CH 37

Somewhat embracing the expectation, I took out my smartphone from my pocket. I decided to search for information regarding the amusement park, but then there was a problem.

“……about today, where are we going again?”

That’s right……it’s a vital piece of information, but I had no idea where we were going.

If I don’t know the place, I won’t be able to investigate it or know the budget I must prepare.

At first, the character of a mouse was at the top of my mind. If we were going to a famous place, it had to be there, is what I had selfishly thought. That place though was strictly a theme park, and not an amusement park.

[TN – Character of a mouse is referring to Disneyland]

So if we were going to an amusement park, it had to be some other place.

……When I talked about these minor details, “That is too trivial!”, said the two girls in front of me.

Putting aside debates pertaining to the definition of those two kinds of recreational facilities for now, I posed the question to the two girls who were still busily arranging their luggage.

“……About today, where are we going again?”

“Huh?……Now that you mention it, I don’t know either”

“Same for me, I only heard from Shizuku-san and the others that we were going to an amusement park, but I haven’t heard which one”

It wasn’t only me but both of them weren’t aware of today’s destination either.

I then clearly realized that pretty much the entire plan was left to Yuuto to handle.

“……Shizuku, you should know where it is, you were the first one to be invited”

“Ehehe, sorry”

“……”

Not exactly reflecting on her actions, she wore a smile.

Hearing those words, I had a slight sense of discomfort.

It was a similar kind of discomfort to when I heard from Yuuto about the conversations that took place between him and Shizuku when he was trying to invite her to the date.

What is this? I still don’t get it either, but I can’t help but think that I’ve been caught up in something.

Ever since I first saw her this morning or even as we were talking right now, she had been making a gentler face than usual. She seemed to be having fun.

Her inner thoughts aren’t something an outsider like me could fathom.

More so it’s because she’s a girl. I could pull off some guess if it was a boy.

To know a woman’s heart, it either required a guy to change his job to ‘being a girl’ or be the monster who had played every kind of gal game conceivable, I guess.

[TN – “change his job to ‘being a girl’”, game terms I guess]

During a recent rerun of an anime, a gal game master was conquering a heroine in the real world.

He would surely know……probably.

In any case, since neither of them was aware, I couldn’t investigate it.

Let’s carry a bit more money and then ask Yuuto about the location when I meet him at the café.

I called out to the two girls who were stuffing luggage into a small bag behind me.

“……Shall we get going? Are the preparations done?”

“We’re preparing your things, Minato-kun!”

“Yes, we’re preparing your things, Nii-san!”

“Ah……is that so”

In the end, I took a black shoulder bag that the two girls had prepared for me. From there, the three of us departed for the café in front of the station. That was our rendezvous point.

“We’ll reach the location before the appointed time”

We had been idly walking, but it looked like we would reach the location earlier than the predicted time.

We were supposed to assemble at 9 A.M., but when I checked my wrist watch, it had only just passed 8.

Even if it takes about 30 minutes to walk there, we’ll still have 20 minutes left before the appointed time.

“Shizuku, did you eat breakfast?”

“Yes, I did”

Well, it’s tough to even kill some time, huh……?

If she hadn’t eaten breakfast, we could’ve gone for a light snack, but it looked like there was no need for that.

I wondered if we could’ve ordered some drinks and kill some time at a shop ahead, but we didn’t slow down and instead headed towards the residential area.

While we were halfway through to our destination, Shizuku abruptly said,

“At any rate, it’s been a long time, hasn’t it? Going out and having fun with Minato-Kun and Kaede-chan, that is”

“That’s right. We met during the new year holidays too, but since we were busy with going to the shrine or celebrating New Year’s Eve with our families, I think we haven’t hung out since Christmas?”

“Ah-……now that you mention it, we did hang out on Christmas Eve, didn’t we?”

Certainly, I had a memory like that.

It was snowing on that Christmas day, so I remembered it well.

It was snowing hard, even for Kanagawa. We went a bit overboard with our playing and Shizuku’s mother, Kanade-san got mad at us.

“Minato-kun said “I’m dissatisfied with this face” and kept reshaping the snowman’s face over and over again”

“That’s right! After that, Nii-san caught a cold and fell asleep”

“……Don’t make me remember such an embarrassing story”

It had snowed so hard that my legs got stuck in the snow that had piled up, which was a first for me. In my defence, snowfall is a rare sight and hence, being able to see it is something to get excited about, even if it’s just a bit.

These two were frolicking around, going “Kya, kya”, they don’t have the right to talk about others.

They’re the only ones aware of this embarrassing story. They then kept reminiscing about the past and talked about it happily, as I bore the shame of it all while walking behind them. After a while, we had finally reached the meeting place.

“Do you think that Yuuto-san or Kiraska-san have already arrived?”

“Kirasaka is already inside the shop, I bet”

This is Kirasaka we’re talking about. I have a feeling that she has already arrived at this place before anybody else and is waiting for us.

Yuuto would have arrived with time to spare, so he is already inside probably.

We arrived at the shop entrance and opened the wooden door that had the characters ‘OPEN’ hanging from it. We entered the shop while scrutinizing the interior.

Is it because it’s before 9 A.M. on a Sunday, but there aren’t many customers yet.

There are a few young people here, but it’s mostly just adults in suits.

Even so, there was a seat that was gathering a lot of attention.

“Oh, Minato! You finally came……”

“Oi, don’t say it like I’m late”

When I saw Yuuto, he also saw me, stood up and then called out to me. Sitting across the table as expected, was Kirasaka holding on to a book in one hand.