For the next few days, we maintained the same sleeping arrangements and Kurosawa-san never argued over it again. 

However, every morning when I woke up, I discovered that I had been magically transported to the bedroom. Surely, Yumi-chan wasn’t the one doing this, so that only left Kurosawa-san.

I was very grateful for his attentiveness, but I never said anything aloud. I just silently acknowledged everything that was happening. Kurosawa-san too, never told me anything upfront. He simply took my silence as approval and continued to do things his way.

Every morning, I would find a simple breakfast, usually an omelet with rice, scrambled eggs or sandwiches, waiting for me on the table. There would always be a little note sticking next to it, saying ‘Enjoy the food’. 

At noon, Kurosawa-san would drop by to have lunch with me and prepare something for when Yumi-chan would come back from school. And for dinner, we would either order takeout or prepare some quick dishes. 

Afterwards, we each would go about our own business until it was time for bed.

I tried to keep my previous writing schedule, but I guess all the activity during the day tired me out more than I had expected. Suddenly having two people around took a toll on me and I always ended up falling asleep soon after midnight. In those few days I didn’t get to see the dawn, which was a novelty for me.

In this manner the days passed by steadily, until it was the last day Yumi-chan would spend at my place. 

It was a Saturday. Kurosawa-san didn’t have to go to work and, luckily, Yumi-chan didn’t have classes either.

That morning he received a call from Amami-chan letting him know that her husband will arrive around 5 p.m. to pick up Yumi-chan.

“Alright. We’ll be waiting for him. I will send him the address.” I heard Kurosawa-san saying.

Probably Amami-chan asked something about the location because, a moment later, he continued to speak rapidly into the phone.

“We’re at Masato-sensei’s apartment. En, it ended up that way.” 

Kurosawa-san stopped for a moment, then I saw him wrinkling his brows and pushing the phone a bit further away from his ear.

“Sis, would you stop squealing and yelling? Won’t the people over there think you’ve gone batshit crazy by now? Alright. I have to go now. Talk to you later.”

I was puzzled by the conversation. Could it be that Kurosawa-san hadn’t told Amami-chan that he was staying with Yumi-chan at my place? Would she be upset if she knew? 

Well, either way, the days have already been spent like that, so there was no need to cry over spilled milk. My intentions were good and honorable. If I find out she is upset, I will deal with it then.

Looking at the time I saw it was still quite early. Since it was barely 10 a.m. when Amami-chan called, that left us with several hours to kill until the afternoon.

“Should we go somewhere?” Kurosawa-san asked after hanging up.

Hearing his question, I glanced outside. 

The weather was truly marvelous. The rainy season had just begun, but outside the sky was clear and the sun was shining with a dazzling light. The air was warm and not humid enough to cause discomfort. 

In short, it was the perfect weather to go for a walk in the park or to go hiking.

“Yumi-chan, do you want to go out and play?” I turned to ask her. Indeed, children her age would most likely prefer going out on such a beautiful day instead of being cooped up in an apartment. 

Being addressed so suddenly startled Yumi-chan. But she soon began smiling and pointed at the sky through the window.

“It’s a beautiful day, so I want to go to the park.” She said, smiling widely.

Sure enough, I was right. Then, the park it is.

We all got dressed and left the apartment. 

The park was a ten minutes’ drive away from my place. This was one of the reasons I loved the location of my apartment. All the things I needed were relatively close.

Because it was the weekend, the park was packed with people who came out to enjoy the nice weather. 

There were families having a picnic, young people on bicycles, older people slowly walking along the lanes. Everyone came here with the sole purpose of refreshing their bodies and clearing their tired minds. 

Even I had to admit that I began to feel lighter the moment I started walking under the trees, breathing in the fresh air and watching the sun glittering like pieces of jewels through the leaves.

Nature was indeed beautiful and, just like it was for the animals, it gave me peace of mind and allowed me to unwind. Whenever I was in this type of scenery, I would always be able to let everything go, not think about anything. Simply breathing was enough.

Not long after we started walking, Yumi-chan noticed a person selling animal-shaped balloons. I saw her looking longingly at the colorful shapes and thought she was going to head over there. But a second later she stopped in her tracks. 

Could it be that I misinterpreted her look? 

At that moment, it just so happened that I touched her shoulder and received the answer to my question.

‘Those are sooo cute. I wanted one, but… but I don’t want to trouble Masato-sensei.’ 

Me? What about your uncle Rin, then? 

This train of thought made me curious, hence I decided to carefully place my hand on her shoulder. 

At that time, I didn’t even realize that I was beginning to actively reach out in order to hear someone’s thoughts. This was something that would have been inconceivable until a few weeks ago.

‘Uncle Rin told me that Masato-sensei doesn’t like crowded places. Maybe if I find a moment to tell just uncle Rin about the balloons…’

There was indeed a big crowd of children surrounding the man selling those balloons and they seemed pretty noisy and lively. They were bound to bump into you the moment you got close to them. 

Yumi-chan was such a considerate child, not wanting to trouble people. She really deserved a reward. Therefore, I took the matter into my own hands. If I couldn’t get the balloons myself, I would trigger her uncle to do it for me.

“Kurosawa-san, how about you go over there and buy us some balloons? One for each. What do you think, Yumi-chan?” I glanced down at the girl and gave her a wink.