>>5638544"<span class="mu-s">CAPITALISM HO!</span>" You shout with all your might and fist pump with unrivalled energy. Your ice cream has lain forgotten in your other hand for the last few minutes; driblets of melted sugary cream had been dripping downwards all the while. When you do your fist pump, the ice cream is unable to remain upright and stable. It teeters off the cone and plops onto the floor with a wet smack.
Kasumi just buries her face in her hands from embarrassment.
This is not how things were supposed to go. Your little sister manages to bundle you outside with a new cone of black sesame soft cream with extra extra devil walnut paste from granny and pays for everything. You eat the delicious soft cream as you push your bike along the road to home with your fuming little sister.
Your sister hasn't said a word since leaving Ministop. You take your last bite of ice cream and reach into your pocket to get out your wallet.
"Uh, Kasumi. Here's the money for the ice cream."
You try to hand it over but your sister glares at you.
"Don't want it."
You sigh, your little sister is being stubborn. You'll have to sneak the money into her wallet later. Also, she's still mad about being forced to move to Kasuga. Back in the city, she had a thriving social life and heavily involved her drama club. That is all gone, now she has to start all over again, building new friendships and finding new hobbies.
There's no drama club at the school she's at. With only 20 middle school kids and 14 elementary school kids attending, there's just not enough interest or numbers to make a proper drama club. She has obviously managed to make a few friends since arriving here at least.
The air is still hot and humid, the last dying heat of summer lingering in the September air. And the road home is a lonely stretch of uneven concrete by the river. The silence between yourself and your little sister is getting too awkward. You never did apologize to her about dragging her out to this place.
"I guess you're still mad at me for getting us transferred here..." You begin to say but Kasumi cuts you off.
"Fuck no, that's not on you. Our parents decided to move us to the ass end of nowhere. What are kids like us supposed to do? Run away from home? Beg our older brother to let us crash at his puny apartment to stay in the city? Look, Itsuki. I'm not mad that you beat the shit out of every single one of your old classmates forcing us to move here. As far as I'm concerned, they all had it coming. Basic facts of life. Don't start nothing, won't be nothing. It's just..."
Kasumi idly kicks a rock into the stream and listens to the splash plopping into the running water. The countryside is not a totally silent place. Insects chirp, the grass whipped up by the wind rustles and the rushing water of the river burbles.
"It's just I'm going to be here and unable to leave. While you're not going to stick around once you graduate high school."
