Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me - Volume 2 - Chapter 5.1

Chapter 5

The next morning...

“It’s morning, Ryuto!” came Shirakawa-san’s voice from somewhere distant.

I heard the door open and light footsteps come in. That was followed by the sound of curtains opening.

Guess I’m dreaming.

Pretty nice dream today, huh? A dream where I’m living under the same roof as Shirakawa-san...

Mm? Under the same roof?!

“Ryuto! How long you gonna sleep for?”

“Whoa!”

As I got out of my futon, I was startled to find Shirakawa-san’s face extremely close and right in front of me. Being so near to her that we were practically kissing right after I woke up made it feel like my heart could stop.

Large eyes... How cute...

My vocabulary had taken a nosedive, likely because I’d just woken up.

Shirakawa-san was on her knees, staring at my face and evidently in the process of trying to wake me up.

“Ryu—” she began, her cheeks flushing. She then turned her face away in a hurry. “Ryuto, it’s morning, you know...” she then said, still self-conscious and taking peeks at me.

“Y-yeah, sorry...”

Checking my phone by my pillow, I saw that it was seven. If this was the kind of summer break where I had no plans, I’d totally be going back to sleep now, but today was different.

Starting today, I was going to be helping Mao-san with the beach hut together with Shirakawa-san. I’d volunteered to do so, wanting to help at least a little since I was staying with them. The three of us were going to ride together in Mao-san’s car to get to the beach before nine when the hut opened.

Shirakawa-san was dressed more casually than usual in a T-shirt and shorts. Upon closer inspection, there was a bikini string peeking out from under the collar of her T-shirt—she seemed to be wearing one underneath.

“Let’s hurry down! Breakfast is ready,” said Shirakawa-san.

I followed her downstairs, and when we got to the first floor, I saw that breakfast was already laid out on the table in the sitting-slash-dining room.

“Oh, sorry...” I said, heading to the kitchen.

There, Mao-san was putting rice in bowls for everyone.

“Morning! Did you sleep well?” he asked.

“Ah, yes...” I replied.

After everything that’d happened yesterday, Sayo-san had ordered sushi from a place run by her acquaintance—“since she had a guest,” as she’d put it. My welcome party had dragged on while we ate sushi made with delicious, fresh ingredients, and by the time I’d been taken to an empty room on the second floor, laid out a futon there, and gotten inside it, it had already gotten to be about eleven in the evening. That night, I’d looked back on the events of the day—of which there had been way too many—and had trouble falling asleep. Then, my alarm hadn’t managed to wake me up, and that brought us back to the present.

“Good morning, Ryu-kun,” said Sayo-san, who had just left the bathroom. It seemed like she had been doing laundry.

“Good morning,” I replied. “Sorry I couldn’t help with breakfast...”

“It’s all right. Breakfast is all things we have on hand. Ruu-chan made the miso soup.”

I turned to look at Shirakawa-san behind me and she giggled.

“That’s right!” she said.

“Ruu-chan is usually a late riser too, but she said she wanted to do something today since you’re here,” said Sayo-san.

“Granny!” exclaimed Shirakawa-san, getting red in the face.

Shirakawa-san made miso soup for me...

The thought of it naturally made a smile appear on my face.

“Granny Sayo is healthy and good at cooking, so when I was little, I only carried the plates and let her take care of everything else. But she’s ninety now, so I want to do what I can,” said Shirakawa-san as though making excuses, then fanned her red cheeks with her hands.

When the two of us were alone together, she was honest in her displays of affection. However, she seemed embarrassed about her relatives finding out how devoted she was.

Thus, the four of us sat at a square table and got to eating breakfast. The side dishes were simple—Sayo-san’s homemade pickles, dried fish, and natto—but to me, who was used to only having bread or cereal at home, it was fresh and novel.

Shirakawa-san had made miso soup with turnips and wakame. The thickness of the turnips was uneven and you needed to chew pretty hard to get through the thicker pieces, but that somehow felt endearing to me too.

“How is it?” asked Shirakawa-san from beside me as I drank the miso soup. There was mild worry written on her face.

“It’s great,” I replied, which prompted her to smile back.

“Thank goodness...” She beamed with apparent relief, and it was as dazzling as the morning sun.

***

Just like it had done the day before, the midsummer sun showered its light down on the beach.

“I’d like to rent a locker.”

“Absolutely! A locker plus a warm shower is a thousand yen per person,” said Shirakawa-san. She was dealing with a customer who had come to the Luna Marine beach hut. Perhaps she looked so experienced doing this because she’d been helping out here for the past two weeks.

Watching her out of the corner of my eye, I wiped down the tables, moved the stands for disposable chopsticks, and otherwise made myself busy without really having anything to do.

In the morning, most customers came here to get changed, but by noon, more and more of them were looking to buy food. The tables in the beach hut gradually filled up.

Things settled down around 2 p.m., and that was when Mao-san called out to us.

“I’m gonna go restock and check on Granny while I’m at it. Can I leave the hut to you?” he asked.

“Sure! Take care!” replied Shirakawa-san.

“You can take breaks when you want. If you get hungry, feel free to eat whatever.”

“Okaaay!”

I gave him a slight bow.

“Ryuto, you can have lunch ahead of me,” offered Shirakawa-san. “I had ice cream in the back earlier.”

“Really? Thanks,” I replied.

Taking Shirakawa-san up on her offer, I started eating some takoyaki alone in a corner of the parlor. That was when...

“Ah, Runa-chaaan!”

“She’s here again!”

Startled by some flirtatious voices, I looked toward the entrance of the hut. Two young guys were coming in, wearing their trunks low and making obscene smiles at Shirakawa-san. In bread terms, their skin was beyond “well toasted.” In fact, they looked burnt.

“Wel...come...” Shirakawa-san said slowly, her smile seeming to become kinda forced.

“Runa-chan, you alone today?”

“You’re really cute as usual. Where d’you live? Somewhere in the neighborhood?”

Shirakawa-san tried to dodge the guys’ questions with a smile and an awkward laugh. I sensed her SOS in the glance she gave me.

I wanted to help her out too. But...

It was scary! Those guys looked older than me, and they were very obviously not only sunny types, but rowdy ones. You’d be hard-pressed to find a kind of person that I had more trouble dealing with.

While I hesitated, the two kept persistently talking to Shirakawa-san.

“Would you rather have a one-night stand with me or him?”