Head back and wait

You decide to leave the cleaning robot, walking back around the corner to where you were waiting earlier. You could've tried to pick it up, but you weren't sure how heavy it was, and in the end, it was probably more trouble than it was worth. The thing that you had seen in the corner of your eye was possibly still out there, but in this darkness, going after it seemed impossible. Maybe it was just an animal.

The choice quickly yields results. Before you can think further on whatever it was that you saw, the smell of smoke immediately hits you. Biting down an instinct to smoke, you turn towards the source of the smell, and catch sight of an old-fashioned automobile, a silver vehicle that seemed to rumble far louder than anything you've ever seen before. You can't help but stare at it in awe. Most of them have been banned from your home, but here in Agami's outskirts, there are still places where they can be found.

"Haruka!" cries your cousin happily in greeting, poking her head out of the car's window. "Sorry I'm late!"

Your cousin, Konomi Ushihama, grins at you, an expression that you can't help but return. It had been a long time since you last saw her, but her enthusiasm was always incredibly infectious. You quickly make your way through the darkness, the strangeness of the robot forgotten as you open the door of her car and slide into the front seat. You look around immediately, your curiosity overtaking you once more as you press against the leather. This is the second time you've ever been in an old car, but that was ages ago, and the new experience is pretty thrilling.

"Looks like you've gotcha an appreciation for the antiques," says your cousin with a grin as she watches you take in everything.

"Of course not!" you immediately reply, turning to look at her. "I'm not that keen to romanticise the past as you are."

She sighs in mock-defeat. "Aww, there was so much that I could teach you," she laments, but the morose tone in her voice is anything but genuine. "Anyway, how was the trip?"

Now that you're no longer admiring her car, your eyes are instead taking in Konomi's appearance. She hasn't changed much in the last several years, but you do note (quite smugly, in fact), that you are finally taller than her, the rapid growth spurt to 5'8 she had undergone back during your middle school years having finally failed to give her a height advantage over you. You'd avoided being lorded over just because she was two years older than you, but that hadn't stopped her from declaring you to be her Gadgetini or whatever those small robots in that American cartoon were called, ignoring the fact that she had basically been taller than a large fraction of the family.

Her flowing, light brown locks had acquired several streaks of red dye at some point, however, which actually looked pretty good on her. It was the same colour as her red t-shirt, which accentuated her lithe, athletic build and ... sizeable chest. You aren't above declaring that your cousin, with her soft, dimpled cheeks and thousand-megawatt smile, was in possession of immense beauty. Or if you had wanted to be less poetic, she was pretty hot.

"Pretty tiring," you reply, meeting her brown eyes before she notices that your innocent assessment of her aesthetic qualities (which you also decide not to mention to her, because she didn't need more ammunition to tease you with). "I fell asleep on the train."

She ruffles your messy bedhead. "Oh, that I gathered," she says with a light laugh. "You missed a bit of drool on your chin too."

"Eh?"

And before you can react, she immediately reaches over and swipes it off your face with a tissue from a snuff box sitting in the glove compartment. You recoil, face turning red as she chuckles again.

"Sorry, sorry, couldn't resist," Konomi continues, full lips curling up. "I'll stop now. Come on, let's head to my place. You look pretty beat, and the quicker you settle in, the better off you are for school!"

Difficult circumstances back home had you to pop over to Agami for your last year of secondary schooling. It hadn't been the first choice, especially with the rumours, but there weren't many other places willing to take in a third-year two weeks into the semester, and with your cousin willing to let you freeload at her place, it had emerged as the best bet. The school you were transferring to, Issai High, wasn't too shabby a place either, so here you were.

"I'll ... take your advice," you say with a yawn, drowsiness immediately taking over you. That train ride had been more exhausting than you'd thought.

Soon enough, the rhythmic motion of Konomi's car sends you to sleep, and the last thing you hear is her soft "good night".