Chapter 23: Who Do You Want to Be in the Future?
On the way to the park, I ran into Nohara Shinnosuke, who had apparently run away from home. I found out he was also heading to the park, so we decided to go together.
Akira introduced the little potato-faced boy to Shouko. Shinnosuke waved casually and said, "Just call me Shin-chan!"
The three of us entered the children's play area. From the entrance, you could see a square plaza surrounded by flower beds. Inside, there were slides, a sandpit, see-saws, swings, and a bunch of odd decorations.
As we stepped in, the four kids already playing there turned to look at us. A little girl quickly approached Akira and greeted him with enthusiasm.
"Akira! You came to play at the park too? Want to play super-realistic house?"
Akira waved her off with a smile and then gestured to the girl quietly holding his hand. "This is Sakurada Nini. She's also a friend from the Sunflower Class."
At his words, Shouko quietly studied the girl in front of her. She wore a pink dress with a cherry blossom print and had dark red hair tied into a ponytail.
Seeing that Shouko didn't say anything, Akira gently patted her hand to encourage her to speak.
Shouko pulled her gaze back and spoke slowly and somewhat unclearly, "Hello, my name is Nishimiya Shouko."
Sakurada Nini could only partially understand, but nodded and cheerfully introduced herself again.
Just then, a boy with a crew cut wearing a green shirt, blue shorts, and yellow shoes ran up, clutching a sketchbook. He shyly scratched the back of his head and introduced himself. "Hello, my name is Sato Masao."
Shouko looked at him blankly. Akira, realizing she didn't hear him well, quickly jumped in. "Masao, can you say that again? Your voice was too soft. Shouko didn't catch it with her hearing aid."
At that moment, both Masao and Nini noticed the red hearing aid on Shouko's left ear.
Masao raised his voice and introduced himself again, and this time, Shouko heard him clearly and smiled as she told him her name.
Masao started scratching his head and grinning again, a little foolishly.
The other two kids hurried over. The boy in front wore a light blue shirt, orange shorts, and black shoes. His long black hair was neatly combed.
"Hello, I'm Kazama Toru. Nice to meet you," he said, offering Shouko a handshake.
But Shouko quickly hid behind Akira.
Toru looked disappointed, but Akira explained softly, "Shouko's a little shy."
The last boy approached slowly and introduced himself. "My name is Daiki..."
Shouko peeked out from behind Akira, studying the boy. He wore a yellow shirt and green shorts, had a round face and a crew cut — with a long string of snot dangling from his nose.
After Daiki introduced himself, Shouko took out a tissue from her pocket and handed it to him. "Here. Wipe."
Blushing, Daiki thanked her and stuffed the tissue into his pocket.
Shouko stared at him, puzzled, and Akira chuckled. "Daiki has a bit of a nose problem. He's used to it by now."
Just then, Shin-chan, who'd been unusually quiet, finally asked the group, "So, what were you guys playing just now?"
"I'm playing my future self!" Nini declared.
Masao raised his sketchbook and proudly showed it to everyone. "Yeah! I'm going to be a super famous manga artist in Japan one day!"
Nini chimed in right after, spinning around confidently. "And I'll become a gentle teacher like Miss Yoshinaga! I'll teach kids with all my heart—and we'll play super-realistic house together!"
Shouko didn't say anything, just clapped for them politely.
Nini turned to Daiki next, clearly expecting his answer.
Daiki ran over to the sandpit. Akira and Shouko followed him with their eyes, curious.
Daiki filled a tin can with sand, stuck a branch in the center, then stood on his head, placed one hand on his waist, and shouted, "I'll become a great inventor in the future!"
Then he sniffed the snot about to drip into his mouth.
After his declaration, everyone turned to Kazama Toru.
Toru flicked his hair back coolly, smirked, and said with confidence, "I'm gonna be the president of a company! I'll make tons of money and boss people around!"
"Pa...pa...pa!" Shouko clapped calmly again, though Toru peeked sideways at the cute girl with a shy grin.
Then Daiki ran back and asked eagerly, "What about you guys? Who do you wanna be in the future?"
Shouko glanced at Akira before mumbling shyly, "I want to be... Akira's marriage partner..."
But her voice was so soft that no one could make out the full sentence. Even Akira, standing right beside her, only caught the words "...a partner."
Nini, looking confused, tried to ask again, but Shouko had already hidden behind Akira, blushing too hard to speak.
The group gave up trying to get her to repeat it and moved on to the others.
Akira just said, "I'll tell you when the time comes."
As for Shin-chan, he shrugged and said he didn't have any dreams. "I like the way I am now."
This surprised the group, but Shin-chan ignored them. He ran into an open space, pulled his pants halfway down, and started dancing.
They were still just kids, so no one was fazed by Shin-chan's half-naked antics. Akira, unfazed, simply pulled a small device from his pocket.
It was a GPS alarm his mom, Shizuka Miyamura, had given him earlier. It had been vibrating ever since they entered the park.
After fiddling with it for a bit, he managed to shut it off and stuffed it back into his pocket.
"Wanna play something together?" he asked the group.
Nini immediately raised her hand. "Let's play super-realistic house again!"
Kazama Toru and the others stared at her in disbelief. Nini noticed their looks and was about to throw a fit when—
"Please vote for Shinzo Abe! Please vote for Shinzo Abe!"
A van blaring campaign slogans rolled past the play area with a deafening speaker. Everyone quickly covered their ears.
On the rooftop of his office, Daiki Miyamura puffed on a cigarette while checking his phone. He noticed that the red GPS dot marking Akira's location had disappeared.
He furrowed his brow in confusion and immediately called Shizuka Miyamura.
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