6         

            “Mao, what do you want to be, what’s your dream?” asked (Yuki’s) Mao’s sister.

Mao rolled her eyes thinking an answer. “Dream…my dream?” she asked back.

            “My dream is to be a teacher, how about you?” her sister continued.

            Mao responded nothing.

That night she slept late because of too much thinking. During class, she found herself pondering, until finally, she realized the answer.

“I want to be a mother.”

*

“Yuki, where are you going?” called Jun as he followed.

“I’m going home” answered Yuki; she didn’t like what she heard from Jun so she decided to leave the place immediately.

“Wait, are you mad?” asked Jun blocking her way. “Promise… I won’t ask about it again.”

Yuki still pissed off looked at him. “You should be informed that I’m the kind of girl who believes that physical intimacy should do after marriage.”

Jun didn’t reply. Yuki moved his feet to the door when someone knocked.

“Jun-kun, are you there?”

“W-Who’s that?” asked Yuki trembling as she faced Jun. “I thought your father is in business trip?”

“Yes, he is. I guess she’s my aunt.”

“Your aunt?”

“I’ll open the door.”

“Wait, just a moment!” cried Yuki as she grabbed Jun’s arm. “If your aunt saw me, I will be in trouble”

            “Then hide somewhere!”

            Yuki ran inside the comfort room.

            As Jun opened the door, a gorgeous woman entered.

            “Auntie, what brought you here, it’s late”

            “I know, but this is my only vacant time” she answered getting a piece of special paper from her bag “I dropped by to give you this personally. Here’s my wedding invitation.”

            Jun accepted the invitation. “So, you’re getting married”

            “Yes, at last. By the way, I heard a girl’s voice a while ago, is she your girlfriend? Where is she?”” she asked looking left and right.

            “No, you can’t see her!” Jun blocked his aunt, attentively.

            “Why not, is she right now?” her aunt teased.

            “It’s none of your business.”

            “Oh, Jun-kun you’re so cute!” she smiled. “Okay, I’m leaving now- you can continue, have a nice sleep”

            “BAKA!’” said Jun then her aunt left.

            He went in the comfort room and knocked. “Yuki, she’s gone!”

            Yuki smacked the door. “I feel so humiliated!” she gambled. “I will never ever comeback here!”

            “Look at this invitation!” Jun offered the invitation.“The future husband of my aunt, you know him, right?”

            Yuki realized he was Fujiki, her brother-in-law.

            “This isn’t a co-incident; this is what we called destiny!” Jun insisted.

            “Destiny?” Yuki repeated.

            “Yes, destiny, or perhaps sign that like your brother and my aunt, we will be married someday”

            *

            “I want to be married and have children” said Mao, the young Yuki. “That’s my dream, to be the best wife to my husband and the best mother to my children.

            *

“Yuki!” called Jun, waking Yuki from her daydream.

“W-What?”

“Let’s attend the wedding together, then after five to six years, let’s get married.”

“You’re only a high school student and you’re talking about marriage?”

“Of course! We will be married then we’ll do it”

“Do Ahou!” shouted Yuki as she hit Jun’s head.

“What’s that for?” Jun complained.

“To wake you up, baka!”

Yuki left Jun’s house irritated but deep inside, she was happy.

*

MONDAY. Yuki saw Akagi-sensei in the school ground. She approached him to apologize. “Akagi sensei, about the other night, I feel really sorry.”

“No, its fine” he answered “I understand that you already found someone”

Yuki nodded.

Akagi sensei smiled. “C’mon, let’s go together.”

“Okay” replied Yuki. Unknown to her, someone was staring. It was Jun, standing a little far from them. 

__________________________________________________________________________

I found this photo of Yukie Nakama

At first, I thought she  was Inoue Mao.

Young Inoue Mao