Soon Daichi Yayahara arrived home. He wiped his face clean at the door and made sure he looked just like usual before stepping inside.
By then, Dekisugi was already back and working in the kitchen. Daichi quietly joined him in preparing dinner.
After dinner, as always, neither of them spoke, but they returned to their room and read together. The night passed in silence.
The next day at school, after class started, the teacher announced, "Everyone, we'll be going on an autumn outing tomorrow. So please bring a packed lunch."
The classroom erupted with cheers. Daichi cheered along—after all, getting a day off from class was a joy in any life, past or present.
"But if it rains tomorrow, it'll be canceled."
The room fell silent. Daichi's mood dropped too.
It's been sunny these past few days, so tomorrow has a good chance of being sunny too. But autumn weather is unpredictable… annoying. Weather-control magic is at least Level 3, and even then it's not large-scale. Guess I'll just have to leave it to fate…
Daichi began silently praying for a sunny day. The day's lessons ended quickly. As usual, he went to Nobita's house to tutor, while Dekisugi went to tutor the younger kid.
Tamako Nobi was watching TV in the living room. When the boys arrived, she said, "Nobita, Daichi, come here a second—I want to talk to you."
They sat by the coffee table. Nobita set his bag down and switched the TV to a weather forecast channel.
The announcer was mid-report.
Tamako set down her teacup and turned to Daichi. "I spoke with Nobita's father. We've decided to pay you ten thousand yen per month. If we see improvement in his grades, we'll give you a bonus. Does that sound alright?"
Daichi nodded. "That's more than enough."
"Good. Then I'll leave Nobita in your care." She picked her cup back up and took another sip.
"Whaaaat?! How can this be?!" Nobita cried out in despair, staring at the screen. "It's really going to rain tomorrow?!"
The announcer was cheeky: "I know you're disappointed, but I can't help it. No matter what you say, tomorrow will be rainy. That concludes today's forecast. Goodbye!"
"…Did the weather guy seriously just sass us?" Daichi sighed. The long-awaited day off was now in jeopardy.
"Alright, let's go study," he said, grabbing both of their schoolbags and heading upstairs.
Nobita hugged the TV in protest but was ultimately dragged upstairs by his exasperated mother.
Once in his room, Nobita threw himself into Doraemon's arms, wailing, "Doraemon, help! If it rains tomorrow, I can't go on the outing! Waaaaah!"
Daichi stood by, quietly watching the melodrama. He didn't interrupt—he wanted to go on the outing too, and he knew Doraemon would definitely come up with something.
Sure enough, Doraemon patted his chest with his stubby hands and said confidently, "Leave it to me."
With that, Daichi pulled Nobita to the desk to do homework. Since tomorrow was the outing, the teacher had assigned only a light load.
An hour later, Daichi had finished tutoring him.
"Yes! It's done! Thank you, Daichi!" Nobita cheered and bolted out the room.
Daichi could only shake his head. This guy's just not cut out for academics…
He went downstairs to say goodbye to Tamako, then slung his bag over his shoulder and left for home.
Since he had some free time, he decided to go out for a walk and maybe buy ingredients for tomorrow's lunch.
He wandered aimlessly and eventually ended up near an empty lot.
There, he saw Suneo chatting with Gian and Shizuka. Suneo was proudly reporting the weather forecast.
"Because of a coastal low-pressure system, it's going to rain for the next few days. No outing for us!"
Suneo looked smug as he shared the dismal news.
Just then, Nobita arrived, confidently declaring, "It won't rain. I guarantee it'll be sunny tomorrow!"
"But the forecast says—" Suneo began, but Nobita cut him off, "The forecast is wrong. It'll be clear skies tomorrow!"
Annoyed, Suneo challenged him, "Wanna bet? If it's sunny, I'll let you punch me three times. If it rains, I get to punch you three times. Deal?"
Nobita scoffed, "Only three? That's too few. Let's make it ten."
"Fine! Ten it is!" Suneo agreed.
Nobita was thrilled—finally, a chance to get back at Suneo for years of bullying. He ran home and started shadowboxing into his pillow.
Doraemon watched him curiously. "What are you doing?"
"I made a bet with Suneo! If tomorrow's sunny, I get to punch him ten times! So, Doraemon, how's the weather machine coming along? Are you sure it'll work?"
"Don't worry. With this—'Weather Box'—we can create any weather we want!" Doraemon pulled out a device with antennas.
"All you do is insert a card with the weather you want—like this cloudy card."
He inserted a card with a picture of clouds, and immediately, the room darkened under a manufactured overcast sky.
"See? That's what it does. Now this one's the snow card." He inserted another with snowflakes beneath clouds.
Snow began to fall inside the room.
"Wow! That's amazing!" Nobita cheered. "Do you have more?"
"Of course!" Doraemon chuckled, pulling out a wind card and inserting it.
A gentle breeze blew through the room.
"This is how powerful the Weather Box is! With the sunny card, tomorrow's weather is no problem at all!"
He held up the sunny card triumphantly.
But just then, the wind picked up sharply, knocking both of them over—and the sunny card was blown away.
After they finally turned the machine off, the two scrambled to search for the card—in the house, in the yard, even out on the street—but it was nowhere to be found. Crestfallen, they trudged home.
"Doraemon, what now? Isn't there another way?" Doraemon shook his head.
"What do I do?! Suneo's gonna hit me ten times!" Nobita sobbed, remembering how Suneo had been punching a sandbag in preparation earlier.
He collapsed onto Doraemon's lap in despair.
"…Wait! I've got it!" Doraemon exclaimed. He pulled a stainless steel pot from his pocket and placed it on Nobita's head.
Nobita brightened. "So this will make tomorrow sunny?"
Doraemon, sitting in a solemn pose, replied expressionlessly, "No. It'll just make the punches hurt less."
Nobita fell over.
"So it's useless! Come on!" he shouted, hurling the pot to the floor.
"Fine, I'll just make more teru teru bozu." (sunshine dolls)
Meanwhile, Daichi had finished shopping for rice ball ingredients. On his way home, he spotted something fluttering through the air.
Using Levitation Magic, he caught it. It was a card—on it, a bright sun and the word "Sunny."
"This card… I think it's part of one of Doraemon's gadgets. But which one…?"
He couldn't remember. With nearly 3,000 Doraemon episodes and hundreds of gadgets, even after removing duplicates, there were still over a thousand. Many he'd watched long ago—his memory couldn't keep up.
Well, it's probably weather-related. Might be useful tomorrow. Better return it to Doraemon—just in case.
Luckily, their house was on the way home, so Daichi casually walked over.
About ten minutes later, Doraemon was still making sunshine dolls, and Nobita sat by the window, sulking.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
"Coming!" Nobita called, running to open it. Seeing Daichi at the door, he blinked in confusion. "Daichi? Didn't we finish tutoring already today?"
"Oh, this isn't about that," Daichi replied, pulling out the card. "I think this belongs to you guys. Just wanted to return it."
Nobita's eyes lit up. He grabbed it and shouted for Doraemon.
Doraemon ran down, confirmed it was indeed the missing sunny card, and the two of them celebrated like they'd won the lottery.
"YES! I'M SAVED!" they shouted in unison.
Daichi quietly closed the door and walked away.
…I really am a good person, he thought to himself.
(End of Chapter)