Chapter 3
Come morning, the typhoon was gone.
Between our joined hands and thinking about how Shirakawa-san was sleeping beside me, I hadn’t been able to sleep much during the night.
We ate the very typical Japanese breakfast that an inn employee brought to our room, put on our clothes which had dried overnight, and then headed home a day late.
As trains heading to Tokyo on a Sunday morning typically were, the one we took was pretty empty. We talked about nothing in particular and dozed off here and there until we got to Station A.
“Okay, I’ll see you in two days,” I said.
There weren’t any tests waiting for us tomorrow, so we didn’t have to go to school. We only needed to attend the ceremony that marked the end of the first term on Tuesday.
Shirakawa-san and I said our goodbyes in front of her house.
“Yeah. See you later, Ryuto.” She’d said that and waved her hand, but then a serious look appeared on her face all of a sudden. “Let’s keep it up for month two, okay?”
“Yeah, sure thing.”
As I gave my reply, a smile returned to Shirakawa-san’s face. Relieved, I waved back at her.
After seeing Shirakawa-san go inside, I returned to Station A by myself. As it was the middle of a Sunday, the square in front of the station had people standing around looking at their smartphones, appearing to be waiting for others. While walking around, you often ran into people handing out leaflets and tissues.
There were a bunch of people like that on my way at present.
“Izakaya ‘Bacchus.’ Come get a lunch coupon!” called a female voice.
While I wasn’t very interested in going to a Japanese bar, I reflexively reached for the paper thrust before my eyes. However...
“Ah!” The person handing out those coupons made a surprised noise.
As I looked at her face, wide-eyed wonder appeared on mine. “Yamana-san?!”
Sure enough, the young woman standing there was Shirakawa-san’s close friend, Yamana Nicole-san. I avoided looking at people’s faces when walking around outside, so she had noticed me first.
Yamana-san was wearing an outfit that looked like a deep-blue samue and an apron that only covered her hips and upper thighs.
“Are you working?” I asked.
“Can’t you tell?” she curtly replied, offering me that coupon I’d meant to take earlier again. “Heading back after walking Runa home? Good timing. Come to my bar.”
“Huh?”
“I wanted to talk to you about Runa. She’d probably get worried if we met in private, so it’s convenient if we can do it while I’m working.”
“B-But isn’t it an izakaya...?”
The coupon I’d just received recommended the all-you-can-drink menu option even though it was daytime. It felt like a rather hardcore kind of place.
“Getting cold feet, are you? Just don’t order drinks and there’ll be no problem. We get quite a lotta customers with children, you know?”
Oh... So sunny types can go to an izakaya while they’re still minors, huh. The bar was set too high for a guy like me—I’d never eaten out anywhere except family restaurants and donburi places.
“And you want me to come alone?” I asked.
What was I supposed to do by myself at an izakaya? Yamana-san was at work, so I was sure she wouldn’t be with me all the time.
“Well, why don’t you bring friends?” suggested Yamana-san with annoyance. “Or what, you don’t have any?”
“I-I do.”
“Then bring ’em. I’m on shift until night today,” Yamana-san said quickly. She then went back to handing out coupons. “Come get a lunch coupon!”
Somehow, it had been decided I’d show up there today.
I didn’t want to go alone or for Yamana-san to think I had no friends, so I called Icchi while heading home.
“Hey, Icchi.”
“What?”
“You free today?”
“Hell no, I’ve been playing with Nisshi,” he replied. “Oh yeah, it’s Kasshi calling.”
Sure enough, I could hear game music and someone talking on the other side of the phone.
“Wait, why didn’t you call me?” I asked.
“Didn’t you go to the beach with Shirakawa-san yesterday? Sheesh, man! Go to hell, normie! I just thought you’d be tired.”
I wondered if I’d heard his true thoughts leak out just now or if it had been my imagination.
“Say, have you eaten yet?” I asked.
“Huh? I had lunch. An extra large cheese beef bowl. Takeout.”
“Then how about we have dinner together? I want you to invite Nisshi too.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Yamana-san invited me to eat at the izakaya where she works.”
“Yamana...? Yamana Nicole from our class? Dude, you talk to that demon gyaru?!”
“We have some connection through Shirakawa-san. Yamana-san’s her best friend.”
After my brief explanation, I could hear a deep sigh on the other end of the phone.
“Kasshi... You’ve changed.”
“You’re not coming?” I asked, thinking this was just as I’d expected.
