Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/2912051598917319858
“Um… Welcome back?”
Though I was confused, I placed my hand on her shoulder to gently push away Elis, who was hugging me.
When I applied a little pressure, she squeezed me even tighter, but she didn’t resist any further and let go right away.
“Sorry, I just got so happy.”
“I see. I guess that makes it understandable… or does it?”
Maybe it’s just a cultural difference.
Maybe it’s a perfectly normal way of communicating over there that I’m just not familiar with. I decided to just go with that for now.
“…Anyway, come inside. I’ll help you carry your stuff.”
“Rintaro, you’re such a gentleman!”
She was really excited. Elis had a huge smile on her face and looked like she was barely holding back from dancing right there on the spot.
I took the bags from Elis and headed to the living room.
While I was stacking the bags next to the sofa, Elis looked around frantically, her eyes darting everywhere.
“So this is Rintaro’s house…!”
“It might be a lot smaller compared to a house in Germany—”
“No, I like it better here. Rintaro’s right nearby.”
I’ll set aside my doubts about whether that’s actually a good thing.
“I was thinking of giving you a quick tour of the house… but maybe we should rest first?”
“No, I’m fine. Tell me about Rintaro’s house.”
Elis nodded obediently.
It was just a simple reply, but I probably imagined it when I felt there was some hidden meaning behind it.
“We’re in the living room right now. The TV remote is on that shelf over there. Feel free to just plop down on the sofa.”
Even though I said I’d show her around, Mom had taken everything of note with her when we moved, so the living room was pretty bare.
Besides the TV, the coffee table, and the L-shaped sofa, there wasn’t really anything else that needed explaining.
“Where do you usually sit, Rintaro?”
“Usually at the end of the sofa… but you don’t have to worry about it.”
“Then I’ll sit right next to you~♪”
Elis plopped down on the sofa, leaned back, and gave a small nod.
She stared at the spot where I usually sit, as if checking something.
“Next, I’ll show you the kitchen. Is that okay?”
“Got it!”
Feeling a bit uneasy, I headed to the kitchen.
Mom had cleaned the kitchen thoroughly before moving out, so it was reasonably tidy.
Inside the fridge were water, tea, and some leftover ingredients. I’d even made sure to set aside a set of dishes for Elis in the cupboard.
“Do you cook, Rintaro?”
“I can manage the basics. It’s all simple, slapdash stuff, though.”
“Then I’ll cook, too.”
“We can figure out how to split the chores later, but you don’t have to force yourself to cook. It’s fine to just grab something to eat out until you get used to it.”
Changing your diet is stressful enough as it is.
I remember struggling when I first moved to Germany—I couldn’t eat the food I was used to until my rice cooker arrived by sea freight.
It’ll be easier on Elis if she just eats what she wants, rather than making her go out of her way.
“I’m fine. I can cook a little bit of Japanese food.”
“Oh, really? What can you make?”
“Well… my specialties are Chicken Nanban and Nikujaga.”
“That’s great. I love both of those.”
“Then I’ll make them for you today!”
“Come on, let’s skip that today. My mom told me to just get some sushi.”
As we talked, a sudden thought crossed my mind.
—Is it really just a coincidence that Elis’s specialties happen to be my favorites?
Both are classic dishes, and there are plenty of recipes online.
But even so, is it really that likely that they’d both match up exactly?
That said, even if Elis knew my favorites, so what?
Most likely, she remembered what my mom served when Elis ate at our house a long time ago. That must be it.
I decided to pull myself together and continue the tour.
I went on to give a brief explanation of the bathroom, shower, and other plumbing fixtures.
Elis listened to my explanations with genuine curiosity and seriousness, no matter where we were.
“Alright, last stop: Elis’s room.”
“Last?”
“Yeah, it’s a two-bedroom apartment, so there aren’t any other rooms—”
“What about Rintaro’s room?”
“Nah, you don’t need to see my room…”
I’d tidied it up and deodorized it, but letting an adult Elis into my room was a pretty high hurdle. It wasn’t unheard of for female friends to come over with other friends, but even then, I didn’t let them into my room.
“I want to see it.”
“It won’t be interesting. There’s nothing but manga, games, and college materials.”
“I want to see it.”
“…Fine, just for a little while.”
Pressured into giving in, I led her to the door of my room.
“Just so you know, don’t go in here on your own from now on.”
“Okay. I won’t go in on my own.”
“Fine, then.”
When I opened the door, Elis timidly peeked inside.
There wasn’t really anything I was embarrassed for her to see. On my desk were college papers and my laptop. On the shelf were manga, textbooks, and video games. The bed was tidy, too. Thanks to Mom nagging him before she moved out—“A girl’s coming over, so at least keep things presentable”—it was in better shape than usual.
“So this is Rintaro’s room…”
Elis murmured softly.
Her reaction was a little different from when she’d been looking at the living room and kitchen.
She seemed happy, but her mind was clearly elsewhere.
“It’s really just normal, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Rintaro’s normal.”
