Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me - Volume 7 - Chapter 3.1

Chapter 3

June came, bringing with it Runa’s birthday.

“Hooray! We get to pick strawberries!” she exclaimed, looking at the rows of greenhouses. There were paths cutting between them.

It was 11 a.m. on a Sunday in late June. The weather forecast had said it would be slightly cloudy today, but there wouldn’t be rain.

We had taken the Tobu Isesaki Line to a nearby station and then got a taxi to come to Koshigaya to pick strawberries.

“They said this year’s strawberry-picking season ends today,” I said.

“Wow, we sure cut it close!”

“Yeah. I’m glad we made it in time. They let us come because there’s still strawberries left, but on an ordinary year, it would already be over by now.”

It had all begun with that conversation we’d had on our date to LakeTown.

“I wanna go pick strawberries sometime. I’ve never done that, though there’s no real reason I haven’t.”

Until today, we hadn’t gone on any dates since then. Runa’s birthday fell on a weekday this year, so we’d decided to go on a birthday date ahead of time. I’d recalled what she’d said and put in a reservation to go strawberry-picking. Many farms had stopped offering it by the end of May, so it had been pretty difficult to find a place that still had spots available.

Even when I’d finally found this place, the farmer had told me over the phone that there weren’t many strawberries left and asked if we still wanted to come. Maybe it was because the season was coming to an end, but even as our appointment was about to start, I couldn’t see any other customers around.

After paying at the reception area located in a small tent next to a plastic greenhouse, we received some small white plastic containers. They were about the size of containers you’d get in those DIY candy kits.

“This one’s for the tops, and this one’s for condensed milk,” explained the man at reception.

I noticed tubes of condensed milk being sold at the register.

“Strawberries are sweet these days, so the vast majority of customers don’t use it. Mainly older people buy it.”

This farmer has integrity. He’s not just here to sell things, I thought to myself.

He was also the one who led us to a plastic greenhouse. He was lean, middle-aged, and even though it was only June, he was already tanned—he matched my mental image of a farmer.

“You’re supposed to get thirty minutes, but it’s the last day. Feel free to eat as much as you like. You’re the only ones here today, and I’m sure you’ll be full in an hour, anyway,” he said.

“Wow, really?! Great!” Faced with unexpected generosity, Runa exclaimed in innocent delight.

As I’d thought, we really were the only customers here today.

“We’ll eat a whole lot!” added Runa.

“Look around and find some good ones,” replied the farmer.

We bowed to him and set out on our quest to pick strawberries.

“Wow, it’s hot in here!” said Runa.

When we stepped inside the greenhouse, the humid heat instantly filled our clothes. What made it even harder to bear was the fact it was currently the middle of the already hot and humid rainy season, and when it didn’t rain, the temperatures sometimes reached thirty degrees Celsius. Forget staying an hour—I doubted we could last even thirty minutes here.

“There really aren’t a lot left...” said Runa.

“Yeah...”

At a glance, the inside of the greenhouse was predominantly green. Even when we found strawberries, they were small and didn’t look very tasty.

“Ah, there’s one!” Runa exclaimed.

There were plants being grown in boxes in orderly rows, organized by type of strawberry. Each row had an upper tier of boxes and a lower one. The former was on an adult’s eye level, while the latter was below your knees.

Runa crouched down and reached out for a strawberry on a lower tier.

“Look!” she said.

“Wow!”

She’d found a large, fully red one. The kind you’d expect to be sold.

“Amazing,” I added.

“We might find more good ones in this part.”

Indeed, I could see a few large, red strawberries nearby. The one Runa had just plucked was the best among them.

She grinned at me. “Say ‘aah.’”

“Huh? You’re giving it to me?”

“Yeah. You like strawberries, don’t you? You always pick stuff with strawberries on top when you get desserts and such.”

“Ah, yeah, I guess I do.”

I shouldn’t have expected any less. Looks like she already knows all there is to know about me.

“I know you like them too, though. Are you sure?”

“Yeah. It looks delicious, so I want you to have it. ♡”

It was weird to argue back and forth over one berry when we’d come to pick a bunch of them. Either way, I bent over and let Runa feed me the strawberry.

“Is it good?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll have one for myself too!” Runa took the second biggest and reddest strawberry nearby and put it in her mouth. “Yep, it’s so tasty! ♡” She smiled in satisfaction, her cheeks stuffed.