“Of course I am!” came the instant reply.
Straining my ears, I could also hear Nisshi in the distance, saying, “I’m coming! I’m coming!”
“Wait, really?!” I asked, surprised.
The flow of the conversation had made me assume I was about to be turned down.
“I can’t have you leaving us any further behind! Screw the gloomy-guy pride! The summer of the second year of high school is our last chance at youth! I’m gonna become a normie this summer too! Eating at an izakaya where a classmate works is totally what sunny types do! Right, Nisshi?!”
“Yeah! Yeah!” he cried out from the other end of the line.
I sighed. Well, at least they were coming.
Thus, I ended up arranging to have dinner with Icchi and Nisshi at Yamana-san’s workplace tonight.
***
The izakaya “Bacchus” was located on that busy street in front of Station A. It was on the third floor of a five-story building, all floors of which had restaurants and the like.
“Welcome!” called an energetic izakaya employee once I stepped through the curtain at the entrance.
It was only approaching six in the evening, but the place was already lively with numerous customers—probably because it was Sunday.
“Um, we’re friends of Yamana-san who works here...” I said to the male employee who had come to show us in.
“Ah!” he said and nodded. “A table for three, yes? Please follow me.”
He took us to a sunken kotatsu table where you had to take off your shoes first. There was a solid wall on one side of the table and partitions on two sides parallel to the seats. On the side of the aisle, there was something like a shoji-style sliding door. It was practically a private room. I’d messaged Yamana-san over LINE earlier, saying when we’d been planning to show up, so perhaps she’d reserved this table for us.
“Your server will be here soon,” said the employee and left.
Feeling a little nervous, we sat down. Icchi and Nisshi sat on a four-person bench seat, and I sat facing them.
“By the way, have you seen KEN’s videos from today?”
“Oh, nah, not yet,” I replied. “I haven’t seen yesterday’s videos yet either, so I’ve been catching up on those first.”
“Bah. Damn normies...”
“Was Shirakawa-san in a bikini?”
“Huh? Yeah...”
“Gah!!!”
“You gotta be freaking kidding me! Go die already! Sounds like you had a lot of fun, huh!”
“Dude, I can hear your thoughts leaking!” I said.
“Just show us a picture of her!”
“You think I would after you said that?!”
Then, as the conversation kept going that way...
“Welcome!” came the voice of a female employee who sounded proficient at her job before two beer mugs were placed on the table in front of my eyes.
When I looked up, I saw it was Yamana-san.
“Wait, we haven’t ordered anything yet...” said Nisshi, confused.
Yamana-san gave us a meaningful wink. “It’s on the house. ♡ Thanks for coming.”
In that instant, I witnessed Nisshi’s and Icchi’s eyes actually turn into hearts.
“Caplis Soda. Made it real concentrated for you. ♡ You can’t have stuff like this at home!” said Yamana-san.
“Wait. None for me...?” I asked.
“Oh, you can order one yourself. If you use the touch panel over there, it’ll send an order to the kitchen.”
None of that “on the house” stuff for me, huh?! And wait, isn’t she acting really differently with these two compared to me?!
“It’s not fair...” I complained.
While I was busy using the touch panel to order myself a cola, Icchi and Nisshi happily brought their beer mugs of Caplis Soda to their lips.
“Man, demon gyaru are the best!”
“It’s all about demon gyaru these days!”
“She looks scary, but is actually kind on the inside—the gap moe is too strong!”
“She’s like a mountain—you can’t help but love her!”
“Yeah, dude! She’s really living up to the ‘yama’ in her name!”
The two showered Yamana-san with high praise as they drank down large gulps.
“Holy shit, this taste!”
“I’ve never had something so flavorful!”
“Huh? What, really? Let me...” I began, reaching for one of their mugs for a taste, but Icchi and Nisshi guarded them.
“No! This strong Caplis was given to us by a demon gyaru.”
“Demon gyaru are friends of those who aren’t normies! You can’t have iiiiit!!!”
Seemingly overjoyed at Yamana-san’s favoritism, the two inhaled their drinks with such enthusiasm that they could’ve emptied their mugs in one go.
“Oh well. I’ll order food, then,” I said, sulking a bit. Looking at the touch panel, I picked out some stuff that looked delicious. “I guess this will do for now? Take a look, guys...eh?!”
When I looked up to get Icchi’s and Nisshi’s input on my order...
“Wh-What’s wrong?!” I exclaimed.
