“Are all universities like this?” That murmur unconsciously leaves my lips as we find ourselves once again on the university's entrance.
It has been a while since I met up with Rei and Angela, and now we’re finally done with our short tour. We couldn’t visit all the places on campus, because this place is seriously huge—like, seriously. Even though we walked for quite a while, we never ran out of new places to see. That, and there were also a lot of green areas with trees, fountains, and other stuff; we heard that there was even a forest inside the campus somewhere, but we didn’t visit it. Well, overall, I can say this place is pretty cool. It has gained Sakura’s seal of approval!
…Not that it means much. Oh well.
“Not really.” Rei seems to think a bit before answering my question. “There are some that are smaller than this, and some that are even larger. You could say this is pretty average. The quality of the buildings are also pretty average, though maybe they’re leaning a bit more toward the higher side.” I hum in interest as I listen to his response. I wasn’t really expecting an answer; my question was, after all, a murmur to myself. I don’t think Angela, standing on Rei’s other side, heard it, for example, as she’s tilting her head to the side, as if wondering why Rei suddenly started talking out of nowhere.
“...Is that so? Have you seen one of those before? A larger campus, I mean.”
“Yeah, last year. I went overseas to see my options, and most of the universities I visited with my old man were much larger than this.”
Ah…that’s right. He did mention something like that a while back, didn’t he? Something about how he was going to the other side of the world to see which university he’d enroll in…yup, he definitely did. I don’t really remember how long he was gone, and exactly why he remained to stay here in the end, but I think it had something to do with his father wanting to keep him close to the family business, or something like that. I mean, it makes sense, considering he’s his successor, but I still felt pretty bad for Rei; he was seriously excited about trying to study abroad.
That aside…having money sure is nice. Being able to travel the world like that…I’ve never even left this city, you know?! Maybe someday I’ll be able to. No, not ‘maybe,’ definitely! I’ll definitely go on vacation with Sora someday! And it’ll.be amazing! Yup! Yup! Yup!
“Y-You did that, Rei?!” You should’ve taken me, too…” While I am busy thinking about happy places to visit with my baby girl, Angela seems to be rather sad about not knowing her brother had done such a thing in the past. I swear I can see some imaginary puppy ears drooping above her head.
“Well, you hadn’t graduated high school back then.” Rei scratches his head with a bit of an awkward expression on his face, as if wanting to say, ‘there was nothing I could do about it.’
“Oh…that’s right. You graduated earlier than me, didn’t you?”
“...That’s right. I graduated from high school a year ago, when I was 17. Sakura too.” I silently nid to his words.
I have already said in the past that the school I attended was…well, a little special, right? Well, one of its…peculiarities is that parents there enroll their kids a year earlier than in other schools. For example, while other schools start elementary school when the kids are 6 and 7, my school starts it when they are 5 or 6. Thanks to that, the students there graduate from high school when they’re 16 or 17. That’s why Rei and I, despite being the same age as Angela, graduated one year before her.
“So…you two took a gap year?”
“...”
“Yeah. We did. It was pretty fun, wasn’t it, Sakura? We partied so much every night that bags started forming under our eyes.” Noticing I don’t have any intention of answering Angela’s questions, Rei jumps in with an unusually energetic introduction. Then, he suddenly pauses for a second, taking his hand out of his pocket and bringing it to his chin.
“...Well, I was always the one who had to drag Sakura’s introverted ass out of her house, though. She would’ve been a shut in if it wasn’t for me.” …Rei, I’m really grateful you are trying to help me, but was there any actual need to diss me like that?! You could’ve said any other thing, you know?! I mean, he’s not lying about me being a shut-in, but still!
“Mghm…a gap year…how fun.” Angela lets out a weird sound as she looks at Rei, a hint of sadness and envy in her eyes.
“...” Not really interested in talking about this any longer, I turn away to look at the bustling street, trying to keep my thoughts to myself.
“Don’t look so sad.”
…What are you talking about, Rei? Sad? Me? No way.
“I’m not saying you should forget about the past, but…”
…It sure is easy to say so, especially when you don’t understand. Knowing is not the same as understanding, you know?
“...at the very least, don’t let it drown you.”
…Ha, you think I’d let it drown me? If I was that weak, I wouldn’t have gotten to this point.
“So forget about it, Ange. Even if you don’t have a gap year, that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with us in the future. Isn’t that right, Sakura?”
…Ah, so he wasn’t talking to me.
….He wasn’t…right?
“...Sakura?”
…Haaaaaah…I want to see Sora.
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