Chapter 4: Volume 1 - CH 1.4

The rain had stopped before I knew it. The sky was still entirely covered with clouds, but there were some gaps in the clouds, through which I could see a portion of the white moon.

The dark wet asphalt reflected the light of the streetlamps as if it had been sprinkled with glass powder. There are not many cars on this residential street, and it is very quiet at night.

My brother's apartment in the same town is about 15 minutes away by bicycle.

My brother is a graduate student in the humanities, and he started living alone while working part-time during his third year of college. The university was in Tokyo, it seems that he could have lived near there, but he rented a room in this Tokyo suburb because of the rent and because he felt at home in this characterless place.

In one of the few districts in the town, where there aren't many street lights, there was a two-story, long rectangular apartment where my brother lived. In front of the building, there is a small parking lot with gravel, and a large number of leaflets are stuck in the mailbox of an empty room. The lights attached to the building and the white-painted walls were yellowed, and the metal parts were rusted reddish brown and not very clean.

I got off my bike, parked it in the corner of the gravel parking lot, and stood in front of my brother's room on the leftmost side of the first floor. A piece of tape with the name "Sakamoto" printed on it was taped to an aluminum plate with a number of scuffed lines next to the door.

When I pressed the intercom, I could hear the muffled sound of a person moving behind the poorly soundproofed door.

"Yo. I've been waiting for you."

The door opened and my brother, with long hair, dyed dark brown, wearing dark jeans and a slim, open-chested, three-quarter sleeve shirt, appeared with a wry smile on his face.

In contrast to the shabby exterior and the flamboyance of the residents,  my brother's room was neat and tidy, and the furniture was uniformly black and brown. The large bookcase was filled with books, which blended naturally with the simple interior and gave the room an intellectual impression.

"If you're curious about Izumi, why don't you just come yourself?"

I sat down on the sofa in my brother's room, saying what I had just thought, and in the small 1DK room, this sofa and my brother's desk chair were the only places where I could sit calmly. On the desk was a desktop computer, a stack of some books, and a stack of A4-size papers of printed materials and papers.

My brother sat in his desk chair, spun his chair around to face me, and crossed his legs.

"You know, it's hard to talk about someone when mom and the person in question are around. ---So, what was this Rina-chan like?"

He asks me with a flirtatious smile.

This man had always been extremely popular. Moreover, he is not only popular with the ladies, but he is also the type to go out on his own, and he has been in relationships with several people. I can't believe that we are siblings because of his impressive communication skills. I think that all the qualities in that area were taken by my brother. Also, he is very smart. When I had an excellent person like this person as my brother, I often wondered what I was.

"Just a normal girl."

I answered shortly, just as I felt.

"So she's cute."

"Huh?"

I think I didn't say anything like that, and I tilted my head in doubt.

"Normal is basically a pretty good impression, you know."

At my brother's words, I angled my tilted head even deeper and pictured Izumi's face, which I had just learned. She was not extremely pretty, but her bearing and clothes were girlish, and she had a gentle manner. I don't think she is not cute at all.

"Kenichi, do you know what a good-looking man or a beautiful woman looks like?"

My brother began to talk as if he was going to tell me something interesting.

"---Like big eyes or a small face?"

When I replied, "No," my brother shook his head.

"No, I mean that they don't have any features. I heard it's technically called 'averageness' of the face. A person's face is often rated as attractive if it is close to the average face of the group to which he or she belongs."

"...... So?"

"If you call that girl normal, it means that subconsciously you likely got a good impression of her."

"......it's sound like a sophism."

When I said this, my brother laughed dryly, as if he had meant it as a joke.

"It was written in a book I read recently. I've been thinking for a while now that if I could connect this with the recent character theory, I'll be able to write interesting criticisms. I think it could be related to the "Stamp" and so on. What do you think?"

"I don't know."

I think he is still a serious person, as he immediately went to that side of the conversation. As if he had just thought of something, he got up from his seat and headed for the cramped kitchen, which is located near the entrance.

"You want something to drink?"

"Yeah," I replied and he came back with two glasses of Coke and handed me one of them. I said, "Thank you," and took a sip.

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"Well, I'm glad you didn't get a bad impression of her. Since it's you, I thought you'd have a lot of trouble with a girl your age."

"I think it must be more difficult for her than for me because of the change in environment and her school has gotten much further away."

"Where does she go?"

"Tomigaoka Girls."

"Heh. She's going to a good place, isn't she? There is a girl from there in my seminar. Indeed, it's a bit far from here. It must be tough since you have to be up early in the morning every day."

"That's right," I nodded.

After some small talk, my brother put his glass on the desk and tapped both knees with his hands.

"Kenichi," he said in formal tone.

I looked up and suddenly there was silence, and then I heard the sound of the soda popping in the glass in my hand.

"I'm warning you, don't put your hand on her. If that's the case, I'll introduce you to another pretty girl. She's probably older than you."

As expected, it will be like this, I thought

I quickly looked at my brother. He had a very serious expression on his face.

"I would never do that. I'm not you, Ryuu-kun."

When I said this, my brother also lost his good looks and said, "Hey, what do you mean by that?" in a joking, teasing tone.

Judging from the way he was so formal earlier, I think he probably wanted to say this more than he wanted to ask about Izumi.

"But, well, even if you don't want to talk about that, if you ever feel uncomfortable, you can always come over here."

"Mhm. Understood."

Then, the conversation came to a halt. I glanced at the wall clock and saw that it was almost ten o'clock. In the gap in the conversation, I slipped in a message from my mother.

"---Oh, by the way, Mom said she's allowed you to go to school, so you should show up once in a while."

My brother raised his face, the shadow of a smile still on it, and looked at me.

"Yeah. I'd like to meet that relative of ours, so I'll come out in a while."

Last year, when my brother was a senior in college, he had one big fight at home when he told mom about his plans for higher education and she objected. I was quite surprised at that time that my brother, who was so good at dealing with things but flashy, got really angry. But that's how strong he must have felt about his career path. He seems to be playing around, but he has been saving his part-time job money since he was an undergraduate student to prepare for higher education, and has even obtained a scholarship for graduate students that he does not have to pay back, so he seems to be in good financial shape. 

It has been a year since the fight, but I wonder if my brother still has some resentment toward mom. Even after he started living alone, he often came to our house to visit, but after that day, his visits to our house became much less frequent.

It has been a year since the fight, but I wonder if my brother still feels some resentment toward my mother. After he started living alone, he often came over to our house, but after that day, his visits to our house had become much less frequent.

"Are you still angry at mom for being against you that time?"

I boldly asked him.

"No, it's not like that. I know that mom's objection was for my sake. It's only natural, considering our father's situation... Somehow, I'm just embarrassed."

My brother replied with a slight smile as if it was nothing. That being said, there was no way for me to ask anything more. I see, I said. Then I drank the last of my remaining Coke and sat up from the couch.

"I'd better get back."

"Yeah," My brother nodded and sat up.

"Say hello to them for me."

"Yes, I understand."

I put on my shoes in the dimly lit foyer, opened the heavy, poorly-furnished apartment door, and stepped outside. 

Instantly, I smelled the damp air after the rain. The gravel parking lot was covered with muddy puddles in places.

The residential area was even quieter at this late hour of the night. From somewhere came the breezy sound of early summer winged insects.

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