Episode 80 – The Best Life

The summer heat and humidity and the sound of cicadas awaken me and I get up. The ceiling, now so familiar to me, even feels reassuring. I felt like I was having a nostalgic dream, but I couldn’t remember much of it.

“Yuuki kun, good morning. It’s hot again today, isn’t it?”

“Good morning. I don’t even want to think about August because it’s still July.”

Sensing that I had woken up, Natsuki entered the room. Since she was wearing an apron, she seemed to be in the middle of making breakfast.

After washing my face and correcting my bed habits, I went to the living room and had breakfast with Natsuki. I had to save some money, so it was a simple meal, but it was always very tasty nonetheless.

After finishing breakfast in a bit of a hurry, I put away the dishes and Natsuki started getting ready. I put the dishes away and started getting ready, and just when I was finished, the intercom rang.

We walked to the front door and opened it to find them standing there as usual.

[Yuuki (Nii), Natsuki, good morning.]

[Good morning.]

“Let’s go quickly. If it gets any hotter, we’re really going to melt.”

Shiori and Riko, who live in the room next door, visit our house at a certain time every morning. We also get ready at that time and leave the house at the same time every morning. This was the routine for the four of us.

Following Shiori’s words, we started walking to the station.

☆☆☆

It has been about four years since my first year of high school. As Natsuki had told me before, I worked hard and entered the university Shiori and Natsuki attended. Riko followed suit and entered this year, and now we are all attending the same university.

Shiori went on to graduate school and is now in her fifth year. Natsuki is in her fourth year and I’m in my third year. Riko is in her first year. It was difficult for the four of us to share an apartment, so we rented rooms next to each other, and I live with Natsuki, and Shiori and Riko live with each other.

Compared to high school, I think things have calmed down. When I was in the first year of high school, every day was exciting and we did various things, but recently I have literally calmed down.

It’s not that the feeling of liking each other has faded, but there was a kind of reassurance that we will be together forever.

All four of us, myself included, were a little more mature than we had been in high school. Riko complained that her breasts haven’t grown since middle school, but I think she had gone from childish to mature.

Shiori came back to her hometown every week until I entered college, and Natsuki did the same. After the three of us except Riko went off to college, I started visiting Riko every week, and I thought I understood why she was coming back to her hometown.

Anyway, many things happened, but I enjoyed every day and was happy.

Everyday without change. At best, it was peaceful. At worst, it may have been boring, but for me, this life was more important than anything else.

When I woke up in the morning, my girlfriends were there, and we went to college together. When I returned home from college, the person on duty that day would cook dinner, and we would eat it while chatting and laughing together. In the evening, I would watch a movie with Natsuki or play games with Shiori and Riko. Of course, when the mood was right, we would do things like that.

Happiness that never changes. We realized the importance of this. It may feel good to feel a lot of happiness all at once. But we realized that each small happiness was more important than that.

Sweat beads on my forehead in the summer heat, and I wipe the sweat off my forehead and look up at the sky.

“…..I’m a lucky guy.”

“Yuuki Nii, what’s up with you all of a sudden? ……But well, just like Yuuki Nii, we are happy too, right?”

[Of course.]

Natsuki and Shiori were like real sisters, even though she still calls her [senpai].

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“Hey, Yuuki.”

“Hmm?”

I looked at Shiori.

“I like you.”

“Ah, I love you, too !”

“I you you too.”

Natsuki and Riko followed suit, and my cheeks reddened a little when they suddenly said that to me. Even if I was embarrassed, I felt that it was wrong for me not to say anything here.

“I love you all too.”

The three of them turned red up to their necks at those words, each of them holding their cheeks, cowering, and writhing. As I watched, feeling a little embarrassed, I could hear the sounds of applause coming from the crowd around me.

I looked around and saw that there were quite a few people, and feeling embarrassed, I took the three of them with me and slipped out of the circle with an impassive look on my face.

After walking for a while, when the number of people had decreased, the three of them complained to me. I told them that it was the three of them who had started it in the first place, and they couldn’t say anything and stopped complaining.

I burst out laughing, and the three of them laughed along with me.

Their laughter made me feel that another great day had just begun.

(Fin)

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