Isamu says with a chuckle as he sits the cat down on his lap, “You just wanted this, didn’t you?”

“Who wanted what, Macchan?” The lady says entering the room with a tray full of snacks in her hand.

The cat senses his sweaty palms jitter and gets up. His jaws shaking, Isamu says stretching his hand to hold the cat from walking away, “Oh… she…the cat… hand … lap...”

The lady puts down the tray and sits on the sofa, stretching her ageing knees before turning to Isamu. “Why are you jittering, Macchan?”

“I-no-uhm.…”

She picks her glasses up from the table in front of her and puts them on. Gasping, she says, “Macchan! What’s with the drenched clothes?”

“I-it’s nothing, Makoto-san. I-I’ll just change once I’m hom-”

“Never mind that. I’m going to go-” she turns to the door and sees Akira, returning from the kitchen, “-and get you something from the uh…Arai-chan, can you help me a little more? Can you get Macchan to take this shirt off? He’s going to catch a cold-” She rushes out of the room, her eyes furrowed.

Akira, dumbfounded by the sudden favour asked of her, rapidly turns to Isamu, then towards the rushing lady and back in search of a clue. “Huh? What! Why? Take off? Why me?” She stands at the door, peering out to see the lady enter one of the rooms she passed by on her way back from the kitchen.

“A…Arai-san?” Isamu says leaning back on his hands against the floor.

“I- what? Why would she ask me to do that? What’s she thinking? Heck, why am I even thinking about this? I won’t do this! I won’t do this! I won-”

“A-r-a-i A-ki-ra-s-a-n?”

Akira says, slowly tilting her head towards Isamu, “I won’t -”

Isamu, no longer jittering, smiles. “You don’t have to do anything! Makoto-san is getting tensed for nothi-” He covers his mouth. “AAACHOO- for no- AACHOO-ing.”

“Pfft- nothing, huh?” Akira turns around. “Are you sure you’re fine?”

“I’m- ACHOO- fine!” Isamu takes a handkerchief out from his pocket.“Just-… I’ll be fine!”

“If you say so-” She takes a cookie from the tray and sits down on the sofa. As she bites into it, she sees Isamu raising his head to face the ceiling to calm down his storm. “Does that even work?”

Isamu lowers his head after a while. “That storm finally died down!" He notices Akira brooding over something. " Come to think of it, I probably scared her when I rushed up here... Shouldn’t have brought her up here....” “Uhm… Arai-san, I’m-”

“Why are you so comfortable here, Matsumoto-kun?” Akira says, putting the last piece of the confection into her mouth.

“Huh? Eh? Uh-” “She’s so uncomfortable here that it’s come to that?”

“What? You were saying something?”

“I- I was going to apologize for… bringing you up here-”

“Huh? Why?”

“What do you mean why? You’re not comfortable here, right? That’s why you asked me-”

“No-no! I’m not! Makoto-san’s fun to talk to. And I’ve enjoyed it here. It’s really com…for…table….-” “THAT’SWHY! I CAN’T BELIEVE I IT TOOK ME THAT LONG TO NOTICE!”

“Arai-san?”

Akira tries her best to put up a smile. “I-it’s nothing…I just realized that I’ve been asking a very dumb question for a while-”

“Uh-huh..” Isamu notices the lady peeking from the other side of the door. “Uh- Makoto-san? Why are you there?”

Akira sits upright, cleaning up the crumbs.

The lady enters the room, a hint of disappointment visible on her face, a white t-shirt in one hand, a notebook in the other. She walks to Isamu and hands him the shirt. She whispers into his ear, “Tch. I thought you two could get something going! You had the chance, Macchan! Why didn’t you do anything?”

“M-M-Makoto-san! What’re you saying? I-it’s not like that! I'm-I’m….going to go change! ” Isamu scrambles up and rushes out.

"Seems like he's still functioning fine." The lady chuckles and turns to Akira. She steps closer and hands her the notebook in her hand. "It fell out while I was searching for that shirt. Here."

Akira takes it from her hand reluctantly. “W-what’s this, Makoto-san?” She sees faint pencil lines on the black cover of the barely-kept-together notebook. “Would…she mind if I look inside? I…I’m so tempted to!”

The lady sits down next to her. “Akira-chan, you said that you were planning your new novel, right?”

Akira takes her eyes away from flipping the pages for a moment and turns her head. “Y-yes…”

“That notebook, you see, belonged to my daughter.”

“Good going, me! You’ve stepped on the landmine!” “I- I see. This is Shou-”

“Could you… read that?”

“I-I will. But-”

“See what you can do with it, dear. Put it to some use, maybe. I’m just an old lady now. There’s little I can do to grant her wish.”

“Wish?”

The lady takes a cup of tea from the table, stirs it and takes a sip. “A wish to outlive her body.”

“Outlive it?” Akira closes the notebook.

"Mmm-hmm." The lady takes another sip. “She wouldn’t take a normal job, wouldn’t agree to get married…All she did was teach kids and fill up pages of that notebook.”

“She …wanted to be a writer?”

“She never told me so, but that stubborn child never stopped daydreaming! She even managed to pass down that madness to someone! Just look at poor Macchan suffering now!”

“Matsumoto-kun?” Akira tilts her head.

She finishes the rest of the tea in her cup and sets the cup down. “The tea is getting cold, Akira-chan. Do you want some?”

“Um, Makoto-san…”

“Yes, dear?”

“Makoto-san….what is your relation with Matsumoto-kun?” “I can’t believe I managed to get those words out! BUT THE TIMING! IT'S HORRIBLE! HOW DID THAT COME TO MY MIND NOW!”

The lady beams a smile at Akira as she picks up the cat that had been brushing against her legs. “He’s the best friend I have right now,” she strokes through its fur.

“Best… friend?”

“Hmm... that might not be the only thing.” Her smile takes a melancholic look. “You could say that I’m holding on to her through him. I can't let go of my little Shouko-" She takes her glasses off as her eyes slowly start to tear up. “I see so much of her in him-that determination, that stubborn-”

“Makoto-san?”

“Ah, forgive me, dear.” She rubs her eyes. “I just remembered some things-”

“Makoto-san,” Akira says. When the lady turns her eyes to her, she continues, “I will make the most of her memories. Thank you for lending this to me.”

“I’m not lending that to you, dear. You can have it. Just… don’t let Macchan see it till he’s ready. Shouko’s death took a huge toll on him too."

“He… doesn’t know?”

“Nope, he doesn't know I'm related to his 'Shouko-sensei' he admires so much. Try to keep it like that, okay? For his sake.”

Akira gives a slow, expressionless nod, tightening her grip on the book.

“But,” the lady stands up, pushing against her knees, “where’s Macchan? I hope he didn’t fall asleep again. Maybe I'll go check on him.”

Akira says as she puts the notebook in her bag, “Again?”

Isamu wearily walks into the room. “I'm sorry, I fell asleep again. Makoto-san, could you not use that Jasmine air freshener?” He notices both the lady and Akira giggling as he says that. “What’s so funny?”

……………………………………………………………………………