06 Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl by Hajime Kamoshida

Author:Hajime Kamoshida [Kamoshida, Hajime]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yen On
Published: 2021-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

His father called that night. He had a lot of opinions about Sakuta’s love life, but that wasn’t why he’d called. Now that Kaede’s dissociative disorder had cleared up, her grandparents wanted to see her again. They hadn’t seen her once in two years.

So starting on the twenty-third, she’d be visiting their grandparents for a few days. Their father would be stopping by, too.

Just what Shouko had said would happen.

This definitely rattled him. And planted a growing certainty in his mind.

Kaede made a face and then said, “It’s better if I’m not around for Christmas, right?”

Shouko’s prediction had even been accurate down to his sister’s motives.

3

The day after his surprise date with Shouko—Saturday, December 13—Sakuta was working the late shift until nine, and he hit the bath the second he got home.

The hot water soothed the fatigue of a long day. If he could get Mai to coddle and scold him, he’d be fully recovered, but when he got out of the bath, she still wasn’t home.

He poked his head into the living room, still drying his hair. No Mai.

“You hear anything from Mai?” he asked. Kaede was at the kotatsu, watching TV. Shouko was taking her turn in the bath. He could hear the shower running. And her humming.

“Not yet.”

Mai had left early for her film shoot. The same one they’d done location work for in Kanazawa. They still had some interior scenes left, and they were shooting those on a soundstage in Tokyo.

But it was pretty late. He glanced at the clock above the TV; it was ten past ten.

Kaede was channel surfing.

“Anything on?” he asked, finally done drying his hair.

“So many people I don’t know. It’s hard to follow anything.”

A two-year gap in your memories would do that.

She stopped on a talk show. A comedy duo was performing their routine. Their bit was unfolding at a blistering pace.

“Is this what’s funny now?”

“They’re on TV a lot, so I guess so?”

“If people quote this at school, I’ll be in trouble. I don’t get it at all.”

Kaede collapsed on the kotatsu, her face turned toward the screen.

“No need to force yourself.”

“Ugh. How am I supposed to make friends?”

“You’ll just have to write your own routine. ‘My body’s third-year, but my mind is still first-year!’ Make the whole class laugh.”

“That discrepancy is the problem! Why do you think I’ve been on a TV binge?”

Kaede glared at him, but this was not the least bit intimidating. It just looked sulky.

“Hard to cram two years’ worth before third term starts.”

Kaede was busy working toward returning to school. Their father had already spoken to the school, and after classes ended on Wednesday, her school counselor, Miwako Tomobe, had stopped by to see her. She’d definitely been a little rattled by how different Kaede was, but they’d talked for a while and set some goals.

And one of those was to attend school starting from third term.

“That’s the problem!”

“So make a joke of it.”

“And draw attention to myself?”

“You’re joining the class in third term; there’s no avoiding that.

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