My Ex-Girlfriend’s Sister Ran Away to My Room, and We Can’t Stop Making Mistakes. - Chapter 40: Her Family.

Her Family.

“I knew it was you, Saki-kun.”

Ayumu gave a gentle smile. When she looked at Rinsu sitting on top of me, a look of mild curiosity crossed her face.

“Is she… your girlfriend?”

“Wrong aru. I’m a massage parlor employee. I take good care of him aru.”

“Take care of him?”

“Down there, ne.”

“Hey, hey. Cut it out.”

“The other day was quite spectacular, too ne.”

“Seriously, stop.”

“Ahaha. You guys seem to be having fun.”

Ayumu giggled, her eyes narrowing as she watched us.

“And you’re clutching that maid uniform so dearly, too. What were you up to?”

“Ah, no, this isn’t what it looks like…”

“It’s fine. Everyone has their own preferences.”

“It really isn’t what you think.”

“Where’s Mii? Did she say she wasn’t coming?”

“I’m sorry. I lost track of her.”

“So she disappeared…”

Ayumu smiled, looking somewhat troubled.

“Somehow, I had a feeling this would happen. She’s been avoiding me constantly lately.”

“I don’t even know where she went.”

“It’s fine. Let’s just talk, the three of us.”

“Can I stay too aru?”

“Of course. You’re more than welcome to.”

“Just kidding aru. I have no desire to get dragged into a lovers’ quarrel aru.”

With that, Rinsu stood up and brushed the park sand off her coat.

“Well, that’s that. Make sure to come by the shop again, ne. I’ll give you plenty of extra service aru.”

Rinsu hopped onto a battered bicycle that looked like it had been stolen from somewhere and quickly pedaled away.

Watching her receding figure, Ayumu smiled with genuine interest.

“What an entertaining friend.”

“She’s not really a friend, though.”

“I wish I had friends. When it comes to other women, my mom is the only person I ever talk to.”

Ayumu sat down beside me on the bench, raising her arms to take a deep stretch.

“My first time in Tokyo since junior high.”

“How did you know I was here?”

“Well, I suddenly got a Line message saying ‘I can’t meet up,’ so I thought something felt off.”

“A Line message?”

“I mean, I figured it wasn’t actually from you, Saki-kun.”

Ayumu pulled her smartphone from her pocket and showed me the screen. There it was: a message sent from my account to hers, reading, Turns out I can’t make it after all. Sorry.

“Mii did that.”

“Most likely. That’s why I called your mom and asked for your address. She was really worried about you, you know. Have you not been keeping in touch?”

“Not really.”

“I see. Well, I’m not exactly one to talk.”

Looking a bit awkward, she turned her head toward me. Our eyes met. Her clear, untainted gaze looked straight into mine.

We stayed like that for a while. I simply stared back at Ayumu without saying a word. There were parts of her that had changed, but so much of her remained exactly the same.

I wondered what she was thinking right now.

“I’m sorry.”

Ayumu spoke first, breaking the silence.

“I’ve wanted to apologize for so long.”

She looked down as she spoke, her gaze cast low. Her eyelashes trembled slightly in the breeze.

“Dropping out of school, getting married without saying a word, never reaching out… I know I did the absolute worst thing possible. I felt like I didn’t even have the right to show my face to you.”

“It’s fine. I’m the one who should be sorry for not being able to do anything.”

“I told you over the phone, but that’s not true. The one who did something horrible was me.”

I’m the one who hurt you, Saki-kun, she said, her voice dropping to a heavy, somber tone.

“I couldn’t think about anyone but myself. Back then, when I went back home, I was completely overwhelmed by how awful everything felt. Once my father’s funeral was over, I felt entirely hollow. Part of me just wanted to die. I was even too terrified to open your messages on Line.”

“Yeah.”

“But when I thought about Mii and my mom, I realized I had to be the one to do something. Because I was the one who broke our family, I had to be the one to fix it.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Ayumu.”

“No, it had to be my fault. I couldn’t keep going unless I believed it was my doing. I had to carry the guilt myself. I couldn’t bear to watch anyone else suffer.”

“You’re so kind, Ayumu. You really are.”

No, I’m not, she insisted, shaking her head vigorously.

“I was just playing the tragic heroine. I wanted to be the pitiful one. By pretending to shoulder all the sadness, I wanted to make sure nobody could blame me.”

She dropped out of high school. She started working. By keeping herself as busy as humanly possible, she learned how to stop thinking. She explained all this with her head still bowed.

“And by doing that, I shut you out of my world too, Saki-kun.”

To say it didn’t hurt would be a lie. Her words pierced deep into my chest.

“Because you were my happiness, Saki-kun. And at that time, that was just too heavy for me to carry.”

The way she laid bare her raw, unfiltered emotions was barely any different from when she was a high schooler. She had spoken the exact same way back then, at that bus stop.

“I loved you, Saki-kun. I loved you so much.”

Back then, too, she had spoken with those same unembellished words.

“But I couldn’t bring myself to contact you. I knew that if I did, you’d tell me you wanted to run away with me again. And if I did that… Mii, my mom, and my dad…”

The shop my dad loved so much… she continued.

“I might have abandoned my own family. In the end, I chose them over you.”

Having said all that, Ayumu pressed her hands to her face and let out a long, heavy breath.

“Even that is just an excuse. I’m sorry. Ultimately, I just took the easy way out.”

“It’s okay. I wanted to hear your real feelings.”

“You’re so gentle, Saki-kun.”

“I’m not. I’m exactly the same as you.”

I took a deep breath, filling my lungs before letting it all out. I needed to sort through my own feelings.

“I was just playing the tragic protagonist myself.”

It wasn’t as if nothing could have been done. If I had just taken that step forward, if I had reached out my hand and fought for our happiness, things might have turned out differently. I might have been able to stay by her side.

“But it doesn’t matter now. We can never get that time back.”

Because everything had already drifted into the past. Like a completely empty train pulling away into the distance, the things that have gone will never return.