Chapter 53 - A Rainy Day (1/2)
A Rainy Day
The rainy season was now in full swing, with the terribly hot days continuing on. Today as well, the whole day had high amounts of humidity. The clouds had worked hard until after school, before finally allowing rain to come down. I was stuck with no way out. The forecast had said that it was just going to be cloudy, so I hadn’t brought an umbrella.
“What am I going to do?”
Pichon, pichon, I spoke to myself while watching the raindrops falling onto the roof. On a day where it looks like it’s going to rain, Hiiragi-chan usually drives to work. Maybe she would give me a ride home, but I don’t know when she gets off of work.
“Nii-san? Did you forget your umbrella?”
When I turned around, Sana was there.
“Rather than forgetting, I just thought that it wasn’t going to rain, so I didn’t bring it with me.”
“Is that so…”
After fishing around inside her bag, she took out a fancy foldable umbrella with a bunny shaped handle.
Is this an elementary school excursion or something?
“Sana only packed one foldable umbrella, but if Nii-san really insists, then I would have no choice but to let you join in.”
“I won’t insist on it, now hurry up and go home. It might rain even harder in a bit, you know?”
“Y-you’re quite stubborn, Nii-san. If you really want to join, you should just honestly say that you do.”
“Bye. Sana. I’ll go home when the rain gets lighter.”
“Eh, wa—waaai… Mou, Nii-san is going to get soaked. Also, get home safe, okay!?”
So you’re going to pray for my safety still?
Fuun, fuming from her nose, Sana took the bunny-chan umbrella which was common among elementary school girls, opened it up, and went home while taking large steps.
You know, a woman in her thirties wouldn’t be able to use that umbrella. Foldable umbrellas are normally for just a single person to use. If I join you under it, you’ll be the one completely soaked.
Guess I’ll go to the library to kill some time.
I turned around and was walking down the hall when I saw Hiiragi-chan carrying some documents under her arm walking towards me.
“Seiji-kun, is something wrong?”
“Aaah, I have something to do in the library.”
“Looking up something? You’re quite studious as usual.”
Hiiragi-chan showed me her teacher smile.
Seeing her smile normally is great, but her teacher smile at school is another thing altogether.
“No, well, the rain is coming down pretty hard right now, so I was planning on staying until the rain died down a bit.”
“You didn’t bring an umbrella? Well, I didn’t bring one either.”
I explained to her the same thing that I told Sana, and Hiiragi-chan accepted it.
She glanced at the watch on her left hand.
“Well, I still have time… wait for a little bit!”
She ran off and returned with a black umbrella.
“Here, it’s the umbrella that’s always left in the staff room.”
“No, I can’t use it. There’s probably other teachers that didn’t bring an umbrella. My house isn’t that far, you see, I just need to wait for the rain to die down a bit.”
“I see I see… Then, how about I send Seiji-kun home.”
“By car?”
“Nope. Today I came on bike. So, it’ll be on foot.”
Hiiragi-chan made the proposal as if she was looking forward to it a lot. Sending me home on foot? And, Hiiragi-chan doesn’t have an umbrella of her own… And, there’s only one usable umbrella.
“Let’s go let’s go ♪”
She was happily bouncing around. I was waiting by the back gate, which we had designated as our meeting spot, until Hiragi-chan appeared with the black umbrella.
“Come come, come in. It might be a little cramped for two people though.”
“So that’s how it is…”
I decided to join her, and ended up sharing the umbrella with Hiiragi-chan. It seems that’s why she had purposely decided to meet at the back gate.
“You know, I’ve always longed to do this~ Sharing an umbrella with the person I like.”
“Just like an elementary schooler.”
“Eh!? Like an elementary schooler!?”
Hiiragi-chan’s expression was one of complete shock.
“I-is this the so called ge-generation gap.”
“Once you get to high school, I feel like you wouldn’t necessarily long to do it.”
“That’s not true. Even Sana-chan, she asked you too, right? To share an umbrella.”
“You were watching…? I don’t really think she wanted to share an umbrella though…”
At a close distance, where our shoulders were touching, Hiiragi-chan brought her face closer to me. She touched her lips to my cheek.
“Hey, if we do this on the—”
“There’s an umbrella hiding us, so it’s safe. Sana-chan, she might’ve intended to kiss you like that…”
“She won’t. Who do you think my little sister is anyways?”
“A super big brocon.”