𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐘 𝐁𝐎𝐘

| 𝙸.𝟸 |

it was now lunch in the nishimura household on the first night of spring break. hideyoshi, nara, and the two kids had gone up from their rented apartment in tokyo to their family home in the mountains of the miyagi prefecture. their house here was quite large, each child having their own room. the ground floor consisted of a large living area, a dining room, a kitchen, and an office. the second floor was home to the bedrooms plus three bathrooms. having arrived just in time, they were greeted by the eldest son, hinata, who was busy preparing a grand welcome meal since this was one of the rare occasions the five would be together. the scent of the food was almost enticing enough never to leave again.

the five of them reminisced about the years before hideyoshi nishimura was offered a better job in tokyo, his wife and youngest children following him to the city. nara took a break from working in order to help out the two youngest children adjust to city life. there simply weren't enough job opportunities that were facilitating enough, so she decided to take courses in various disciplines such as flower arranging and photography whilst everyone was busy at work and school. yumeko finished her last two years of school in tokyo before being offered a place to study arts at keio university.

growing up in the mountains, it made sense that the kids grew up doing winter sports; skiing, snowboarding, and hiking were all frequent activities in their household. yumeko also loved figure skating whilst mina did speed skating, respectively. after lunch and a power nap, the family decided that they would spend their first afternoon together since winter break going on a hike. after much debate, they chose the mountain route (as opposed to the forest, shrine, or lake trails) and swiftly gathered at the base of the first stretch.

at the plateau of the mountain, the family took out their camera to snap a photograph of them all before admiring the scenery. the serpentine path upwards was barely visible over the thick blanket of snow. jagged rocks and fortified pines were scattered in a battle of dominance. the icy lakes glistened against the sun in the distance, the rays reflecting their position in the forest clearing. on the opposing side of the peak was the winter sports section; bodies so distantly and swiftly descending the slopes that they seemed like eagles sweeping the ground.

not long had passed, yet with the sun being two hours from setting the family headed back down to the village, lest they be caught on the most dangerous trail of the four in the dark. making it home in record time, the five decided to change and head back to the village to have some street food for dinner by the warm fires. luckily, tourism mainly affected the other places, thus letting the village build a true flourishing sense of community, wherein neighbours shared crops and ski tricks.

hinata and yumeko nishimura sat alone together by one of the bonfires, the stormy eyed girl staring blankly at it as if not even throwing herself into the raw flames could warm her up. several glances and long silences later, the eldest son nudged her and spoke up.

"hey ice queen, what's up? you love being home."

"yeah, i'm sorry. i can't help but feel like all of this is melting away. i made my application to transfer before the train here, and it's only made me more sad realising we're really going to be going away. well, if I don't get in then i'll have to stay here and become a figure skating coach or something, there's no way I could afford to stay in tokyo alone..."

"first of all, i get that you're sad. don't apologise for your very valid feelings. second, enjoy all the time you have here and in tokyo before you go, you'll regret it in the future if you spend the time you do have here sulking. lastly, you could stay in tokyo alone. for one, i could find a job there after I graduate and live with you, or you get a part time job and share an apartment with some friends. but somehow, i think it's not about whether there's a way that you could. i think you don't want there to be a way. you're not thinking about the ways in which you could make it work because some part of you is looking forward to going to seoul. you've studied so hard to learn korean anyway. am I making sense? oh god and call me if you get a boyfriend, i am and i always will be your older brother and your dad is too nice."

she didn't know how to reply, simply resting her head down on his shoulder, knowing her brother was right.