Daily Lie of Megumi [JJK Fanfic]

Lie 12: I Won't Miss You

Megumi's Point of View

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My house has been in a racket since before daybreak. It started because my father forgets where he put the car key and he make quite a ruckus looking for it, and my sister couldn't stop panicking over how many facemasks she should bring. Meanwhile, I barely get any sleep because I've been meticulously shorting out the clothes and essentials for the one-night and two-days trip, while occasionally texting with Yuuji and Nobara all night. Save to say we're awake way before the alarm rings at 4 A.M. Each of us took a bath, get dressed, and then head down for the kitchen to cook when the sky outside is still dark purple.

I must say, it feels weird and sad to have to eat breakfast with all the lights still on, in the middle of the chilly early morning air, half-asleep and disoriented, while knowing full well it would be the last breakfast the three of us would share together—well, at least, for the next few months until the summer vacation comes again. I look around and try to absorb the moment: how Tsumiki's long straight hair shimmers under the golden lamplight, how my father takes a big bite of his rice and chews it solemnly, how we exchange simple and trivial conversations about the bread and milk, and how I wonder of how much I would miss a simple moment like this.

And it makes me wonder.... Did dad and Tsumiki also had a chance to savor some simple moments with Mom before she died? Or did it happen too suddenly that they hadn't get the chance to? I was clearly too young to remember, so I could only wonder how it would feel.

After breakfast, we helped Tsumiki load boxes and boxes of her things into the car my dad just brought in last night. A foreign car, big yet classic, with a silver metallic body that could be seen even from miles away. I don't know much about automotive, but I can tell it was foreign-made and very expensive. The plate number is also seeming like custom-made—505 GS—which at least I know to be no easy feat to get. How on earth my broke-ass father could afford such a car, even if it's just a rental, is still a mystery for me. But I just shrug it off for this time, because there are so many other things to think about when Tsumiki is listing down every luggage she puts in the car, and as a good sister, I feel obligate to be the one who cross-checks every single one of them.

Once everything is packed and confirmed, we get in the car with my sister sits right next to my driving father and I took the backseat for myself so I could lie down. She says goodbye to the house, which still brimming with the lights on from the porch, and even waves her hand melancholically.

I joke, "It's not like you're gonna be away forever."

And she replies with, "I know. But I still going to miss it."

My father chuckles. He starts to drive the car out of the still-sleeping neighborhood into the slightly awake highway. He says, "Home is where your heart lies. You can make a home wherever you want." And for a second, I silently absorb his words instead of saying the usual witty comebacks.

Throughout the journey, or at least until the sun rises quite high, I was sleeping with my head near the backseat door while my feet hang on the other. The fluffy seat makes me feel like I was lying on my own bed. My sister connected her phone to the stereo and plays father's favorite songs from the 80s. The Beatles and The Police lulled me to The Dreaming. When I wake up, we are already past the Kanto region and the song has changed to Westlife and Backstreet Boys.

I sit right up slowly, my head spinning and my stomach swirling because of the motion sickness. It took me minutes to steady myself and prevent me from throwing up. Tsumiki notices me struggling, so she offers some water and medicine. My father laughs at me for being weak. I kick the back of his seat but realize instead he probably wouldn't feel anything because of the sturdiness and fluffiness of the seat.