***In Japan, school starts and ends in the spring, unlike in America, it starts and ends in the summer. Their vacation’s also called spring break/summer break***

“Stop stalking him already,” said Mirai as she tilted her head to the side, copying her friend, Haruka, as Haruka secretly peeked from behind a stone wall to look at a group of boys and girls together from afar. “He’ll think you’re weird or something.”

“But I’m not. I’m a maiden in love.”

“Well, I have to go now.” She turned around only to get pulled back. “Yeah?”

“Already?” Haruka inquired fearfully. “But-but…” She needed and wanted her best friend to be by her side so that she wouldn’t feel alone.

“You’ll be fine. Today’s the day before spring break, so make the best of it.” Mirai hugged her and then walked away backward. “I have to be at my sister’s in an hour.” As she waved, she tripped over the curb and would’ve busted her head open had it not been for someone who didn’t catch her in time. “Arigatou,” she said.

“Oh, Mi-chan!” It was a familiar voice. From someone annoying.

She heaved a heavy and irritated sigh. She didn’t have to look up at the person because she knew whose ecstatic, high-pitched, and goofy voice it belonged to. She stood up with a bit of his help and checked her feet. She tried to swing her hand away from the person holding it but couldn’t. Fearing that she’d be late to her kids, she exclaimed, “Will you please let go, Yamada-san?”

“Let’s go karaoke together,” the helper, Ryosuke, said.

“No, thank you,” she quickly snapped.

“Why not?”

“I’m busy.”

He furrowed his brows together. “You always say that, Mi-chan.”

“Don’t call me as you know me personally, please.”

“Okay, that’s if you go with me.”

She looked at their intertwined hands. “Let go.”

He finally did so and smiled at her. “Hey, it’s my last day here, so let’s go celebrate. Don’t worry. A whole group of people’s going.”

Her eyes widened with surprise, and she unintentionally cheerfully asked, “You’re really leaving Japan next month?”

Word had it that his father had been preparing his son’s education to be somewhere in Europe so that Ryosuke could follow in his footsteps as a biologist since the eldest son was an intern in the law field. Therefore, this year was Ryosuke’s last year in Japan.

When she had heard of this, she didn’t think much but was quite happy because he’d get to travel, explore, and experience new things outside of Japan, whereas she’d most likely be stuck here for who knew how many years. What scared her was that she’d only be experienced in babysitting babies and nothing else.

And for the two previous years that she had known him—more like passing by him here and there because they didn’t have classes together—he had been nothing but an irritating guy who didn’t even know her yet acted as he did. This year, because the girl he was rumored to be dating with was in her class, he had been coming to her classroom often. Not only that, but Haruka’s crush, Shintaro, was his best friend, so whenever she followed Haruka during her stalking Shintaro, she’d occasionally bump into Ryosuke.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like him or had something against him, but she had learned and had been told to never mess with dangerous people, and after witnessing several actions that she disliked from him, she had put him in that category and vowed to never get close to him. It would’ve worked better if he knew that she didn’t want anything to do with him at all.

“That’s great that you know!” he exclaimed as he reached for her hand again. “Let’s—”

When she saw the hands of her wristwatch, she pulled her hand away and gasped. “I’ve got to go!” She dashed without saying goodbye to him, leaving him in utter shock.

*

Upon opening the door to her house, no one was in the living room to greet her.

“Mom? Dad?” she asked in the lonely living room.

I’ll leave them a note about going to Mariko’s place tonight. As she passed her room in the hallway, she heard her parents’ voices from their bedroom. They’re home. But she didn’t like how they sound. They’re arguing? She knew it was rude, but curiosity got the best of her. She trudged to her parents’ bedroom door and pressed her left ear onto it.

“I say give her a year before we hastily make this decision,” Mrs. Shida said, almost begging.

“A year?” Mr. Shida questioned with doubt. “She finished school today, so we can transfer her now.”

Mirai removed herself away from the door in surprise and whispered, “They’re talking about me? I-I’m going to transfer school?” Wanting to hear more, she resumed listening.

“…married at fifteen, become a teenage mother, or worse, do drugs!” Mr. Shida heatedly and hastily listed. “I’m not going to rely on the hope that our youngest daughter won’t disappoint us. We had that faith in all our girls, but look at them now! We have to start watching her because she’s a teen, and girls grow up fast.”

“Dear, transferring her now is too late already,” said Mrs. Shida. “We don’t have the time or money, and—”

“Let’s send her to your parents. They aren’t in the city, so maybe if she spends her teen years there, she’ll grow up to be respectful, responsible, and filial. She’ll be away from all the things we fear will happen to her.”

