My Childhood Friend And The Autumn Of ___

According to my childhood friend,

“Long ago, a neighbor had persimmons hung out to dry, and when I was taught those were called ‘hoshigaki’—dried persimmons. But going by the sound alone, I’d got it into my head that the ‘hoshi’ meant ‘star,’ that they were persimmons bathed in starlight, so of course they had to be ‘star persimmons,’” …apparently.

…This is surely a tale from her past life. Probably. Almost certainly.

So, this childhood friend of mine, Sakura Ayuri, the one who once cooked up a mix-up that sounds like it belongs on some game-item list… well, as for what she was up to…

“Let’s do some kind of autumn!”
“Kinda out of nowhere there~”

By now we’d finally readjusted to the post-summer-break commute, and it was over a lazy lunch, food already finished, that Ayu sprang this on our usual foursome.

“You know how people are always saying ‘autumn’s the season for such-and-such’? Let’s do something in that spirit!”
“Sure, the new term’s started, but it’s still stupidly hot out, in case you hadn’t noticed?”
“That’s the freak weather’s fault, not mine! So, what’re we doing?”
“So you’re dead set on this, huh…”

And just what was this “something” supposed to be, anyway?

“Let’s see… autumn for reading… doesn’t really feel like a group thing, and autumn for eating—well, we just had lunch…”
“This is exactly the moment to lean on the marvels of modern civilization. Um, what’ve we got, let’s see… there’s also sports, outings, autumn leaves, art, music, sleep, taste… quite the lineup~”
“Outings and autumn-leaf viewing, art and music—aren’t a whole bunch of these kind of overlapping?”
“Gin, no throwing in your extra two cents.”
“Hmm~ it has gotten relatively cooler, but it’s still plenty hot, and sports in this heat is kind of a hard pass~”

This was shaping up into a proper group deliberation, and everyone seemed fairly into it.

Though if I’m honest… the term had barely started, things were still a bit hectic, and personally I didn’t see the need to force some big production.

“Music… wanna hit karaoke after school or something?”
“There’s not much time after school, and there’s a high chance it’d just turn into a small-crowd Ayu concert, so pass.”
“I’d be up for it, but four of us in that little time is a bit of a stretch~”

I’ll grant it’s fun… but it’s exhausting, so on a weekday, at least, hard no.

“Sleep’s fine by me. We can do it right this second, needs zero prep, and it’s perfect after a meal—a flawless proposal that hits all three beats, no?”
“No good, Gin. Lie down right after eating and you’ll turn into a cow, y’know.”
“Ayu, a cow…? Pfft—don’t you mean a piglet?”
“Oi, and just where were you looking when you said that, you little brat?”

I meant that pint-sized height of yours that’s never once closed the gap with mine, thanks. …I wasn’t looking at your chest. Honest, I wasn’t.

“Outings, or autumn-leaf viewing…”
“It still feels like the summer heat’s hanging on, though… autumn leaves are probably still a month or two out…”
“Just going for a walk together is plenty fun~ but in heat like this, we’re not even at that point yet~”

Nothing to be done about that one… I couldn’t picture a single one of us enjoying the scenery while soaked in sweat.

“Art might be nice too, y’know~ I think everyone drawing each other’s portraits could be fun~”
“Everyone here with an artistic bone in their body, hands up! For the record, I’ve got exactly none!”
“Wouldn’t say zero, but… no.”
“It’s not that I can’t draw… but I imagine my, um, direction goes somewhere different from Hina’s…”
“Yeah… this feels like the skill gap would just breed tragedy, so let’s shelve it.”

You can get through life just fine without being able to draw. Let the people who want to draw do the drawing.

Actually, hold on…

“…Wait, haven’t we shot down literally every option so far?”
“Uhh, out of everything we listed, the one that hasn’t come up yet is… taste.”
“That’s basically just appetite—it’s a wipeout, a total wipeout.”

Was this, in a sense, another casualty of the freak weather too? The whole familiar “autumn is the season for such-and-such” lineup had been all but wiped out.

