alone. I mean, get off already!”

I said, “Give me a break,” and Satoru clung to me even tighter than before. I’m stunned, but I’m not going to change. I was a little stunned but felt relieved that Satoru had not changed at all.

I managed to pull Satoru off of me and turned to Kanade, who was staring off into the distance.

“Is there something over there?”

“Ah, nothing. Nothing. I thought I’d seen some people there before, but I think maybe I’ve mistaken them for someone else.”

“I see. Well, anyway, it’s too uncomfortable to be outside in the cold all the time, so let’s go to the store soon!”

“Yeah! I’m starving.”

“I’m hungry too! What shall we eat today? I had a hamburger steak the other night, so I think I’ll have pasta today.”

“Totally. I’m hungry, too! Come on, I’ll leave you alone.”

We started walking towards the Italian restaurant, excited about our new life from next year.