Our Eternal Summer (MakoHaru)

Chapter 3

Everyone was excited to hear that Rin was coming back, and said yes, of course they'd come. Sousuke had been working for a while now for a swimming equipment company in Sendai; he'd be flying to Tokyo since he "had a year's worth of paid leave unused". Gou, Nagisa and Rei, who had recently graduated, would come too, as an opportunity for a final fool-around before college.

Haru was as unsmiling as ever, but everyone (his friends in college actually texted me to ask) could tell how much he looked forward to it. I did too. Although my first year as a college student had been fulfilling, I missed the close-knit gang we had. I missed my best friends. Haru and I rented a small one-room apartment just outside the city centre instead of a hostel, so everyone could sleep together. I knocked on nearly every door of my school dorms to see if anyone had any spare futons or sleeping bags lying around. And I told my pool manager that I could only come in for one day that particular week, and that I'd bring another six friends so she could arrange for more kids – there was an orphanage that wanted to let its kids learn swimming but couldn't because there simply weren't enough volunteer coaches – to come that day if she'd like.

The anticipation built inside me, and one day my roommate snickered: "You're so excited your droopy eyes are literally going upwards!"

...

As pink moss fields outside Tokyo came into full bloom and attracted tourists from inside and outside Japan, May arrived with smattering rains, cherry blossoms and our best friends.

Sousuke and Rin had arranged in advance so that their flights would touchdown Narita Airport at more or less the same time. The rest of the gang would arrive, again in the same morning, at Tokyo station. Haru would wait at the airport and I the station.

The morning air was crisp as I left my dorm, the key to our little apartment in my backpack. Our Line group chat pinged endlessly, and I had a silly smile sticking on my face as I commuted. Around me, salarymen were quietly starting their day, their briefcases on their laps, newspapers or books or phones on their hands, some looking forward to the day ahead, and others already waiting for it to end.

I tried to imagine Sousuke in his office wear, sitting just as quietly as he went through his planner and reviewed his schedule for the day. The edges of his eyes would droop slightly, giving him a perpetually sleepy look, but his teal irises would dart across the pages, awake and solemn. It was easy to imagine serious Sousuke as a salaryman.

Rei would, of course, be "beautiful". He would wear the perfect suit, tailored to accentuate his muscles, his leather shoes spotless and shiny, and his expression solemn, the perfect image of a young business executive. Except for his flashy glasses. Perhaps Nagisa would be beside him – I hope they would continue to be close friends after graduation – head lolling in his sleep, like a bait hanging off a fishing pole before it was cast, the slanting light from the train's glass windows bouncing off his golden hair. Rei would sigh in exasperation before tugging over the briefcase dangling dangerously in his lap, and hold it for him. I nearly laughed out loud, for working-Nagisa-in-my-imagination would never wear anything as plain as a black suit; it would be flashy like his swimming trunks – maybe bright yellow or stark red or snow white. Nagisa would make the perfect TV personality, had he ever considered it as a career?

I was still chuckling inwardly when the three of them arrived. Nagisa sprinted towards me with a wide open-mouthed smile, his backpack going clack! clack! clack! behind him. Rei frowned and yelled after him: "Nagisa! Don't run like that! It's not beautiful!" while Gou snickered as she walked beside Rei, her maroon ponytail swishing behind her like wisteria in the wind.

"So how was the journey? You guys tired? I booked a table at Haru's favourite place since it's always so crowded, but if you aren't up to it, we can go back to the apartment and rest first." I took Gou's wheeled underseater from her, not noticing how, one year later, I still spoke like that even though I was no longer the mom friend in my new social circle.