―PiPiPiPiPiPiPi…

“——!?”

The alarm jolted me awake. The sudden beeping of the alarm caused my heart to protest by beating loudly. Thinking that I must’ve overslept just like the other day, I turned to check the clock on my dresser. It turned out that I had woken up 30 minutes earlier than usual.

Recalling that last night it was me who changed the settings on my clock due to my own carelessness, I went and patted my still protesting heart to calm down.

“Fuaa~ah.”

I walked down the stairs while biting back a big yawn. The morning sun felt softer and more somber than usual.

“… Shiyori.”

“…?!”

As I was walking into the kitchen, I came across Shiyori pouring milk into a cup.

Her body, which stiffened the moment she saw me, was dressed in a jersey. On top of all that was her messy head of hair which made it look like she had just woken up.

I had only seen her look neat and proper in the past, so seeing her look so carefree was rather refreshing to experience.

My lips unintentionally loosened up upon seeing her relaxed figure.

“Ah, umm – good morning.”

“!!!”

I greeted her as usual, but Shiyori’s face turned a beet red and she ran away to the bathroom just like a scared rabbit upon seeing me.

After that, I could hear the sound of the hair dryer being blasted at full speed.

… Did I do something wrong?

Unlike me, who always wanted to sleep right up until the last minute, Shiyori was an early riser so our morning hours usually didn’t overlap.

Afterward, the sound of the hair dryer coming from the washroom stopped. Next, I heard the sound of her running up the stairs.

While listening to Shiyori making her preparations in a hurry, I also went ahead and quickly brewed a nice cup of coffee in the kitchen.

Just when the series of sounds finally stopped, Shiyori suddenly appeared in the kitchen.

This time, our positions looked completely opposite to what took place at our earlier meeting.

She was twirling the ends of his long, glossy, manicured hair, with her cheeks slightly flushed red. The collar of her blouse was tightly closed, giving away the impression of a neat, proper, and serious-looking beautiful girl.

“Nn… goo, a very good morning to you too…”

“Ou~”

Shiyori whispered that somewhat shyly as if to continue where she left off at. Her eyes had a somewhat slightly resentful look to them as well. I had no idea why.

“…”

We decided to have breakfast together just like that. As usual, silence reigned and only the sound of chewing toast kept us company.

Even though there was no conversation taking place, the atmosphere was somewhat comfortable at this time.

Shiyori still seemed embarrassed about letting me see her without her makeup on, but in my memories, I didn’t feel like there was anything awkward about it in the first place. Yet for some reason, while drinking the coffee, I began to feel annoyed.

Why did I have to get up this early for? I scolded myself

“… Let’s go to school together, can we?”

It took a great deal of courage to say that sentence and yet that sentence ended up in the form of a question.

― Between siblings, it was normal to ask if they wanted to go to school together or not. It was a rather common and normal matter.

But for some reason, in the short time that it took for her to reply to me, I started to feel choked up. It was a feeling akin to drowning.

「…Un」

Seeing Shiyori nod her head, I felt an amount of heat spread across my chest.

We walked toward school earlier than usual. Just like the other day, I was at the front while Shiyori followed behind me slightly in the back.

“…”

That position felt to me just right. Also, because we were walking to school together, we didn’t really talk. The occasional sound of breathing from the other person made me feel nostalgic for some reason I had no way of explaining.

It was as if things had been familiar between us from the very beginning … Eh, did something like this happen in the past…?

It felt strange. No, it might be that I was forgetting something―

“… Ah”

“U~to!”

Shiyori seemed to be falling behind because of the difference in our walking speed. She tried to hurry up a little, but in doing so, lost her balance.

I immediately grabbed hold of Shiyori’s and supported her before she could plop face-first to the ground.

Perhaps feeling embarrassed that it was the second time in just two days, Shiyori’s face turned bright red up to her ears.

“Sorry, let’s try coordinating our walking speed a bit more–”

“H-How about this?!”

When I said that, I quickly let go of her hand. This time, Shiyori quickly grabbed hold of my hand instead.

That took me totally by surprise.

The speed of her actions was completely different from the always-calm Shiyori. I felt her cool palm against my skin.

Until now, having my hand be forcibly taken by someone like this was only done by cousin Mashiro in the past.

Due to the small distance between us, the scent of Shiyori’s hair drifted into my nostrils and started to dissolve my reasoning slowly as that scent tickled my nostrils continuously.

“Sta—-, till the station!”

My body grew stiff and tense all at once. I just barely understood that she wanted to go to the station like this all the way there. With a blank mind, I moved with her in the direction of the station.

“…”

As we walked, we kept silent again. But from my left side, I could clearly feel that Shiyori was in a good mood right then.

Occasionally, she would place more strength into our clasped hands as if to confirm something.

When I turned to look, my eyes met with Shiyori’s and she would look shy but smiled my way softly.

―That was totally unfair of Shiyori.

It was the shyest smile I had ever seen in my life. I raised the white flag in my mind as I was unable to say anything in return.

I couldn’t tell exactly, but perhaps this was her way of acting spoiled.

Upon arriving in front of the station, she let go of my hand shortly after.

As expected all along, it was most likely because she had grown conscious that people were looking at us. In all honesty, I couldn’t help but feel a bit regretful in my heart as well.

However, the current Shiyori was quite eye-catching. The people who came and went around us even took a second glance at the Shiyori. While all eyes were on her, Shiyori didn’t seem to like the attention too much. Her posture was crouched down with her shoulders narrowed toward one another.

Even though this time of day the train wasn’t as crowded, it still wasn’t empty enough to not sit shoulder to shoulder.

If it was inside the train, she would quite possibly be exposed to glances from all directions.

All I could do was stand by her side like a guard, trying to block people’s line of sight from her.

I couldn’t help but think that it would be nice if she could be a little proud that so many people were paying attention to her, but then again, it was just the other day that Shiyori changed how she dressed.

It was going to take some getting used to.

『―School Stop―School Stop』

In the meantime, we arrived at the station, which was next to the school. Students in the same uniforms as us were seen being released from each box of the train.

I already knew that my relationship with Shiyori was special. So thinking upfront, it would be better to go separately from here on out… It was when I was thinking on those terms that –

“… Ah.”

“… Nn?”

Somehow, the area around the ticket gate was especially chaotic and noisy at this time. It seemed like the ones who were making such a fuss were mainly students from our school as they involuntarily tilted their heads and chatted with each other.