#15 Somersault

I have been at Pura Pura since this morning.

Yes, I was forcibly taken here without any say in the matter.

The reason is, "I can do a handstand".

What on earth...

They probably want to show off to me.

A wide grassy field.

There is nothing around.

It seems they are going to perform here.

"Watch this."

They say it with such a smug look on their face.

"Yeah, yeah, good luck."

Then, Kaupon raised their arms high and placed their hands firmly on the ground with momentum.

And then—

Flip.

They did a full rotation just like that and ended up on their back.

(...huh?)

Kaupon looks at me, seeking praise.

But at that moment, I said something rather immature.

"Isn't this a 'somersault' instead of a handstand?"

Then, Kaupon made a grumpy face and,

"Handstand"

he insists.

I think I was just in a bad mood that day.

Everything had been going wrong since the morning.

I couldn't find one of my socks,
there was only one sip of milk left,
and just when I was about to head out, I got dragged along by Kaupon.

I felt irritated, so I retorted even further.

"No, no, you don't roll when you do a handstand.
I was forced to come along, and you're not even doing it right."

After I said it,
my chest stung a little.

…But I couldn't take it back anymore.

Then, Kaupon didn't say anything back.

Thinking, 'Huh?', I looked at him and saw
his eyes were full of tears.

"What!? Why?? Is it my fault?? I just told the truth!"

Kaupon finally burst into loud tears.

"Why does it have to be like this..."

Seeing him like that, I started to feel incredibly sad myself.

I clenched my fists tightly.

"I want to cry too!!"

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaah"

The two of us were crying our eyes out in the middle of the meadow.

* * *

Before I knew it, we had both fallen asleep, exhausted from crying.

When I woke up, Kaupon woke up too.

It felt a bit awkward.

Then, Kaupon started fumbling around in his pocket.

He pulled out two cold cartons of milk and handed one to me.

Oh, thanks.

I opened it and took a drink for now.

The cold milk slowly soothed my throat, which had gone dry from crying so hard.

Ahhh.

I drank it all in one go.

Then, Kaupon muttered something.

...Somersault.

Huh?

Kaupon, somersault master.

Did you happen to like doing somersaults?

Somersault, somersault, Kaupon, somersault.

He was wiggling around, looking somehow happy.

The sight was so funny that I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The awkward atmosphere vanished in an instant.

That's right. Kaupon, you're a somersault master. You were really good at it!

"Hmm."

"Ah, maybe I'll do a somersault too!"

"Hmm."

"Here I go!!!"

When I did a somersault for the first time in years,
the blue sky spread out before my eyes.

Somehow,
I felt like my heart had done a full rotation too.