Kenkyo, Kenjitsu o Motto ni Ikite Orimasu - Chapter 167

Chapter 167

The next weekend I used the excuse of buying cake to visit Wakaba-chan .

Her mum still remembered me, and greeted me with a smile .

“Oh my, welcome!”

“Good afternoon . Thank you for everything, last time . ”

“Not at all! Thank you so much for the wonderful tea and coffee . Are you here to see Wakaba?”

“Yes, but I planned on buying some of your cakes as well . The ones I tried last time were simply delicious . ”

“Really? Aunty was a little worried that it wouldn’t suit the tastes of an ojousama from Suiran . ”

“That was not the case at all . They were fluffy, and sweet without being too sickening . I could eat any number of them . ”

I had eaten two in a row when I got home . Then I waited a little while and ate the rest too . They were great…

I wondered what I would bring home this time .

“It makes me really happy to hear that . Wakaba still hasn’t come back from her part-time job yet, but she should be back any moment so come on inside . ”

“Eh…? No, I really should not . I think I will head home for today . It was my fault for coming here unannounced . And to begin with my first goal was simply to buy some cakes . ”

“Geez, you can worry about the cakes later . Do you have anything else going on today?”

“No, not particularly…”

As the Chief of Forever Alone Village, my weekends were almost completely free .

“Then just stay! You’ve already come all the way here . Don’t be shy now . Wakaba will be back any moment now . Okay?”

“But…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine . ”

After asking the other staff member to take over for a bit, she came out from behind the display counter .

Taking my hand, she rather assertively ushered me into the house .

As I headed in, I noticed an awfully expensive-looking flower arrangement in the corner of the shop .

I had a bad feeling about it .

*

*

*

“Kisshouin-san, wasn’t it? Come in, come in . Here, sit down!”

After sitting me down on the couch she even brought out some black tea .

“Sorry . Not only have I arrived unannounced, I am even causing trouble for you like this…”

“It’s fine! A friend of Wakaba’s has come all the way here to play, so this much is natural . Oh, I know! I’ll go message Wakaba and let her know not to go on any detours . ”

“I truly am sorry,” I bowed again .

Not everybody had as much free time on their hands as I did, after all . I was definitely in the wrong here for showing up without checking with her first .

But since I was here to eat something and bring some cakes home too, I just thought it would be nice if we could hang out a little .

“Um, it is not much but…”

Karintou is a traditional Japanese snack food . Sweet and deep-fried, it is made primarily of flour, yeast, and brown sugar .

I held out the box of assorted karintou .

“Hmm? What might this be? Oh my, you didn’t need to . Thank you though . Oh! It’s karintou . How cute~”

There were different flavours like plum and chilli, and they were divided into cute little sacks . The presentation was great . It was one of my favourites .

Plus, part of the reason I choose these was because I wasn’t sure if it would be rude gifting Japanese sweets to a family that ran a cake shop .

“If my anklebiters spot these they’ll be gone in an instant . Aunty will make sure to hide them somewhere safe,” she said as she hugged the bag with mock protectiveness .

“Huhu!”

I liked this interaction . It reminded me of my mum from my old life .

“Wakaba’s shift finishes at 2 so she should be here soon . ”

“Oh, I see . ”

It was almost half past two when I checked .

“How is Wakaba doing at school? Is that girl doing alright at a school like Suiran?”

Ugh! She hit where it hurt . No way did she know how hard Wakaba-chan had it at school .

“Yes . Takamichi-san’s grades are exceptional, and recently she even joined the Student Council, you know? She seems to be getting along splendidly with them . ”

“I see . I’m glad that she’s managing,” she smiled in relief . It hurt to see .

“I’m back!”

That was when Wakaba-chan came back . I heard her footsteps against the floor as she ran into the room, taking off her scarf .

“You said that Kisshouin-san came over?”

When she saw me sitting on the sofa, she smiled .

“Welcome . ”

Her mother and I welcomed her home, and I apologised to her for intruding .

“Since you’re here now, I’ll be heading back to the store,” said her mum, so I thanked her again before she left .

“So what’s up, Kisshouin-san? Did you need something?”

“Well, no… I just wanted to eat some of your cake again because they were so delicious last time . Since I was coming here anyhow, I just thought it might be nice to see you, was all . ”

“Oh okay . Sorry for making you wait then . ”

“No, it is my fault for suddenly coming here… I had no idea you worked though . ”

“Eh? Ahh, yeah . Just for lunchtimes on weekends at a family restaurant . That time when I met you I was coming back from work too . ”

“Oh, I see . ”

That time when I was biting into the ikayaki huh .

ikayaki flashbacks…

“Aah, I’m pretty hungry . I haven’t had lunch yet so I’m going to get some curry . If you haven’t had lunch yet, do you want some too?”

“No, but thank you . ”

“Really?”

Wakaba-chan stood in the kitchen and began heating a pot up . It didn’t take long for the appetising smell of curry to waft over to me .

Uu… my appetite…

From the rice cooker, Wakaba-chan spooned out rice onto a dish, and then on top of that she put her curry .

Hauu, it looked so good .

“Do you want a bite too?”

A bite… Just a bite wouldn’t be too shameless, right?

“Then, perhaps just a bite, since you offered . ”

“Okay~”

And so Wakaba-chan placed two people’s worth of meals onto the table .

