Ch. 1 - Episode 1 p17 - My childhood friend saw me off with a small wave

<b>My childhood friend saw me off with a small wave</b>

It was already about 7:00 PM when I arrived home.

Though I hadn’t been to the station in a hot minute, I was nonetheless very tired from dealing with the-excited-off-of-drink-bar-at-family-restaurant Shirahata. That was probably her form of “drugs”. But it was fun, to say the least.

It really had been a long time since I had done anything like this.

Anyway, I dove into bed as soon I entered my room. This has been my routine lately, hasn’t it?

“Whew…”

As I let a breath out relaxedly, I heard the sound of the intercom “ding-dong” ringing.

I’m in the middle of recharging! Don’t unplug me, mom! I made a lame gag with the lyrics of a song that was popular a long time ago.

The result was a dud.

(TL: Don’t ask me what the song is. If you’ve got an idea, let me know in the comments.)

“Coming.”

When I opened the door, I found my childhood friend, who was still wearing her junior high jersey, standing on the other side. It seemed that this outfit was her formal wear now.

Since her gaze was glued to the ground, I couldn’t see her expression. However, I presumed that she was embarrassed due to the bright red color of her ears.

“What’s up?”

“W-What’s up… food…! Are you gonna come over and eat…?”

“Oh yeah, that’s right! Sorry for forgetting!”

By the way, we were going to eat like old times.

Being that I thought I kept her waiting, I bowed my head.

“Don’t forget, you hear? …The food’s gonna get cold, so hurry up.”

“Right.”

I followed her into her house, which was just next door, for dinner.

“Excuse the intrusion.”

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a door being slammed open, and out came Aki-san wearing a pink and frilly apron. She really doesn’t know what it means to be old, does she?

“Ritsu-kun! You’re late!”

She patted me on the head. Rather, it’s probably more accurate to say that she just came into contact with me. Then, she began touching me all over.

Every time she came closer, Aki’s delicious smell tickled my nostrils… my brain kept on signalling “She is the main heroine!”

“Get off of Ritsu, Mom! You’re an old woman, you know? Stop embarrassing me!”

“Oh, come on, it’s fine. I can even say that he’s my Ritsu-kun now.”

Aki-san promptly wrapped me in a hug. And although I’m sure she didn’t do it intentionally, my face sank into Aki-san’s ample chest… is this heaven?

As a boy, I naturally accepted the situation.

She had been doing this to me since I was a child.

“And, Ritsu-kun. I can just be your mom, okay?”

“…Aki-san, sorry to have kept you waiting. I’ll have dinner now.”

“Aww! Ritsu-kun has entered his rebellious phase!”

I was pretty sure that I had never called Aki-san “mom” before, right…?

With these thoughts, I followed Aki-san to the living room.

***

“It was delicious. Thank you for the meal.”

The dinner for this evening was curry. And yes, it seemed that Aki-san loved making curry, as she served it quite frequently. Though, that was partly because both Kaori and I liked eating it.

Even though we had been eating it regularly for several years, we never got tired of it. Aki-san’s cooking really was delicious.

On a side note, I heard that Karen’s father will be home late tonight due to his work. I wanted to at least say hello to him after a long time, but I guess it couldn’t be helped if he had to work.

“I’m glad to hear that. Anyways, would you like to take a bath? Would you like me and Karen to wash your back?”

“I-I’ll pass on that one!”

“Y-Yeah, Mother! That’s too embarrassing for me!”

“Aww… then, how about we have a special one-on-one bath?”

“…”

What a tempting suggestion… Gulp.

“…Ritsu?”

“Phoo!”

Karen gave me an icy cold stare.

…You know, that cold stare of yours could help improve global warming…. Well, it can’t solve the root problem… it’s just my same old delusions.

“Well, I’d better get going now. The food was really good.”

“Oh… that’s too bad. Come back again, okay?”

“Okay. I’ll be back. Bye.”

And with that, I left the living room.

As I was putting on my shoes at the entrance, I felt the presence of someone behind me. When I turned around, my childhood friend was standing there, squirming.

It was rare for her to see me off like this, and so it was natural that I was a little taken aback.

“A-Again… come back again…”

Although her eyes were still staring at the floor, my heart still skipped a beat at Karen’s unusually cute comment.

If this was before, she would’ve never said this.

What happened to Karen? I’m not gonna ask her, though.

“O-Okay… see you later.”

“Yeah… b-bye bye…”

Karen saw me off with a small wave.

She still was staring downwards. But, in any case, I was glad that we could still have these kinds of precious exchanges in the position of childhood friends.

Not romantic feelings, but the joy of being childhood friends.

To be honest, this wasn’t so bad.

I left Karen’s house and went home.