I spread a straw mat on the wooden deck and set out floor cushions. Overhead, the cherry branches spread out softly. Every time the wind blew, petals came fluttering down, drifting gently onto the tiered lunch boxes and into someone's hair.
"Wow. A cherry-blossom lunch. A real one."
Rei narrowed her eyes, a sake cup in one hand. Today she wasn't in a suit. An oversized knit sweater, a face with next to no makeup. Off-duty Rei, just as she was.
"I've got some sake chilling, you know."
"...Mr. Manager. You're trying to ruin me, aren't you?"
"Surely it's all right on your day off."
When I held out the big bottle of chilled sake, Rei happily held out her sake cup.
Mahiru was cramming sakura shrimp kakiage into her mouth, huffing at the heat.
"So good...! These shrimp are so crispy, and the smell is amazing."
Yume took picture after picture of the cherry-blossom rice balls on her phone before finally taking a bite.
"Wait, this isn't even about being photogenic anymore. It's just seriously, insanely good."
Rui, as usual, was shoveling bamboo shoot rice into her mouth with one hand while quickly sketching the scene in her sketchbook with the other.
At our feet, Komugi lay belly-up beneath the cherry tree, looking blissful. Every now and then, when someone dropped a bit of sakura shrimp, he'd lift his head with a soft "wuff," then curl back up in a ball.
The party passed slowly and peacefully. Rei, pleasantly tipsy, told stories about her blunders when she was young, and Mahiru giggled as she listened.
"It was my first year at the company. I left all the materials for a big presentation at home."
"What? Even you, Rei?"
"Of course. I took a taxi at top speed and made it in time. Back then, I felt like I was barely alive, every single day."
Mahiru looked up suddenly.
"...I feel like I'm barely alive every single day right now, too."
"It'll be okay. In ten years, it'll be something you laugh about."
Rei smiled softly over the rim of her sake cup. Seeing that profile, Mahiru seemed a little reassured, and the tension went out of her shoulders.
Yume peered at Rui's sketch and marveled, "That's way too good," and Rui, unusually, got bashful.
"Hey."
Suddenly, Yume stopped, a cherry-blossom rice ball in her fingers, and said:
"Do you think we'll still be here like this next year?"
For a moment, everyone went quiet.
Once Yume graduated from her vocational school, she might move out. Rei, Mahiru, and Rui, too, would someday go their own ways. That future was certainly out there.
"...Who knows."
Rei set down her sake cup and smiled softly.
"But, I mean. It'd be fine even if we did move out, wouldn't it?"
"Huh?"
"As long as we know this place is here. As long as we feel like we can come back anytime. That's enough, isn't it?"
Mahiru nodded hard.
"Mm-hm. Even if I get married, I think I'll end up coming back to eat here."
"Pretty shameless."
Rui laughed.
"You'd totally come too, Rui."
"...Well, yeah, I would."
The four of them laughed. Listening to their laughter, I quietly cleared away the empty plates.
Having a place to come home to. It doesn't mean staying here forever. Wherever you go, there's one light you can come back to. That's all it is.
The wind blew again. All at once, cherry petals swirled up and came drifting down like light snow.
I stood up without thinking. And I looked up at the cherry tree in full bloom. Through the gaps in the branches, I could see a clear spring sky.
Tomi.
I called out to her in my heart.
Are you watching?
This house you left me. This cherry tree you treasured. Beneath it now, four girls are laughing. Eating, drinking, talking about next year.
It turned out just the way you said. I've managed to become just a "middle-aged guy who's good at cooking."
"...Amane?"
Yume looked up at me and tilted her head.
"What's up? Looking at the sky."
"Oh, nothing."
I took my eyes off the cherry tree and smiled.
"Just saying hello."
"Hello? To who?"
The four of them looked at me blankly. I glanced up once more at the sky beyond the cherry branches and said:
"To the person who gave me this house."
The four of them were quiet for a while. Then Rei gently raised her sake cup toward the cherry tree.
"...We're enjoying it. Gratefully."
Mahiru raised her teacup too.
"Thank you for the meal. To the manager who came before."
Yume and Rui each gave the cherry tree a little bow with their rice balls.
The cherry petals scattered softly again. As if she were nodding.
There were still a few dishes left in the lunch boxes. The faint scent of salt-pickled cherry blossoms quietly melted into the air after the party.
There was one more person who'd be happy to have this lunch. For some reason, I had that feeling. It was a little while later that a familiar "I'm home" sounded from the front door.