When she said, “I want to go to Sakura-kun’s place,” my heart jumped, wondering what was going on. I wondered if I had cleaned her room, or if there was any strange garbage. I replayed it in my brain and checked various things.
“For dinner.., Sakura-kun’s place is better.”
“Eh, Ah you meant the store…”
It’s not my house. It may be similar to her, but it is very different.
“Yeah. The food’s delicious, right!”
“Even if you ask me that… It’s my place .”
“I thought I liked Gyudon best, and it’s really good… but I can’t forget the food at Sakura-kun’s house… I’ve become a fan. Can’t we go there?”
“It’s fine. It’ll make my father happy. But don’t you want to eat at home?”
“I’ve informed home that I’ll be late.”
She nodded with a smile on her face.
I nodded lightly. But when I thought about it, I realized that the situation was a little different than before.
Saionji-san used to be a classmate, but now she was not just a classmate.
“Ara…Welcome, Yuria-chan! Souji, did you get your face stuck in a bucket or something?”
After telling that, Mom glanced at Saionji-san’s head and nodded, confirming that it was not wet at all. I want you to stop imagining strange things. Please stop.
“Sakura-kun, why don’t you go change your clothes?”
“I’ll do that…”
The bike parked in the back of the store was enough to get me there.
I left the store by myself and started to pedal my bike. I also felt like I was going to dry out as I pedaled in vain, clattering and catching the wind in my face.
For the past hour, I’ve been hearing Warako-chan’s little voice.
I had completely shut out the voice that kept calling out “Souji-kun, Souji-kun” and making noises like “Chuu Chuu Chuu“. I felt like I was going to explode if I remembered.
It’s not simple happiness. Nor is it regret. It was more like guilt.
Does it feel like I’ve betrayed her because she and Hiria are still not in unison in my mind? Was it because someone like me had done such a thing to Saionji-san? Or maybe it was something simpler, the inferiority complex I had for her was so ugly that I wanted to look away. I didn’t feel embarrassed or specific about what I was doing, just the feeling that I had done it. What the hell was I doing? Even though it was me. Just because I warned her, doesn’t mean I can do it!
I went back to my room, changed my clothes, washed my face, and calmed down a bit. I got my breathing under control and left the house.
“Ah, welcome back.”
When I came back, Saionji-san was helping out at the store for some reason.
Her long hair was tied back and she was wearing a tacky navy blue apron with the word “Sakura” written on the chest, and she was quietly serving a set meal.
“Mo-Moommm…”
I stared at my mother with a pale face and vacant eyes. She flailed her hands and looked at me with a look of exasperation. She didn’t let her do it, as expected. So the culprit is the person herself!
“Saionji-san! What are you doing ?”
Saionji-san was puzzled, but then she said, “I am not allowed to pay for my food… And it’s fun being the shopkeeper…” and smiled.
“Besides, I wanted to have dinner with you after Sakura-kun returned…”
“No, but…”
A customer walked in and she said “Welcome” nervously.
The customer was very smiling as the beautiful girl carried the water and served the food with some poor movements. Many of them were old men doing manual labor, so they were smiling even more.
“So-chan’s girlfriend?”
The old man, a familiar customer, asked with a grin, while she gave him a vague smile. It’s not that she didn’t want to answer, it’s more like she was distracted by the food delivery.
After a while, when the wave of customers had died down and we didn’t need any help, we decided to have dinner together at the end of the table.
“What do you want, Saionji-san?”
“Eh, I am not sure. What about you, Sakura-kun?”
“I think I’ll stick with something usual…”
“I’d like that, too!”
“…Wait for a little while.”
Since she said ‘I’d like that’, and not ‘I’m fine with that’, I thought of making it myself.
I went behind the counter and poured rice for both of us. And miso soup. Then I put potato salad, hijiki no nimono, oshinko, ume cucumbers, kinpira gobo (burdock root), soaked eggplant, chilled tofu, and a few other small side dishes on a plate and put them on the table.
I didn’t miss her say in a quiet voice, “Ooh!”.
“We don’t have the main course… Do you want me to bake some eggs?”
“It’s okay, this is enough… Hey, can we eat now? Let’s eat. Itadakimasu.”
Saionji-san clasped her hands together and held her chopsticks.
“I’ve always wanted to do something like this. What was it called, an Uchi-chi meal?”
“Nai-Nai Meal?”
“It’s something off the menu that the workers eat.”
“You mean ‘makanai’?” (TN: The name “Makanai” comes from the Japanese word meaning ‘a meal provided to staff rather than the customers‘.)
