Oregairu: My First Masterpiece, Your Lie in April

Oikawa Toru woke up early.

February weather in Chiba is honestly hard to predict.

Yesterday it had felt warm enough that he’d figured the cold was gone for good. Today the temperature had dropped like it was riding a roller coaster.

Once he was up, he didn’t bother trying to go back to sleep.

He washed up and made himself a simple breakfast of rice and grilled fish.

If Kawasaki had been the one cooking, there would probably have been miso soup and rolled omelet on the table too.

While he ate, Oikawa put on episode six of Your Lie in April.

He knew every beat of the story by heart, but watching the anime still hit him differently each time.

Like today, he honestly felt bad for Tsubaki.

Childhood friends. She’d had a secret crush on him for years, and in the end she still lost to the girl who dropped in out of nowhere.

Episode 06: On the Way Home. In the closing scene, Tsubaki cried into Kosei’s shoulder, and something rippled across the calm surface of Oikawa’s heart.

She sobbed out loud, like she was pouring every last bit of hurt out of herself.

Maybe that was the moment Tsubaki realized she liked Kosei. She liked him a lot, a whole lot.

She was gutted about her team’s loss, her legs ached, her eyes were wet with tears, and everything felt awful. And yet the stars in front of her were shining so brightly.

…

When it ended, Oikawa didn’t open Twitter to see what other viewers thought, like he usually did.

Instead, he got dressed, slung his bag over his shoulder, and walked out the door.

Standing in the entryway, his mouth opened on its own, then curved into a smile.

“I’m heading out!” he called, loud and clear.

Whether or not anyone was home waiting for him, this was still home.

He’d left really early, before five.

The stars and moon were still out. There wasn’t a soul on the streets on either side of his door, and the streetlights were still on.

There were no buses that early.

So Oikawa had to bring out his bike. He hadn’t touched it in a while, and it had gathered a layer of dust, so he had to go back inside for a rag.

Riding his bike, he was headed to Kawasaki’s place.

Today was the day of Taishi’s middle school entrance exam. His parents were still stuck working overtime, and Kawasaki had to take Keika to kindergarten, so the job of going with Taishi to the exam fell to Oikawa.

Normally, it was a forty-minute bike ride from Oikawa’s house to Kawasaki’s.

But at this hour in Chiba, there wasn’t a car on the road, let alone a person. Oikawa tore down the streets without a care in the world and reached her front door in under half an hour.

He checked the time. 5:20 AM.

He hesitated, then decided not to knock. He parked the bike by the door, crouched down, and started playing on his phone.

It was a bit cold, sure, but letting Kawasaki sleep a little longer was worth it.

Since her scholarship had a class ranking requirement, Kawasaki spent almost all her time studying. Her dark circles were bad enough to make his heart hurt.

Your girl is yours to look after, right? Who else is going to do it?

Lately, Oikawa had found a replacement for Pokémon. His new favorite was “Fate/Grand Order”

It was a card-battle game. And he was going all in on spending money.

Back when he played games without paying, it was because he had no money. Now that he had money, not spending would just be a waste of having it, wouldn’t it?

Money comes and goes, and no amount of it beats being happy.

Right as he was getting into it, a pair of warm arms suddenly wrapped around him. Oikawa froze for a second, then put his phone away. “Did I wake you up?”

Kawasaki rested her head against his back and shook it.

Her voice still sounded a little stuffy, like she’d just woken up. “It’s freezing out here. You should’ve called me when you got here. What if you catch a cold?”

“I’m not the type to catch colds all the time like you.” Oikawa turned around and pulled her into a hug, then leaned in and murmured by her ear, “Besides, even if I did catch one, I wouldn’t go around acting spoiled and biting people, unlike some person.”

“W-who bit anybody?”

Kawasaki’s cheeks went red. She dropped her head and buried her face in his chest.

Even now, thinking about what had happened in the infirmary still made her heart race. Then, as if something had just occurred to her, she grabbed his hand and pulled it toward her.

Two faint marks showed up in front of her eyes.

