CH 58

Kaya-san, who had changed into easy-to-move in clothes, had brought me to the garden. When I said “garden”, I didn’t mean the type where I could see it the moment we got out of the building. When we walked out of the building, there was a tennis court. We got a slight distance away and followed a small path in between the trees, then emerged onto a riverbank where a small river was flowing.

The riverbank had a small cabin and a range for charcoal grilling. There were also beach chairs and parasols; it was completely set up for outdoor usage. I didn’t know if it had just been set up for today, or if this was standard equipment for the Oogimachisanjou family villa.

The one things that I could say was that the real things were set up.

Well, that cabin was built for cooking prep and washing dishes, so I thought that this area was prepared so people who came to this villa could enjoy the outdoors. Or rather, I wanted that to be true. It’d be kinda scary if this was all prepared just for today. 

It looked like a cabin, so it probably wasn’t something that was built after Kaya-san had promised to play with me. I could see that some time had passed since it’s construction. It looked like it also had sewage and electricity installed, so there probably wasn’t enough time to construct all of that after we promised to play.

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“Let’s do a barbecue here for today’s lunch. Big sister’ll make it for you, okay?”

“*sigh*…”

Kaya-san, who had changed into casual clothing, had started preparing to barbecue. Her family members and the maids were looking pretty restless, though… Looking at how she moved her hands and her skill level, she probably didn’t do this normally… She acted like a big sister in front of me but was actually a beginner, it seems…

Ebld usw yeele xu rypv zkql, R bye zkhle qsa iwkvl y ckv, cwv R oyp vbl kdessa vurl lhld kd xu rypv zkql ps vbkp pvwqq oypd’v xu prlnkyzkvu. Jwv R jdlo fwpv qasx oyvnbkdt bla. Iyuy-pyd byed’v plakswpzu cyaclnwle clqsal. Ls… cyaclnwkdt kvplzq bye psxlvbkdt qwd ycswv kv, aktbv? Jwv xyucl kv oyp fwpv qwd clnywpl svbla rlsrzl eke yzz vbl osaj.

Valryakdt kv blaplzq, ralryakdt vbl qsse cu blaplzq, takzzkdt kv blaplzq, yde nzlydkdt wr yqvlaoyaep cu blaplzq… Wasx oyvnbkdt bla, R nswze vlzz vbyv pbl byed’v esdl vbkdtp zkjl vbyv.

“Twb? Ebu?”

Xb, sb… usw osd’v tlv qkal qasx nbyansyz okvb vbyv xlvbse…

Iyuy-pyd bye vakle vs zktbv y qkal okvb vbl nbyansyz obkzl kv oyp pvkzz pnyvvlale. Ls sdl oswze pvawttzl kq nbyansyz oswze zktbv wr vbyv lypkzu.

Tla qyxkzu xlxclap yde vbl xykep bye rascyczu rzyddle yde ralryale kv, cwv Iyuy-pyd oyp rascyczu vbl sdl obs vbswtbv ycswv yde xldvksdle kv. Gde Iyuy-pyd bye yzxspv dlhla esdl psxlvbkdt zkjl vbkp clqsal… vbl xykep olal pbyjkdt obkzl oyvnbkdt bla.

R tzydnle shla yde xyel lul nsdvynv okvb vbl cwvzla sq bktblpv pvyvwp. Tl vbld pbssj bkp blye. Rv zssjle zkjl bl nswzed’v blzr bla yv vbkp rskdv.

“Iyuy-pyd, nswze R rlabyrp es kv?”

“Huh? No, you can’t. It’s dangerous. And you’re a customer, Sakuya-chan. I won’t let you do this.”

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Hmph… I expected that she’d refuse. But I wouldn’t back down and say “Yes, that’s true”.

“Is a barbecue not an experience that everyone will enjoy together? I think that this will not be a proper barbecue if you exclude me. A barbecue is something that everyone should collaborate in and enjoy.”

“Working with… you, Sakuya-chan… having fun… Yes! Then, make barbecue with big sis!”