“That’s it!”
She smiled and brought out her chopsticks. I looked at her, wondering what she was going to eat first, and saw that it was fried burdock root.
“…It’s so good that I’m crying…”
“R-really…? This is not really a place for gourmets though…”
“It matches my taste in food very well… I want to marry Sakura-kun already.”
“Gefu!”
I almost choked on my miso soup.
When I looked at her in horror, she seemed to have realized what she had said and made a face that said, “Ah”.
“Sa-Saionji-san… It’ll be troublesome if my parents take you seriously…”
“A-aye.”
When I glanced at my mother, hoping she hadn’t heard that, she looked at me perfectly and nodded deeply as if to say she had heard properly. There was something annoying about it…
Saionji-san was in a good mood as she ate her meal in front of me. She really seems to enjoy eating.
When she was eating her lunch alone in the classroom, I even thought she hated to eat.
“We don’t eat much Japanese food at home.”
“Why don’t you ask them to make it for you?”
“Yeah, I’ve asked them, but they’re not very good at it… um… and …everyone else seems to like Western food except me.”
It seems that the family doesn’t have much of a relationship with Japanese food.
It seemed that her family was not very familiar with Japanese food.
After finishing the meal, we were sipping tea in a daze when my mother came over to me, concerned about the time.
“Souji, take Yuria-chan home, it’s not good to be late.”
The two of us got up and left the restaurant.
It was an early supper, but it was already dark. The hustle and bustle of the evening city was scattered all around.
The cat that always wandered around the neighborhood came up to me, meowing and rubbing its body against my leg.
“Curry-rice, it’s been a while.”
I crouched down and stroked her under the chin, and she narrowed her eyes as if it was a good feeling.
“Ah, this kid’s name is curry-rice? You’re right, it’s a curry-rice-like pattern.”
Saionji-san said and crouched down to look at the cat. The cat was brown only on its back, with white limbs and belly.
Curry-Rice glanced at the stranger, Saionji-san, but did not pay any attention to her and scratched its ears with her hind legs.
Saionji-san patted curry-rice and said with a chuckle.
“…Sakura-kun, can you drop me home?”
“Oh, you don’t mind? I’m fine with that.”
I thought it was till the station.
“Okay? Yay!” she said, laughing.
We got on the train. It wasn’t that crowded, but all the seats were occupied, so we both stood near the door.
Saionji-san was staring at me.
I thought it was just my imagination, but she didn’t even try to hide it, just stared at me like drilling a hole in me. I wanted her to stop because I felt like I’m going to disappear.
“Hmm.”
I heard a small groan, and when I looked at her, she had her hand under her chin like a detective, staring at me thoughtfully. She looked so cute that she could have been made into a poster.
Her house was close to the station, but she took me by the hand and we walked out of the ticket gate.
When we left the station, it was already pitch black outside. There were a few stars in the sky.
“Sakura-kun, can we make a detour?”
“Sure.”
She glanced at me from time to time while walking next to me. I felt restless.
On a green street, she perched on the curb and beckoned me over.
“Sakura-kun”
I replied, “Yes,” and she peeked at me again. She tilted her head and stared at me with wide eyes, and I wanted to run away into space.
Her white palms softly moved through the darkness and rested on both of my cheeks. Exposed to the autumn breeze, it felt slightly cool and creepy against my cheeks.
Then holding my face tightly, she grunted and observed me again. What’s going on? What the hell is this girl thinking?
Just as I was about to let my guard down with a sense of dismay, Saionji-san suddenly said, “This is payback”, and brought her face close to mine, and something soft softly overlapped my lips.
I saw a moth stop at a street lamp.
Where am I?
Ah, Earth.
Saionji-san, who left my face behind, leaving me to stop thinking in an instant, giggled, “…wow, that’s embarrassing,” and covered her own face with the palm of her hand.
Then she peeked her eyes out and laughed softly.
That laugh clearly overlapped with the voice I had been listening to in the second library.
Hiria-chan was right in front of me.
Even though she had been there all along, it felt like she suddenly appeared, which was a mysterious feeling.
“Thanks for today. It was fun.”
She quickly started walking away, leaving me standing there like a harpoon.
After a while, she turned around and gave me a big “bye-bye” wave.
When I came to, she was completely out of sight, and I could feel the wind rustling the nearby leaves on my hot cheeks and hear the sound of autumn insects.
I fell for her completely again that day.
