Chapter 14: Idle Talk

Even after I moved to the city my parents always sent me care packages and birthday messages. I even managed to send birthday cards in the mail when I couldn't make it home.

Sensing my shift in mood, Natsume assures me, "It's all good. We text each other now and again, and we celebrate the big ones. Like twenty years old."*

His jaw clenches slightly as he says it. Another odd reaction. Maybe he's got bad memories of his twentieth birthday. With triplets like Tsubaki and Azusa, I can't imagine it was a boring party.

"I see. I guess that'll be us this year," I look to Ema. Yusuke's was at the end of last March, and we all went out for karaoke. Well, more like Maho dragged us all out, not that I was complaining.

Ema nods. "Un. I can't believe we're going to be adults."

"Hai. My mother keeps saying she'll send up her old furisode to wear in January." Kaasan has some pretty nice kimono, though I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull it off.

"When's your birthday again?" Yusuke asks me. "Ema-san's is in October, but I don't remember celebrating yours last year, Mai-san."

"Ah. It was during exam prep season," I recall. "Ema got me this cute nyanko cake."

Ema nods in remembrance. "Hai. It was nice of you to share it with me."

"Well, I wasn't going to finish it all by myself. Besides, you were my study buddy. Without you, I might've failed."

"Eh? I'm sure that's not true. You're really smart, Mai-chan!"

"I think you overestimate me, but thanks, anyway." We laugh.

Natsume, who's kind of faded into the background, hops back into the conversation. 

"Ah, so your birthday is in winter?" he asks.

"Un. January. Fun times." First comes New Years, then back to school, and right after come exams. Not a lot of time to celebrate.

The corner of Natsume's mouth twitches. Is that a smile?

"I can relate," he says. "My birthday is also in January. At the very start, no less."

"Eh?" I lean forward. "Really?"

"Un. The other two were born just before midnight, so I just missed the old year." 

They're triplets, but the youngest is technically their junior by a year.

"Cool," I say. 

Natsume's smile drops. "It's not that big of a deal when you think about it. We meet up for drinks if we can. Most of us are off around the winter holidays, anyway."

"That's good, then." I'm trying to picture being born on New Year's. "Your mom must've thought you three were lucky babies."

"Lucky?" Natsume asks, puzzled. "In a weird way, maybe."

"Natsume-san is definitely lucky," Ema insists. "He was able to be born in the New Year, so he got to see the first sunrise."

I'm sure Baby Natsume didn't physically see the sunrise. He and the twins could've been put in intensive care right after birth, but I get what she was going for.

"Un," I agree. "Birthdays are great. You feel glad that you're alive and live to see another year. I'm sure my parents feel the same way."

Ema and I share a smile. She gets me.

Natsume looks like he wants to ask, but he holds his tongue. I wouldn't care if he does. It's not like it's a secret or anything, but I try not to bring it up unless I get asked. 

"So," Ema starts. "I wonder what Maho-chan will have in store for us this time."

"More karaoke?" Yusuke says, his tone bored. 

"Hmm." What would I want us to do for our twentieth birthdays? "What about a day trip? It'd be nice to visit Kyoto again."

"Well... Kyoto might be a little far," Ema ponders. "Maybe somewhere closer? We could go to one of the temples, that way we could also make birthday wishes."

"Eh? We should at least go out to a bar. If we don't go Maho-chan drag us there herself."

"That's true." Ema giggles. "What do you think, Yusuke-kun?"

Yusuke starts, not having expected her to ask his opinion. "Well... what about... an arcade?"

We look at him.

"I guess that'd be cool," I say. An arcade is not what I had in mind, since we can go whenever we want to now.

Yusuke knows this, and he ducks his head toward the window in embarrassment. "O-Or we could do an amusement park."

I appreciate that he's trying. "An amusement park doesn't sound bad. It'd be nice to blow off steam before exams."

Yusuke relaxes. "U-Un."

"What did you do for your coming of age?" I ask Natsume. 

He considers it, tilting his head back to remember. I have no idea how old he is, but it couldn't have been that long ago that he reached his twenties. 

"We stayed in and drank," he recalls. "Not very exciting, but we had exams soon after."

"Ah, tough luck being born so close to exams," I say, sharing his pain.

Although Natsume doesn't seem to bothered by it. He doesn't strike me as the kind of person who would worry about things like that. He must be the cool type.

I wait for the next person to say something, but the conversation dies. I tuck in my feet, feeling awkward. It feels weird when you're the last person to speak, since you always worry that you didn't say enough for people to feel like they can keep talking.

I lean against the window, watching the street lights flicker past. The others do the same, all the way back to the mansion.

Natsume pulls up to the front door and the three of us hop out to get our groceries.

"Thank you again for driving us home," Ema leans toward his window. "I'm sorry if we took time out of your evening."

"Iie. Don't worry about it," says Natsume. "I'm happy to help."

Well, isn't he a happy boy now?

"Yeah, thanks," comes Yusuke's grunting response.

"Un, thanks a ton," I say. "Nice meeting you, too."

"Same to you." Natsume rolls the window down a little more. "I hope your place gets fixed up okay. And I apologize in advance if Tsubaki's being a jerk to you. I always tell Ema-chan to give me a call if he's being a bother. I'll extend it to you, since you're her good friend."

I'm touched. "Un. Thanks."

But he doesn't offer any contact information. Maybe it's just a formality. For some reason, the thought makes me a little sad. 

"Well, good night, then." Natsume rolls up the window and waves.

We wave as best we can with all our bags. I watch the red car pull out of the driveway and back to the road. 

It's only after he's gone that I realize he didn't ask to come in and visit his brothers. 

Huh. Maybe he forgot.