“Are you serious?”
Kotoe-san shouted as she drove.
I nodded, sitting in the passanger seat.
“But, eeeh!? Five girlfriends…….How could Mikoto allow such a thing?”
“I forgave him or else I wouldn’t have become his girlfriend.”
Sitting in the back seat, Mikoto made eye contact with me through the rearview mirror of the window.
Why does she say that?
Kotoe-san is tolerant in this area, or rather, she is not bound by common sense, so she does not get angry or pull back, but it is not something that can be easily said to others.
“Well…I knew Mikoto liked Koumei but……I didn’t think of this.”
“You knew!?”
“Of course, I knew! Don’t underestimate your mother, okay?”
I looked out of the window and saw a highway.
I have been down this road many times as it seems to lead to the airport.
“Where are we going?”
“Cat Island.”
“Cat Island? That island with 15 inhabitants and 1000 cats?”
“No, no.”
Kotoe-san shook her head.
“There are a few more inhabitants. But there are five times as many cats.”
“That many!?”
“Still, it’s an island that hasn’t been talked about that much…..It’s official name is Iwakiri Island.”
“Such a place……It’s rare for you to take pictures of living things.”
Kotoe-san’s specialty in photography was nature.
She would go into places like jungles alone and take pictures there.
“I was taking pictures of a cat yesterday, right?”
“Yeah, a white cat.”
“As I did, I became a little curious. I asked a friend of mine, and they told me about Iwakiri Island.”
“Hee.”
Well, I don’t care where we go.
However, I was afraid to go on an island where there might be lodging.
If we stayed at an inn, there would be little for me to do.
“You have work to do, okay?”
Kotoe-san said, perhaps sensing the look on my face.
“I’m going to stay at an inn, and it’s not a dangerous place, but it’s my first time there. It’s not famous yet, and I don’t know where to take pictures.”
“Looking for a place……”
That kind of thing has happened before.
While Kotoe-san was taking pictures, I would look for a place that she could use for the next shoot.
With map in hand, I would note down the points of interest.
“I don’t like doing that.”
It’s monotonous work, like walking all the time.
It is fun to watch Kotoe-san taking pictures, but it’s not fun to walk alone.
“It’s your job, don’t complain. Besides, this time Mikoto is with you.”
“Eeh!? I’m gonna be walking too?”
“Of course!”
Mikoto doesn’t like to do anything outdoors.
When she was a little girl, we used to run together in the woods and on the beach, but these days she doesn’t do that anymore.
Whenever she had free time, Mikoto would hang out at home.
“Why not! You can walk around the island together without anyone bothering you.”
“Ah, I see…..”
“Ah, I see, not!”
I glared at Mikoto, who was sitting in the back seat.
“I’m gonna get tired on the way, so I won’t give you a piggyback ride, okay?”
“Th, that won’t happen! How old do you think I am!?”
So, the car proceeded halfway through the discussion.
Kotoe-san laughed loudly and the atmosphere was congenial throughout the trip.
When we were almost to the airport, Mikoto fell asleep as if her batteries had ran out.
“Koumei…”
“What is it?”
Kotoe-san spoke to me.
“Is she all right?”
“Haa?”
“Do you know why she enrolled at the Agra Girls Academy?”
“No…I don’t.”
I was somewhat curious about it, but I couldn’t ask her.
“The truth is, she was planning to apply to the same school as you.”
“Well…If you think about it, that’s true.”
She likes me.
It would be normal for her to try to enroll in the same high school.
“That girl…probably wanted to marry you.”
“Haa!?”
“That’s the kind of place Agra Girl’s Academy is, you know? The curriculum also includes kimono dressing, flower arrangement and tea ceremony.”
Mikoto doing flower arrangement.
It’s strange to think that childhood friend is wearing a kimono and arranging flowers.
“No matter how you think about it, it’s bride training, no? Mikoto told me a long time ago, ‘If I keep this up, I’ll end up like my mom!’.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Thank you…”
After smiling, Kotoe-san said.
“Now she seems to respect me in her own way, but….She didn’t like it at that time, did she? She said she wanted to be a normal wife.”
“What’s with the angry tone…”
It was very Mikoto-like.
“Ah, this girl…I thought at the time, she has someone she wants to marry…And the only person I could think of was you.”
“Marriage…”
“Well, that doesn’t sound very realistic. Besides, Koumei has five girlfriends.”
“You’re not angry?”
“I’m not angry. I don’t hate men like that.”
Kotoe-san turns the steering wheel.
The airport is getting closer.
She had probably reserved a parking space nearby.
It would be difficult to make various arrangements to leave the car for four days and three nights.
But it is Kotoe-san who can pull this off in a single night, without a second thought.
“I just want you to promise me…”
“I know.”
“But, I want you to promise me.”
I gulped as Kotoe-san looked more serious than ever before.
“I will make Mikoto happy.”
“Please do that.”