TN: That’s the end of the Date… The next chapter is a little long… We’re almost at the end…
When she said, “I want to go to Sakura-kun’s place,” my heart jumped, wondering what was going on. I wondered if I had cleaned her room, or if there was any strange garbage. I replayed it in my brain and checked various things.
“For dinner.., Sakura-kun’s place is better.”
“Eh, Ah you meant the store…”
It’s not my house. It may be similar to her, but it is very different.
“Yeah. The food’s delicious, right!”
“Even if you ask me that… It’s my place .”
“I thought I liked Gyudon best, and it’s really good… but I can’t forget the food at Sakura-kun’s house… I’ve become a fan. Can’t we go there?”
“It’s fine. It’ll make my father happy. But don’t you want to eat at home?”
“I’ve informed home that I’ll be late.”
She nodded with a smile on her face.
I nodded lightly. But when I thought about it, I realized that the situation was a little different than before.
Saionji-san used to be a classmate, but now she was not just a classmate.
“Ara…Welcome, Yuria-chan! Souji, did you get your face stuck in a bucket or something?”
After telling that, Mom glanced at Saionji-san’s head and nodded, confirming that it was not wet at all. I want you to stop imagining strange things. Please stop.
“Sakura-kun, why don’t you go change your clothes?”
“I’ll do that…”
The bike parked in the back of the store was enough to get me there.
I left the store by myself and started to pedal my bike. I also felt like I was going to dry out as I pedaled in vain, clattering and catching the wind in my face.
For the past hour, I’ve been hearing Warako-chan’s little voice.
I had completely shut out the voice that kept calling out “Souji-kun, Souji-kun” and making noises like “Chuu Chuu Chuu“. I felt like I was going to explode if I remembered.
It’s not simple happiness. Nor is it regret. It was more like guilt.
Does it feel like I’ve betrayed her because she and Hiria are still not in unison in my mind? Was it because someone like me had done such a thing to Saionji-san? Or maybe it was something simpler, the inferiority complex I had for her was so ugly that I wanted to look away. I didn’t feel embarrassed or specific about what I was doing, just the feeling that I had done it. What the hell was I doing? Even though it was me. Just because I warned her, doesn’t mean I can do it!
I went back to my room, changed my clothes, washed my face, and calmed down a bit. I got my breathing under control and left the house.
“Ah, welcome back.”
When I came back, Saionji-san was helping out at the store for some reason.
Her long hair was tied back and she was wearing a tacky navy blue apron with the word “Sakura” written on the chest, and she was quietly serving a set meal.
“Mo-Moommm…”
I stared at my mother with a pale face and vacant eyes. She flailed her hands and looked at me with a look of exasperation. She didn’t let her do it, as expected. So the culprit is the person herself!
“Saionji-san! What are you doing ?”
Saionji-san was puzzled, but then she said, “I am not allowed to pay for my food… And it’s fun being the shopkeeper…” and smiled.
“Besides, I wanted to have dinner with you after Sakura-kun returned…”
“No, but…”
A customer walked in and she said “Welcome” nervously.
The customer was very smiling as the beautiful girl carried the water and served the food with some poor movements. Many of them were old men doing manual labor, so they were smiling even more.
“So-chan’s girlfriend?”
The old man, a familiar customer, asked with a grin, while she gave him a vague smile. It’s not that she didn’t want to answer, it’s more like she was distracted by the food delivery.
After a while, when the wave of customers had died down and we didn’t need any help, we decided to have dinner together at the end of the table.
“What do you want, Saionji-san?”
“Eh, I am not sure. What about you, Sakura-kun?”
“I think I’ll stick with something usual…”
“I’d like that, too!”
“…Wait for a little while.”
Since she said ‘I’d like that’, and not ‘I’m fine with that’, I thought of making it myself.
I went behind the counter and poured rice for both of us. And miso soup. Then I put potato salad, hijiki no nimono, oshinko, ume cucumbers, kinpira gobo (burdock root), soaked eggplant, chilled tofu, and a few other small side dishes on a plate and put them on the table.
I didn’t miss her say in a quiet voice, “Ooh!”.
“We don’t have the main course… Do you want me to bake some eggs?”
“It’s okay, this is enough… Hey, can we eat now? Let’s eat. Itadakimasu.”
Saionji-san clasped her hands together and held her chopsticks.
“I’ve always wanted to do something like this. What was it called, an Uchi-chi meal?”
“Nai-Nai Meal?”
“It’s something off the menu that the workers eat.”
“You mean ‘makanai’?” (TN: The name “Makanai” comes from the Japanese word meaning ‘a meal provided to staff rather than the customers‘.)