Seeing them, she looked completely delighted. To her, they meant that Oikawa was hers, and nobody could take him away.

“Saki, you’ve been kind of disobedient lately.”

She lifted her head and looked into his eyes, as if asking, “What do you mean, disobedient?”

“Didn’t I tell you to get up later?” Oikawa flicked her on the nose and teased, “Look how bad your dark circles are getting. If you stop being pretty, I’m not keeping you.”

Kawasaki froze when she heard that.

Two tears slid down her cheeks, and then she was crying harder and harder, tears falling like she couldn’t stop them.

“Hey, don’t cry. I was kidding! Don’t cry. I’m going to love you for the rest of my life!”

Oikawa started to panic. Aside from that time in the infirmary, this was the first time he’d seen her cry this hard, her eyes full of grief.

“Y-you promise?”

“I promise.”

Even after he said it, she couldn’t stop the tears.

She buried her face in his chest and whispered over and over, “Oikawa, you can’t leave me. Please don’t say that again, not even as a joke. Okay?”

Hearing that, Oikawa felt like something had slammed into his heart. It hurt so much.

He wanted to say something that sounded like a promise, but the words stuck in his throat. He wanted to tell her he’d never make her sad again, but could he really keep that promise?

All he could do was stroke her back in silence.

He simply said, “You’re the most important person in my life. I love you, and I always will.”

..

After a good while, Kawasaki finally stopped crying, though the front of Oikawa’s shirt was already soaked through.

Once they were inside, Kawasaki got embarrassed watching him take his shirt off and turned away, her face bright red.

Oikawa sighed. “It’s not like you haven’t seen it before. Why are you being so shy? Besides, I’m the one who got the short end of the stick here, okay?”

She kept her head down and didn’t say anything.

When he pulled on the shirt she’d found for him, he grinned. “Hey, not bad. Your dad’s shirt fits me pretty well. Guess I really am the ideal son-in-law.”

She took his wet shirt away and asked, “Oikawa, did you eat? What do you want for breakfast?”

“I already ate. Go get some rest. I’ll also make Taishi’s breakfast, so just go back to sleep.”

Kawasaki shook her head on instinct, but then she seemed to remember what he’d said earlier. She hesitated and nodded.

Even so, until she went back to her room, she kept glancing at him with a worried look. “Don’t worry. I’m not as good a cook as you, but I can handle frying a fish and boiling an egg. Go on, get some real sleep.”

“Okay, fine.”

“And don’t overthink things,” Oikawa added. “Just rest up and catch up on your sleep.”

Kawasaki nodded and went into her bedroom.

Lying in bed, she could faintly hear the sounds coming from the kitchen. For some reason, it made her feel strangely safe.

She closed her eyes, and before long she drifted off.

A bright smile soon appeared on her face. She was probably having a good dream.

“Oikawa-nii-san, what are you doing here?”

Oikawa was in the middle of bustling around the kitchen when he heard Keika’s delighted voice.

“What, Keika-chan isn’t happy to see me?”

“I am!” Keika came running into the kitchen and immediately started sucking up. “Nii-san, your fried fish smells so good! It’s better than my sister’s.”

Oikawa grinned and ruffled her hair. “I brought you some snacks. They’re in my bag on the sofa. Hide them somewhere so your sister doesn’t find out.”

“Oikawa-nii-san! You’re the best, the best, the best! You’re better than anyone!”

Keika didn’t hold back on the compliments at all. She pulled the snacks out of Oikawa’s bag and tiptoed off to her room.

A little while later, Taishi came out too. He had the same dark circles as his sister, and it was obvious he’d been staying up late.

“Oikawa-niisan, why are you here?”

“Your exam’s today, isn’t it? I’m going with you. Go wash up. I’m just going to fry up some egg rolls and breakfast will be ready.”

Taishi’s face softened with gratitude. He nodded firmly and headed to the bathroom.

Oikawa had planned on two dishes, fried fish and fried egg rolls, both easy to make.

But when he opened the fridge, he found a container of marinated beef cubes. Kawasaki had probably prepared them for Taishi, so Oikawa pulled them out and stir-fried them too.

