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“Ah, welcome back, Maki-kun!”

After parking the bike in its original place, I entered the front desk. Shizuku-san was there in her work attire and greeted me.

It seemed like there were guests other than us today and she was taking care of them.

“How was your date with Umi-chan? Fun?”

“Yes. The water was clean and there was no one else there, we played in the water to our heart’s content.”

“Great! Anyway, the baths are ready if you want to use them. You can pick between the indoor and the open-air one, just let me know. Oh, right, where did Umi-chan go?”

“She went back to Mizore-san’s house to return her bike and plenty of other stuff… She said she’ll come back with Riku-san.”

“I see. Then, we’ll talk about dinner preparation when they get back.”

When I mentioned Riku-san, her expression turned gloomy for a second before it returned to her usual one.

I was about to ask her about it, but she seemed busy, so I decided to ask her when she was free, probably after dinner or something.

Currently, Umi should be interrogating Riku-san, so I would know the story from both sides eventually anyway.

That was if Shizuku-san was willing to talk.

After returning to my room, I donned my yukata and headed toward the open-air bath. There was no way that Umi and I would be able to take a bath together like last time and if we were to take a bath at the same time, we would remember the things that happened yesterday, so we decided to take our baths at different times.

So, I walked down the familiar hallway toward the entrance of the bath.

“Huh?”

In front of the entrance, there was a small yellow sign with the words ‘Cleaning in progress’ written in red letters.

As far as I knew, they should have finished cleaning by noon. The person on cleaning duty herself gave me the okay to use the bath. Did she forget to put the sign down? Well, there were employees other than Shizuku-san here, they were probably checking the place out or something.

But, there were no noises coming from inside.

“I’ll take a peek inside and see what happens…”

There were no signs of the other guests inside the changing room, so my actions wouldn’t be considered as rude.

I muttered, ‘Excuse me’ before gently opening the door.

As expected, there was no one here and there seemed to be no missing stuff inside the room, so there was probably no one using the bath–

“Ah, big brother!”

“Reiji-kun?”

When I turned my eyes toward the bath itself, Reiji-kun called out to me.

I see. He was the one using the bath.

Since it was Reiji-kun using the bath and not other customers, I decided to join in.

Before taking a dip, I took a shower first.

“Did you put that yellow sign there, Reiji-kun?”

“Mhm! Mama told me to!”

I knew it. People who didn’t know their work schedule wouldn’t use the bath if they saw that sign. Shizuku-san probably let me go in because unlike other customers, Reiji-kun was familiar with me, so it wouldn’t be a problem if I joined him.

“But, Mama said that if a guest comes, I have to leave…”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it, it’s only me. Besides, you just got in, right?”

“Yes, but…”

“It’s fine. Even if other guests come, they’ll think that we’re brothers, so it’s all good.”

I didn’t want to kick him out of here, I had a conscience. Besides, this seemed to be fun and I had no problem taking a bath with him.

“Brothers… Got it!”

Convinced, Reiji-kun dipped into the bath deeper before coming closer to me. After that gaming session we had earlier today, he seemed to enjoy spending time with me.

I never liked children that much, but thanks to him, I started to think that not every child was a menace.

“Big brother, you’re going home tomorrow?”

“Hm? Yes. I want to stay longer, but I have school… What about you, Reiji-kun?”

“My kindergarten starts tomorrow too…”

“I see.”

“But, I don’t want to go there…”

“Why?”

“I’d rather stay at home and play with you…”

It had only been a year or so since he moved here, so I guess he still wasn’t used to living here. I understood his feelings since I was in the same situation as him multiple times.

Back then, my family was still together, so I was luckier than him in that regard. He should be having a harder time than I was since his dad wasn’t with him.

“I see. I understand how you’re feeling, Reiji-kun.”

“You do?”

“Mhm. Until a while ago, I was always by myself. I hated my life in kindergarten and grade school. And like Reiji-kun, I only lived with my mom.”

“Your Papa is gone too?”

“Yes.”

“Aren’t you lonely?”

“It was lonely back then, but now, Umi… No… remember the big sister that was with me? She’s always staying by my side now.”

Thinking back, her existence was what brought color to my life. Ever since I met her, my circle of friends had started to grow little by little.

“Is that big sister your friend?”

“Yes. My most important friend.”

“I want a friend too…”

“I’m sure you can make some, Reiji.”

“Really?”

“Yes. As long as you try to.”

The fact that I had no friends until middle school wasn’t because of my environment, but because of myself.

Deep inside, I convinced myself that since I would be moving again, no one would want to be friends with me, so I decided to close my heart and didn’t make any attempts to befriend anyone.

However, after meeting Umi, I realized that if I had the courage to reach out, there would be someone who would answer. Of course not all of them would be good people, but the result wasn’t really important, the courage to try was.

I looked at Reiji-kun’s eyes. He stared back at me with a firm gaze, unbefitting of his age.

“Of course, you don’t need to start tomorrow. Everyone has their own pace. If you try to rush it, it will easily turn into a disaster. But, you know, if, for example, there’s someone you want to be friends with, try talking to them. That’s how I was able to make friends at my school.”

Coming from my mouth, those words felt weird to say, but that was what I experienced, so at least it was credible.

“I don’t understand…”

“Haha, sorry. I don’t know what to say at times like this, so I hope you could just keep my words in mind. Maybe it will come in handy in the future, who knows?”

After saying that, I patted his head… Right, my dad used to do this to me all the time… Well, there was nothing wrong with doing it to Reiji-kun, so I continued doing so.

“Big brother…”

“Yes?”

“Be my friend.”

“Sure.”

We were already friends, so I didn’t think that he needed to say that out loud, but this should be okay.

It would be a good experience for him at least.

After that, we took a bath together while randomly talking about games and whatever came to mind. After a while, we got out of the bath together.

“See you later, big brother!”

“Mm. See you later. That’s a promise, okay?”

After that we both parted ways.

Since I would be leaving tomorrow, I didn’t know when we would see each other again. But I wasn’t worried since we would always have the opportunity for it. We were friends after all.

This connection would never be broken.

As long as we didn’t try to break it with our own hands.

After parting with Reiji-kun, I headed toward the front desk where Shizuku-san was.

“Shizuku-san.”

“Ah, welcome back, Maki-kun. Did you have a good bath?”

“…Shizuku-san, what exactly happened between you and Riku-san?”

“Huh?! U-Um…”

This wasn’t any of my business, but I’ll try to use my ‘children’s selfishness’ card here.