Chapter 7: Echoes of Winter

I arrived home a little later than usual.

Thanks to Nina and Mitsuru, everyone else had already finished their baths. I’d taken a quick shower before leaving the other place, so I immediately started preparing dinner.

“Big bro, need any help?”
“I can handle it alone. Mitsuru, you can go do your homework.”

“No homework today. Besides, cooking counts as home economics prep, right?”
“You don’t need to prep for home economics.”

“Shut up. Just let me do it.”

Mitsuru’s words were rough, but his underlying kindness always shone through. He was athletic and surprisingly good at detailed tasks like sewing. He probably just had better control over his body than most people.

“Alright, then chop the vegetables. There’s a lot today.”

One whole cabbage, two carrots, and some shimeji mushrooms. Mitsuru’s eyes widened at the sight of the three vegetables lined up.

“Whoa, hold on, big bro. That’s a lot.”
“It’s fine, it’s for today.”

Mitsuru blinked a few times, then suddenly spun around.

“Sis! Big bro’s gotten himself into some shady business!”
“I haven’t!”

Nina came rushing over, her footsteps heavy.
Spank! A clean snap echoed as she smacked Mitsuru on the head.

“Quiet. There’s no way Itsuki-nii would do anything bad.”
“…But still, buying this many vegetables is weird, right?”

“He’s working hard to earn money for us. Itsuki-nii is amazing, so don’t be surprised by something like this!”

While watching the two of them, I slowly pulled out a pack of pork from the shopping bag. It cost about 900 yen, so it was a pretty big piece.

“Um, actually, I bought meat too.”
“Itsuki-nii, should we go to the police?”

Nina grabbed my arm, looking up at me with pleading eyes.
My credibility just crumbled in an instant. The level of trust where they think I can afford vegetables but not meat… just how low is that?

“Well, I get why you’re surprised. I almost ran away a few times while waiting in line at the register. But don’t worry. I just earned a bit more than usual today.”
“Earned more… how much?”

“20,000.”
“20,000!?”

Nina and Mitsuru jumped back, startled. For middle schoolers who were starting to understand the value of money, it must have been a shocking amount.

“Hey, sis. Did he say twenty thousand yen?”
“Did it sound like that to you too, Mitsuru? Because it did to me.”

Now they’re doubting their own ears.

“20,000 yen means 600,000 a month, right?”
“Idiot. Let Itsuki-nii rest.”

“We could build a house with that!”
“We’re not building anything. It’s not that much, so calm down.”

“But still…”
“It’s Itsuki-nii, after all.”

“…Well, it is big bro.”

Nina, looking slightly confused herself, tried to calm down the utterly bewildered Mitsuru.
This isn’t going anywhere…

“Can I start cooking?”
“Hey, big bro, you should go rest. Sis and I will do it.”
“That’s right. Itsuki-nii, go play over there.”

Driven out by the two of them, I went from the kitchen to the living room.

Seika, Sena, and Mutsuki greeted me. I usually couldn’t spend much time with them because of housework, so I was treated like a rare character and showered with attention.

Before long, a delicious smell wafted from the kitchen.

“Food?”
“Food!”
“Fooood.”

The three who had made themselves comfortable on my lap all stood up at once and headed for the kitchen.

“Ugh!”

Kids are powerful. They jumped off my lap so suddenly that I tumbled onto the tatami mat.

“Hey! You can’t just leave Itsuki-nii behind!”

Nina scolded them, and the three came back. Sena grabbed my right hand, Seika my left, and Mutsuki clung to my stomach.

With beaming smiles, Sena and Seika pulled on my arms.

“Let’s go!”

The twins were perfectly in sync. I stood up, holding Mutsuki in my arms.

Forced into a chair by Nina and Mitsuru, the two of them stood with their hands together.

““““““Let’s eat!””””””

The six of us said it in unison.
It had been ages since we last had yakisoba with meat. Watching everyone eat so enthusiastically made me smile.

I’ll do my best again tomorrow.

◇

–In a world unbelievably white, a siren echoes.

