Camping

The week after my hangover passed by incredibly peacefully.

I kept showing up at the fields almost every day, pushed through the hard labor, and finally reached the long-awaited days off.

“…Staaare.”

Since morning, Yūha had been looking at me restlessly.

When I collapsed back onto my futon to get some more sleep, she started smacking the tatami beside my ear. I could feel her iron determination to make me go out and have fun no matter what, so I figured I really did have to think of something.

Because our workplaces were a guesthouse and a restaurant, our days off weren’t on Saturdays and Sundays, and they generally didn’t come consecutively.

That made the one pair of back-to-back days off we had during this period extremely precious.

And those days happened to be today and tomorrow.

“Is there anything you want to do?”

“I wanna do something.”

“You’re hopeless.”

“Don’t call me hopeless!”

“You woke me up without even having a plan. How is that not hopeless?”

“Urk… Then do you want to sleep a little longer?”

“You already woke me up completely.”

She was radiating such an overwhelming aura of wanting to play that even my sleepiness had apparently decided to hold back. It had told me we’d meet again tonight, so I probably wouldn’t get sleepy for another half day.

“How about playing with the village brats— Yeah, no. Got it. Got it, so don’t get mad.”

Yūha’s cheeks rapidly puffed up, and under that pressure, I immediately switched to apologizing. My crisis-management skills in this area were already first-rate.

“So what do we do? Just going for a drive feels a little too ordinary.”

We already went for walks whenever work ended early. Yūha was still a high school girl, after all. She probably didn’t want to spend her day off like a retiree.

“A drive!”

“No, I can’t. I’m tired today.”

“A drive…”

“Is that some kind of cry you make now?”

Judging from how visibly disappointed she looked, she must have really liked the idea.

I’d take her again sometime when I felt up to it.

“It’s a rare two-day break. I should’ve actually planned something.”

It was too late to regret it now. Until yesterday, I’d been completely exhausted by the time I got home, while Yūha had also been busy helping with the festival. It wasn’t until today that I finally realized, Oh right, we actually have two days off in a row.

“It’s hard when I spring it on you out of nowhere… Sorry.”

“Don’t look so down. I’ll think of something.”

We couldn’t afford to spend much money, and in a countryside place like this, there wasn’t much opportunity to splurge even if we wanted to.

A bunch of ordinary ideas came to mind, but in the end, I decided to consult an expert. It was Misuzu’s turn.

The restaurant was closed today, so she should have been working at the guesthouse.

For her, the restaurant was more of a hobby and helping at the guesthouse was just something she did, so she basically never had a day off. Not that she even seemed to think of either one as work. I’d never seen her complain about working, and I couldn’t imagine her doing it either.

When I sent her a message, she replied almost immediately.

‘Grandma says the campground might be nice!’

“…That’s what she says.”

When I showed Yūha the screen, her expression instantly brightened.

Even without the fluorescent light on, her smile stood out in the dim room.

“I’ll go! Let’s go! I wanna go!”

“What is that, a three-stage conjugation of ‘Let’s go’? Fine, then let’s call the campground.”

I’d heard about it before, but apparently Onahebi Village had a campground. They’d renovated it last year to take advantage of the recent camping boom.

Though even after the renovation, it was basically still just a place where you pitched a tent and slept.

Apparently, it catered to a different crowd from Fuzuki-san’s guesthouse and was doing pretty well. They rented out tents too, and you could even have a barbecue without bringing any equipment.

Perfect. That settled it.

I called, and the person who answered was someone I knew.

She was one of the parents who had left her child at the guesthouse. Once she realized it was me, she welcomed us enthusiastically. “Oh, Roku-oniisan? Please come! If I start preparing now, I can get the barbecue meat ready in time. I’ll throw in some marshmallows too.”

Thanks, brats. Guess taking care of you actually paid off.

“—So, this is all pretty sudden, but wanna go camping?”

“Yay!”

I watched Yūha rejoice innocently, then stood up and stretched.

“They said they’ll come pick us up in an hour, so get ready and meet me at the entrance. Wear long sleeves and long pants if you can. I’ll bring bug spray, so bring whatever else you think you’ll need.”

“Yes, sir!”

She straightened her back and saluted, then turned sharply on her heel and headed back to her room.

After seeing her off, I changed clothes too.

Over a white shirt, I put on a beige linen button-up. For bottoms, I wore navy trousers, also made of linen. Linen was unbeatable in summer.

That took care of changing. I’d buy a toothbrush, towel, and detergent set at the shop, so once I packed pajamas and a change of clothes, I was ready.

I decided to study until it was time to leave.

I pulled out my textbook and started reading English. Once I grasped the general theme, I skimmed through the whole passage. Then, while answering the questions, I worked toward a deeper understanding of the content.

I’d been doing this almost every day, so my brain had finally gotten used to it and I was getting faster. My vocabulary was only improving gradually, but my ability to infer meanings helped make up for it.

Lately, I’ve finally started to feel myself improving when it comes to reading-comprehension questions.

While I was doing that, the hour passed in no time.

I grabbed my luggage and went outside.

Yūha was already waiting there before me, dressed in jeans and a pale-blue cardigan. She must have been really excited, because she proudly showed me the deck of cards in her hand.

“Let’s play with these tonight.”

“What is this, a school trip?”

“It’s basically the same thing, isn’t it?”

“Is it?”

“It is.”

Yūha nodded firmly. Well, if she said so, then I supposed it was.

A school trip, huh…? I’d said it myself, but it had already been so long that I could barely remember. This year marked three years since I graduated from high school. Time really did fly.

I had graduated from high school, and this year Yūha would graduate too.

Before long, she’d turn twenty and become a proper adult. Then someday, she’d leave me… Would she really?

—Because she likes you. People only do things like that for someone special.

Riichi-san’s words crossed my mind.

“Rokurō.”

Yūha’s face was right in front of me. In the crystal-clear reflection of her large eyes, I could see myself wearing a troubled expression.

“Is something wrong?”

“I was just thinking about how to translate an English sentence I read earlier. Something about it didn’t sit right with me.”

“What was it about?”

“It was a passage about environmental issues. Something about how there actually aren’t that many benefits to not using disposable chopsticks.”

“You read stuff like that in English? That’s amazing.”

“I’m actually supposed to be reading much harder things. Stuff loaded with technical terminology.”

“Rokurō, do you like English?”

“About as much as Japanese. I don’t particularly like or dislike it.”

I’d only told a lie, yet somehow the conversation kept expanding from there.

My lies were way too natural. Even I was disturbed by how polished I’d gotten after all these years.

There was no fixing it now, so I decided to just keep going.

“I’m just grateful to the person who taught me English. That’s all.”

“I see.”

Yūha narrowed her eyes and smiled. The blazing midsummer sun shone brightly directly above her.

“If that alone makes you work this hard, then Kumagai-sensei must really like you, Rokurō.”

“Having a guy like me doesn’t exactly make me happy.”

I answered with a wry smile.

Then, without even meaning to, I found myself asking the stupid question of whether I’d be happy if a woman liked me instead.

It was truly ridiculous.

I spat the thought at myself internally.

I’m only interested in sexy older women.