Volume 2 - CH 2.8

In front of me, Yuriko on a swim ring is being swayed by the gentle waves. The light reflecting off the surface of the ocean is dazzling and my vision flickers.

We were in the latter half of August. A few days ago, my brother suddenly invited me, Izumi, and Yuriko to the beach, and we came to a beach on the border of the Kanto and Chubu regions. We left home early in the morning in a car driven by my brother and arrived at this beach before noon.

Yuriko had her hair up like she did at the summer festival and was wearing a white, polka-dot, separate swimsuit. Izumi on the beach was wearing a less revealing red swimsuit with frills on the chest and a light pink hoodie that she had worn at home during the rainy season.

It had been a while since I had seen a girl of about my age in a swimsuit, a girl I knew very well, so when I saw them, I was a little nervous, but after an hour or so, the excitement that made my heart beat loudly, whether it was good or sad, gradually faded away.

At first, while the two girls were applying sunscreen to each other in the shade of a tree, my brother and I laid out a plastic sheet that we had brought with us and put up a beach parasol. Then Yuriko and I went into the water, while my brother and Izumi stayed in the parasol. Izumi was relaxing and looking at the sea, and my brother was reading a book he had brought with him while lying down.

The other day, my brother made a TV appearance. To sum up, he successfully completed the task without any major problems.

The program was a live late-night debate on the theme of how we should live in the super-aging society of the 21st century. Several young people were invited to appear on the show as representatives of the youth, and my brother was one of them.

There were well-known politicians on the show, and although my brother, who was not well-known to the public, did not have much to say, the discussion centered on the conflict between different generations and was lively. There were some harrowing moments when he seemed to be arguing with an older, more important person who was a researcher at some think tank or an economic commentator, but my mother did not watch the program, and Izumi gave up about 20 minutes into the show, saying, "I'm getting too nervous and my stomach is starting to hurt"---there were a few articles on summary sites, but most of them were like fried statements of famous politicians, and there were no problematic statements about my brother that caused a firestorm.

"Ryuuichi-kun, I saw you on TV." In the car, Yuriko was also worried about whether he had had a bad day or not, but my brother said, "I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm sorry for worrying you," he said with a pleasant, fresh smile.

Right now, my brother was talking with Izumi, looking the same as usual. Izumi waved her hand at me, perhaps noticing that I was looking in her direction.

Once again, I thought my brother was an amazing person. If only I could be that dynamic, quick-witted, and fearless person, life would be easier for me.

I was a little envious of him, but then I thought about what my brother had been through and how much trouble he might get into, and I quickly rethought that it would be a bit of a nuisance.

"Jeez, I'm getting kind of sleepy."

Yuriko, who was floating in the water, suddenly muttered next to me.

When I looked at her profile, both eyes were sleepily squinted. Her upper and lower lashes overlapped. Yuriko's legs, which were out of the swim ring, had a thin layer of white tan where her pants and soccer socks used to be, the so-called "soccer burn."

I slowly leaned back and let my body float on the surface of the water. The white clouds were towering over us like a castle in the sky.

"The sky is so blue," Yuriko murmured. Yuriko's eyes were now open, with a slight sleepiness.

"Yeah."

When I nodded, Yuriko said something incomprehensible, "But maybe the blue that I and Kenichi are seeing is not the same color."

"I'm sure they're the same."

"You think you see it that way, but maybe you see it differently. You can never really know how other people see color, you know."

"Ah. That's what you're talking about."

I once read a book that touched on a topic similar to what Yuriko is talking about.

"Don't you get anxious when you think about that?" Yuriko said, looking at me.

"There's no need to think about that kind of hassle."

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When I replied, Yuriko laughed briefly, said, "How rude," and splashed water on my face with her hand. I wiped the seawater from my face with my hand, and the salty taste spread into my mouth.

We talked about such trivial matters for a while, while Yuriko kept drifting on the swim ring and I dove and swam for a short distance. Eventually, Yuriko said,

"It's time to go. It's almost lunchtime."

Saying that, Yuriko got off the swim ring.

I walked alongside her through the water and onto the beach. As soon as we were on the beach, water dripped from Yuriko's swimsuit, which was strangely so vivid that I couldn't help but look away.

☆ ☆ ☆

We decided to have lunch at a café on the beach where we could enter in our wet swimsuits. The interior was lined with wooden floors and tables, and we were shown to a terrace that extended out over the sandy beach.

My brother and I sat side by side with Yuriko and Izumi in front of us. Both girls were wearing hoodies over their swimsuits. We had just finished ordering from the waitress when Yuriko said,

"Ryuuichi-kun, have you ever been here before?" Yuriko asked my brother.

"Yeah. I came here last year with my girlfriend. I quite liked this place because it was not too crowded and there were many stores with good taste."

"Hmm. Are you still dating that person?"

"No, we broke up a while ago."

"Ah, I see.......I'm sorry."

Yuriko apologized apologetically. But since it was him, I thought there was absolutely no need to apologize. My brother also laughed and followed up with, "It's okay."

"Why did you break up?"

When I asked him about it, he looked at me delicately and began to talk.

"I don't think there was a clear reason. We started not seeing each other more and more, and then the relationship turned to, "I think, that's enough,' and we never spoke again."

"You mean you two have gotten cold to each other?"

Yuriko asked.

"Yeah. She was the same age as me. I think it might have been due to a change of environment after she got a job. There are girls who try to change everything at once when they start a new life. Maybe something like that."

"Well, this is a little difficult for me to understand," Yuriko said that with a difficult expression on her face.

"But I wonder if that's more common when you're a college student."

"Not really. It depends on the person."

"I had a friend who broke up after being dumped, and she was so shaken up about it that she thought it was the end of the world."

My brother laughed shortly, saying, "It would be terrible if the world ended at that level."

Perhaps Izumi was not good at this kind of talk, she took pictures of the food with her phone, then scooped the pilaf with a spoon, occasionally smiling and giving an adorable expression, but eating without participating in the conversation the whole time. Perhaps sensing this, my brother was talking to Izumi about Aunt Tomoko. Yuriko, too, had shown some interest in Izumi's mother.

After we finished eating, we went back to the beach.

"Let's play with the sand, Izumi-san."

Under the beach parasol, Yuriko took off her hoodie and reapplied sunscreen, then put on her hoodie again and invited Izumi to join her.

"Yeah," Izumi nodded with a smile, and the two of them walked toward the shore. They sat down in an empty place and began to make some kind of pile.

"Why did you invite us here today?"

I asked, curious since it was the first time I was alone with my brother that day.

"I had promised Rina-chan that we would hang out again when I went over to our house the other day. It could have been just the three of us, you, me, and Rina-chan, but I knew she'd hate me for that, so I asked Yuriko to join us."

"What's that?"

"You know what I mean."

After saying that, my brother gave me a derisive smile.

"But even without that, I'm glad I got to talk to Rina-chan about a lot of things."

"What did you talk about?"

"I'm not talking about anything weird. Like, how is your life at home and so on. Probably, Rina-chan is thinking about how to interact with you more than you think."

I wondered what Izumi had said to my brother. I was curious, but I didn't think he would tell me if I asked.

"Well," he said, sitting up.

"I think I'll join them so they won't be picked on by playboys. It's like I'm asking you to go after two girls or something, huh. Those two girls are a little mature for high school students."

"......I never thought I'd see a time when I could count on a playboy master."

"Shut up."

Saying that, my brother put on his beach sandals and walked toward Izumi and Yuriko.