My Childhood Friend And Nagashi Somen

According to my childhood friend, “Nagashi somen is pretty fun, but the prep is an absolute nightmare,” apparently.

She’d done it once at a relative’s place, and by her account:

“If the prep’s a hassle, then so’s the cleanup, and we were outdoors the whole time, so it was crazy hot!”

…or so she says. That aside, she insists it was good fun all the same.

Which brings me to the childhood friend in question, keeper of said summer memories, one Sakura Ayuri…

“Let’s go out somewhere!”

Wherever last night’s meekness had run off to, the usual Ayu was back, announcing it like breakfast had recharged her to bursting.

“Ehh, no thanks, it’s hot out.”
“Is there somewhere you want to go?”
“Not really…”

There’s nowhere?!

“No, but come on! We’re finally all together, and even though we had homework to do yesterday, we spent almost the whole day cooped up inside! Counting the electricity bill and everything, it’s such a waste!”
“You really don’t need to worry about that sort of thing, though~”

Since the one saying so was the lady of the house we’d all camped in, I figured it was fine, but Ayu still looked dissatisfied. Or more precisely, like she was itching to get outside. She wanted to head into this idiotic heat with nowhere she actually cared to go, so it was plain as day she had some other, real motive.

“So, what’s the real reason?”
“I was thinking, on the way home from going out, I could swing by my place and grab my towel-blanket…”
“That’s obviously the main event.”
“Ehh~, you’re really gonna go fetch it~? Just sleep with me tonight instead~”
“N-no~, I mean, I slept next to Gin last night but it was kinda hard to sleep… and I’d feel bad for whoever I bunk with, so I figured I’d bring my own~”
“Yes, yes, do forgive my dreadful sleeping habits.”

Ayu’s excuse leaves me a touch miffed. I mean, it couldn’t be helped, could it? Sumire was on my other side, and bugging her would’ve been a pain, so throwing a leg over Ayu now and then ought to be fair game.

“No, I’m not complaining at you or anything, Gin…?”
“Well, sleeping posture aside, if that’s your reason, then head out on your own. I’ll pass. Hard pass.”

Go traipsing out into this godawful heat for no real reason? Never. Walk around under sunbeams this brilliant and I’d melt, and I mean that literally.

“Mmgh… well, fine. Then I’ll head out for a bit once the laundry’s done. Anything you want while I’m at it?”
“Häagen-Dazs.”
“It’ll definitely melt on the way, so anything but ice cream.”
“Chips, then.”
“I’m fine, thanks.”
“…Ah, there’s actually something I need too, so maybe I’ll tag along with you, Ayu~”

So Hina’s offering to go along on Ayu’s errand. I’d caught the come-along vibe off her, but she’s really going through with it, huh.

“Eh, I’ll buy the stuff, so it’s fine? No need for you to trek out in the heat on purpose, Hina.”
“Oi, cast your mind back to what you said a few minutes ago.”
“Ayu, do you wanna know what it is I need~? …Ayu, you perv.”
“That’s wildly unfair… fine… then Hina and I’ll go together.”

And so, once all the housework was wrapped up, Ayu and Hina headed out.

…And when they got back, they came home hauling one big boxed package. Did this girl seriously lug it over here knowing full well she goes home to her own place tomorrow?

◆◆◆

“And so, today’s lunch is nagashi somen!”

The big box Ayu had hauled back from her place turned out to hold an electric, water-circulating nagashi somen machine.

“Takes me back. When did we last use one of these, second year of middle school?”
“Really takes you back, huh~”
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen someone who actually owns one…”

The three of us reminisce while Sumire eyes the machine, fascinated. Ayu’s clearly owned it for ages, and from how worn it looks, she uses it more than you’d think.

“Hina and I were racking our brains over what to do for lunch, and then I remembered this thing, so I brought it from home.”
“It was pretty heavy, huh~ We bought water and stuff too.”
“You’ll manage hauling it back tomorrow? I’m not helping, mind you.”
“I’ll leave it here a while and come back for it later on its own…”
“Then it’s fine.”

Ayu and Hina steadily push the prep along, and the table fills up: sleek glass dishes, garnishes of green onion and ginger, mentsuyu dipping sauce, a colander piled high with somen. Lined up all together, it’s the very picture of summer.

Even though she isn’t even posting them anywhere, Ayu snaps an absurd number of photos.

“Okay! Now that I’ve got all my shots, switch ON! Letting the water floooow!”

As its owner, Ayu flips the switch and pours water into the now-whirring machine. The water running along the track looks just like a tiny water slide, and simply watching it lifts my mood a little.

“Alright, the first pitch goes to me, Sakura Ayuri! Here goes~!”
“Okaay~”
“Take this, cherry tomato!”
“That’s not something you send down first thing, is it?”

She knows full well I hate cherry tomatoes, and she’s doing it anyway.

The cherry tomato goes flowing… er, rolling down the track. Nobody grabs it, so it drifts all the way down to where the last of the water pools and ends up bobbing there.

“Hey, Gin!”
“And you’re taking deliberate aim at me, seriously?”
“You won’t grow up big if you’re a picky eater!”
“Says the runt shorter than me.”

At my protest, it isn’t just Ayu. Hina, too, wears a look that says:

Haah~, good grief, nothing to be done about her~

Sumire, meanwhile, watches over me with a tepid, amused warmth.

Curse the lot of you, beset on all sides, and repaying last night’s kindness with spite, are you.

“Well, I’ll eat this one myself later. Next up!”
“Okaay~”
“Take this, yellow peach!”
“Ayu~?”

She must have cracked open the leftovers of the can Sumire brought yesterday. The finely diced peach gets snapped up and eaten by none other than Sumire herself, the very one who’d brought it. Bring your own peach, eat your own peach, I suppose.

“What about the somen? So far the only thing that’s come down the chute is vegetation, though?”
“Somen’s made from wheat flour, so in the broad sense, nagashi somen is an event for floating plant-based things down a chute, is what I’m getting at?”
“In the narrow sense, I’m telling you to send down something that isn’t produce.”
“Geez, so demanding, aren’t you, Gin.”

Am I the unreasonable one here? And more to the point, why are the other two just letting this slide?

So far not one single food bearing the machine’s name has actually come down it. At this point it’s less flowing somen than an artificial river with produce bobbing along the current.

“Well, everyone’s probably getting hungry by now, so let’s do this for real.”
“And whose fault is that.”
“There we go, this time I’ll send it down properly, from the colander~!”

Ayu finally picks up the colander with the somen in it… oi, hold on, what’s with that chopstick motion of hers, like she’s stirring up the whole colander?

“Here it comes~!”
“Okaay~”
“Okaay~”
“Wait, what’s with that motion?”
“Take this, soba!”
“Well, it’s noodles this time, at least.”

Sure enough, Ayu sends soba down the somen machine. Up close, the surface of the colander is all somen, sure, but from the side you can see dark soba lurking underneath it.

…No, wait, isn’t that a lot? Is the whole bottom soba?

“What about the somen?”
“I actually like soba better than somen, you know.”
“Even though you’re the one who owns this thing?”
“Maybe it’s precisely because I own it that I got sick of it~”
“The ratio’s 8 to 2!”
“Somen being the 8?”
“…”
“Ah, nope, that’s the wrong way round.”

And so our lunchtime nagashi somen… or rather, mostly nagashi soba, was, for all the fuss, enjoyed by all four of us in warm, cheerful spirits.

…Although, come to think of it, did this girl really go buy ginger and all the rest just for a piddly little bit like this?