According to my childhood friend, “Recently a neighborhood auntie told me that the rainy season and autumn have disappeared and it just jumps straight to summer or winter now…but I don’t think they’re actually gone, it’s just that because of climate change the temperatures that define the rainy season and autumn have shifted from the old standards,” apparently, that’s what she said, long-winded as always.

Is this like how for people in the past a 1000-yen bill automatically meant Natsume Sōseki (old figure on the bill), or is it more like adults have their version of the rainy season and we have ours, something like that?

Anyway, speaking in that half-clear, half-unclear way, my so-called childhood friend Sakura Ayuri is…

“No kidding, it’s getting hot.”

“It’s still June though.”

“It’s already June, huh.”

On our way to school in the morning, in that annoying temperature where you can’t decide whether to switch to the summer uniform or not, she was heading to school with me to fulfill our duties as students.

“When are you switching to the summer uniform, Ayu-chan?”

“Mm… if I can help it I don’t want to wear it… but I hate sweating even more…”

“Ayu-chan hates sweating and even hates dealing with sweat countermeasures.”

This senior Kazufuku Hotaru is the same… well, we live nearby so it’s not strange, but knowing this senior, the way she pushes for summer uniforms feels like she just wants to take photos or something, and I can’t help sensing some ulterior motives.

“No, I do take countermeasures, you know? If I don’t, Hotaru-chan and Hina-chan get really… enthusiastic about doing all sorts of things.”

“Actually, there’s a new product I really want you to try…”

“Here we go again, the same cheap one every year is fine though…”

“But this scent might be one Ayu-chan likes! And it matches mine!”

That last reason is obviously the real one, senior. Every single year she does these marking-like things toward Ayu, competing with Hina, and somehow never gets tired of it.

And just like that, June arrived.

Honestly, I hate the heat too. Thinking about how the temperature is only going to skyrocket from here, the rest of school life feels unbearably sluggish. Hurry up and become summer vacation already.

* * *

“Eh!? It’s raining today?”

“Why are you suddenly using polite speech?”

“Yeah it is~”

“What did you think the umbrella I brought was for?”

Ayu’s shock earned three different responses.

It was lunchtime, the four of us had pushed our desks together to eat, and the topic turned to the weather.

“I thought Gin-chan’s was a parasol or something~”

“Think about the season, even if it’s early summer it’s still June.”

“It’s the rainy season after all~”

Come to think of it, it’s surprising that Hotaru-senpai walked to school with us and didn’t point that out. She loves fussing over people like that.

“Oh right… so this was my chance to bring out my favorite umbrella marker…”

“What were you planning to attach?”

“Um… this one I pulled from a gacha. It’s clear material and really pretty.”

“That’s the one you searched forever to get, right? You’ll get it stolen, so don’t.”

“My old umbrella broke, so I’ll put it on a temporary vinyl umbrella next!”

“That’s a combination that feels like it’ll get taken together~”

The merch Ayu pulled is insanely popular after all.

Still, it’s meant to be a marker so it doesn’t get taken by mistake, yet attaching it would just invite that to happen, what is this irony?

* * *

“So it’s after school now.”

“It’s really coming down~”

At the shoe lockers we look outside… or rather, Ayu stands there frozen. It’s a solid rain where running home would guarantee getting soaked.

“Mmm~ then as planned, I, Momozono Hina, will take Ayu-chan as far as the station. After that, Gin-chan can share an umbrella with Ayu-chan and go on together~”

“Eh, I don’t want to, I’ll get wet.”

“Oh my, this girl is cool, but her treatment is cold too.”

It’s already getting hot enough as it is, why should I have to stick close and get all sticky? They say idiots don’t catch colds, and Ayu will be fine, right?

It’s not like the rain will stop if we wait, so just as we start to move to head outside,

“Waiiit! Ayu-chaa~n! Everyone~!”

…A voice I’d heard this morning echoed down the hallway.

“Huh… Hotaru-chan? What’s wrong?”

“Phew~ I made it in time~ Club’s off today, so I thought I’d go home together with you guys, Ayu-chan.”

You’re not going home with your classmates? Does this person even have friends—

“I do have friends, you know? When I said I might be able to go home with Ayu-chan, they all happily saw me off.”

…She read my mind like it was nothing, that’s scary.

“You didn’t bring an umbrella this morning, right Ayu-chan? So I thought you might be in trouble~ I figured I should let you into my umbrella, see!”

“…That’s a folding umbrella, Hotaru-chan. It’s small, we’ll stick out.”

“Yeah, so we’ll have to stay really close.”

This senior is absolutely doing it on purpose. The fact she didn’t mention the umbrella this morning means it was premeditated.

“Se~npa~i, Ayu-chan is already taken care of, so please go home with your classmates~.”

“Hina-chan, you part ways at the station, right? After that, won’t you need me~?”

“Gin-chan is here so we’re fine~ we’re covered~”

“Ginoko-san… this is what they call a battlefield, right…”

“Yeah.”

For me it’s a battlefield I’ve been used to seeing since elementary school. And judging by how Sumire-san’s eyes are strangely sparkling, this person has quite the personality herself.