A one-track mind… was this person okay? As expected, someone raised as a young lady would know nothing of the world, right? My image of Kaya-san was slowly getting ruined… At first I thought she was a proper young lady…

“Then, I shall prepare the charcoal. Kaya-san, please watch me so I do not make any mistakes.”

“Understood!”

Hmm… was that okay, Kaya-san? I said that and it was most convenient for me. But what would she do if she was fooled that easily… Since I was making the fire for Kaya-san, wasn’t I just replacing her instead of actually working together with her? Well, the person herself was intently watching over me, so maybe it was okay…

For now, let’s leave Kaya-san alone and light the fire. Barbecuing wasn’t my speciality either, but I knew a little… probably.

First, dumping all this charcoal in one go wouldn’t make a fire. You had to clean up first and only leave the small portions. You then alternated it so that the air could easily pass through.

Then, Kaya-san didn’t use this, but… I borrowed a firelighter from the butlers, or rather, the maids. If you didn’t use this and still thought that it’d light up, that was a pretty big problem. When I lit up the gelled firelighter on top of the charcoal, a fire sparked.

“No way! It’s already lit!?”

“Not yet…”

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The firelighter had definitely produced a fire, but the charcoal wasn’t burning yet. The fire would go out once the firelighter burned down. I used a fan to spread the fire… and the fire grew slowly larger.

At first, a little bit of charcoal was burning, but now the large remaining amount of charcoal was burning too… I used the fan again to make the fire larger.

*sigh*… this really needed time and patience… A gas stove would light up immediately with just a little time… Preparing and cleaning up for a barbecue was hard. If only you could just eat grilled things…

“Yes, the fire is okay. Let us place the net mesh and cook the ingredients.”

“Y-Yep! Then, leave this to big sis!”

Hmm… when I looked at the butler again… they were reluctantly nodding. It looked like it’d be fine if I left this to her.

“Then, I leave it to you, Kaya-san.”

“Yes! I’ll definitely make a delicious barbecue for you, Sakuya-chan!”

She said that happily… and gingerly placed the skewers… on the corner of the barbecue grill. The maids had probably prepared the barbecue skewers. They finished the preliminary arrangements in the hut and brought out the ingredients. But… if you laid out the skewers like Kaya-san did, they wouldn’t burn.

When I took a glance at the butler, they shook their head again. It looked like it’d turn bad at this rate. It’d get bad if I didn’t show her an example.

“Kaya-san, may I do it as well?”

“Huh? …right. What you said about cooperation and working together helping us grow closer, right? Go ahead. But be careful.”

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“Yes.”

I took the skewers Kaya-san presented to me and placed them in the center of the grill. I also changed the positioning of the skewers Kaya-san placed earlier. I had placed the skewers in the center where the fire was the most concentrated. If you placed it in the edges, it wouldn’t burn. Absolutely.

“Kaya-san, let us place them together. You place them here, while I will place them there.”

“Mhm. Then, let’s do it together.”

I guided her on where to place the skewers, and we placed them together. This should be fine. Kaya-san was placing them gingerly, but it was right above the fire.

When I glanced at the butler, they were wiping their eyes with a handkerchief. The maids were also overcome with emotion and clasping their hands. …from this? Just from this?

“This side is already grilled. Let us turn it over.”

“L-Like this…”

Kaya-san followed me and turned over the skewers. Yep, just like that… It looked like it was a success somehow…

“It is already grilled. Let us now enjoy the meal.”

“Y-Yes…”

Kaya-san and I took the skewers she’d first placed and put them on a plate on top of a table. In my past life, I could’ve just sunk my teeth into them, but I hesitated to do that in my current life. I took the plate, got one skewer… they had also prepared sauce, but let’s try eating it like this first.

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“Thank you for the meal.”

“Th-Thank you for the meal.”

Kaya-san was nervous for some reason. If only she was eating more casually…

“Hmm… it is quite delicious, right?”

“It’s really… delicious…”

Maybe Kaya-san was worried about the taste? She looked relieved and started eating it like it was delicious.

