We heated up pizza, karaage, and french fries from the refrigerator in the microwave and put them on the table. There were several cans of beer in the refrigerator. My mother rarely drank alcohol at home, but Aunt Tomoko seemed to be a heavy drinker.

"Mmm, I knew Japanese beer tasted good!"

As soon as the meal was served, Aunt downed one can of beer and opened the second one.

"I feel like I'm finally home. As I thought, the food here is better suited to my palate than the food over there."

"But anyway, I'm glad you're all right. I hear it's dangerous over there," said my mother, taking a sip of the beer she had poured into her glass.

"I live in a relatively safe neighborhood, so I'm fine. And there was good security. Well, I didn't feel like going out at night, though."

"Really, you have to be careful. You have Rina-chan here, too."

She said, "I know. Between the company and Rina, I would choose Rina." and then, "My daughter," she said abruptly, hugging Izumi, who was sitting beside her. Aunt Tomoko's face was slightly red. She might have been drunk already. "Kya, mom, it's dangerous!" Izumi, who was about to put her chopsticks to the karaage, lost her balance and screamed.

After playing with Izumi for a while, she talked with my mother happily for a while, and then she asked me about something like this.

"Kenichi-kun, you play soccer, right?"

"Yes," I nodded.

"Is that because of your father's influence?"

"Yes, I think so. He put me in soccer lessons when I was in kindergarten, and before I knew it, I was already playing soccer."

"I see," Izumi, who was sitting next to me, said that.

She looked at me for a moment and said, "I see," and then turned to my mother and said, "He looks a little like Junichi, after all."

"Really? I didn't think either of my sons looked like their father."

"I think they somehow have the same vibe."

Junichi was my father's name. "Did you know my father?" I asked almost subconsciously. Aunt nodded.

"Yes, since I was in college. Your father played soccer from then on, and we used to go to watch the matches together."

When I said "I see," Izumi continued, "Mom had her youth, too, huh."

"Right," Aunt laughed. Then, with a slightly mysterious expression on her face, she said, "I wanted to visit Junichi's grave once, too. But I haven't had a chance to do so. I'm sorry," she said to my mother.

"It's okay. After a week, you won't see us again for a few months, so you should spend more time with Rina-chan."

"Tomorrow, I will give you money for flowers, from Rina and me. Tell Junichi I said hi when you visit his grave."

"Yeah. Thank you," my mother replied.

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After a festive meal, my mother and Izumi's went into my mother's room. Izumi and I were left alone in the living room.

"Izumi's mother is a lively person, isn't she?" I said.

"Yes. Very much so. She said she doesn't mind not sleeping for three days if she's having fun."

"Really?" I said, and Izumi laughed, "It's like she wants me to tell her to go to bed."

Through the door, I could hear my mother and Izumi's mother talking incessantly.

"It felt like it wasn't as I had imagined it. I had heard that aunt was the complete opposite of Izumi, but I couldn't imagine what she was like."

Fufufu, Izumi laughed.

"Maybe she's my role model, in negative mean."

"What do you mean?"

"I started to feel that I shouldn't be like that when I was in the third grade of elementary school. After drinking alcohol, she would sleep with her stomach exposed. She was not very good at folding laundry, and would make the clothes crumple up. I was the kind of kid who cared about that kind of thing."

"Ah......"

Indeed, Izumi was that kind of kid.

"My mom is very good at what she does, unlike me. She does everything quickly and efficiently."

"Yeah. I felt that way. I thought she seemed dependable."

"Really?" Izumi said and laughed. I drank the rest of the tea in my cup. A quiz show was playing on the TV, which I had left on, and Izumi began to think seriously about a world history quiz on "What economic role did the Nile River play in the prosperity of the Egyptian civilization?"

"You're going to Hakone tomorrow, aren't you?" I took another sip of my tea and turned to Izumi, who was deep in thought. She came back to herself and replied,

"Yes. I'm going to be separated from Kenichi and the others for a while."

"Take care."

"Thank you. You too, Kenichi-kun."

The next morning, my mother is going to drop them off at the train station. After two nights at a hot spring hotel in Hakone with aunt, Izumi will temporarily return to her home in Tokyo.

I have club activities tomorrow morning, so I can't see them off. When I told Izumi that, she said, "Don't worry."

"I'll be back in a week."

"Yeah, you're right."

Izumi nodded. And a little later, she mumbled, "Oh, I see,". The TV showed the answer to the quiz, "River Traffic Routes."

The voices of aunt and my mother were still leaking out through the door. I sat up from the dining chair.

"I'm going back to my room."

"Then, me too."

We turned off the TV and the lights in the living room and went back to our own rooms.

Then, after noon the next day, when I returned home from club activities, the house was quiet. Even though I was in my room, Izumi's presence had disappeared from the house. Until two months ago, it had been like this every day, but the feeling that something was missing soaked my heart.

---This is not good, I thought.

Izumi is not staying at this house permanently. If I felt so lonely now, I wondered what would happen next year when Izumi left this house.

I thought about how much her presence had grown inside me. Not long ago, I never thought that Izumi's absence would make me feel lonely.

But this time, the timing was better. The day after tomorrow, I will be going to my paternal grandparent's house to visit my family's grave, too. As long as I'm away from this house, I'm sure I won't feel this loneliness. I would be able to forget this feeling while I was busy. That's what I thought.