“Whaaat?”
“Whassit, Kasshiii?”
Something was clearly off about Icchi and Nisshi. Their faces were beet red, their eyes were vacant, and both of them were slurring their speech.
“Ah!”
Realizing what was going on, I picked up Nisshi’s mug from in front of me. Taking a gulp, I was astonished.
“Ugh... What is this?!”
It certainly tasted like Caplis, and I could sense a rather concentrated, thick sweetness... At the same time, however, there was a strong, nearly choking scent of ethanol that couldn’t be disguised by the faintly carbonated water.
Ethanol... Of course...!
“You guys okay? How do you feel?” I asked.
“Whaaat? If anything, I feel pretty great...”
“Yeah... Demon gyaru are the best...”
With those last words, Icchi’s and Nisshi’s heads landed on the table. Both of them fell asleep, just like that.
“Zzz...”
“Snore...”
For real?
Actually, I was surprised they could drink stuff like that. They must’ve been really ecstatic. Their mugs were almost empty.
But as I wondered how in the world their drinks ended up like that...
“Oh, they’re asleep already,” said Yamana-san, standing beside me. “Here, your cola.” She placed a glass of cola in front of me. “And french fries too, on the house,” she added, placing down a basket piled with them. She then sat beside me and closed the shoji-style sliding door. “My coworker said I can take a break when she’s on duty.”
Overwhelmed, I couldn’t help distancing myself from her. I practically pressed myself against the wall. “Um, what was this about...?”
“Like, weren’t they gonna get in the way? I wanted to talk about Runa in private.”
“Huh? I-Is that why you...?”
“It’s fine,” she insisted. “They seem to be having a nice nap. And everybody makes mistakes.”
“M-Mistakes...?”
So basically, she made a mistake preparing drinks and put something unnecessary into their mugs...? No, that can’t be... Okay, I can’t completely write it off, but from the way she’s acting now, I’m convinced she’s done it on purpose.
“B-But even if it’s a mistake, wouldn’t you get in trouble if your management found out you gave something like that to high schoolers...?”
“Maybe. But I know the owner’s secret.” With that, Yamana-san made a gesture with her hand by raising her pinkie. I’d seen that kind of thing a long time ago when a relative of mine, an old guy, had used it—he’d meant “women.”
Was the owner cheating on his wife...? Did she plan to threaten him with that information?
“Y-You’re amazing, Yamana-san...”
“Really? Despite how I look, I’ve mellowed out a fair bit. When people heard ‘Nicole from North Central’ around these parts, even delinquents’ balls would retract.”
Wh-What had you been up to, Yamana-san?!
“So... What did you want to talk about?” I asked.
As I got scared and urged her to get to the main topic, Yamana-san suddenly put on a serious look.
“How is it, after dating Runa for a month?” she asked.
“Huh...?”
As I wondered what she meant, Yamana-san placed an elbow on the table and rested her chin in her hand.
“You know how Runa’s clingier than you’d think from her looks?” Yamana-san had a distant look in her eyes. “I talked to her the first time the day of the school entrance ceremony. I was spacing out in line and she called out to me. Said my nails were cute.”
I’d known they’d gotten along well since our first year of high school, but I hadn’t known their friendship had started that early.
“The next day, Runa showed me these brand-new earrings. Said they looked like they’d suit me, so she bought a pair for me too. And when she gave them to me, she asked me to become BFFs with her.” Smiling as she evidently recalled the scene, Yamana-san then shifted her gaze toward me. “Isn’t it pretty weird? It’s too clingy, right? Somebody’d normally be put off by that.”
I thought this story was just like Shirakawa-san, recalling how she’d bought matching phone cases for our one-week anniversary.
“But Runa’s super cute, right? And she’s social. So I figured I was happy and that I wanted to be BFFs with her too,” said Yamana-san with a slightly awkward smile. She then lifted her chin from her hand. “People talk about clinginess like it’s a bad thing, but if you trust someone with your internal baggage and they do the same thing in return, with baggage of equal weight, the scales don’t tip in either direction. Neither of you will feel that one of you’s clingy. That’s what makes relationships go well, right? ‘Mutual love’ is ‘mutual clinginess.’ You feel me?”
“Y-Yeah...”
It was surprising to me that Yamana-san was the type of person to speak about such things.
“You say some fancy stuff...” I remarked.
“‘Nicole from North Central’ is a poet, among other things,” she said with a grin before returning to a serious expression.
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