Honestly, Oikawa’s cooking used to be terrible.

But some of it rubs off on you. He’d spent so long as Kawasaki’s kitchen assistant that even if he couldn’t match the taste of her signature dishes, they definitely wouldn’t come out bad.

About five or six minutes later, just as he was about to go wake her, Kawasaki stumbled out of her room, still half asleep.

The moment she saw him, she threw herself into his arms.

“Hug me…”

Just as she said that, the bathroom door swung open and Taishi walked out.

Kawasaki and Taishi locked eyes.

Taishi blinked, turned around like a robot, and walked right back into the bathroom.

Kawasaki’s face went bright red and she bolted back into her room.

It felt like someone had hit rewind on the scene, and Oikawa couldn’t help cracking a goofy grin.

Keika had seen the whole thing too, and her eyes were full of disdain.

She strolled over to Oikawa, perfectly composed, took his hand, and said in a low voice, “Nii-san, you should just wait for me to grow up and marry me instead. My sister’s so dumb. You aren’t a suitable match.”

Hearing that, Oikawa could barely hold back his laughter.

…

..

Oikawa had taken the day off ahead of time so he could go with Taishi to the exam the whole way.

Outside the testing site, there were plenty of mothers in their thirties. Some were graceful, some downright alluring. It was enough to make a man nod along and understand why the MILF genre was the best.

Oikawa stood among them and stuck out like a sore thumb. Quite a few good-looking young moms wandered over to chat with him to kill time, and a few of the bolder ones even sneaked a touch or two, taking a little advantage.

They didn’t actually want anything to happen. They just wanted to tease him.

But in the end, Oikawa was the one who kept dropping dirty jokes, and he had them wrapped around his finger. One by one, they ended up smiling bashfully.

A woman in her thirties obviously couldn’t compete with an eighteen-year-old in terms of youth. But they had a charm all their own. To Oikawa, a woman in her thirties was like a peony in full bloom. She wasn’t a fresh lotus just out of the water like a girl who’d just turned eighteen, and she wasn’t a wild lily gone fully ripe like a woman in her forties.

They stood tall and elegant, with a refined air.

They walked with a sway that had a sexiness eighteen-year-old girls just didn’t have, not to mention how they’d deliberately go along with whatever you said in conversation.

Honestly, Oikawa was pretty tempted.

Too bad. Liking was one thing, but he had never once considered wrecking someone else’s marriage.

Sure, being a scumbag isn’t exactly moral either, but that’s a different kind of immoral.

At least, that was how he saw it.

“What a shame. All I can do is wait until Kawasaki and Utaha turn thirty. They’ll definitely be even more beautiful than they are now.”

A happy smile spread across his face as he looked forward to that day.

The milfs around him thought the smile was for them, and they all lit up too.

…

..

Taishi’s morning exam was math.

When he came out, he recited the last big problem to Oikawa. After Oikawa confirmed his answer was right, Taishi was over the moon.

The two of them grabbed a bench and ate the lunch Oikawa had packed that morning.

The whole time, Oikawa didn’t talk to Taishi about the exam at all. Every time Taishi brought it up, Oikawa steered the conversation somewhere else.

‘Cramming at the last minute won’t make you the best, but it could make you shine.’

Oikawa didn’t buy that saying. If you worked hard enough all along, you didn’t need to panic and cram at the end.

And in his eyes, Taishi had without a doubt given it one hundred percent.

What he lacked was confidence.

So before Taishi went into the exam room, Oikawa had called him over and straightened his clothes for him.

Then he pulled an exam charm out of his pocket and handed it over. “You keep asking how I stay confident during exams, right? This is my secret. Ever since your sister gave me this exam charm, my grades have been climbing.”

“Here. It brought me good luck with my studies, and it’ll definitely help you too.” Oikawa patted him on the shoulder.

Taishi tucked the charm inside his coat like it was a treasure, then looked at Oikawa with steady eyes. “Oikawa-niisan, I’m definitely getting into Sobu High, just like you and my sister.”

With that, he walked into the exam hall.