My Childhood Friend And The Neighborhood Senior

According to my childhood friend, “anyone older than you, even by a little, is still someone worth respecting,” apparently.

In truth, it’s a line I get handed at least once a year, and it always comes with the same follow-up:

“So that means now that I’ve had my birthday, I’m older than you, Gin! Come on, show me some respect, Gin!” …or so it goes.

I couldn’t tell you when it started, but every time her birthday comes around, this childhood friend of mine trots out some version of the line, and every time, poking or tugging at her cheek has become my standing response.

And so, on her birthday just the other day, she recited the line as always and got her cheek poked for it, same as ever. As for this childhood friend of mine, one Sakura Ayuri…

“We’re here, Gin.”
“Yeah, we are.”

A little while earlier, our neighborhood senior, Kazufuku Hotaru, had invited us over, and we’d taken her up on it. I’d more or less just drifted along with the current.

“Okay, I’ll ring the doorbell, then.”
“Nah, even if you don’t—”

— Ka-chak.

“Welcome, both of you!!”
“See, there it is… whoa, careful!”
“Gwah-mpf!”

The instant Ayu stretched a finger toward the intercom, a voice came bursting through, all but broadcasting how completely thrilled its owner was. In the same breath, a figure came flying out of the open door with real momentum and clamped onto Ayu, who’d been standing right beside me.

“I couldn’t wait to see you~ Ayu~!”
“Mmgh~! Mmgh~!!”
“Um, Senior Hotaru—”
“Hm? What is it, Ginko?”
“Ayu’s tapping out like crazy over here, so please let go of her.”
“Oh, sorry, Ayu.”

At my nudging, Ayu was freed just enough to breathe. Which is to say only her head got loose; her body was still pinned down tight, so escape didn’t look like it was coming any time soon.

“Phew, that startled me… quit hugging me out of nowhere, seriously, it really gets to me.”
“I figure if I hug you every time we meet, you’ll get used to it and stop being startled — so can I do it every day?”
“That’s just a no. That’s sexual harassment.”

The way I see it, if she really used to be a man, then getting bear-hugged by a beautiful senior, a busty one at that, ought to count as a straight-up bonus. Or so I’d assume. But the girl herself insists it always comes out of nowhere, and there’s the guilt on top of it, so mostly it just flusters her, or something to that effect.

Most guys out there, heck, most girls too, would be over the moon to get hugged by a senior like this, and the way she recoils instead only feeds the suspicion nagging at the back of my mind: is this girl really a former man, hauling around the memories of a past life?

Then again, the fact that she keeps such a firm line drawn could just as easily be read as her being an adult about the whole thing.

“Hotaru, quit flirting around in the doorway and hurry up and let us inside already.”
“Hmm~? Do you want in on this too, Ginko?”
“I’m not getting in on the hug. Never mind that — get us into the house and hand over the tea and snacks already.”
“You’ve got your own kind of nerve, Gin…”

If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t have bothered coming in the first place.

◆◆◆

A little while back, the two of us had spent some time running tests to see whether Ayu had some cheat ability sleeping inside her, which she almost certainly doesn’t. As I mentioned, we’d actually run through nearly the same thing once before, back in middle school. Even then, we’d landed on something like: well, if I had to pick one, wouldn’t it be this?

“Okay, Ayu, what do you want for the first song?”
“Hmm~ let’s see~”

It’s not as though I tag along every time, but apparently the two of them hold these little private recitals fairly regularly.

Hotaru took her seat at the piano, Ayu standing beside her. Watching the pair of them from a little way off, a cookie in one hand, I found my thoughts drifting back to the cheat-ability hunt Ayu and I had been running together not long before.

“So then… we’re high schoolers now, so how about the school song? Can you manage it?”
“Easy — but is that really what you want?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s only the first song.”

The school anthem, seriously? The only person alive who’d volunteer to sing that on her day off is probably this girl.

Anyway, setting that aside: the conclusion I’d reached back in middle school. If Ayu has any cheat ability at all as a reincarnator, then my money’s on singing. Though for whatever reason, the girl herself doesn’t seem convinced.

“Okay, here we go? …One, two, three, and—”
“…~♪”

Yeah — she really is good.

Hotaru drew a melody out of the piano, and Ayu’s voice fell into step with it. Flowing along without a single snag, clear and clean as something straight out of a textbook, it was the kind of voice anyone would call skilled, no matter who happened to be listening.

