Please Tell Me How to Remember Love - Chapter 3 Part 3

Chapter 3 Part 3

 

Karin’s favorite food was ice cream made by Reina.

 

It was an ice cream mixed with lemon juice, making it taste both sweet and sour. The taste of it always soothed her heart. This had never changed from the very first time Reina had ever made the ice cream for her.

 

Even when she cried because of her past regrets, because she fought with her friends or because she made a stupid mistake.

 

“…Alright.”

 

Even now when Karin made her mind up about something. The ice cream still soothed her heart.

 

Even though she was making a life-changing decision.

 

“You really love ice cream, don’t you, Rin-chan? The other day, you also ate plenty of them.”

“Your ice cream is just tasty, Rei-Onee-chan. Also, ‘the other day’ was a month ago. I’m still eating them in moderation.”

“Oh my, is that so?”

 

It was an evening during the weekday. Karin was sitting in front of Reina while eating her ice cream.

 

“Of course. Besides, this amount of ice cream isn’t much since we’re going to eat more after this.”

“Hehehe, last time you ate too much and got a stomach ache. You’ve grown up haven’t you, Rin-chan?”

“Stop bringing up the mistakes I did back when I was still in grade school. I’m old enough to take care of myself now! Also, I think I can eat more ice cream than back then.”

“I’ll make more if you grow up a little more.”

“You kept saying that to me, Rei-Onee-chan.”

 

Unlike her usual expressionless face, Karin wore a pouty look as she complained to Reina. Meanwhile, Reina brushed off her complaints without batting an eye. This was their usual routine.

 

Compared to when she was outside her house, where she’d always try to look mature, Karin never hid her childishness in front of Reina. Meanwhile, the smile that Reina showed to Karin was different from the smile she always showed to others. It was filled with motherly love. They might not be related by blood, but those two were tied by a bond that was stronger than that of a normal parent-child bond.

 

“Alright, let’s do it like this, Rei-Onee-chan. If I can face Satou-san properly on this matter, will you finally treat me like an adult?”

“Hehehe, no way~ I’ll only treat you as an adult if you can snag a good guy and make me stop worrying about you.”

“…I don’t think being an adult has anything to do with getting a boyfriend.”

“It doesn’t, but you do have someone in mind already, don’t you?”

 

Hearing Reina pointing that out, Karin let out a groan and fell silent.

 

While she might be an outlier, someone who had the means to earn her own money at such a young age, ultimately, she was still a middle school student, an adolescent. She didn’t want to hear anything about the guy that she liked coming out from someone else’s mouth, including Reina’s.

 

Ding dong.

 

That was why the bell sound that rang at that moment was a godsend to Karin. She immediately stood up from her chair while saying, “I’ll check it out,” and rushed to the front door to see who was the person who had become her accidental savior.

 

“Hello, Rin. How are you?”

“…Minoru-Onii-chan.”

 

That savior was a high school boy with shaggy hair, Kashiki Minoru. He was wearing a jersey and in his right hand, there was a square-shaped object wrapped in a beautiful furoshiki. (T/N: Wrapping clothes, the thing that they use to wrap bento in anime.)

 

“Here, a gift from my mom. There are pickles in the bottom box and stir-fried veggies in the top box. Sorry that it’s all veggies, but feel free to eat them all if you want to.”

“Don’t be sorry. Also, thank you very much.”

 

After bowing deeply, Karin accepted the package with a smile on her face.

 

She almost always had a sullen look on her face, but whenever Minoru was around, her expression would brighten up like this.

 

“If you ever need my help, just give me a shout. We’re neighbors.”

 

As Minoru patted her head, her cheeks started to redden.

 

“Minoru-Onii-chan, I’m already in middle school! Stop treating me like a child!”

“Sorry. My bad, I’ll be more careful next time.”

“I didn’t say I dislike it…”

 

In contrast to Minoru’s direct manner of speaking, Karin’s words were indirect, but it was quite clear what she meant by her words.

 

After Karin came to live in the area, Young Minoru was the one she interacted the most with, aside from Reina. At first, Karin wasn’t particularly interested in him because she thought that he was merely a mob character, but as they interacted with each other more and more, she gradually changed her mind.

 

When Minoru learned that a middle schooler was living by herself, only accompanied by a nanny, Reina, he always found a reason to visit her just to see how she was doing. The first time Karin joined the karate club, he stood up for her so that she wouldn’t be isolated by others because of her shy personality.

 

While he might look dull, Minoru was good at noticing the subtleties and getting along with others.

 

And that was the reason why the cheeky Karin fell for him.