By the way, when this happens, Ayu usually turns into a statue like she is now. She used to try mediating when we were younger though.

* * *

“Honestly, Hina-chan is unfair. Just being in the same grade and class as Ayu-chan is enviable enough, but you even try to cut into my time with her.”

“Maybe so.”

“Everyone’s so lucky… they get to spend their youth with Ayu-chan. I was thinking ‘at least let us be in the same club,’ but Ayu-chan doesn’t even want to join one…”

“Maybe so.”

“Ayu-chan, do you think so too? That means we’re mutually in love, right~”

“It’s hooot~.”

Isn’t that supposed to be telepathy, or something? Either way, it doesn’t look like that at all though.

In the end, Hina took Ayu as far as the station, and after that Hotaru-senpai shared an umbrella with her… but it was obvious that Hina was deliberately sticking close to show off while walking, so the moment it became her turn, senpai matched her by sticking just as close to Ayu.

“Ui ui~”

“Stooop~”

‘So slow…’

At the station, Hina left us with a very unhappy face, while Sumire-san looked oddly satisfied.

Hina knew this would happen as a result of her provocation, so if she was going to make that face, she shouldn’t have been so clingy in the first place.

Even so, Hina’s turn was already pretty bad, but once it became senpai’s turn, our walking speed got even slower.

We’re sharing a tiny folding umbrella and on top of that it’s like this, I really want her to think about the person stuck accompanying them.

“…Welp, it’s sad to part, but I guess this is where we say goodbye.”

“Finally…”

In the end, the painfully slow walk home continued right up until the very last point before parting with senpai. That was long…

“Alright then, Ginoko-chan, I’ll leave Ayu-chan to you after this.”

“Eh.”

“Whoa.”

Just as I was psyching myself up thinking we were almost home, senpai’s umbrella suddenly drew close. Then in the next moment, with a tap, Ayu was bounced out from under senpai’s umbrella and tossed under mine.

I ended up instinctively catching Ayu in my arms. When I looked up, senpai had already moved away from us.

“Hey, senpai! You could’ve just lent Ayu your umbrella!”

“It’s going to rain from tomorrow morning, you know~”

“Then you’ll need it in the morning too, so it’s the same thing!”

“You two live closer to each other than I do, so it’s fine, right? Well then, you two, bye-bye!”

She appears suddenly, stirs everything up, then leaves like the wind, truly like a typhoon of a senior. Even so…

“Um… Gin-chan… is this okay?”

“…Well, it’s fine.”

At this point I can’t tell her to go home soaking wet. So I reluctantly allow the shared umbrella.

“…”

“Hey Ayu, you’re too far away. You’re getting wet.”

“B-but…”

“It’s fine, I don’t mind.”

No matter how much I angle the umbrella toward Ayu, she keeps drifting away for some reason, so there’s no end to it.

I hate the heat, but if she actually catches a cold, I’ll have nightmares. I grab Ayu’s slightly wet shoulder and pull her closer inside.

“…The two of them act like that because they don’t know, but Gin-chan knows, right? Don’t you think they might be having impure thoughts or something?”

“About that… oh, you mean the thing where you’re a reincarnator?”

Even if those two knew, setting aside whether they’d believe it or not, I don’t think they’d change how they act.

Well, it doesn’t matter right now. What matters is what I think…

“Not really. I won’t say I don’t believe you, but you’re the only one saying it. You yourself brushed it off when I said there were bugs mixed into my strawberry milk before, remember, you just went ‘huh’ and drank it. It’s the same.”

“So my secret is on the same level as bugs.”

After saying it, I thought to myself that it’s the same in that some people might be surprised or grossed out if they knew the truth.

And in the end, at least I decided not to care. Hina, Hotaru-senpai and even Sumire-san probably wouldn’t care either, though Ayu wouldn’t be convinced by that.

“…We’re almost at Gin-chan’s house.”

While we were talking like that, we’d arrived in front of my house. Hotaru-senpai’s house is farther compared to ours, but generally speaking it’s still close, so it really does feel like we arrived in no time.

“Yeah… we’re here.”

“…Gin-chan?”

“Hotaru-senpai said it too, right. It’s going to rain tomorrow morning, so tomorrow you wake up early and return the umbrella to me, okay?”

I force the umbrella into Ayu’s hand. They say idiots don’t catch colds, but they also say they do and just don’t notice, and on top of that, going all the way to Ayu’s house with her would be a hassle.

“See you.”

“…Gin-chan!”

“What?”

When I turn back under the eaves by the entrance, Ayu is looking at me holding my umbrella.

“Um… that….”

“I want to get inside already.”

“…That… thank you, Gin-chan! See you tomorrow! Make sure you change your clothes!”

“…Yeah, you too.”

She hesitated over what to say, made me wait, and that’s all she came up with. Thinking that, I watched Ayu run off.

‘…Time to change.’

My shoulder got a little wet, and if I catch a cold because of this, I can’t even imagine what Ayu would say to me.

After meeting eyes once with Ayu as she went into her house carrying my umbrella, I opened my front door.

* * *

The next day, Ayu really did wake up early and came to my house, coming straight into my room while I was sleeping to wake me up herself.

I didn’t say you had to go that far.