Chapter 17: Miyazono Kaori (II)

"Etto...who is she, Fuutarou-kun?" Shouko's voice interrupted their conversation. She had just woken up from her nap only to see Fuutarou talking with another girl.

'A blond haired girl?' She then tried to remember where she had seen her before, before realising it.

"Oh! You're the girl who kept following us right?" Before Kaori could even reply, Shouko spoke up, causing the blond haired girl to blush at her words.

Shouko noticed her embarrassment and immediately rectified her words,"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it in that way."

"No, it's okay."

Afterwards, an awkward silence appeared again since neither girls had any topics left to talk about.

Fuutarou decided to break the silence by playing another song on the piano. Kaori, who heard that, immediately picked up her violin and started playing as well. Shouko decided to sit back down on her chair and listen to them playing.

It was different from what she used to hear when Fuutarou was just playing alone, but nonetheless, it was still nice to listen.

Not too long after, their younger sisters woke up as well and asked the same question as Shouko.

Fuutarou decided to introduce all of them to one another once Haruma woke up as well.

"Guys, meet Miyazono Kaori, a violinist and the girl who was following us." Fuutarou added the last part while smirking and looking at Kaori.

Kaori pouted and blushed when she saw the trio who just woke up stare at her.

"Miyazono-san, this is Kobayashi Haruma." Fuutarou pointed at Haruma as he introduced him.

"Hello, nice to meet you." Haruma bowed a little as he greeted her.

"N-Nice to meet you too." She returned the bow in a flustered manner.

"Haha, no need to be so nervous. We're all friends here." Haruma laughed a little.

"Next is Nishimiya Shouko. You have already talked to her just now."

"Hello, nice to formally meet you." Shouko's soft voice rang out as she bowed as well.

"Y-Yes, nice to meet you as well, Nishimiya-san."

"Then the two cute little girls here are mine and Shouko-chan's little sisters. Raiha and Yuzuru." Pointing at them respectively, Fuutarou introduced them as well.

"Good afternoon, Miyazono-senpai!" The two girls bowed and greeted respectfully. Japan is very strict on manners and respectfulness.

From young, the value of respect is ingrained into every child's brain and body. Treat your elders with respect, treat the environment with respect, treat everyone with respect. If parents were to find out that their child did not have respect, the child would be in hot soup.

"Nice to meet both of you as well." Kaori was less stiff facing the both of them since both were younger than her. Furthermore, both of them were very cute in her eyes, and she had to restrain herself from patting their adorable heads!

"Now that the introduction is over, Miyazono-san, may we call you Kaori-san or Kaori-chan instead? All of us are on a first name basis. Of course, if you don't want to, we wouldn't force you." Fuutarou asked. If they were going to be friends, they might as well just start off as close friends immediately.

He didn't like all those dramas and being wishy-washy about mere names. Furthermore, they were still kids. If they were older, he wouldn't be that straightforward, but in front twelve year old kids, his adult mentality wasn't comfortable with being formal with them.

It wasn't just because he knew from an anime, but he had a feeling that they were going to be friends for a very long time. It might not be true, but it doesn't hurt to call each other by their first names.

Kaori was slightly startled when she heard his question, but she looked into their eyes, and saw the sincerity in them. Kaori had a huge secret hidden within her, and she didn't know how long she could live for.

Being a child, she had only a single thought - that was to live her life the way she wanted. However, she was worried that if she was gone, her friends would be saddened and depressed, and she didn't want that. That was why she had not gotten particularly close to anyone, so nobody would miss her deeply.

In spite of that, she was but a child. She felt lonely without any close friends.

'Should I accept it? Or should I reject it?' She couldn't help but think of these thoughts. She didn't want to drag others down into sadness if she could avoid it.

She knew about her disease even though her parents had hidden it from her, telling her that it was only a minor condition and could be cured.

She knew she had limited time, but she didn't know how much.

'What if I disappear the next day? Will they miss me?'

Fuutarou could see that she was struggling about her decision about his seemingly simple question. He didn't know what her thoughts were, he wasn't a telepath to begin with, and the anime didn't show most of her childhood. But with his high intelligence, he could roughly guess what she was thinking about.

"It's okay if you don't want us to call you by your first name, you don't have to force yourself all right, Miyazono-san?" Fuutarou decided to take it one step at a time first.

"Kaori-chan."

"Huh?" Fuutarou asked with confusion. 'What happened to the internal struggle? What happened to the "taking it slow"?'

"Y-You can call me Kaori-chan. I d-don't mind. But in return, can I call you Fuutarou-kun, Haruma-kun and Shouko-chan as well?" Kaori asked them, eyes filled with hope.

"Why not? That was the plan either way. If Shouko-chan and Haruma don't mind, you can call them that as well." Fuutarou shook his head and said.

Shouko and Haruma didn't mind as well, while their younger sisters just looked by the side as the drama happened.

"Onii-chan is really nice to everyone huh?" Yuzuru thought out loud as she looked at how the quartet interacted harmoniously with one another despite just meeting moments ago. She knew that it was all because of her onii-chan. Her onee-chan was kind as well, but she was shy and wouldn't take the initiative to start a conversation with a stranger. Kobayashi-senpai was similar to onee-chan, but he was more of the 'let nature take its course' kind of guy, and wouldn't purposely start a random conversation as well.

"Of course. He's my onii-chan after all!" Raiha puffed out her chest and said with pride. Who wouldn't like it when their family was praised?

Yuzuru didn't mind Raiha's bragging and just continued looking at her onee-chan laughing happily together with her new friend and her onii-chan. 'Seems like onee-chan can truly be happy now...'