 

“Thank God that you don’t actually dislike it. You’re like a little sister to me, It’d pain me if you were to hate me…”

 

However, he only treated her like a little sister and nothing more.

 

“…Hmph.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Anyway, how’s your painting going?”

“Pretty well, I guess. When I get to coloring it, I’ll let you know.”

 

Seeing Minoru answered with a faint smile, Karin’s chest tightened. However, she quickly hardened her expression and said with a curt tone,

 

“Have you decided on a title for that painting?”

“No, I’m still struggling with that. I’m planning to think of something when I finish it, but do you have a good one in mind?”

“…First Love. How does it sound?”

“First Love, huh? That doesn’t sound bad. If a girl like that truly exists, I’m sure I’d fall in love at first sight with her… Ah, sorry, I was gloating, didn’t I?”

 

Minoru smiled wryly before giving her his thanks and left.

 

“Seriously, such a difficult person to handle.”

 

Karin muttered quietly toward Minoru’s departing back.

 

If only Reina’s partner was him instead of her, maybe everything would turn out for the better. Such thoughts came up in her mind as she spouted her next words.

 

“Those people with powers and the people around them are all difficult to handle… That’s why…”

 

She turned her back on the door and walked with a longer stride than usual.

 

“I’ll at least do something for you, Satou-san. Maybe, if I were to do that, this guilt of mine would disappear…”

 

She walked forward while saying those words to no one in particular.

 

In any case, she was sure that the turmoils in her heart would calm down a little by the time she finished eating her melting ice cream.

 

*   *   *

 

There was a cemetery located on a steep hill.

 

Due to its location, even an adult male would find it difficult to reach it. One couldn’t exactly ride a bicycle to get there due to the slopes with poor footholds on the way.

 

Many tombstones were erected on a steep slope of the hill. Calling it a bad location to build a grave on was an understatement. Even the deceased’s families would only visit the place during important occasions such as the Obon Festival.

 

It would be even rarer for someone to visit the place when the sun had started to set. Even if one were to come to the place during that kind of time, that was only because they had a good reason to do so. And that was the case with the five people who came here today.

 

“Hello, Satou-san.”
“Hello, Kuramori.”

 

A boy and a girl were facing each other in front of a single tombstone.

 

The boy was Takayuki, wearing his casual clothes, standing comfortably on the uneven grounds while wearing his usual irreverent smile.

 

Karin was the girl, wearing a black outfit that looked like it would be difficult to move in, her mourning clothes. Her face was as expressionless as usual, but because of her clothes, she gave off a totally different atmosphere.

 

A distance away from them were three girls, Reina, Aoi and Yui, silently watching the situation as they didn’t want to disturb the other two.

 

“Look at you, dressing up properly like that. At this time of the day, you should dress more comfortably, Kuramori. You don’t want to slip and join ‘them’, do you?”

“I don’t. Normally, I dressed myself more comfortably too. But, today is a special occasion.”

“So that means there’s a meaning behind the way you dress yourself and why we’re here at this time of the day?”

“Yes. Since we’re both here, you should’ve noticed something already, aren’t you, Satou-san?”

 

Hearing Karin’s words, Takayuki silently turned his flashlights toward the tombstone. The words ‘Hiiragi family’ were carved there.

 

A familiar tombstone. It was the tombstone of someone that Takayuki knew.

 

“It was roughly at this time of the day.”

 

Without waiting for Takayuki to answer her previous question, Karin continued talking.

 

“It was summer back then. The weather wasn’t as sunny as today, though. There was heavy rain… It poured…”

 

With an indifferent tone, Karin reminisced, or rather, repented about the past.

 

“They said that the river was flooding, but it didn’t cause much damage to the surroundings, only a few rice paddies collapsed. There was no story of someone’s house being washed away by the water or anything of that sort. However, there was a part of the mountain where the trees had just been cut down at the time. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but it just happened that there was a huge downpour on that day. Unfortunately, or fortunately, despite that part of the mountain collapsed, the landslide only occurred on a small scale. Nothing worth noting was damaged, save from a certain house that got buried. Well, only half of it was buried, though.”

 

As her words went on, Takayuki’s smile started to fade.

 

He knew. He knew the reason why the girl who brazenly went out of her way to declare herself as his fiancee was standing here.

 

“I wonder who was at fault? The mother who let her young child stay at home and didn’t come home until late at night? But she was a nurse and she was on a mission to save someone else’s life. What about the daughter who foolishly stayed inside the house even though she clearly heard the sound of the ground rumbling? But that girl was too young to make a sound decision at that time. Honestly, it would be easier to blame that young girl, me, for everything and let me suffer all the consequences, but reality was ruthless.”

