CH 45

Saturday.

The day I was supposed to meet Saegusa finally arrived.

We met in front of the station at 11:00 a.m., but I was too excited to stay, so I arrived at the meeting place thirty minutes early.

Saegusa was already there the last time we met, but this time it seemed I had arrived first.

Leaning against a pillar in front of the station, I decided to wait while listening to music.

Tap, tap.

As I listened to the music for a while, I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder with my finger.

I turned around, a little surprised, to see Saegusa-san holding a rather large basket in her hands.

Today we were going to the park, and Saegusa-san was wearing a large straw hat and a white dress.

Naturally, today she was still wearing her sunglasses for disguise, but even so, she exuded a dainty atmosphere and you could tell at a glance that she was a beautiful girl.

We felt uncomfortable with the eyes glancing at us from the surroundings, so we decided to go and walk towards the park.

After a short walk from the station, we arrived at the park, our destination for the day.

As we walked through the park, Saegusa seemed to be in a more cheerful mood than usual, which made me inwardly nervous.

I was happy to see that she was looking forward to this day, but at the same time, I was a little worried if this park was really the right place for us, but it turned out to be a groundless fear.

“Wow! This is so nostalgic!”

When we arrived at the park, Saegusa’s first words were “This is so nostalgic” and she looked around the park with a smile on her face as if she really missed it.

In this park full of greenery, elementary school children and their families were gathering and playing freely.

I wondered how long it had been since I had been here, and felt nostalgic.

However, the word “nostalgic” from Saegusa seemed to indicate that she had been here before.

“Hey Takkun! Let’s sit on that bench over there!”

Saegusa-san happily pointed to a bench that overlooked a scene of children playing.

Looking at the bench, my memory of that time came back to me.

“It’s really good that the weather was fine today, Takkun!”

As I was reminiscing for a moment, Saegusa-san next to me smiled and spoke to me.

I was a little shocked to see that Saegusa-san overlapped with my memories.

No, there is no way, I thought, as the memories of that time kept coming back to me.

“A, Ano ne….”

We sat down on a bench, and Saegusa, who was sitting next to me, called out to me, looking a little embarrassed.

When I turned around at the sound of her voice, I found Saegusa-san staring at me with a slightly upturned gaze, her cheeks blushing in embarrassment.

She had already taken off her sunglasses for disguise since we were in the park, and the way she was staring at me with her eyes upward was too cute to be honest.

“Well, I made your lunch for today!”

Saegusa-san shyly held out the large basket she was holding in front of me.

I was shocked to the point of near-knockout at the sight of her so adorable figure and the fact that she had made me a lunch box, but I managed to hold it together, thinking that the game had just begun, and accepted the basket she offered me.

“Oh, thank you! Can I open it?”

I asked, biting my tongue with pleasure, and Saegusa-san nodded her head, blushing, as if she was embarrassed.

I understood that this was her approval, and slowly opened the basket.

There were onigiri (rice balls), karaage (fried bean curd), and tamagoyaki (fried eggs) neatly arranged in a container for easy eating.

“What? Did Shi-chan make all this?”

“U-um, I don’t know if it’s good.”

Saegusa-san looked embarrassed and waved her hands in the air in humility.

But it’s hard to make something that looks this good not taste good.

My happiness gauge was at its maximum, and I immediately asked if I could eat it. Then I picked up one of the rice balls and took a bite.

Yeah, it’s just plain delicious.

The filling was salmon flakes, and it had a comforting taste.

“……, what do you think?”

“It’s really good!”

When Saegusa-san asked me with concern, I smiled and answered immediately that it was delicious.

Then Saegusa smiled as if she was relieved, even though her face was bright red.

The sight of her was so adorable that I could feel my face turning bright red aswell.

“Well! Then I’ll have some too!”

As if to disguise her embarrassment, Saegusa-san picked up one of the rice balls and started to eat it, and now that her worries were over, she was back in a good mood.

I also tried the fried chicken and the fried egg, both of which were also delicious.

Although we were the same age, they all tasted like my mother’s cooking, which made me feel at ease.

I was very impressed by the fact that Saegusa-san, who was smiling and chewing on a rice ball next to me, had prepared such a bento for this occasion.

I was so happy that if Shiorin fans all over the country knew about it, they would probably kill me.

A clear sky, children playing innocently in front of me, a delicious lunch, and a beautiful girl next to me who was too pretty for me to walk with.

I decided to do my best to enjoy this situation, which was like a mixture of the ordinary and the extraordinary.

“Ta, Takkun!”

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

As I stared up at the sky, Saegusa-san called out to me again in an embarrassed tone.

What’s wrong? When I turned around at the sound of her voice, I saw that she had picked up a piece of fried chicken with her chopsticks and was holding it out to me.

“Y-es! A-ahn!”

“Huh!?”

Then she brings that fried chicken close to me, saying, “Ahn.”

I was so startled by the sudden attack that I couldn’t help but let out a strange voice.

“Well, it’s because Saku-chan and the others were doing it!”

Saegusa-san looked embarrassed and made excuses.

No, that’s no reason for us to do it, there are too many hurdles! But I remembered that we were already on good terms at the cafe, so I resigned myself to letting things happen and took a bite of the fried chicken that was offered to me.

“……Do, do you like it?”

“I-it’s delicious.”

When I replied, struggling to hold in my embarrassment, Saegusa-san seemed to find it funny and started laughing happily.

I thought it was cute that she was laughing like that, so I picked up a piece of fried chicken and offered it to her as payback.

“Ta-Takayuki did it too!”

“Yes, he did!”

Saegusa laughed, calmed down, and took a bite of my fried chicken without any embarrassment.

“It tastes so much better when Takkun gives it to me.”

She smiled happily.

–Eh, what is this ……isn’t she too cute ……?

In the face of such a smiling Saegusa, I couldn’t stop my heart from pounding, as if I had already consumed a day’s worth of heartbeat.