…Granted, a few of them we’d shot down purely for our own convenience, but let’s not dwell on that.

Just as the mood was settling into the sense that the whole thing would fizzle out into one more bit of idle chatter… that was the moment.

“…No… I won’t give up… I will never give up on taste!”

Evidently our childhood friend, one Sakura Ayuri, still wasn’t ready to give up. She clenched a fist and rose from her seat.

“That’s just something a glutton would say.”
“Oh, shush, Gin!”
“Hmm~ then how about we make a little detour after school and grab something to eat~?”
“That’s the one, Hina! Three Ayuri Points to you!”
“Yaay~ I got something~”

Those are one hundred percent the worthless kind, Hina. Or so I thought about saying, but if I had, another “Oh, shush, Gin!” would’ve come flying my way, so I let it slide.

It was right about then, as our rambling little summit dragged on, that a sound came over the classroom speaker.

— Ding-dong, ding-dong…

The chime that marked the end of lunch break. Ten minutes until the next class.

“Ah, lunch break’s over… we should get ready for next class.”
“Let’s hammer out the details later. See ya, Gin, Sumire!”
“See you.”

Summit adjourned, Ayu and Hina headed back to their own seats, and Sumire and I saw the two of them off.

…Well. Honestly? Just a little, I’d started to look forward to after school.

◆◆◆

I remember, back when we’d just become high schoolers, Ayu saying something to the effect of “grabbing food on the go is a high-schooler privilege.” We’d done our share of grab-and-go snacking since then, but there was usually one of us with somewhere else to be, so all four of us buying food together like this was pretty rare… a first, even, if you wanted to push it.

“Now then, everyone—we’re about to partake of the flavors of autumn, but just what are the flavors of autumn to begin with?”
“Matsutake.”
“Mont Blanc~”
“…Roasted sweet potato?”
“…Yeah, let’s go with roasted sweet potato. And Gin—you do get that these are things we’re about to eat, right?”
“I want matsutake.”
“Luxury!”

The heck? Matsutake’s delicious, dammit… probably. I’ve barely had it and I like shiitake better anyway, so what do I know.

“Personally I’d take saury over matsutake~”

And there’s the one who actually looks like she eats the stuff.

And so, one thing leading to another, we arrived at after school. As I mentioned, the four of us heading out together like this was a fairly novel thing; usually we couldn’t all line up, what with Hina’s family errands or Sumire’s club and so on.

“…Yeah, still hot after all, huh.”
“It’s gotten easier to bear than right when term started, but… still, yeah~”

We walked, gazing up at a sun that, for the same hour of day, seemed to hang a touch lower than it had over summer break. It did feel a shade more bearable, though that might have been within the margin of error, or honestly just some high- and low-pressure systems lining up right. Either way, the heat could still pass for the last gasp of August.

“Hey, you say ‘roasted sweet potato’ like it’s nothing, but… you got somewhere in mind?”
“…When you say roasted sweet potato, there’s that classic, right? The one you always see in anime and such.”
“‘That’ being what~?”
“…You don’t mean… the stone-roasted-sweet-potato truck?”
“Yes, that’s the one, Sumire! Two Ayuri Points to you!”
“Yay.”
“I was wondering this at lunch too—what even are those points… And this stone-roasted-sweet-potato truck… you mean, like, that one that crawls along blaring a little song?”
“Yes yes, that’s the one! I’ve never once bought from one! I kinda wanna experience it!”

I mean, sure, it’s autumnal enough, but it’s not like it’s something you can just set out and buy on purpose, is it. No matter how you slice it, the plan’s riddled with problems, basically unworkable; no, what I’m feeling here is closer to flat-out impossible.

“Well, it’s an ideal, purely an ideal. I’ve got a destination in mind, so—if there’s a truck along the way, we grab it, and if not, we go to the backup plan. Something like that.”
“…Well, if that’s how it is, sure, fine.”
“Okay then—this way, everyone!”

With Ayu at the head, we set out into our local town. Today, the four of us passed straight through the station where we’d usually split off from the other two and peeled away onto our detour.