 

At that point, Karin broke her expressionless face and smiled. However, her smile wasn’t the kind of smile that a normal middle school student makes. It was a smile filled with shame and resignation, the kind of smile that only someone who had once cursed the world until their throat bled and finally gave up on everything.

 

“Now that I’m done with the preface, let me introduce myself once again. My name is Kuramori Karin, a sinner who wishes to get to know you better…using the whole thing about being your fiancee as a pretext…”

 

That was why, even though Takayuki knew what Karin was about to tell him, he couldn’t say anything.

 

 

“And I am the foolish child who caused your grandfather’s death.”

 

He didn’t know what to say when someone who was saved by his grandfather at the cost of his own life was making a face like this.

 

*   *   *

 

Aoi watched this happening at a distance away from the two.

 

The middle school girl who always followed Takayuki around had finally confessed the truth she had been hiding.

 

“I get your feeling, Miyama-san, but don’t rush out to his side right now. This is the matter that the two of them have to solve.”

 

Yui suddenly grabbed Aoi’s hand as she was staring intently at Takayuki. The strength she put in her grip was stronger than expected and it made Aoi flinch.

 

“I’m not going to do that, Takayama-san. I know that much at least.”

“I see. That’s great to hear.”

“…Anyway, Takayama-san, are you sure it’s okay for you to appear in front of him like this?”

“Yeah. I don’t like it, but there won’t be any problems with me coming out here.”

 

Aoi couldn’t help but feel sorry for Yui, who was smiling with an irritated expression on her face before letting out a sigh.

 

Shortly before Karin and Takayuki met, Yui arrived at the cemetery with a black car to drop off both Karin and Reina. She was also here to tell Takayuki about everything before things were settled.

 

And so she did. She told Takayuki about all of her actions without making any excuses. Yui was even ready to bow her head and apologize if he wished her to do so.

 

However, his response after that revelation was, “Ah, I already had an idea about it, don’t worry. If anything, now that I know it’s you who gave her the information, I can rest easy.” Apparently, he already figured it out on his own, but he still continued to believe in Yui.

 

Even Aoi, who saw their exchange, felt sorry for her.

 

“Seriously, that idiot…”

 

Because of that, even though she was supposed to be apologizing to him, Yui felt the urge to punch him in the face instead. But, she wasn’t that tactless, so she held herself back. Besides, this moment was for Karin and Takayuki to settle their problems. So far, Yui had been supporting Karin from behind, she couldn’t just step forward and ruin this moment for her.

 

“Oh my, your feelings seem complicated, but your thoughts are so simple, Takayama-chan.”

 

A few steps away from Yui, whose shoulders were trembling as she tried to hold back her irritation, was Reina. Unlike the other two who came with their casual clothes, Reina was wearing her usual sailor uniform. Considering the place they were at, no one would blame anyone who thought that she was a wandering ghost.

 

“Hm? Nanny, did you say something?”

“Nothing~”

“Really?”

 

Also, Yui was the only one in that place who couldn’t recognize Reina’s presence properly. She knew that Reina was there, but since they barely exchanged words and all their conversations were cut off short, it was hard for Yui to notice her. In fact, if Reina didn’t call out to her, she would have forgotten the fact that she was there.

 

“So, Himuro-san, does this mean that Takayama-san is affected by your side-effects?”

 

Aoi, who had been watching the situation between the two, approached Reina and whispered those words to her. While there was a possibility that Yui wouldn’t recognize their conversation due to the side-effects, Aoi didn’t feel comfortable talking about it out loud right in front of her face.

 

“Yes. People like Takayama-chan who believe strongly in common sense have a harder time recognizing my existence. But, because of that it’s really hard for her to be affected by the supernaturals. It’s hard for me to interact with her…or even to approach her in the first place.”

“So that’s why you’re standing strangely distant.”

 

Aoi’s and Reina’s conversation didn’t enter Yui’s ears. Normally, Yui would be aware of her surroundings, especially when people were talking nearby, but when Reina was involved, her brain just couldn’t recognize it somehow.

 

“Well, it’s usually Karin-chan who speaks with her, so there’s no problem.”

“I see, I understand… Also, is it okay for you to not be with Karin-chan?”

“Hehehe, it’s okay.”

 

Reina smiled gently before she narrowed her eyes.

 

“Sooner or later, I know that I have to let her go eventually…”

 

She muttered in a slow and sad tone.

 

At the end of her gaze were Karin and Takayuki, ready to confess their feelings to each other.

 

TL: Iyo

ED: Iyo

 

 

 

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