My Ex-Girlfriend’s Sister Ran Away to My Room, and We Can’t Stop Making Mistakes. - Chapter 31: Anywhere and Everywhere.

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Anywhere and Everywhere.

It was the first time I’d seen Ayumu cry since elementary school.

She was sitting in a daze on a bench at a bus stop a short distance from our houses, staring up at the stark blue summer sky. Tears traced down her cheeks, mingling with sweat before silently dripping onto her pleated school skirt.

“This might be the end,” she murmured as I sat beside her, the words spilling out of her. “Our family… I don’t think we can ever go back to how we were.”

Like a balloon filled to the absolute brink of bursting.

That was the expression on her face. Ayumu, who never usually showed a shred of weakness, choked on her words again and again as the tears kept falling.

“They’re selling the house.” “My dad…” “He drank again.” “Apparently he borrowed money from some shady place.” “It’s completely obvious that we’re trapped.” “My mom’s health isn’t good either.” “When I said I was going to drop out of high school…” “He hit me.” “And then Dad…” “He said he was sorry and apologized.” “But I just can’t forgive him.”

She closed her eyes, and another tear spilled over.

“I don’t know what to do.”

A humid breeze brushed against my skin. Underneath my shirt, I felt a sticky, unpleasant sweat.

“I’m still just a kid. That’s what makes this so incredibly frustrating.”

Ayumu clenched her fists tight.

“Not a single good thing ever happens. I want to run away. I want to get out of a place like this right now. I want to grow up faster.”

I had been watching over Ayumu for so long.

For the past two years, she had spent every single day enduring one hardship after another, bottling everything inside.

I couldn’t just stand by and leave her like this anymore.

“Let’s run away.”

I wanted to make her wish come true.

“Let’s run away somewhere far, far away.”

“Somewhere… where?”

“Anywhere. Let’s just forget about all the awful things.”

Ayumu quietly cast her eyes downward, staring at the ground.

“It’s impossible.”

“I’ve got money saved up from my part-time job. I haven’t touched a single yen of it. We can survive on that for a while.”

“But… what about Mii and Mom?”

“Once things settle down, we’ll come back for them. For now, let’s just escape, just the two of us.”

“Are we abandoning them?”

“We can’t carry everything on our backs.”

Her mother would only stop us. And Mii was still in elementary school; it was impossible to drag her along from place to place.

“I just want you to be happy, Ayumu.”

That was the only thing I could do. I couldn’t bear to see the person I loved getting hurt right in front of me anymore.

“Let’s run away together. We’ll find happiness out there.”

I knew I was being reckless. There were countless hurdles waiting for a couple of high school students trying to make it on their own. It wasn’t as if we had any clear outlook for the future.

Even so, it had to be a hell of a lot better than this.

The sinking sun reflected off the bus stop sign, sending flashes of dazzling light cutting across my vision over and over again.

“Really…?”

Ayumu let out a breath. It was a deep, heavy sigh that felt as though it had been dragged from the very depths of her soul.

“Is it really okay for me to run away?”

“It’s fine. You’ve endured more than enough, Ayumu.”

“I know I’m doing something wrong. I know it’s a completely selfish choice. I know I’m causing trouble for my family… and for you, Saki-kun.”

She lifted her head and looked straight at me. Her cheeks were flushed red and burning.

“But if you’re the one telling me to, Saki-kun… I feel like I actually can be happy.”

“Yeah.”

“Will you run away with me?”

“Of course.”

I reached out my hand.

Rubbing her eyes to wipe away the tears, she took hold of my hand.

“Thank you.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“The station, for starters.”

“Do you have a change of clothes?”

“No. But I’ll buy some somewhere. What about you, Saki-kun?”

“I’ll just buy whatever I need along the way too.”

“Don’t you need to tell your aunt or anyone?”

“I’ll text her over LINE later. She’ll probably read between the lines and understand.”

“I see.”

“Then let’s move fast. The train’s going to get here.”

I placed her bag into the bicycle basket. Ayumu straddled the rear rack, wrapping her arms securely around my back.

We began riding down the slope toward the station. If we just kept coasting down this gentle hill, the station would come into view.

“Hey, what are you going to do with this bike?”

“Abandon it in front of the station.”

“What a waste. Didn’t you buy that when you started high school?”

“We don’t have time. If we miss the next train, the one after that isn’t for another hour.”

“So you’re throwing everything away.”

“Yeah. Throwing it all away.”

The grip of her hands tightened around me. I felt the soft touch of her cheek pressing against my back.

“We’re really eloping, aren’t we…?”

“Are you scared?”

“I feel like I’m doing something incredibly wicked. My heart is pounding so hard.”

“Mine too. I’m incredibly nervous.”

“Will we be okay… just the two of us?”

“We’ll be fine. As long as we’re together.”

“You’re right.”

The wind rushing past us felt wonderful against our skin.

“We’ll be fine, definitely.”

***

We abandoned the bicycle near a shopping mall and bought some clothes at a thrift shop. To avoid raising any suspicion that we were students skipping out, we changed out of our uniforms in the restroom.

The sun continued its slow descent. The evening light bathed the concrete of the train platform in a warm, fading glow.

Sitting on a bench, we waited for the train to arrive. Ayumu pulled her hat down low over her eyes, staring fixedly down the tracks.

“Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka…” she murmured softly. “We really can go absolutely anywhere, can’t we?”

“Where sounds good to you?”

“Anywhere is fine. As long as it’s far away.”

The train slid smoothly into the station, its brakes letting out a sharp, high-pitched screech.

“As long as I’m with you, Saki-kun… I’ll go anywhere.”

Taking her by the hand, I led her onto the train. There were barely any passengers inside. The old, worn-out train car gave a slight shudder and slowly began to move forward.

Soon, the train plunged into a tunnel.

A faint reflection flickered against the pitch-black darkness outside the window. Caught within that beam of light, I could see the silhouette of Ayumu, her head resting gently against my shoulder.

Reflected in the glass, her face looked entirely at peace. It was a gentle, secure expression I hadn’t seen on her in years.

The moment I saw that face, I knew from the absolute bottom of my heart that pulling her along with me had been the right choice.