“Itadakimasu~”

“Itadakimasu . ”

Carrot and large bits of potato in a curry sauce bought from the supermarket . Just a normal household’s meal . How I missed this .

I tried a bite . Yummy!

“It is delicious . ”

“Yeah~ It’s because I left the vegetables to soak in the curry overnight . Aahh, food after a day of hard work is so good!”

We smiled as we ate .

“Still, working part-time is forbidden at Suiran, so it might be best if you did not go broadcasting that . ”

“Oh, you’re right . I’ll take care!”

She really had to . It would be dreadful if her enemies found out .

“By the way, thank you so much for the shoes again . You really saved me . I tried washing those stained ones and it really didn’t help after all . ”

“Oh I see . Please forget about that . I was never going to wear them again any how . ”

I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away, but I didn’t want to wear them either . If anything I felt thankful that she took them off my hands .

“By the way, Takamichi-san, about what happened the other day…”

It was hard to ask, but I still brought up the tracksuit incident on that rainy day .

“Was that something that Tsuruhana-san and her friends had a hand in?”

“Eh? Hmmm…”

Wakaba-chan had a troubled expression on her face .

When she went home that day she was wearing her uniform, which was soaked just like she said, but I was sure that Tsuruhana-san’s group was somehow involved . Despite some subtle investigations though, I never did get the truth .

“Takamichi-san?”

“Umm, at lunch they called me out to the 1st floor emergency exit, said a bunch of things to me, and then shut me outside . Since the door was locked I couldn’t get back in, so I ran around to the front entrance . The rain was pretty bad though, so I guess I got kinda soaked~”

“So that was what happened…”

I had thought it wouldn’t be much worse than having a bucket of water poured on her . How could they have locked her out during the freezing November rain .

“Just so you know, this is just between the two of us, okay?”

“The two of us…? Are you not going to report them? You could talk to Mizusaki-kun about this . ”

“Mizusaki-kun huh~ He was pretty persistent in asking what happened too, but I didn’t want to make a huge deal out of it . ”

“But…”

“It’s fine . Nothing really happened . ”

Um, something did happen though .

“Say, Takamichi-san . ”

“Yes?”

“If things ever get too bad for you, I can have a word with Tsuruhana-san, you know?”

Although honestly she had even more influence than in middle school . Unlike back then, there was no guarantee that I’d come out on top . This newcomer was giving me just a bit of trouble .

“Ehh!? It’s totally fine . I wouldn’t want to trouble you . It’s fine, fine . ”

“But…”

“Are you worried about me? Thanks,” she beamed .

“If only Kaburagi-sama thought a little more about his actions…”

“Ahaha, Kaburagi-kun is a pretty funny person, isn’t he?”

“Kaburagi-kun?” I asked .

“Ah,” she exclaimed before covering her mouth . “Ummm, Kaburagi-sama said ‘since you use -kun with Mizusaki, do that with me too’ so…”

Kaburagi… You’re such a damned child .

“I’m sorry,” apologised Wakaba-chan, “I wasn’t thinking about how you felt . ”

She must have misunderstood my frown .

“Eh? Why are you apologising? I was simply thinking about how much trouble he must be causing you . ”

“Huh…? But, don’t you, you know, like him?”

“Hah? ‘Like’? Who are you talking about? Surely you cannot be speaking about Kaburagi-sama and I . Because if you are, you are verymistaken . ”

“Really?”

“Yes!” I stressed .

This was important, so I was being extra clear .

“I see . I heard the rumours, so I was sure that…”

“Rumours are nothing to put stock in . ”

“I see~” she nodded with newfound enlightenment .

“By the way, I noticed some rather gorgeous flowers in your shopfront . Could those be…”

“Ah! You noticed? Yeah, Kaburagi-kun gave us those . The other day he came here to buy cakes and…”

“Goodness!”

So he really was coming here! Curse that guy for conquering all the cakes before I did .

“So did he come back here, or…?”

“Oh no, he didn’t . But he has been here before a few times while we were working out the bike incident . ”

Heh . I won .

Not only was I allowed into the house, I was even treated to curry .

“Umm, would you be all right with me coming to buy your cakes again?”

“Of course! You’re super welcome here!”

“And if possible, keep this a secret from Kaburagi-sama…?”

“Ahaha, then it’ll just be our secret then . Gotcha~”

After that we exchanged emails, and with newly bought cakes in hand, I hummed as I made my way home .

*

*

*

I opened up the message I just received . Umewaka-kun sent me photos of Beatrice in a red kimono for her shichigosan . She even had chitose ame next to her . It was a proper shichigosan .

Chitose ame (千歳飴), literally “thousand year candy”, is given to children on Shichi-Go-San . Chitose ame is long, thin, red and white candy, which symbolizes healthy growth and longevity . It is given in a bag decorated with a crane and a turtle, which represent long life in Japan .

And wow, I never knew dogs wore kimono too . Whoa! Don’t tell me that that Dog Maniac made it himself? No, no, it couldn’t be .

‘Bea-tan is three years old! The kimono fits me, right?’

Yup, yup, it looks great on you .

The next photo was of my Bea-tan doll in a matching kimono .

Apparently Umewaka-kun was a broadminded man who did not distinguish between his real and adopted daughters .

Hmm, but shichigosan huh . At this rate he was definitely going to buy Beatrice a full set of dolls for Hinamatsuri .

May Dog Lover-kun and Beatrice live happily ever after!