The maids had properly prepared it, so beyond completely burning the meat, it should’ve been quite delicious. Good items were used for the meat and vegetables, and more importantly, it tasted delicious because we were eating something we prepared and cooked.

“Then, let us all make barbecue together.”

“Huh?”

I said that, and the maids and butlers looked shocked. But we had this much food. Kaya-san and I couldn’t finish it alone. We probably couldn’t enjoy the food with everyone standing around us while only the two of us ate.

Maybe that was fine in my present life. But the sensations and memories of my past life flit across my brain. That was why I wanted everyone here to have fun and eat.

“A barbecue is an occasion where everyone works together and eats together. Right, Kaya-san?”

“Mhm. Right… let’s have fun together.”

Kaya-san said that, and the butler and maids started grilling skewers. Of course, that wasn’t for them to eat but for me and Kaya-san. But up until now, they’d been stopped by Kaya-san and weren’t allowed to do a single thing. Without that, everyone started grilling and we enjoyed a relatively worry-free barbecue.

～～～～～～～

I returned to the villa with Kaya-san who interrupted by saying that we should help clean up. Her feelings of wanting to clean up were definitely important, but if Kaya-san did something, that’d pointlessly increase the maids’ work. I’d talked Kaya-san out of it, and we both returned to the villa.

“Did you enjoy the barbecue?”

“Yes. I had quite a lot of fun.”

That wasn’t a lie. I was the indoor type in my past life, but… I had enjoyed today’s barbecue. Besides, grilling barbecue and eating it under the blue sky made it delicious.

“And also… we’ve both gotten dirty… Let’s warm up the bath and enter together.”

“Huh!?’

The bathtub!? Me? With Kaya-san? W-W-W-Wouldn’t that be a problem? Because if we did that, I’d see Kaya-san like this and that…

“Haa, haa… right? Isn’t that a good idea? We’re both dirty, right? It can’t be helped, right? Then… let’s enter the bathtub? It might be scary at first, but… you’ll get used to it immediately… okay?”

“Aaaah!”

Scary! Had Kaya-san gone all strange!? Speaking of, was this her goal when she said “Let’s barbecue”? You’d obviously get sweaty and dirty when doing a barbecue. Ashes would get on you and you’d smell. A young lady couldn’t remain in such a state. Enter the bathtub. It was so natural. Was this Kaya-san’s goal!?

Uh-oh… I didn’t have any reason to refuse. No… I could just refuse by saying that so many things about this were weird, but… but I couldn’t refuse like that. At this rate, Kaya-san and I would be entering the bathtub together…

“Sakuya-sama, I have brought a change of clothes.”

“Momiji!”

As Kaya-san drew near, my saviour Momiji appeared. In her hands, she was holding a change of clothes that she’d prepared. It was no big deal to just change without entering the bathtub. Rather, it was better to just change my clothes compared to going in a shower with someone from another family.

“I am sorry for keeping you waiting. I was unable to follow you due to certain people and lost your location, Lady Sakuya.”

“I-Is that so…”

I heard someone grinding their teeth behind me, but I pretended not to hear it. I had thought my own car was definitely following after, but it looked like she’d been shaken off by the Oogimachisanjou family. Even so, she was able to find me here.

“Places in this direction hold property and connections to the Oogimachisanjou family, so I have thoroughly searched for lodgings one could rent and stay at.”

I see… this was a villa under the Oogimachisanjou family, so if we were going in this direction, she could assume this was where we wanted to go. Then she went checking everything everywhere. That was a terrifying persistence.

“Could she then borrow a room to change in?”

“…she can. I’ll show you a room she could use.”

Uwah… Sparks flew from Momiji and Kaya-san’s disagreement… Scary… I didn’t have room to interrupt.

After that, I’d changed into the clothes Momiji had prepared and I spent a little time with Kaya-san at the villa. I got home before night fell. Of course, Kaya-san insisted on us staying at the villa, but Momiji didn’t give her an inch of ground and said that she could take me home. After a great fuss, we got home.