Our first stop of the afternoon was the nearest convenience store, something I didn’t expect, until she told me I could have whatever frozen treat I wanted.

“Is this … really okay?” I asked, looking down at the chocolate chip-mint ice cream cup in my hands as I sat on a bench next to Yosaka-san.

“Sure, it’s okay! This is to pay you back for the bento you gave me. It’s the least I could do to say thanks,” she answered, holding an ice cream of the same brand.

“Well, that’s part of it, but I heard we’re not supposed to eat stuff like this before dinner?”

That was how things went with Hyo-chan and her family at the time, anyway. Considering her dad was a cop, it was hard to argue against that logic.

“Pft, really, kid? That old thing? Don’t worry about that,” the spunky girl answered with a swatting motion of her hand, “Having that much ice cream before dinner’s not gonna kill ya, and you gotta live a little now and then! If you’re that worried about it, nobody’s going to know if we keep it between us, okay? Now eat up before it melts! Itadakimasu!” She then took her first spoonful of ice cream and squealed at how delicious it was.

“... Okay, then. Itadakimasu,” I answered, resigning to the older girl’s logic and taking my first spoonful.

The ice cream should have tasted the same as I had the few times before—the times I could even have this treat were rare, considering our money situation—but there was something about this occasion that made the treat taste so much better. I’ve roughhoused with other kids around my age a fair number of times, but this might have been the first taste of my ‘delinquency’ and what it had to offer. Sharing this first experience with a pretty girl like Yosaka-san made it taste all the sweeter.

“Chocolate chip mint, right? How’s it taste?” she asked.

“... It’s good. Really good. What flavor did you get, Yosaka-san?”

She then took another scoop and held the spoonful towards me, “Cookie dough! You wanna trade bites?”

“Huh?! Big kids do this too?!” I exclaimed in surprise.

The spunky girl looked up in thought, “Well, I do it all the time with my friends, so yeah, this is totally okay!”

I was surprised by this revelation because the only people I ‘traded tastes’ with for anything were Mom—who I labeled separately from big kids as an ‘adult,’ being in a league of her own—and Hyo-chan. Due to my lack of friends, I was unaware of the ‘indirect kiss’ fad until later. With Hyo-chan being around the same age as me asking that we could taste each other’s treats most of the time—doing it the same way Yosaka-san was back then—I figured this was a ‘normal’ thing done between friends of this age-group.

It was when I remembered my times with Hyo-chan and what Yosaka-san described to me that I realized something just then.

“Does that mean … I’m your friend, Yosaka-san?” I asked nervously.

She then looked at me with confusion, “Hm? Course that makes you my friend. Don’t you want to be friends with me, Ma-chi?”

Hearing her say that made me warm up so much that I thought I’d explode from happiness. I just couldn’t let this chance slip by me.

“I-I do! I want to be friends with you too, Yosaka-san! I’ve even been thinking about it at school! You were in my head all day today!” I exclaimed.

The tanned girl was so shocked she had to turn her head away. Even with her curly hair, I saw enough of her ear poking out that turned a tint of red. Seeing her react that way made me self-conscious of what I said then, now terrified that she might have changed her mind.

Admittedly, I was probably so desperate for companionship back then that I might have said a little more than was needed to know. I didn’t even know most of those words were something pulled from a cheesy romance novel at the time, but that was really how I felt about her.

“J-Jeez, don’t say something like that to a girl out of nowhere. You’re making me embarrassed,” Yosaka-san said while turning away.

I looked down, deflated at being rejected, “I’m sorry … that was weird of me to say, wasn’t it.”

“Definitely weird … but I don’t hate it.”

The way she said it got me confused, wondering if I misinterpreted her somewhat before my hair got rustled again. I looked up to her and saw she had a different smile from before, one that’s more bashful that went with her tanned-cheeks tinted red.

“I’m happy you wanted to see me again that much, Ma-chi. Thanks,” she said.

“Uh … sure. You’re welcome,” I answered. I was so dumbstruck by how cute she looked then that I didn’t know what else to say.