“No. I want her education to be first, and the countryside’s educational system isn’t as great as the cities here. The schools are also farther, and my parents won’t be able to control a feisty young adult if she turns out that way.” There was a long pause before she continued. “Let’s give her one year to see how she is. The moment she introduces a boyfriend or dyes her hair or goes against us, we can transfer her then.”

Mirai couldn’t believe it. Her parents were comparing her unknown future to her older sisters’ lives. She took slow but steady steps away from the door and tried to pace her breathing. She couldn’t believe they’d judge that she’d end up like that.

In her room, she closed the door behind her and locked it. She was trying her hardest to digest everything she had heard, but they were slowly eating her up. Her parents didn’t want to be disappointed, but they had disappointed her. She was their child, and how could they not have faith and trust in her? Why were they assuming that she’d make and commit the same mistakes and faults as her older siblings? They were different individuals and had different lives. She was nowhere near the gorgeous and radiant Keiko, or the motherly and self-devoted wife Mariko, or the go-with-the-flow Becky.

She was Mirai. She didn’t want to brag, but she was hardworking. Understanding. Patient.

And if her parents thought that she’d get knocked up, abuse drugs, or become someone else, they were wrong. She had dreams. She had goals. Growing up and seeing firsthand her siblings’ marriages, she had virtually experienced the hardships of them and understood that marriage was hard work and a commitment she wasn’t ready to obligate her entire life, body, and soul to.

But…why would her parents not believe in her?

No.

Why did her parents think that she’d follow in her siblings’ footsteps? Didn’t they watch her grow up? Didn’t they raise her well? Weren’t children the product of what and how the parents had raised them? If they didn’t believe her, did that mean that they didn’t believe in their childbearing ways?

What exactly did she do wrong?

Her cell phone rang, and she flinched in response. She rummaged through her backpack and saw that Mariko was calling her, so she accepted the call.

“Hey, can you still make it today?” asked Mariko.

Usually, she’d reply, “Yes!” and would happily get ready, but after what she had heard, that energy and joy were gone. Instead, hurt accompanied her. She couldn’t help but feel accused, betrayed, and angry that here she was, giving her all for someone else and getting the short end of the stick.

“Mi-chan?” Mariko questioned from the other end. “You there?”

“Yeah. Umm…” For the first time, she wanted to excuse herself from her babysitting duties, but she couldn’t find the courage and the will to do so. She had already promised her kids that she’d sleep over and bake cakes with them for their parents’ group gathering party. “Yeah, I can.”

“Okay, see you then.”

As soon as they hung up, Mirai’s eyes filled with water. She had never pitied herself before, so she cried to herself until it was time for her to leave.

*

Two weeks after the eavesdropping, Mirai had never looked at her parents the same way and stopped living life like usual. When she was talking on the phone, going grocery shopping, or anything, she could sense their eyes on her, noting down her every little action. It all started after she had gotten back home from Mariko’s place and had been questioned about her goals, future, and interests. She knew it was a verbal questionnaire to evaluate her so they could decide what was best to do with her. Even though she knew that, she answered honestly because she figured it was the best thing to do.

Guess being honest wasn’t the right thing to do.

Matters became worse when Mariko visited and jokingly said to Mirai, “Hey, you’re in your last year of junior high, so you’re going to have a boyfriend soon, eh?”

Mirai secretly glanced at her father and caught the distraught expression from him, so she quickly retorted, “I have no boyfriend, and I have no time for one.” She hoped that’d calm him.

“Don’t be shy to tell us when you do. Teens these days grow up so fast, you know.”

“I-I won’t have a boyfriend until I’m in my late twenties.”

“I used to think that too, but it didn’t work out for me.”

No use. Whatever Mirai would say to put her father at peace would only be backfired by her older sister’s comparisons, and she absolutely didn’t need it. She politely excused herself to her room and right before she turned a corner, she heard a whisper from Mariko to their mother.

“Mom, do you think she has a boyfriend already?”

Mirai stressfully heaved a sigh and entered her bedroom.

*

“Ohayou!” Haruka patted Mirai on the back with much excitement. “Guess what?”

“You and Shintaro are dating now.”

Haruka had informed Mirai via a call about a week ago regarding her new relationship, and she had been calling every once in a while to repeat herself over the phone.

“I’m really glad for you. Told you it’d work out.”

Haruka threw her friend a smile. “Thanks. All that’s left is finding yourself a guy too, and our school life will be off to a great start!”

Finding myself a guy? Mirai stopped walking because an idea came to her. Her parents’ main worry was that she would chase boys and not be focused in school, so if she could subtract boys from her life, everything would fall into place! If only she had thought of this during her spring break, she wouldn’t have tried to persuade her parents that she was a good daughter simply by overdoing her chores and putting more effort into watching her nieces and nephews.

“Mirai?’ Haruka asked again, waving a hand in front of her face. “What’