We’d gone out as a foursome plenty of times over summer break, sure… but walking after school in our uniforms, down a road I usually walk with just the two of us, all four of us with the chatter in full bloom, it got me a little giddy in spite of myself. Not that I’m Ayu or anything, but it had a real THE High School Girl feel to it… like, the very picture of youth?

“Daisukeee! Would you look at that!”
“Who’re you calling Daisuke… it’s just the usual candy store.”
“No good, Gin—that’s your cue to go ‘Whaaaaat?!’ and act all surprised.”
“Take your comedy bits to Hina.”
“That’d be embarrassing, so I think I’ll pass~”
“Exactly, Gin—do you mean to go and embarrass Hina?”
“I’d be just as embarrassed and I want no part of it, thanks?”

Bickering all the while, Ayu waltzed into the candy store like it was the most natural thing in the world. She popped back out almost immediately, and lo and behold, in her hands were four bottles of ramune.

“Here you go—it’s Ayuri’s treat!”
“Appreciated, but—oi, what happened to the flavors of autumn?”
“Bottled ramune, sipped side by side after school with sweat beading on your brows! Ahh—now that’s youth!”
“That’s just backsliding into summer…”

At Ayu’s urging, we lined up on the bench outside the store and drank our ramune all at once. Mmm… going against our whole stated theme sat a little wrong with me, but it really was good… oi, you, idiot over there, quit taking photos without asking.

“Now that’s a picture…”
“Wait—don’t tell me this was the backup plan.”
“Ah, no, no. It’s just, since all four of us are together for once, I figured I’d wanna do something all youthful. That’s all.”

(Hmm… well, it’s her treat, so I won’t complain.)

Thinking that, I drained my ramune. The glass marble clinking around inside the bottle still carried the unmistakable air of summer, thick and lingering.

…Yeah, no. It’s still way too early to be feeling any autumn.

◆◆◆

“Glad they had it~ roasted sweet potato~”
“Mm-hm, mm-hm.”
“I mean, sure, they had it, but…”

Naturally enough, there was of course no way a stone-roasted-sweet-potato truck would be out driving in heat like this, so we’d headed for the destination and Ayu’s so-called backup plan, and…

“This is just the usual supermarket.”
“They’ve always got roasted sweet potato here, right?”
“They do, but it doesn’t sit right with me.”

If we’re going to the trouble of coming to a supermarket anyway, we don’t have to fixate on roasted sweet potato, do we? Wouldn’t sweet-potato cakes or candied chestnuts do just as well?

…Or so I argued, but Ayu’s counter, “that kind of thing you can just bring to school and eat…,” settled the matter, and we ended up buying the roasted sweet potato.

“Here, Ayu—halfsies~”
“Yaay.”

And after all that trouble, she only eats half of it.

“Between this and the ramune earlier, my tummy’d get all stuffed…”

Someone somewhere might say the whole point is doing it together, but scarfing piping-hot roasted sweet potato as a group in a season where the heat still hasn’t let up… what exactly is the point of that?

And in the end, since it was hot out, we wound up eating at the store’s little eat-in corner anyway.

“Here you are, Ginko.”
“Thanks, Sumire. Warm… no, blow right past warm, this is downright hot.”
“Piping hot~”

Maybe the store had baked a big batch because the calendar technically said autumn; maybe they’d just gotten a late start on it. Either way, the reality in my hands was one piping-hot roasted sweet potato.

By that point I was half-tempted to ask what “autumnal” even meant anymore, or whether we oughtn’t rethink the whole concept of autumn from here on. Questions of that order were starting to well up in me.

“It’s tasty.”
“Right~”

…Well, whatever. In its own way, this was our youth too. Another page in the book of memories.

The walk home from school on a September day still cruel with lingering heat, the four of us taking a detour to grab a snack, eating piping-hot roasted sweet potato. This too, in its own way, unlike the high schoolers of decades past, would surely become the kind of September memory that suited high schoolers living in the here and now.