My Childhood Friend And The Last Day Of Winter Break

According to my childhood friend:

“The last day of a long break tends to turn into the day you agonize and agonize over what to do with yourself, and end up doing nothing at all.”

…Or so it goes.

Purely as a day off, the last day is no different from any of the ones before it, and yet, for whatever reason, the moment it arrives people are seized by a creeping restlessness. Probably nobody is exempt from it, and I’m no different myself. The restlessness itself comes down to something simple. The long break was heaven, so we hate to see it end, and that’s all there is to it… but that’s no reason to force yourself into some sort of action either.

Pushing yourself into something, wearing yourself out, and having it interfere with the next day’s schoolwork or job would be putting the cart before the horse. People love to say you should leave yourself with no regrets, but once a long break ends you’re going to be swimming in regrets no matter what you do. So, in short, I figure you may as well just do whatever you feel like doing in the moment.

And in that spirit, as for how the last day of winter break went for me and that childhood friend of mine, one Sakura Ayuri…

“Ayu, those chocolate snacks you gave me the other day were good.”
“Ahh… the souvenir ones I handed out?”
“Yep.”
“…Well, I’m glad you liked them enough to haul them all the way over to my room to eat them… though I do sort of wish you’d eat them in your own room.”
“So gimme more.”
“So that’s what you were after, you little brat.”

The nerve of this girl. And here I’d gone out of my way to give the souvenir she’d taken the trouble to buy a glowing review.

Anyway. Today is the last day of winter break. Refrain is closed either way, so Ayu had the day off automatically, but for my part, it being the last day of the long break and all, I’d put in a request for the day off in advance. Our days off happened to line up by pure coincidence, and so I came over to Ayu’s house to hang out. That said, since I’d turned up with next to no warning, I found her in her room, knitting. I’m the one who barged in out of nowhere, and making her drop her plans on the spot felt like a bit much… so I’m sitting quietly beside her, playing a game.

“…Ah, my cup’s empty too… gimme something to drink.”
“My house isn’t a drink bar, you know?”
“There’s that case of cola I left here before winter break, right? That’ll do.”
“So that’s why you handed it over out of nowhere… I’ve got it chilling, but it’s cold out today. You sure you want that?”
“The heating’s on in here, so… honestly, I was more surprised you led off with hot green tea instead of cola.”
“It’s cold out, that’s why… well, if you say it’s fine, then it’s fine. Hang on a sec.”
“Yup.”

I keep playing my game and see Ayu off as she leaves the room. Barging into someone’s house and then ordering the owner of the room around with a jerk of the chin is questionable behavior, and I’m well aware of it… but it’s been a while, so she’ll forgive me this much.

After a bit of a wait, Ayu came back with a tray carrying a fresh cup and some snacks. She poured the cola out, then handed it over along with a set of guest chopsticks and a bag of potato chips.

“Brought it~”
“Thankies. Oh, by the way… do you guys actually drink this stuff?”
“You mean as a family…? Everyone except Yuuma-kun has some now and then.”
“Then that’s fine.”

Honestly, I only left the case here because I felt bad about barging in every time and being served something… but if it isn’t just sitting there in the way, then good.

“Also, was Otouto-kun¹ not a cola guy?”
“He said, ‘There’s no way I’m drinking something Gin-nee-san left behind, that’s terrifying.’ Something about being scared he’d drink it without asking and get an earful for it later.”
“The hell was that, that little brat.”
“That right there is the problem, Gin-chan.”

Unlike Ayu, that kid hasn’t got an ounce of cuteness to him. …No, that isn’t to say I’m calling Ayu cute or anything.

“You know, it’s kind of like… you’re basically Yuuma-kun’s second onee-chan, Gin-chan.”
“Huh? …Why?”
“Older sisters the world over are unreasonable creatures, I’ll have you know… and that was just as true in my past life, too.”
“…Did you even have an older sister in your past life?”
“A friend of mine did. I got dragged into it and put through all sorts, believe me…”
“Huh…”

As for me… I do have an older brother, but there’s nothing unreasonable about him; if anything, he’s on the kind side. Someone who feels big-sisterly, then? Maybe Hotaru-senpai, the way she is with Ayu, except she’s about as indulgent as they come, so that rules her out too, and Ayu, who plays big sister purely on the grounds that her birthday comes first, is out of the running entirely.

