Fikush-ON!

Ch. 13: The Warm Days

I knocked on Tamiko's door. "Hey, I got it fixed!"

Her desk fan suddenly decided to stop working, during the summer vacation of all times. For some reason, she thought that I might be able to fix it. Well, since she asked so nicely, I couldn't refuse. All this morning I've done nothing but tried to get it in working order. It was a bit frustrating, and at one point I wondered what would happen if I smashed it against the corner of my desk. However, I soon found the problem, and got it working.

The door opened, and my sister, who clearly was suffering from the heat, took the fan, thanking me all the way until she closed the door. Job well done, I guess. But man, it sure was hot. I wiped my forehead with the hem of my shirt, and returned to my room. As I took a seat on the computer chair, I glanced over to the corner, where my schoolbag laid, gathering dust. The summer vacation started couple of days ago. I'm not going to waste it like the previous one, I'm going to mess around with my friends. Speaking of which, I wonder if they'd like to go out for a soda. I grabbed my phone, and started browsing the contact list.

However, one name caught my eye: Hirasawa Ui. I stared at the phone's screen for moment, and decided to forget my earlier idea. I sent her a short message.

"Mind if I come over?"

Half a minute passed until my phone let out a message tone, and I checked Hirasawa's answer: "Not at all. I'm not at home right now, but you can keep my sister company until I come back."

Without wasting any time, I grabbed my red hoodie, headed downstairs to get my shoes on, and began walking along the path I've walked for over a year now. As always, it took me half an hour to reach the Hirasawa residence. Man, even though it's hot, my hoodie still doesn't seem to bother me, even though it's nice and warm during winters. What kind of magic fabric is it made of? I walked to the front door, and rang the doorbell. I waited for a whole minute, but nobody answered. I decided to ring it again, and this time I heard some unintelligible shout. Was that Yui? I decided to be blunt and walk straight in.

As I was taking off my shoes, I heard another shout, this time more understandable: "I'm up here..."

Confused a bit, I began climbing the stairs. When I got to the living room, I was met with Yui, who was torpidly laying on the living room floor. The coffee table had been set aside.

She slowly raised her head, and mumbled: "Oh, it's you, Sugimoto-kun. Welcome..." After the greeting, she lowered her head back against the floor, clearly not planning on moving.

I walked right next to her, staring at her from above. "So, you didn't even know that it was I who was at the door?"

"Eh, I guess not..." she mumbled, staring back at me with half-open eyes.

I crouched down a bit. "What if it hadn't been me, but some burglar, who wouldn't leave any witnesses?"

She seemed to think about my words, but the goofy smile soon returned on her face. "There's nothing to steal here..."

Once again, I crouched a bit closer. "What about your guitar?"

Yui frowned a bit. "Why would anyone steal Giita...?"

I crouched even closer, now there being only a small gap between our faces. Though, I didn't come up with anything more to say, so I just kept glaring at her with stern expression, as she was looking back at me, a bit confused. However, her lazy expression made me smirk, and I finally took a step back.

"By the way, where did your sister go?" I asked her.

Yui kept her gaze at the ceiling. "She said she went out with a friend..."