Day Off

For the mornings, I cleaned the guesthouse. In the afternoons, I played at being a cram-school teacher while getting punched and kicked by a bunch of brats. After five straight days of that, my first day off finally arrived.

Thanks to Fuzuki-san’s consideration, Yūha and I had been given the same day off. Apparently, since both the guesthouse and the restaurant were customer-facing businesses, their quieter periods tended to line up anyway.

I woke up at the usual time, ate breakfast, and figured I might as well clean the house while I was at it. I’d learned how to do this two years ago too, so it wasn’t particularly difficult.

By the time we finished all that, it was already 10 a.m.

“All right, it looks a lot cleaner now.”

Yūha finished wiping the windows and wiped the sweat from her forehead with a satisfied expression. Since the house was an old building, there were only a few air conditioners installed throughout it.

Onahebi Village got plenty of wind, so the nights were reasonably comfortable. But once daytime came, the sunlight was harsh. Spending our precious day off inside this house would have been… well, probably fun in its own way, but we’d decided to go out today.

I set the bucket after dumping out the dirty water beside the outdoor faucet and left the cleaning cloths out in the sun to dry.

“All right, we should probably get going soon.”

“Yay!”

Under the blue sky, the girl thrust her fist toward the blazing sun and celebrated with all her might. Since she was wearing a short-sleeved gym shirt, she looked even more energetic than usual.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but her skin seemed a little more tanned after this past week. She had been pale to begin with, so it made her look healthier. That was probably a good thing.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Somewhere we can relax. We’ll just spread out a tarp and eat lunch… what’s that called again?”

“A picnic?”

“Yeah, that.”

The word was so unfamiliar to me that it hadn’t come to mind immediately.

“That’s surprising. I didn’t know you liked things like that, Rokurō.”

“If you don’t want to, we can spend all day driving endlessly through mountain roads instead.”

“No. I want a picnic today.”

“Got it. I’ve already packed everything, so just get yourself ready and meet me at the entrance.”

“Okay. I’m going to change, so wait a little.”

“Take your time.”

I loaded the tarp and cooler into the car, then pointlessly stretched in the yard. These days, studying was about the only thing I did while sitting at a desk, so my back didn’t feel quite as stiff anymore.

About ten minutes later, the front door opened and Yūha came out wearing a straw hat and a white dress. The fabric fluttered gently in the wind, and her eyes beneath the brim smiled softly.

“How do I look?”

“It’ll get dirty in the dirt.”

“That’s not what I meant…!”

She glared at me with an incredibly bitter expression.

“Am I supposed to say you look cute?”

“What do you mean, ‘am I supposed to’?”

Crap. She was seriously angry.

“You look cute.”

“…………Guilty.”

“How many years am I getting?”

“Two nayuta years.”

“Nayuta!?”

She’d picked another ridiculously obscure number. At that point, I didn’t even know how many zeroes it had.

“It doesn’t make me happy when you say it like I forced you!”

“You wouldn’t be happy getting complimented by me anyway.”

“If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have bothered asking. But I guess an idiot like you wouldn’t understand that.”

“You’re such a pain.”

“That’s exactly it! That’s exactly what I’m talking about!”

“It’s not like you stop being cute just because I don’t say it.”

The words slipped out before I could stop myself. I immediately regretted it, but it was too late.

Yūha froze completely and started going, “W-W-Wha…” like a malfunctioning machine.

“W-Who asked you! Saying it afterward like an afterthought doesn’t… well, I’ll forgive you this time.”

“Easy.”

“Don’t call me easy!”

“At this rate, you’re definitely going to fall for some awful guy someday.”

“I will not!”

She seemed like the type who could hear something unbelievably horrible and then forgive it immediately if the guy followed up with, “But you’re the most important to me.”

“You’re one to talk. At this rate, you’re going to stay single forever.”

“Hmph. If that happens, I’ll just drag Keiji over to this side too.”

“Nitta-san is catching stray damage without even being here…”

“Then the two of us will become miserable single men who envy and curse every form of happiness on Earth.”

“You’d actually do that.”

Following through on my words was my motto, after all. I would tolerate no happiness, no matter how small or mundane.

“Just get in already. It’s hot out here.”

“Mm.”

Yūha nodded and climbed into the passenger seat. I got into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

I turned on the air conditioner and pulled away.

“You’re really driving.”

“Yep. I actually got my license.”

“That’s amazing.”

“I mean, pretty much anyone can get a license if they pay for lessons…”

“That’s not what I meant. Just… a lot of things.”

“A lot of things?”

Even when I asked, Yūha didn’t answer. She simply looked out the window, apparently enjoying the scenery. Once I stepped on the accelerator, the houses quickly disappeared and were replaced by fields. Beyond those lay the mountains. Trees and slopes lined both sides of the road, and the asphalt wasn’t in especially good condition either.

I kept an eye on the faded center line as I drove up the winding road.

“By the way, the manager said he wants to have a drink with you, Rokurō.”

“Riichi-san does?”

“Yeah. He said he didn’t really get to talk to you properly when you came to the restaurant the other day.”

“Ah… What should I do? I’d be fine with it if there wasn’t alcohol involved.”

“Rokurō, you’ve been holding back ever since we started living together, haven’t you? You’re always working hard, so wouldn’t it be okay once in a while?”

“Hmm.”

It was true that I hadn’t consumed a single drop of alcohol since I started living with Yūha. Part of the reason was that drinking could make me come home late and leave her alone in the house, but there was another reason too.

A drunk version of me might start saying things like, “I was supposed to be living a naughty life with some sexy older woman, damn it!” in front of Yūha. If that happened, everything would be over. Even I wouldn’t be able to talk my way out of something that trashy.

Now that Fuzuki-san and Kagari were staying in the same house, Yūha would be safe even if I didn’t come home. The problem was what happened after I did. I could return extremely late and aim for a time when Yūha was already asleep. Or maybe…

“If I can stay overnight at Riichi-san’s place afterward, then sure. It’d be dangerous to come back while drunk.”

That was the only option. I’d make up some excuse and avoid seeing Yūha until I’d sobered up.

“I heard wild boars show up around here too. Got it. I’ll tell him.”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll get his contact information from Kagari later.”

“Oh, okay.”

While we were talking, our destination came into view beyond the trees. A green surface of water glittered as it reflected the sunlight.

A relaxing day off at a nature park.

Pretty elegant, if I did say so.