“…Hang on, did you just casually lump me in with the unreasonable ones?”
“Winning and then immediately twisting the logic to bump the bet from one ice cream to two — that’s not unreasonable?”
“…So then, does Ayu accepting that unreasonableness make her my little sister?”
“Nope, nope. An older brother or sister worth the name answers their little sibling’s selfish demands as far as they possibly can.”
“Who’re you calling a little sister, huh.”

Somehow… even though I’ve had my birthday now and we’re the same age again, this treating-me-like-the-younger-one business feels like it’s picked up speed compared to previous years.

◆◆◆

“…Right, that’s a good stopping point!”
“Nice work.”
“Gin-chan, you really did just play games the whole time, huh…”
“I kept you company while you worked, didn’t I.”
“Pestering someone who’s working for a drink is… ah. Yes. Never mind…”

I can’t really tell the difference myself, but apparently she’s reached a stopping point, so I offer a token word of appreciation to Ayu as she sets her knitting kit aside and stretches. It’s still only half finished, but the scarf she’s working in beige yarn is a good deal sturdier than the one I own, which was her very first attempt. Ayu has clearly been getting better.

“That one — is it Hina’s? You’ve gotten pretty good.”
“Nope? Hina-chan’s is this one.”

With that, Ayu pulled a white scarf out of the bag beside her desk.

…I see. Set it between my navy one and the beige, and the whole thing makes sense. It’s better made than mine, even if the workmanship still turns clumsy here and there.

“Hina-chan really pressed me about it — ‘I want the next one you make! Don’t you dare redo it, okay?! I mean it!!’ — so I’m bringing it in tomorrow, but… is this really okay?”
“Well… if Hina says it’s fine, then it’s fine, isn’t it.”

Out of all of us, Hina’s the one who puts the most care into what she wears, so I’d have thought she’d want the better-made one… Then again, in my case, given how it happened, it was effectively that scarf or nothing.

“So what’s the beige one, then? For yourself?”

Maybe she’s gone and caught the knitting bug… no, there’s also a chance Hotaru-senpai wheedled this one out of her; she was asking about my scarf at the first shrine visit the other day.

“Nuh-uh, this one’s for Yuu-chan. I was knitting over at her place and she went and said she wanted one.”
“Huh… rough life you’ve got, Ayu.”
“Honestly, I’d already had enough of it by the time I finished the first one… and even once this one’s done, there’s still Hotaru-chan’s to make…”
“So she did put in an order after all…”

What an absurdly popular knitting artisan she’s become. Though it’s rather pitiful that nobody ever puts in an order for the skill itself; they just want the scarves.

“…Alright! Talking with you has got me fired up again, Gin-chan! I’ll push on a bit more!”
“You could just rest a while longer, you know?”
“If I take it easy, spring’ll be here before I know it, you know? I could focus on Hina-chan’s because it was winter break, but… school starts again tomorrow.”
“Is that how it works?”

It’s still only the start of January, and I’d say we can safely call it winter until at least February… but from Ayu’s point of view, apparently even that goes by in a blink. Maybe that’s the kind of sense you only get from being on your second run at life. It’s beyond me, at any rate.

“That’s how it works, that’s how it works. I’ll say it as many times as it takes — the third term is the shortest one there is, you know? Once you’re enjoying school and making plans for your days off and having a good time with each day, it really is over in a flash.”
“…Because that’s how it’s been for you until now?”

Sixteen years since the day I was born. To me, every single year of this life is dense, and feels like an enormously long stretch of time… and yet the adults, Ayu included, all say the same thing in unison: “a year goes by in a flash.” I thought as much when Ayu and I looked back on the old year at the end of December… it’s a feeling that simply doesn’t land for me.

But Ayu is on her second run at life… and she’s spent it fully aware of herself as a reincarnator. She must have gone through these sixteen years carrying that feeling, and never once let the rest of us catch on.

“Well, yeah, pretty much. You know that feeling where fun times just fly by? It’s like that.”
“…Well, if that’s it, then.”

Is that really all it is? I can’t shake the sense that the “in a flash” the adults talk about and the “in a flash” Ayu talks about, similar as they may look, are subtly different things. As for what that difference is… speaking as someone who is neither an adult nor a reincarnator, I’d have a little trouble putting it into words.

“I’m looking forward to it. School, I mean.”
“…Yeah.”

I nod along as Ayu murmurs that, her hands never once leaving her knitting.

Honestly, the thought of going back to early mornings starting tomorrow is depressing… but well, it’s also true that a school life with this one in it is something I look forward to.