A once-in-a-decade blizzard had painted the normally snow-free city pure white. My fingertips, now bright red, were numb. My feet inside my boots felt like frozen sticks. I inhaled, and the air alone stung my lungs. My breath crystallized in the air.

A utility pole. Yellow tape stretched around it. A crowd of people. A flashing red light of an ambulance, police car, fire truck. In the center, a black car, crushed and mangled.

–My father was inside that.

I, who didn’t understand the meaning of death, stood there in a daze. But even as a child, I could tell that something essential had broken, like a gear slipping out of place.
Our lives began to deteriorate rapidly from that day, that moment.

That’s why it returns to me, again and again.
The unbearable regret, the powerlessness that mocks me even when time rewinds, preventing me from doing anything. This winter replays countless times.

The boy who had been staring at the accident slowly turned around.

–Isshiki Itsuki.
That was me.

“Why are you ignoring me?”
“… …”

I couldn’t say anything. No sound came out. The cold seeped into my very core as I desperately tried to make a noise. It traveled from my mouth to my throat, my lungs, my heart. Cold. Freezing. Painful. Everything was becoming numb.

Ah, I’m so sleepy…

“There’s no need to ask Nina.”

I know.
I know that much.

“Magic is a mirror that reflects the heart. Not just an aspiration.”

The boy with the pitch-black eyes stated it matter-of-factly.
Even the inside of his open mouth was dark, and the coldness of the night seemed to leak out from it.

“You should use me.”

–No.

“Why?”

–I’m already…
–I hate being cold.

Dark.
…Ah, it’s still this early.

I sat up in bed, placing a hand on my chest. My heart was pounding like a drum. The veins all over my body felt like they were about to burst. I was covered in a cold sweat. I tried to regulate my trembling breath, but deep breaths didn’t calm me down no matter how many times I repeated them. My mouth felt sticky.

“Itsuki-nii, are you alright?”

Nina’s voice came from a little ways away. It seemed I had woken her up.

“Sorry. I’m fine.”

I got up and went to the kitchen. I poured myself a glass of water and drank it. The cold liquid passing through my throat made me feel a little better.

I wiped my body with a damp towel and tried to go back to sleep.
The fingertips I pressed against my face were terribly cold.

◇

Meanwhile, at a certain bar, the three members of “Monthly” were drinking.

The leader, a young man named Shigeatsu, stared wide-eyed, gripping his condensed glass as if it would break.

“Shiraishi-san… went to the dungeon…?”

His eyes, which had been wide open for a while, were bloodshot, and his jaw, which couldn’t close, was chattering.

“Did she get adventure-married… to someone other than me…?”
“Easy there, Shigeatsu-dono, easy now.”

“How can I stay calm?! You have no idea how much I think about Shiraishi-san… and she’s with some guy I don’t even know…!”

Mitsui, a slender, bespectacled, otaku-ish man, patted Shigeatsu’s back.

“It’s frustrating, isn’t it? I understand your feelings well, Shigeatsu-dono. Even though I liked her first…. but that’s a path no man can avoid.”

Next to them, the large man Genzo was gulping down sake. He must have already drunk over a whole Isshō, but his pace didn’t slow down at all.
He glanced at Shigeatsu with a look of exasperation.
[TL/N: Isshō (一升) is a traditional Japanese unit of volume, about 1.8 liters, commonly used for sake]

“Pathetic, getting all worked up over a woman.”
“‘Just a woman’?! Shiraishi-san is a goddess! Worship her! Put up a bronze statue in your house–no, wait, don’t!”

“Sheesh, you’re loud. By the way, it seems she even had a meal with that guy.”
“Did she have a meal-marriage… with someone other than me…?”

“They probably just ate a meal.”

Genzo crunched on a pickled cucumber, looking uninterested.
Shigeatsu bit his lower lip, his face contorted in anguish.

“That guy… I’ll definitely find him… and if he’s not worthy of Shiraishi-san…”
“Then what will you do, Shigeatsu-dono?”

“I’ll kill him.”
“Killing is bad, Shigeatsu-dono.”
“Should we just fire this guy already?”

The two let out deep sighs at their leader’s embarrassing behavior.