She then took another spoonful of her cookie dough ice cream and held it up like she did before, “Now that we got that cleared up, wanna trade bites now, Ma-chi?”

“Sure!” I answered excitedly. With a spoonful of our own ice creams in hand, we put them in each other’s mouths to taste.

I never had cookie dough flavored ice cream until that moment, but it became an instant favorite for reasons I didn’t realize back then.

After that, we talked while eating the rest of our ice creams. I learned that Yosaka-san back then was a first-year in the high school closest to my home—the same one that I ended up going to much much later after Mom and I moved to a different neighborhood—while I was still a fourth-year in my elementary school.

We then at one point brought up some problems we were currently dealing with. The reason why Yosaka-san was down that morning was because she broke up with her ex-boyfriend after learning he two-timed her the day before. She had been feeling down ever since and didn’t want to risk running into him at school, even if her dad would end up scolding her for skipping when she got back. The friends at Yosaka-san’s school were surprised to see her, and it sounded like they were doing their part to support her by keeping her ex away, especially when he tried approaching her after classes ended.

Yosaka-san’s circumstances reminded me of why Mom was single and I never met my ‘dad,’ the old bastard. She wasn’t clear on the details as to why back then and I never even got to know his name. All I knew was that he left us right after I was born. If the reasons were similar to Yosaka-san’s problems, it made me angry at both her ex and the old bastard for doing such wrong to good people.

Yosaka-san’s problems sounded rough, far more exhausting than what I was dealing with, but it was comforting to know she had some good friends that got her back. After listening to how much she loved them, though, I got a little melancholy, and she noticed right away. After she egged me on enough, I decided to come out with it.

“I see. So you’re lonely since your friend moved, huh?” Yosaka-san asked.

I only nodded.

“You don’t have any others at your school?”

I shook my head, “I think the other kids only played with me because Hyo-chan was also there. Now that she’s gone, nobody bothers talking to me, let alone play with me.”

“Oh, Ma-chi,” Yosaka-san said, pulling me to a hug that I wasn’t mentally prepared for, “Just who would be so cruel to a sweet, cute boy like you?”

I was used to Mom and Hyo-chan hugging me, and my aunts were also just as affectionate at times, but there was something about Yosaka-san’s embrace that made me heat up like an oven. I didn’t dislike it, of course, quite the contrary. I wanted to stay in the warm, sweet-smelling comfort I was wrapped up in. It was still so different from what I was used to that it made me self-conscious though, especially when she called me cute.

“Well, you won’t have to feel lonely anymore, Ma-chi, ‘Cause now you got a banging, brand new friend to play with,” Yosaka-san then said. I couldn’t see her face from how she was holding me, but I imagine she had a look of pride on her face at this moment.

I thought I was hearing things and had to check to make sure, “Is it really okay … for me to play with you?”

“Of course it’s okay! I want to play and get to know you more, Ma-chi! You’re a cool little dude!” she answered before squeezing me harder to emphasize her point, “In fact … do you have a phone on you?”

I reached into my school bag and took out a flip phone. The phone itself was already paid for by my aunts while Mom took care of paying for the plan. It had info on my mom, all my aunts, and Hyo-chan. I told Yosaka-san that much as she looked at my contacts.

She then pushed some buttons on both our phones and handed my phone back, “There. You have my number now, so anytime you’re feeling lonely and want to play, just hit me up, okay?”

Whoa … a big kid’s phone number, I thought as I held up my phone with Yosaka-san’s contact on display, as if I was holding a rare treasure.

She then pulled me up close and snapped a selfie of us with her phone before sending the picture to me, “A little something to remember this moment by. Did you get it?”

It all came so suddenly that I didn’t have time to register it all. I didn’t know what happened until I got the picture Yosaka-san sent me. It was of me having a confused look on my face, getting pulled into her chest by the arm while she held a peace sign with a bright, colorful smile on her uniquely dark-skinned, glowing face.

… She’s so pretty, I thought, “Y-Yeah, I got it.”

“Cool! If any kid gives you trouble about being alone, just tell them you know a cool and mature big kid and show them that picture as evidence. I’m sure they’ll shut up about it immediately,” she said before nodding to herself in confirmation.

