Disoriented Feelings Special: Izumi's Essay

2005年私立○○小学校4年英語作文学期末試験

名前（漢字）: 宮沢泉美
名前（ひらがな）： みやざわ　いづみ
表記（日本語）： 私の冬休み

My older sister has been unusually happy in recent days with that guy I saw at her birthday party. She's 16 and I'm only 10, but my youngest sister is only 4. A 12 year gap between the youngest and the oldest. I'm in between my two brothers by 2 years.

When at home after school, I would play around with Kuniko and my brothers with toys shouting and screaming around. If they were to bully me and mom and dad are not around, Kotomi-oneechan would protect me from them because she is big and is like my third parent. Her room seems to be locked most of the time and she does not want to play with us. It's the only room in the entire house we don't get to play in.

It cold outside, so everyone doesn't feel like heading out. I like to go into the kotatsu while watching TV and eating some snacks at the same time with my younger brother. My older brother is preparing for middle school, so I should not disturb him.

Kousei: "Izumi onee-chan, I want to go somewhere during the holidays."

Me: "We should ask mom first. Kotomi-oneechan and Shin'ichi-oniichan are busy, so they won't be coming along."

I can understand my older brother not coming along, but not my older sister: even though she has no school activities or is not helping uncle out, she seemed reluctant to come along with us lately. She's still playing around with that new notebook PC and mobile phone she bought two months ago. It also seem that Jun'ichi-oniichan rushing to hide something when I approach him lately.

Kousei: "That's too bad. I wanted everyone to come along..."

We asked dad. He suggested the amusement park. Besides my older siblings, everyone would be going.

On the day itself, everyone gathered outside before heading to the train station. Mom brought Kuniko along since she's still too young to take care of herself.

Mom: "Kotomi-chan! Shin'ichi-kun! We're leaving now!"

There was no response from inside the house.

Dad: "Call us if you need anything!"

Still no response. Without waiting, we departed. I thought I heard Kotomi-oneechan shouting "Peace at last!" when we are some distance away.

Mom: "They were like you two when they were your age, but now, they have their own things to do. Things you might not understand until you are their age."

I never understood what mom meant at that time and it appears to be that there are more things she didn't say, with a sense of guilt in her tone.

The area around the station has many shops and offices around it. Dad bought tickets for the train. I mean, these cards are like magic: you would just wave them at an area at the gate and they would open by themselves. Though it seemed high and barely reached it, I want to do that again. Kousei actually almost did it by going around right after entering.

Dad: "Hey! The trains are that way! Come back here!"

The gates had a red cross instead of a green arrow we saw on the opposite side, though I did see gates with green arrows far away from us. Kousei probably did not notice or know that from the excitement he just had. My younger brother's action alone caused anger and confusion to the adults entering. Our parents apologised to the crowd for the inconvience he caused.

Many different kinds of people boarded the train. From children like us to an office worker to people in weird clothings. We saw many interesting things and places along the way.

I would like to talk about the amusement park itself but it seems that I had written a lot for this essay. Let's just say it was fun.

[Author's note: Izumi Miyazaya is the protagonist's oldest younger sister. What was not mentioned by anyone is that the age gap between Kotomi and her parents is less than 20 years, which explains Kotomi's confusion about her parents being so young compared to her peers and her birthday being earlier than the day her parents were married. This "essay" was dated 6 years prior to the current timeline at the time of writing. Oh, and Merry Christmas. I didn't really plan anything Christmas or New Year themed.]