As soon as Ellis stepped inside, her gaze moved from the desk to the bookshelf, then to the bed and the closet. It looked as if she were searching for something.
“…There aren’t any photos, are there?”
“Photos?”
Hearing that, I looked around the room too.
It was true; there were no photos on display. I wasn’t the type to go out of my way to put family photos or pictures with friends in my room.
“A photo of me and Rintaro.”
“Oh, I have one of those.”
“You do?”
Elis spun around abruptly.
A little surprised by her stronger-than-expected reaction, I opened a drawer in my desk. I took out a small box tucked in the back and pulled a photo frame from inside.
“Here. I’ve kept it safe.”
The photo showed Elis and me around the time we were in sixth grade in Japan.
The location was an airport in Germany. It was taken before we returned home.
I was much more tanned than I am now; my face was smiling but looked somewhat stiff, and there were traces of tears in my eyes.
Standing next to me, leaning in slightly as if to get closer, Elis was smiling as if she were holding back tears, standing at a distance where she almost touched me but didn’t quite.
“You really did keep it.”
“Of course I did. It’s a precious memory.”
“A precious… memory?”
“Yeah, a memory.”
Elis took the photo from me and held it as if cradling it in both hands.
It was just an old photo. A picture from six years ago, when we were kids. Yet Elis held it as if it might break at the slightest touch.
“Then why haven’t you put it on display?”
“Huh?”
I hesitated for a moment before answering.
There wasn’t any deep reason. Part of it was that I didn’t have the habit of displaying photos. But the biggest reason was a little different.
“It’s just a hassle when friends come over and keep asking about it.”
I tried to make it sound as casual as possible.
“Back in middle school, someone saw it once and started a weird rumor. It got embellished into something like, ‘Rintaro has a blonde fiancée in Germany.’”
After I said that, I realized I’d made a mistake.
Because Elis froze, her gaze fixed on the photo.
“……Weird rumors.”
“Ah, no, it’s not that you did anything wrong, Elis. It’s just that the people around me make a big fuss over nothing, so I wanted to avoid that.”
“──I used to have it on display.”
Elis looked up and said that with a lonely smile.
“I looked at it every day. When I was studying Japanese, when I was growing out my hair, when I was picking out clothes.”
“……Elis?”
“So that when I saw Rintaro again, he’d tell me I was cute.”
Holding the photo frame close to her chest, Elis took a step closer.
“I studied Japanese. I looked up clothes Rintaro would like. I grew out my hair. I practiced my smile and the way I talk—so much.”
“Wait, Elis. That’s…”
“Because the old me couldn’t have stopped Rintaro.”
The words poured out of Elis, in Japanese—a language not her own.
I knew all too well how difficult it was to put one’s feelings into words precisely.
That’s exactly why I understood.
The weight of Elis’s words, the strength of her feelings.
“So this time, I have to make sure you don’t forget.”
“I didn’t forget. I even kept the photo, didn’t I?”
“Yeah. But it was tucked away.”
Elis placed the photo frame on the desk.
There was a soft click.
“As a precious memory, right?”
“……!”
“I didn’t want to just be a memory.”
I couldn’t say a word in response.
Elis took another step closer. I instinctively tried to step back, but my foot hit the edge of the bed.
“Rintaro.”
“Elis, you’re too close.”
“What about me now?”
Elis grabbed my wrist.
Her fingers were slender, yet her grip was strangely strong.
“Not the old me, but the me right now. Will you really look at me?”
“I’m looking. I’m looking, so just calm down for a second.”
“You’re not looking. Rintaro still thinks of me as the old Elis.”
Saying that, Ellis pulled on my wrist.
My feet got caught on the bed, and I fell backward onto it.
The next moment, Ellis was on top of me.
Her golden hair swayed softly. Her blue eyes, reminiscent of the deep sea, loomed close. I was forced to realize the difference between her and the old Ellis. With every breath I took, the image of the old Ellis was being erased.
“Hey, Rintaro. You can hear me, right?”
The hand she was holding was pressed against her chest.
“Elis, wait a second! This is… well, this is a bad idea, isn’t it!?”
“It’s not bad at all.”
I tried to break free, but with Ellis straddling me, I couldn’t move my body the way I wanted to.
“Rintaro, you’re trying to run away again. But I won’t let you get away this time.”
“Wait, what do you mean ‘run away’!? And ‘again’…”
The more I tensed my arms, the harder Ellis pressed her hand against my chest.
“I worked so hard. I learned Japanese. I studied everything Rintaro would like—clothes, hairstyles, mannerisms. So you’d never disappear from my life again—”
“Elis, you…”
Elis’s fingers dug into my wrist.
It didn’t hurt.
But I could feel her determination not to let me break free.
“I’m going to engrave it into you. So that Rintaro will never forget me again. I’ll teach you everything about me—the sound of my heartbeat, the warmth of my body…”
(How did it come to this?)
It felt twisted, I thought.
And it was me who had twisted Elis.
Looking up at Elis, who was smiling eerily, I recalled the first time I spoke with her.
–
–
If you enjoy our content, feel free to donate, Thank you in advance !