“It looks… cute, doesn’t it?” Arisa awkwardly asked.

“No no, like I said… What part of THAT is cute?” I retorted in wonder at Arisa’s weird optimism.

“I mean… look at the… color… I guess?” (Arisa)

“You’re not even sure about it!” (Kei)

Arisa was a normal girl… sometimes… This is something I thought only happened on tv shows, something that only happened in fiction. However, there was something I was concerned about.

“I don’t know about you… But that just seems like nightmare fuel to me…” It seems that Ms. Akina thought the same as me.

“It’s not that scary… It’s just… unique?” Mr. Itsuki said.

“Why was that a question?!” (Arisa)

For some reason… I was invited by Arisa’s parents to go out, a double date of sorts. In one of these instances, we crossed a weird plushie displayed in front of a gift-store.

It was some kind of cat… or was it a dog…? Hmm… It’s difficult to say, anyways the point was Arisa’s reaction.

“Hey now! Look at it! It’s cute, isn’t it?” (Arisa)

“If that’s cute then blobfishes might as well be extremely adorable.” (Kei)

“Pfft—” I could hear Mr. Itsuki’s burst into laughter from behind me. It’s the truth though…

“Alright, I’m going in.” (Akina)

“Akina?!” (Itsuki)

Mr. Itsuki’s surprised voice was the last thing his wife heard before entering the gift-store…

↤⨳↦

“Unn. Unn. As I thought, is actually kind of cute when you get a closer glance at it!” (Arisa)

“No, no it’s not… Hah…” A few minutes later, Ms. Akina left the store with a paper bag in her hand… It had the plushie we were looking at not too long ago.

“Uhm….” Mr. Itsuki seemed to be speechless.

“See, it’s cute isn’t it?” (Akina)

“No… Hone—” (Itsuki)

“It’s cute, isn’t it?” (Akina)

“…yes… I guess…” (Itsuki)

He gave up?! I said as I stared at Mr. Itsuki with my eyes wide open. Then, clearing her throat, Arisa said, beside me.

“Anyway, I’m getting hungry. Since it was the married couple’s idea, they should be the one to invite!” (Arisa)

“You don’t hold back, do you?” (Akina)

“Neither did you, Ho— [“Said something?”] —no, nothing at all…” (Itsuki)

This is something I’ve noticed ever since I’ve known the Kamihate. Simply put, I felt like while Arisa’s energy was that of Mr. Itsuki’s; however, it was certainly clear that her personality was an exact replica of Ms. Akina’s.

↤⨳↦

At A Restaurant

“So, Kei. Do you follow a strict diet? Or do you simply work out too much?” (Itsuki)

“Simply workout against my will… My sister forces me to run with her in the mornings…” (Kei)

Sometimes it was a hassle to keep up with Karane, if anything, I heavily miss those times where I wasn’t obligated to go out and run at three in the morning for an hour… The feeling of wanting to go right back to bed haunts me every time.

“I see, I see. Kids these days sure are energetic, huh?” (Itsuki)

“No, as far as Akiya told me, you were just too lazy to workout properly back then.” (Akina)

“We’re not touching that topic anymore, doctors don’t really need to workout.” (Itsuki)

““They do, don’t they?”” Arisa and I said in unison. I mean, if you’re a doctor you know better than anyone else how a healthy body looks like, right?

“Arisa…” (Kei)

“Hm?” (Arisa)

“What are you doing with that?” Arisa, who closed the menu, turned to where my finger was pointed to. It was the plushie from earlier, bought on an impulse by Ms. Akina.

“Dunno.” (Arisa)

“You don’t know?! A-anyhow, why did Ms. Akina even bought it?” I turned to her.

“Hm? I don’t know. Didn’t really have a reason.” (Akina)

“E-eh…?” (Kei)

Seeing me confused, Mr. Itsuki chuckled and calmly said, “I know this might be an odd side, but get used to it… This is the same as always…” (Kei)

How should I put this…? They really seem to be quite close. From what I heard from Arisa, they don’t really spend much time together, due to their conflicting schedules. However, even then it seems that they are closer than your average family.

Asahi and Aiku also seem to be this way, after all…

“Oh by the way, Mr. Itsuki.” (Kei)

“Hm? Is something the matter?” (Itsuki)

“I’ve been meaning to ask. Is neurology interesting?” As both Ms. Akina and Arisa themselves seemed to get absorbed in a conversion by themselves, I decided to start some slight chit-chat with Mr. Itsuki.

“Oya? Interested?” (Itsuki)

“Just in the concept itself, I don’t really plan on studying medicine…” I wryly smiled.

“Hm, boring.” He paused, “Well, similar to psychology; which studies the mind and behavior, I deal with the brain itself and also the nervous system, usually treating illnesses that could affect the spinal cord and peripheral nerves.” (Itsuki)

I see…

“To put it simply, I diagnose and treat disorders in the brain, spine and peripheral nerves.” (Itsuki)

“Sounds complicated.” (Kei)

“Meh, it is not that confusing once you’ve been working in its field for a long while now.” (Itsuki)

“Still, why did you decide to study neurology?” (Kei)

There are many reasons as to why someone would choose a certain career as their future source of income. From what I’ve seen, maybe Mr. Itsuki’s reason is also because of his passi—

“The money.” (Itsuki)

Nevermind…

“…Is that so…?” (Kei)

Huh… that’s weird… Isn’t this the typical part where they tell me that their inspiration came from a random day in their past where they instantly fell in love at first sight? Shouldn’t it go that they did it because their loved ones gave them a push…?

“Right. Itsuki has always been the one that bases things on money…” The two seemed to have finished their own conversations, promptly joined us as Ms. Akina pointed out something.

“To be fair, you can’t raise a family with passion alone, passion doesn’t buy food, now does it?” (Itsuki)

“You could’ve still tried something else…” (Akina)

“You do realize it would’ve been way more of a hassle to convince your parents to let me marry you, right?” (Itsuki)

“…you actually have a point there, huh…” Ms. Akina giggled. It seemed like a simple exchange at first; however, for some reason a strange atmosphere formed in between the two of them.

“Uhm… Arisa?” (Kei)

“Hm?” (Arisa)

“Are they…” (Kei)

“Same as always.” (Arisa)

“You have to deal with that most of the time? Not even my parents are that bold…” (Kei)

“Hm… Well, while they are out in their own world, I would do this for the meantime, I can’t go too far in public after all…” Arisa said as she grabbed my hand from beneath the table and intertwined our fingers.