CH 6

Chp. 6: Continuation of the past Summer

AN: I subtly played with the title

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The place I lived in was a room in a ten-story apartment building not far from Haruki’s house.

In the countryside, I used to live in a one-story wooden house. Now, I lived in a concrete reinforced apartment.

My front door in the countryside was always carelessly left open, but now, the entrance of my apartment is equipped with an automatic lock.

There are so many differences between the countryside and the city, and I often get lost. I still can’t seem to get the hang of it.

[I’m home]

[Welcome back, Onii] (TN: Himeko refers her brother as “Onii”)

[Himeko, I can see something from here]

[Hm? You want to see it?]

[I’m telling you because I don’t want to see it]

[Then don’t look at it]

[Geez]

In the living room of my house on the sixth floor, my sister greeted me with an unmotivated voice.

She has shy eyes, brightly dyed hair with loose perm, and a school uniform that has been worn down to the point of being innapropriate.

My sister, Himeko, is a girl who cares about fashion.

I personally think that she’s pretty cute, even though she’s my sister. But right now, she’s lying on the sofa with her skirt rolled up. She has a very disappointing appearance. Even I frowned at her.

(Haa…They’re really similar huh… Haruki and Himeko )

I couldn’t help but to compare the image of my childhood friend with the image of my sister in front of me, and let out a sigh.

I’m sure that I’m the only one who can see her like this.

“I’m sure that I’m the only one who can see her like this”, I thought for the second time.

[Himeko, where’s dad?]

[Hospital, he’s going to visit mom]

[I see, what about dinner?]

[Please make it, Onii. I’m kind of busy right now]

[Fine]

Himeko was impatiently playing with her phone. After a few moments, I could hear her groaning, “Hmm, I remembered that even before I came here, I had been gasping for air, not wanting to be considered as a country bumpkin.”

I’m sure that she’s been asked lots of questions, just like me. I guess she must have been doing lots of research for it.

[Why don’t you just say that you’re a country bumpkin from the start?]

[Onii, shut up!]

Himeko had a bit of a tendency to be vain. There were a few times when she made mistakes.

I turned my gaze from my sister to the fridge, trying to search for ingredients to cook.

(Let’s see… Leftover pork from the special sale, white onion, green pepper, chinese cabbage, and shiitake mushroom...)

This afternoon, I only ate cobbled bread for lunch, so I’m currently in the mood to eat something heavy.

I decided to cook for today’s dinner. So I might as well tell the steps to you.

First, cut the pork into small pieces, marinate it in a sauce made of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin. Then, add potato starch and sesame oil.

In the meantime, chop up the vegetables. The amount of the vegetables is fairly loose, as I’m also using most of the ingredients in the fridge. After that, I made a mixture of oyster sauce, bean sauce, soy sauce, and sake.

Lastly, just stir-fry the ingredients, add the seasoning, and voila, you’ll get a chinjao lose! (TN: You can search for it on google)

Serve it with some instant miso soup and freshly cooked rice and dinner is done!

[Himeko, dinner’s ready]

[Okay… wait, wow.]

[What is it?]

[You’re still cooking the same old stuff for dinner aren’t you, Onii?]

[Well, it’s a normal dish, isn’t it?]

[Yes, it is]

In the countryside, where entertainment was rare, people would gather at someone’s place for a party.

I used to be invited to make snacks, what’s better is that I got some pocket money from that. Inevitably, my set of menu was biased towards these foods.

[Let’s dig in!]

[Go on]

[Mnn~, as expected, It’s better to eat this with rice. Oh yeah, do you know, Onii?]

[Hm?]

[When I first went to school, I noticed this but… There’s no coin rice mill near here…]

[Say what?]

[But I found one, uhhh… 10 minutes walk from here, there’s one coin rice mill]

[Is that… Is that really the nearest one?!]

Both of us are horrified by the difference between the countryside of Tsukinose and the city we moved to. 

Not only me, but my younger sister seems to be having a hard time with the gap between our locations.

[Anyway, what happened?]

[What?]

[Something good happened to you right, Onii?]

[How did you know?]

[You’ve been smirking this whole time]

[Eh?]

When my sister pointed it out, I noticed that for the first time that my cheeks were relaxed.

If anything, I was so happy that I got to see my childhood friend Haruki again that it showed on my face.

So I naturally smiled.

[I met Haruki… at school]

[Oh my god, you met Haru-chan?] (TN: I guess our MC is the only one who misunderstood Haruki’s gender)

[What’s more is that, I’m sitting next to her]

[Wow, How does Haru-chan look now?]

[You see...]

I think about my childhood friend, whom I met again today.

In the past, she always wore shorts, a shirt, and a hat. Her clothes were always muddy and she had scratches all over her body.

But now, she has lustrous hair that reaches all the way down to her back and white skin without a single blemish, let alone a scratch. At first glance, she looks like a neat and pretty Yamato Nadeshiko (TN: I explained this before, right?)

But her mischievous smile made me think that she was the same as she was back then.

[She hasn’t changed at all. She even  remembered the “loan” system we had]

[Oh I see, I wish I could meet her]

[I think she’s getting stronger than before. Maybe she’s evolving from a monkey to a gorilla]

[Ahaha, what’s that?]

After that, we both talk about our childhood friend, Haruki. All kinds of memories come flooding back.

I also remembered my loans to her.

That time when the size of the ice cream I divided in half was uneven.

When we competed to catch the most cicadas.

When we competed in a game, just like today.

By using this “loan” system, we’ve managed to accumulate lots of memories.

That day, when the end of summer came.

The day when I thought our promise would forever collapse.

We entwined our pinkies to make the promise that we were still alive.

We used to be the same height, but now, we’re different...

The hands that used to be the same size are now different...

Although the speed of our steps was the same, there was a difference between our stride length...

Such differences have appeared between us while we’ve been apart.

But I’m sure, these differences won’t bother my relationship with her.

The relationship that I thought was over, was about to begin again as the summer draws closer.