Underneath The Bandages, You Are Prettier Than Anyone

I felt as if I could eat rice forever along with this steak.
My stomach was filling to the brim with happiness.

While we ate, Yuki started talking.

“By the way, Haru-kun, do you have any plans for tomorrow?”

“Hm? Oh, right, tomorrow is a Saturday, so school’s out.”

“Yup.
The weather report says it’ll be nice, so if you want, we could go out.”

“Sounds fun, but where should we go to?”

“Actually, I have a place in mind and I’ve been preparing for a while now.
If you give me the okay, I’d love to take you there.”

“Of course, I’ll go.
It’s nice to stay at home on our days off, but we’ve never gone out.
So, what’s the place?”

“You like aquariums, right Haru-kun? I was thinking we could go to one.”

“Oh, you remembered how much I like aquariums.
We did use to go a lot there way back when.”

“Yeah, we’ve been there many times together.”

“Mhm! I get excited when I see all those tanks lined up in that dimly lit corridor, will all those different kinds of fish swimming around.
Oh! That dolphin show too! I loved it when it splashed water on us.”

“This is nice… Your love for these things hasn’t changed from when you were a little boy.”

“Well, yeah.
I couldn’t really go to the aquarium when I was in middle school since I was studying nonstop.
That’s why I’m ecstatic to go there with you! It’s been a really long time, right?”

Whenever we’d go there together, my mom would always take us on a bus.
It was so exciting! I couldn’t stop jittering while waiting for the bus, and as Yuki and I stared out the window, we chatted about how we couldn’t wait to arrive at the aquarium.

I remember vividly that when we arrived, we jumped up and down nonstop.
After our visit to the fishes, we’d swung by one of the public parks and played there until we were completely exhausted.
In the end, we were so spent we both fell asleep on the bus as we went back.

Nostalgia washes over me as I kept eating Yuki’s steak.

After we finished dinner, we organized the dirty dishes.
She insisted that she’d take care of mine, saying she owed me a favor.
However, since it was a special occasion, we worked side-by-side to clean it up.

Dishes clean, it was time for dessert.
It wasn’t anything fancy like a cake, but that kneading candy we bought together just a while ago.
Picking up a spoon, I started kneading the candy in front of her and said the same line I said when I was a kid: “The more you knead it, the better it tastes,” and she beamed a warm smile at me.

Memories from elementary school rushed into me vividly.

The image of a small bandaged girl overlapped with the beautiful girl at my side, both smiling the same smile.