I went to the place to meet up with s.h.i.+rota.

I am still a bit early. About 10 minutes before the agreed time.

From the closest station to Has.h.i.+dzume High School, Ichikura Station, I went to the station that was three stops away in the opposite direction of my house.

That was the station we decided on as a meeting place.

It was a considerably small station called Okunas.h.i.+ Station.

I was in front of a clock tower that had a roundabout.

There was no taxi. There was just old people hunched over sitting on a bench waiting for the bus.

Some students from Has.h.i.+dzume High School pa.s.s by.

But they didn't pay any attention to me.

s.h.i.+rota, who didn't want her friends to find out I was tutoring her, designated her own house as our place of study. That's why this Okunas.h.i.+ Station is probably the closest station to her house.

It was five minutes before the appointed meeting time.

A small truck drove up on the roundabout.1

A sungla.s.ses-wearing shaved-head man was riding in the driver's seat.

That driver turned their head towards me and lightly waved his hand.

「Eh?」

I look around but there is no one here but me.

I drew near while being cautious.

When the window was lowered manually, The man with the shaved head took off his sungla.s.ses.2

His eyes resembled those of a kind person.

He was younger than I initially thought.

He seems to be around 25 years old.

On the tip of his sunburned nose was a slightly big mole.

「Are you Yotsuba's friend?」

「A…ye-yeah」

「That so? Get in」

Saying that, the person with the shaved head opened up the pa.s.senger door.

He laughed at me being extremely cautious.

「Hahaha! Don't be so scared! I am Yotsuba's older brother. I am Ichiro, nice to meetcha」

「Oh-ohh…I am Okutani Koumei. Did you come to pick me up?」

「That's right. Yotsuba told me to, now, get in, get in」

I get in the pa.s.senger's seat.

I wish she would have told me her brother would be picking me up.

「For Yotsuba to invite a friend to our house, I can't remember the last time it happened…」

After the car left, Ichiro muttered that.

He didn't put his gla.s.ses back on as we went down a road with small stores lining both sides of the street.

「U-umm…Where's Yotsuba?」

「That girl is already home. She came home on her bike. And then she told me to go pick you up. Why do you ask?」

It was probably a step to make sure no one saw us together.

「When I asked her why she didn't go herself, she ended up getting mad saying she has a lot of preparations to make」

After about 10 minutes, the truck enters a road with paddy fields. And then it immediately came to a stop.

「Alright, this is our house. Welcome」

Ichiro got out of the truck and lead me in.

In front of a paddy field, a huge two-storied building was built.

The front yard was s.p.a.cious enough for the truck to park in.

Behind the house stood a small hill with a bunch of trees planted.

The house felt somewhat isolated.

「Our house is made up of farmers…All these paddy fields are ours.」

Ichiro proudly explained to me who was stunned.

And then we stopped in front of a shed built in the yard.

「I've still got a bit more work to do. Yotsuba is in the house」

I thanked Ichiro, who went into the shed, for the welcome.

And then I went towards the entryway of s.h.i.+rota's house.

The chime rang. And then the door opened at the same time.

「Oo!」

Ichiro stood in front of my eyes.

Since that couldn't be the case, he must be his twin.

「Yo」

Facing me with a friendly smile, Ichiro #2 laughed.

He was completely like Ichiro but there wasn't a mole on the tip of his nose.

「E-to…」

「Are you Yotsuba's boyfriend?! I see you are a meagre fellow! I won't recognize you!」

What is this person saying.

「Nii-ni! Stop!」

When I thought I heard s.h.i.+rota's voice, Ichiro #2 starting falling towards me.

Avoiding him in a hurry, Ichiro #2 tumbled into the garden.

「Sorry, that was Jiro. He's my Onii-chan」

s.h.i.+rota was in the entryway.

It seems she kicked her own brother.

She spread her legs and readies her fist like a karate pract.i.tioner finis.h.i.+ng their technique.

She wasn't wearing her uniform, instead she was wearing a big white T-s.h.i.+rt and shorts.

Her hair that was usually tied up in two was undone.

Her eyes were like a guy's but her eyelashes were long.

「The person that picked you up was Ichi-nii. Ichi-nii and Nii-ni are twins」

Ichi-nii must mean Ichiro and Nii-ni must mean Jiro.

「That's right!」

Jiro who had fallen down stood up vigorously.

「Even though Ichiro was born only five minutes before me, my name became Jiro!」

「Nii-ni, if you don't leave quickly, won't Ichi-nii get mad?」

Slightly raising her eyebrows, s.h.i.+rota looked at Jiro in shock.

「That's right, since I have seen Yotsuba's boyfriend, I am going back to work! Hahahahahaha」

Laughing with a loud voice, Jiro walks towards the shed in the yard.

「I said he isn't my boyfriend!」

s.h.i.+rota turned towards Jiro and shouted.

Turning around to s.h.i.+rota, I asked her.

「Do you have another brother?」

「Eh? Yeah, that's right, there is Mitsu-nii」

「Mitsu-nii?」

「Yeah he's called Mitsuhiko so Mitsu-nii」

「Is that so?…so it's Ichiro, Jiro, Mitsuhiko, Yotsuba…it seems like a lively and large family」3

When I said that, s.h.i.+rota shrugged her shoulders.

「They are just annoying…now, come in」

And, I entered her house.

I put on the slippers that were laid out for me.

The inside of the house was just as it looked outside, it was s.p.a.cious.

s.h.i.+rota lead me to a s.p.a.cious room on the first floor.

It was a tatami room that was probably 12-jou.4

In the middle is a huge square table.

That table had cus.h.i.+ons put near it facing each other.

There was also snacks in a basket.

「Please sit. I'll bring some drinks」

「Ah, yeah…thanks」

s.h.i.+rota left with the pitter-patter sound of her slippers.

I set down my bag and sat on the cus.h.i.+on.

Writing utensils were set up on top of the table in order to be able to study.

I could see the garden through the giant window that matches this room.

Ichiro and Jiro came out from the shed with towels wrapped around their heads.

The two's relations.h.i.+p seemed good as they got in the truck and drove off.

「Where's your parents?」

I asked s.h.i.+rota who was bringing cups and a PET bottle filled with tea.5

「They should be in the fields. Mitsu-nii is in a boarding school so he isn't here」

While saying that, s.h.i.+rota sat across from me.

And then she poured tea into a cup and pa.s.sed it over to me.

When she leaned forward, I could see her bra peeking out from her loose T-s.h.i.+rt.

When she wore her uniform I didn't realize but she has some considerable b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

And her b.r.e.a.s.t.s that were wrapped up in her bra were white which differed from her suntanned skin.

「Is something wrong?」

Looking at me whose heart beat quickened, s.h.i.+rota raised her eyebrows.

「No…e-to…we're studying math, right?」

I took out the math textbook from my bag in a fl.u.s.ter.

He means a window that is lowered with a crank rather than a b.u.t.ton ↩

Uses 1, 2, 3, and 4. Ichi, Tsugi(which means next), Mitsu, and Yotsu ↩

Best to google it but it's about 19.2 square meters ↩

Again, google it ↩