re:Happiness | Cell Phone Novel

unhappy story | lii - lvi

・・・ lii ・・・

They met her at the same airport again.

Bearing a wide smile and a kind expression,
the first thing that Fujiwara Ame did when she saw Ao and Leo was to hug them in a warm embrace.

Ame squeezed them tightly as though afraid to let go.

"Ch... Choking!" Leo finally gagged after a moment. "Time out. Time out!"

Ame laughed her familiar, bright laughter.

She pulled away.

"I missed you guys a lot!" she beamed.

Beside Ao, Leo blinked and flushed slightly. 

"Yeah, yeah... We missed you too."

Ame turned to face Ao,
that wide grin still on her face.

Her voice was quiet.

"... I'm home," she said gently.

Ao blinked.

Without even realizing it,
he had opened his mouth to reply to her.

"... Welcome back, Ame."

He did his best to ignore the bitter taste in his mouth as he said that.

・・・ liii ・・・

"Ah, this brings back a lot of memories..."

Ame said this as she grabbed a cup of coffee from the tray.

"Yep, it does," Leo agreed.

They were inside a cafe at the airport.

There, the three of them decided to spend their time simply talking with each other.

There was no need to rush;
it was a Sunday morning.

Ame wanted to know what happened while she was away.

Leo wanted to know more about life overseas.

Ao, simply sat there and listened to them speak,
voicing in his thoughts and opinions at random intervals.

It reminded him a lot of their days in high school,
back when she was still there and the three of them were complete.

For a moment, it was almost as if Ame had never left in the first place.

・・・ liv ・・・

Leo parted with them after a few hours.

When Ame and Ao arrived finally arrived home,
their parents were waiting for them.

No... for her.

When he saw Ame,
Fujiwara Kyousuke smiled.

Without a second thought, Fujiwara Monica reached out and hugged her daughter.

"Welcome back, Ame," she said.

"Yeah. I'm back mom," Ame replied.

"Dad," she added.

"How was school?" Ao's father asked, rubbing her head like a child. "I heard you've been doing well."

Ame grinned.

"About that..."

As they exchanged words, Ao stayed at the side and watched the scene.

The three of them looked like a complete, happy family.

It was like he wasn't even a part of them.
Like he was simply some stranger.

For those few seconds, Fujiwara Ao was suddenly forgotten.

He looked down at the floor.

But... haven't I always been?

・・・ lv ・・・

One week.

That was how long Ame was allowed to stay.

She had been given a special excuse back at her college for her leave.

Today was the fourth day since she had arrived.

At the same time, today was also Ao's birthday.

He had forgotten all about it.

For Ao, birthdays didn't mean anything special to him.

Instead, it reminded him of the day that he had been made as a mistake.

Ao had stopped celebrating for a long time.

But it was only him who did, though.

・・・ lvi ・・・

The day had been extremely normal.

There wasn't anything to suggest that there was anything out of the ordinary. No one had even greeted him.

Ao's daily routine didn't change.

Wake up.
Go to school.
Walk home with Leo.

Ever since Ame had gotten back,
Leo had been visiting the house every day to hang out with them.

As a result, Ao didn't expect anything different to happen compared to the previous days.

When he opened the front door, a loud pop! echoed in his ears.

There was a burst of color.

There was the sound of laughter.

There was a number of multicolored balloons on the floor.

Confetti rained around him.

Ame was standing in front of him, smiling broadly.

On her head was a triangular party hat,
the same ones that children wore.

Ao blinked, stunned.

Leo urged him inside, grinning.

Together, both Ame and Leo greeted him in a happy chorus.

"—Happy eighteenth birthday, Ao!"