Chapter 125: Indian Summer

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October 21st, a clear and crisp autumn day.

Today was the last day of the school trip. Shima was pulling Itomi Yuki along, picking out gifts in a souvenir shop, with Takanobu following behind.

“What should I do? My mom gave me 2,000 yen for souvenirs, and I only have 800 yen left,” Shima said to the two of them in a tone that suggested it was Monday in two hours, but her homework wasn’t done yet.

“Just find something that’s worth 800 yen but looks like it’s worth 2,000 yen,” Takanobu shrugged.

“Won’t she see through it?” Shima expressed her concern.

“It might work sometimes,” Takanobu wasn’t very confident.

“Yuki,” Shima wrapped her arm around Itomi Yuki’s slender arm, “help me look. Which one is actually cheap but looks like it should be expensive?”

Itomi Yuki sighed, “You two should just confess.”

“Huh? How did you know I overspent too?” Takanobu was startled.

These two had spent the money for their parents’ souvenirs on gifts for each other. Itomi Yuki, who had toured Kyoto with them yesterday, of course, knew.

She was about to speak when she suddenly caught sight of a figure standing in the center of the station plaza.

In this crowded station building, he was still conspicuous, a man so handsome he seemed to be under a spotlight.

“I’m going out for a bit. You two can choose on your own,” Itomi Yuki left the two, who were struggling between cheating and confessing, and walked out of the souvenir shop towards the figure.

Minamoto Kiyomoto was looking for the Sakuragi High School uniform.

But these guys were all scattered. Even with his eyesight, it would take a minute or two to find Itomi Yuki in such a large crowd.

He heard familiar footsteps approaching from behind, deliberately lightened. He pretended to continue searching.

“What are you looking for?” Itomi Yuki patted his shoulder.

“You’re here,” Minamoto Kiyomoto was stunned for a moment, then turned around.

Itomi Yuki showed a slightly smug smile, “Are you here to see me off?”

“Yes, and no,” he and Kamibayashi Miko had been cycling around, and happened to pass by Kyoto Station.

He then asked, “How was it? Did you have fun on your school trip?”

“I saw shrines, temples, and Buddhist pavilions. It wasn’t exactly fun, but I didn’t dislike it. If there’s one regret, it’s that the Autumn Old Book Festival doesn’t start until November 1st,” Itomi Yuki replied.

“Same here. I’m leaving tomorrow, so I can’t attend either.”

Itomi Yuki was silent for a moment, then said, “My sister will be okay, right?”

She knew about Minamoto Kiyomoto’s plan to exterminate the Shinto sect.

“Don’t worry,” Minamoto Kiyomoto comforted her. “She’s been walking alone for so long, has experienced countless dangers, and has made decisions on her own in many crucial matters. What’s more, she has me now.”

“Mhm,” Itomi Yuki nodded lightly.

The passing passengers looked at the two of them. The girl was fair and slender, the man handsome and tall. It was very much like a scene from a movie where the main characters say goodbye at a station.

Among these people were Itomi Yuki’s classmates and teachers.

“I’m leaving first,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said, thinking of Kamibayashi Miko waiting for him outside.

“Wait,” Itomi Yuki grabbed the hem of his clothes.

Minamoto Kiyomoto stopped, turned around, and looked at her small, crystal-clear face.

“You… be careful too,” Itomi Yuki looked to the side.

Minamoto Kiyomoto smiled, “With Miss Kamibayashi and Izayoi by my side, I’m invincible.”

Even if he died, there was no better way to die.

“…That’s good then,” Itomi Yuki let go of his hand.

“During this time, my phone will be on. Contact me if anything happens.”

“Mhm.”

Itomi Yuki watched Minamoto Kiyomoto walk further and further away. And behind her, the boys and girls in the same uniform were also at a distance from her.

She was in between.

◇

Leaving the station, under the autumn sun, Kamibayashi Miko’s black hair shone brightly.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Minamoto Kiyomoto got on his bicycle.

“You like her very much,” Kamibayashi Miko said.

Minamoto Kiyomoto, who was about to push down on the pedal, stopped.

“Can you stop trying to set me up with other people?” he said, a little angry. “Even if we can’t be together, do you have to arrange for me to be with someone else? This isn’t the first time.”

Kamibayashi Miko had intended to tease him, but she hadn’t expected to anger him instead.

She suppressed a laugh, looked at the Kyoto Tower in the distance, and a sense of desolate beauty was easily brewed.

“It’s not worth it for me,” she said.

Minamoto Kiyomoto, straddling his bicycle, took out his phone from his pocket, lit up the screen, and showed it to her.

Kamibayashi Miko looked at the phone. It was a picture of her—at a seaside hotel on Shodoshima, she was sitting on the windowsill, with the blue sea and the equally blue sky outside.

“You tell me if it’s worth it or not,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said. “Snow-white skin, hair like a waterfall, your whole being radiates the brilliance of a diamond, elegant and beautiful.”

“It’s even less worth it for these things.”

“Can’t I be lustful? And it’s not just these things.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto put away his phone and continued:
“There’s also the side of your face when you’re distracted in class, the way you hold your pen; sitting under the eaves, your eyes gazing into the distance; your kindness in sacrificing for a group of insignificant people…”

He noticed something was wrong. Kamibayashi Miko’s sad eyes from just now were now filled with a smile.

Could it be because of his words? Is she a woman who likes to hear sweet nothings?

“Are you playing with me?” he realized, staring at her in disbelief.

“No, I’m not,” Kamibayashi Miko retorted with a smile.

“Still say you’re not?! What’s wrong with you?”

“Susu, I can only say five sentences. Don’t ask anymore.”

“Susu? What’s with this motherly tone? And, you could have explained in the fifth sentence… hey!”

Kamibayashi Miko rode off on her bicycle.

Minamoto Kiyomoto pushed down on the pedal and chased after her.

Although it was autumn, the wind that caressed their cheeks was as gentle as a spring breeze.

“Miss Kamibayashi, is this ‘Indian summer’?”

“That’s in November. A few days in late autumn when it turns cool, because the climate is similar to spring, it’s called ‘Indian summer’.”

“When I’m invincible, October will be ‘Indian summer’. I said so!”

“When will you be invincible?”

“Soon, soon.”

“How soon is soon?”

“I won’t give the cherry blossoms a chance to bloom twice!”

“So next year?”

“Cherry blossoms bloom in March and April every year, right? By March of the year after next, the world will be mine, and you will be mine too!”

“I’ll remember that. If you’re not invincible by the time the cherry blossoms bloom in March of the year after next, I won’t allow you to pursue either of us.”

“Why is there a bet now? Then if I succeed in exterminating the Shinto sect, can I get a hug?”

Kamibayashi Miko gave him a ‘don’t even think about it’ look.

“I’ll count to three. If you don’t say anything, I’ll take it as a yes. One, two, three, four, five… see, I counted for a full nine minutes and fifty seconds, and you didn’t object. You must really want me to hug you. I agree!”

“…You’re really bored,” Kamibayashi Miko expressed her shock and amazement at his persistence in counting for so long, as well as a hint of amusement and helplessness.

The two rode through Kyoto, their destination being Joruri-ji temple in Minamiyamashiro. It was inconvenient to get to, hidden among mountains on three sides, and that’s where they were heading.