I looked deeply into the picture again, I don’t think I want to show this off though. The other kids only played with me because I was with Hyo-chan. Would something like that happen again if they know of Yosaka-san? If that’s the case, it may be best to keep this a secret.

I made sure the photo was saved before closing my phone with a shy smile, “Thanks, Yosaka-san, you’re … really nice, and cool too, like a big sister.”

“Hmm … ‘big sister,’ huh? I like the sound of that,” she said as I turned back to her, seeing that she was deep in thought, “Okay, I decided. I just feel weird with you calling me ‘Yosaka-san’ all the time, so from now on, I’ll be your ‘big sister,’ and you can call me ‘Onee-chan.’ What do you think?”

“Whoa, really?! I can do that?!” I asked with widened eyes. There were times I wondered what it would be like if I had a brother or sister. I knew enough about this subject back then that it would be impossible while Mom was still by herself, and she was working hard to make sure we were living comfortably. We may have had Hyo-chan over for dinner occasionally, but there was no way Mom could give the majority of her attention to my younger sibling while working during that time. Plus, from what I had seen from other mothers who were expecting, I didn’t want to make things harder for Mom than they already were.

With that said, the fact that I could call someone ‘Onee-chan’ if they asked me to was like a huge discovery to me.

“Sure! I’ve always wanted a little brother or sister, so this would work perfectly! So, what do you say? You wanna be my little bro?” she asked.

My answer was obvious, but there was one thing I wanted to change, so I roused up the courage to ask, “That would be really cool, but … is it okay if I called you ‘Aneki?’” [TN: Another term for ‘big sister,’ or ‘Big Sis.’]

“‘Aneki’? Hmm … that sounds good too, so I’m okay with that, but why ‘Aneki?’” she asked while tilting her head.

I looked up to think, “My aunts told me once that ‘Aneki’ was for a ‘big sister you look up to with great respect and devotion,’ and all of them called my mom that, even when some of them were older than her, so that really tells how cool my mom is, right? It made me want to call her that too, but she wouldn’t allow it. Still, I thought it would be nice to call a cool, amazing girl like that my Aneki. You seem cool and amazing, so that’s why I want to call you ‘Aneki.’”

“Uh … give me a sec, please,” the tanned girl said with a shocked face before turning to the side. Just like earlier, I saw her ears turn red, and it looked like she was covering her mouth that time around too. I think I also heard her sniffle a bit.

After some time, she cleared her throat, took a deep breath and turned back to me, “Just to make sure, do you know what ‘devotion’ means?”

“My aunts told me it was something like ‘loyalty,’ I think?” I asked while tilting my head in thought, “They did tell me I act that way for Hyo-chan, so if it’s something like that, I can be the same for you too.”

The tanned girl covered her mouth with a fist and cleared her throat while averting her gaze, her face glowing a tint of red again, “I-I see. Well, I guess I’ll have to meet your expectations and make ‘Aneki’ be a title that’s worth something.”

“So it’s okay?!” I asked in excitement.

She then got up from her seat, got in front of me, and lowered herself to my level before sticking out a pinky, “Ma-chi, I pinky-swear to you that I’ll be the best ‘Aneki’ that you can ask for, and maybe then some. But in exchange, you have to be the cool little bro that I’d like to see from you. Deal?”

“Deal!” I answered while locking my pinky with hers, “I’ll be in your care from now on, Aneki!”

“Count on it, little bro,” she answered while rustling my hair before standing back up, “Now, you got some groceries you need to get for dinner tonight, right? I’ll come with and help out.”

“Thanks, Aneki! That would help a lot!”

We ended up running into Mom as we came back from getting groceries, which was a big surprise for me. I guessed she got all of her work done and decided to come home early. After some quick explanations, Mom was really happy I made a new friend. We also found out then that Aneki lived in the same neighborhood as us, so Mom invited her to join us for dinner, which she happily accepted without hesitation. Aneki definitely confirmed that I was able to cook with the spread I made that night, and it made me happy to see how much she loved every bite.

To me, dinner that night was the best I ever had so far.