Chapter 63: Volume 2 - CH 3.7

In the end, the way I called Izumi remained the same as her family name. My mother made fun of my "Rina-san" remark several times after that, and Izumi smiled as if she was troubled by it, but after Izumi and I were away for a few days on a school trip at the same time, the atmosphere at home and the relationship between her and me were back to normal.

Two weeks later, on the first holiday in November, the Sakamoto family decided to put out a kotatsu.

The kotatsu itself had a halogen heater, but the kotatsu cover was old, and my mother was thinking of buying a new one soon, so the three of us went shopping for winter household goods that afternoon.

Izumi was happy that it had been a long time since she had been shopping. She was wearing a deep red turtleneck sweater with a long black skirt and her usual leather pouch slung over her shoulder. The wintery, calm colors of her fashion suited her well.

We drove to the shopping mall where we had gone the day after Izumi's arrival at our house in June. The atmosphere of the stores had changed a lot since then. Fan heaters and stoves were lined up in the home appliance section, which used to display fans and air conditioners with background music of wind chimes, and mannequins wearing sweaters and coats were standing in the clothing section, which used to display summer clothes.

We bought kotatsu covers, tatami chairs, and cushions at an interior design store, and at the request of Izumi and my mother, we also bought an expensive ice cream containing chestnuts for more than 300 yen, which is only available in autumn, and sat down in a food court crowded with holiday shoppers. The leaves on the trees by the window were tinged with red and yellow, fluttering and falling in the wind.

Izumi was talking to my mother about a school trip. The destination was in Kyushu, the same area as my school, but the place of stay and the dates were different. Izumi and I each bought a box of sweets as a souvenir, and just like during the summer vacation, our box of snacks increased in quantity.

After spending our autumn holiday in this way, we returned home when the sun began to set. I put down the electric carpet, took out the halogen heater kotatsu that had been stored in the closet in my mother's room, and placed it in the middle of the living room in front of the sofa.

Then, I removed the tabletop and placed three tatami chairs between the kotatsu covers that my mother and Izumi had chosen after consulting with each other. The chairs were brown and simple, which was fine, but the kotatsu cover was red with a floral pattern, and the atmosphere in the house suddenly became very girly.

Izumi and my mother immediately sat down on the chairs and turned on the heater.

"It's so warm," Izumi said happily, still dressed in her clean clothes for going out.

"I'm glad since I haven't used a kotatsu much."

My mother also smiled and said, "I see."

"The only heaters we used were fan heaters."

"They say apartments are warmer than single-family homes."

"I think I'll make progress if I study here. I guess I'll study for my next test here."

"Rina-chan, as expected you're a serious girl. Kenichi and Ryuuichi used to play video games on the kotatsu all winter long when they were little."

"Hmmm. Speaking of which, do you have any pictures of Kenichi-kun and Ryuuichi-san from that time?"

"Unfortunately, we don't take pictures of that kind of thing at all."

"It's kind of sad, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Now I kind of wonder if I should have left more stuff behind."

"I guess so."

When the conversation between my mother and Izumi settled down, Izumi said to me as I sat at the dining table drinking tea, "Kenichi-kun, why don't you go into the kotatsu?"

"Ummm"

I was a little embarrassed to join the kotatsu with Izumi and my mother in it. It seemed to me that sitting around the kotatsu was more intimate than sitting at the dining table.

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---I think I'm overthinking this.

This kind of shyness and such must be overcome.

"Come here, come here," Izumi said, excitedly. She had been looking happy since this morning.

"Kenichi, do bring me some snacks on the way," my mother continued.

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I knew that refusing to do so would also make me overly conscious of my distance from her, so I took one of the boxes of snacks from the kitchen cabinet, placed it on top of the kotatsu, and then entered the kotatsu. My toe touched someone's foot. Izumi jumped. Our eyes met. I apologized just with my eyes, and she gave a small shake of her head.

Then my mother turned on the TV and the three of us drank tea together. 

"Kotatsu is great. We didn't use them at home, so I didn't really understand. It makes one feel like family," Izumi said, and my mother agreed with her. 

"Since we've brought out the kotatsu, let's have a nabe for dinner tonight."

"Nabe in kotatsu! We've never done this at home!"

Izumi's eyes lit up.

After that, I returned to my room, leaving Izumi and my mother eating sweets on the kotatsu. The air in the room I had just entered was colder than in the living room where the three of us had been together. It was already dark outside the window. I turned on the light and the glass reflected me in my long-sleeved T-shirt and the inside of the room.

I sit down on a chair, took a mechanical pencil out of my pen case, and somehow twirled it around in my hand. This is the third notebook for independent study that I have kept on my desk with my textbooks and reference books. The study that I began in the summer had been going on to a surprising extent, even for me.

However, this was more due to Izumi's influence than my own will. I saw her many times studying in the house, and I became concerned about the idle time I was spending at home, which I had not even been aware of before.

When it came time for dinner, I went downstairs and helped prepare dinner. I put the portable stove and earthenware pot on top of the kotatsu and filled the gas cylinder. In the middle of the cooking, Izumi changed into her loungewear, a parka and long pants, and came downstairs to put tofu, shirataki mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, and ribs, which my mother had cut up, into the pot.

As the pot came to a simmering boil, a delicious aroma and warm steam spread throughout the living room. The udon noodles were added when the ingredients were eaten, and the portable stove was turned on again to simmer.

After the udon noodles were cooked and softened, we drank tea for a while after eating. The living room was further warmed by the pot. The windowpane was hazy and foggy.

Today's dinner was much larger than usual. A little while later, my mother returned to her room after receiving a call on her cell phone.

Izumi and I were both playing with our phones, when she suddenly said, "I ate well," stretched out, and fell down from her chair to the side. Her hair hung down noiselessly and spread on the carpet. A satisfied smile appeared on Izumi's face as she lay back down.

As I watched this figure, my eyes met Izumi's, who had rolled over. The front of her parka, which had been left unzipped, was now open, and I could clearly see the bulge of her chest through her shirt, at a strange angle.

Izumi rushed to get up, muttering, "Ah," with her smile still on her face. Then she sat back down in her chair,

"I'm so full, I just can't......help it."

She said that with an embarrassed look on her face.

"......Yeah...... No, it's fine...... Sometimes I fall asleep on the kotatsu too......" 

Then she tilted her head slightly to the side with a "Hmm?"

"I wonder why people catch colds when they sleep under a kotatsu."

"Who knows......?"

Izumi seemed to be curious and began to search on her phone.

The TV, which was left on, was showing the weather forecast. The weekly forecast showed that the temperature was going to drop day by day. The newscaster informed us that November is the month when the temperature drops the most during the year. The new red kotatsu cover, still unfamiliar to me, smelled like a new winter.

"It seems that the difference in temperature between the lower and upper body causes the body to have trouble regulating its temperature."

"......I see."

Izumi said that, exhaled with a huff as if refreshed, and put the phone on the kotatsu.

Izumi had somehow become deeply integrated into our home. She no longer seemed as stiff or stuffy as before. And Izumi Rina, a distant relative who had seemed like a stranger at first, had become as close to me as if she were a real family.

At the end of the year, Izumi would return to her original home. That day was gradually approaching. When I thought about it, a feeling of loneliness sank coldly into the depths of my consciousness.

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