Answer over 13 years（１３年ごしの答え　英語Ver.）

A little chilly April day. I was walking on cold asphalt. I used to be stooped, but now I'm proud and walking proudly.
When I arrived at the small two-story apartment, I climbed the stairs. The stairs felt like they were really long.
Room 202. I will never forget this number. I put a sketchbook in the mailbox in Room 202.

That was 13 years ago. I was still in elementary school.
I was always floating in the classroom. There are no particularly good people inside. So I made friends in the picture.
I drew the face of my ideal friend in a sketchbook.
I think I was good at painting. Of all the paintings on the back wall of the classroom, my painting stood out.
Every day, every day, during breaks, I drew friends in my sketchbook.
My friend's name is "Taro-kun". It's a common name, but I could only think of this.

Taro gets better when he sees it. A bright face and a smile like the sun. My heart was refreshed.
When I was drawing Taro, I was able to forget the loneliness of having no friends.

And I remembered love.
During class, for some reason, that child ----- Aoi-chan looks at me.
I was looking forward to Aoi-chan, even though I was concentrating on the lessons.
Aoi had a strawberry hairpin on her hair, which was brown and stretched over her shoulders.
And her face is the best beauty!
I've heard rumors that she doesn't like anyone, so maybe I too ...! It's no use thinking about it.
There is no way I can deal with me who is floating in the classroom like this.
But I was happy just looking at Aoi-chan.
Looking at Aoi-chan made me feel kind.

One day, while I was painting, I wanted to go to the bathroom, so I left my sketchbook and went to the bathroom.
When I came back to work in the bathroom, the sketchbook was a little different.
I was wondering, but I didn't think too much about it because I wondered if someone had bumped into it.

And I graduated from elementary school.

It's been 13 years since then. I am now working as a member of society.

Now I can't go out much in Corona. I live in Tokyo, but it's ok.
Lunch after remote work. I thought it would be a hassle to prepare lunch, so I decided to go to a convenience store to buy something.
It's April, but it's pretty cold.
I wore a slightly thicker hoodie and went outside.
The cherry blossoms have already fallen.
"I wanted to see the cherry blossoms ..."
While muttering such a thing, when I was walking on the road to the convenience store, I suddenly saw a familiar back view.
Strawberry hairpin for brown, shoulder-length hair.

Aoi-chan.

I ran up to a person who looked like Aoi-chan.
"Hey, maybe Aoi-chan?"
The woman looked back at me.
She is so beautiful that she can be seen in her mask.
"Eh! No way, Kenji-kun !?"
"Uh, yeah, that's right."
"long time no see!"
"It's been 13 years, so I don't think it's been a while ..."
Aoi-chan said after chatting a little like that.
"... Hey, did you draw that?"
"?that?"
"Oh yeah, if you don't notice it ..."
Aoi-chan, she was in a hurry, she left quickly.
Cherry blossom petals stuck to her brown hair.

"What is that?"
She finished eating the convenience store lunch for lunch and she muttered.
"Well good. Let's think again after finishing work."
When I got up from the table, from the bookshelf in the back, I was screaming! The book has collapsed.
"...Are you serious..."
I still have time to start work, so I threw away the trash in my lunch box and returned to the bookshelf to sort things out.
"This is ... you did it ..."
Books were scattered all over the floor. There is a magazine with a complete Attack on Titan. It looks like there is no foothold.
"Would you like to clean up?"
I crouched down in the swamp of books. Then
"Oh! Nostalgia ~"
The sketchbook of that memory was looking into my face.
I picked up the sketchbook and flipped through it.
"Ah. Nostalgic."
Taro's illustrations are lined up in a row.
However, from the middle, all the pages were empty.
After entering junior high school, I stopped drawing.
I didn't stop and turned the page.
The cover was comfortable to the touch and I wanted to turn it over forever.
Eventually, it became the last page. Then, on the last page, some envelope was pasted.
"what's this"
There was a letter in the envelope.
In that letter ...
"To Kenji
Kenji-kun is good at drawing!
Will you draw my face next time?
It's always good, so show me if you can draw it!
Aoi 』

I was walking on the cold asphalt with that memorable sketchbook. I used to be stooped, but now I'm proud and walking proudly.
Aoi-chan's picture that took longer than when I drew Taro-kun.
On a blank page, I drew the face of Aoi who became an adult, politely, politely, for hours and days.
When I met Aoi-chan, an adult, Aoi-chan was wearing a mask, but her face naturally came to my mind, and I could draw it smoothly.
I'm sure it's an indescribable picture.

Aoi-chan, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for 13 years.
Instead, I drew it carefully.

This is my answer for 13 years.