“That’s it!”
She smiled and brought out her chopsticks. I looked at her, wondering what she was going to eat first, and saw that it was fried burdock root.
“…It’s so good that I’m crying…”
“R-really…? This is not really a place for gourmets though…”
“It matches my taste in food very well… I want to marry Sakura-kun already.”
“Gefu!”
I almost choked on my miso soup.
When I looked at her in horror, she seemed to have realized what she had said and made a face that said, “Ah”.
“Sa-Saionji-san… It’ll be troublesome if my parents take you seriously…”
“A-aye.”
When I glanced at my mother, hoping she hadn’t heard that, she looked at me perfectly and nodded deeply as if to say she had heard properly. There was something annoying about it…
Saionji-san was in a good mood as she ate her meal in front of me. She really seems to enjoy eating.
When she was eating her lunch alone in the classroom, I even thought she hated to eat.
“We don’t eat much Japanese food at home.”
“Why don’t you ask them to make it for you?”
“Yeah, I’ve asked them, but they’re not very good at it… um… and …everyone else seems to like Western food except me.”
It seems that the family doesn’t have much of a relationship with Japanese food.
It seemed that her family was not very familiar with Japanese food.
After finishing the meal, we were sipping tea in a daze when my mother came over to me, concerned about the time.
“Souji, take Yuria-chan home, it’s not good to be late.”
The two of us got up and left the restaurant.
It was an early supper, but it was already dark. The hustle and bustle of the evening city was scattered all around.
The cat that always wandered around the neighborhood came up to me, meowing and rubbing its body against my leg.
“Curry-rice, it’s been a while.”
I crouched down and stroked her under the chin, and she narrowed her eyes as if it was a good feeling.
“Ah, this kid’s name is curry-rice? You’re right, it’s a curry-rice-like pattern.”
Saionji-san said and crouched down to look at the cat. The cat was brown only on its back, with white limbs and belly.
Curry-Rice glanced at the stranger, Saionji-san, but did not pay any attention to her and scratched its ears with her hind legs.
Saionji-san patted curry-rice and said with a chuckle.
“…Sakura-kun, can you drop me home?”
“Oh, you don’t mind? I’m fine with that.”
I thought it was till the station.
“Okay? Yay!” she said, laughing.
We got on the train. It wasn’t that crowded, but all the seats were occupied, so we both stood near the door.
Saionji-san was staring at me.
I thought it was just my imagination, but she didn’t even try to hide it, just stared at me like drilling a hole in me. I wanted her to stop because I felt like I’m going to disappear.
“Hmm.”
I heard a small groan, and when I looked at her, she had her hand under her chin like a detective, staring at me thoughtfully. She looked so cute that she could have been made into a poster.
Her house was close to the station, but she took me by the hand and we walked out of the ticket gate.
When we left the station, it was already pitch black outside. There were a few stars in the sky.
“Sakura-kun, can we make a detour?”
“Sure.”
She glanced at me from time to time while walking next to me. I felt restless.
On a green street, she perched on the curb and beckoned me over.
“Sakura-kun”
I replied, “Yes,” and she peeked at me again. She tilted her head and stared at me with wide eyes, and I wanted to run away into space.
Her white palms softly moved through the darkness and rested on both of my cheeks. Exposed to the autumn breeze, it felt slightly cool and creepy against my cheeks.
Then holding my face tightly, she grunted and observed me again. What’s going on? What the hell is this girl thinking?
Just as I was about to let my guard down with a sense of dismay, Saionji-san suddenly said, “This is payback”, and brought her face close to mine, and something soft softly overlapped my lips.
I saw a moth stop at a street lamp.
Where am I?
Ah, Earth.
Saionji-san, who left my face behind, leaving me to stop thinking in an instant, giggled, “…wow, that’s embarrassing,” and covered her own face with the palm of her hand.
Then she peeked her eyes out and laughed softly.
That laugh clearly overlapped with the voice I had been listening to in the second library.
Hiria-chan was right in front of me.
Even though she had been there all along, it felt like she suddenly appeared, which was a mysterious feeling.
“Thanks for today. It was fun.”
She quickly started walking away, leaving me standing there like a harpoon.
After a while, she turned around and gave me a big “bye-bye” wave.
When I came to, she was completely out of sight, and I could feel the wind rustling the nearby leaves on my hot cheeks and hear the sound of autumn insects.
I fell for her completely again that day.
TN: That’s the end of the Date… The next chapter is a little long… We’re almost at the end…