“Mm-hm, mm-hm. You’re in good form, Ayu.”
“~♫”

Hotaru had long been known far and wide as the beautiful, multi-talented type; she’d even taken first place in a piano competition once. These days she keeps the music going in the light music club, and there’s simply no room to question her ability.

Ayu, by contrast, had taken singing lessons a long time back. At some point she’d apparently had a falling-out with her teacher, though, and as far as I know she hasn’t been formally taught at any proper studio since. And yet she matches Hotaru’s playing with a voice that gives up nothing in comparison, which, right there, lands her squarely in the territory the world would flat-out call cheating.

“Sounding great~ That’s my Ayu for you.”
“I mean, we’ve done the school song on and off up till now, though, haven’t we?”
“Maybe so — but for the next one, let’s put feeling ahead of skill and just sing however you like.”
“Okaay…~♪”

…

The first verse ended, and she slid into the words of the second. Maybe taking her cue from Hotaru, Ayu loosened the ramrod-straight posture from a moment ago and began to sway lightly, almost dancing, as though giving her feelings a body to move through. Her voice shifted with it: if the earlier one had been textbook-perfect, this one felt like singing set loose, stretching and breathing on its own.

I’m no expert on music, but I get the feeling only a handful of people can sing this freely and still come off as skilled. It’s just…

Yeah — even singing however she pleases, she’s still good…

In that sense, Ayu’s probably one of that handful.

What she’s singing is the high school anthem, a stiff and, to put it bluntly, thoroughly charmless little tune. And she can sing even that in a way that carries her own this is fun clean across the room and into whoever’s listening. If that isn’t a cheat, then what is?

So if there were ever a quiz question that went, ‘What is Ayu’s cheat ability as a reincarnator?’, I’d answer without missing a beat: singing.

“~♫”

It’s a bit rich coming from me, but even a cynic like me winds up in a pretty good mood whenever I hear Ayu sing. And Hotaru, over there at the piano, had already melted into an ear-to-ear grin. Even for a senior who keeps a smile up day in and day out, one this wide isn’t something that comes around often.

“~♪~♩”

Come to think of it, cheat abilities apparently come standard with suitably flashy names, and by that logic Ayu’s would be… how about Emotional Resonance? It fits her singing perfectly, the kind that leaves everyone who hears it feeling exactly what she feels… no, on second thought, it’s just plain lame and reeks of middle-school edginess. I’ll stop thinking about it.

— Daaan.

Ah — it’s over.

“…Phew.”
“As captivating a voice as ever~”
“Well, I do sing with you like this on the regular, Hotaru, so.”
“…No, that alone wouldn’t get you to this level.”
“What are you talking about, Gin? Hotaru’s an active member of the light music club, you know? If Hotaru’s the one coaching you, anybody would get good.”

Out of everyone around her, the one most head-over-heels for Ayu’s singing is probably Hotaru. So naturally the senior had been recruiting her for the light music club rather relentless… er, persistently. But for whatever reason, Ayu, who flat-out hates singing in front of people, kept turning her down, and that’s how things stand to this day.

Then again, she apparently likes singing itself well enough, so she’ll go along with these low-key, in-house performances, at least.

“Hey, Ayu, you sure you won’t join our—”
“Senior Hotaru.”
“…I’m kidding, Ginko. I already promised Hina and the club president I’d stop recruiting her, after all.”
“Honestly… I’m telling you, there’s got to be some weird signal coming out of your throat, Ayu.”
“As if that’s a thing — what are you even talking about, Gin?”

She said it with a completely straight face, this girl. That got on my nerves, so I gave Ayu’s cheek a light tug before heading back to the chair I’d been sitting in.

Honestly. She’s the one who swore up and down she couldn’t stand the idea, so our other childhood friend Hina and I went and ran interference for her against the senior’s recruiting, and this is the thanks we get. The ingrate.

“~♬”

While all that was going on, the next piano melody struck up. Hotaru at the keys and Ayu singing along with her were, as ever, happily belting out whatever they pleased. This one, if I remember right… was the song she’d mentioned the light music club was in the middle of practicing, I think.

Well — listening to music does beat gaming by myself. A more worthwhile, more stylish sort of day off, I suppose.

Savoring the cookies and black tea set out for us while I lent an ear to the music, I spent a day off that, even by my own reckoning, didn’t much suit me.

Partway through, they very plainly picked a song built to lull me to sleep, and it galled me that I dropped right off exactly as they’d intended, so I gave Ayu’s cheek another light tug. It was soft.