Chapter 116

I got into the bath and sat down facing Yuzuki, making sure to keep my hair with the conditioner still in it out of the water. Usually I’d have rinsed it off with everything else, but Yuuko told me you needed to let it sit for best results. She also said something about wrapping a hot towel around your head, but I needed my one towel to dry off with. “Ahhh, that’s the stuff.” “You sound like some old dude.” If I stretched out even a little, I’d end up playing footsie with my dear partner’s butt or thigh area. “Can you scooch?” “Oh, sorry.” Communal bathing at training camps aside, I wondered how long it had been since I’d taken a bath in a home with someone else like this. I felt a wave of nostalgia building inside me. “Hey, hey, when you were little, did you ever bring a towel into the bathtub and make a jellyfish?” “This is the topic you choose for this atmospheric candle-lit bath time? Although…” Yuzuki smiled a little. “Yeah, I definitely did that. I still remember how it felt. Kinda hard to put into words, right?” “You’d dunk it in, and bubbles would come up.” “Did you ever make shampoo horns?” “Imagining you with shampoo horns is sending me, Yuzuki.” My partner gazed absently at the flickering candlelight. Usually, she’s just Yuzuki, my buddy, but seeing her silhouetted in the candlelight, her skin glistening—it was kinda hot. I felt a bit awkward for admiring her in that way. I quickly made a water shooter with my hands and shot at Yuzuki. I was out of practice, though, and my shot went wide. Yuzuki sighed and rolled her eyes. “Man, you suck. And don’t blow out the candles.” As she spoke, she made her own water shooter and pointed it at me. “This is how you do it.” The hot water spurted out with such force that it hit me directly in the face. “Urk!” Wow. She’s not only great at shooting hoops, but she’s a great shot at this silly little thing, too. All right. Maybe I’ll just splosh her in the face with the jug… The thought of it tickled me so much, I snorted with laughter. My partner seemed to find it as funny as I did, and we both sent ripples through the water. After a good hearty laugh, I regained my composure. “I wonder when we’ll completely stop doing this kind of thing.” Yuzuki narrowed her eyes somewhat sadly. “When we can’t get away with being kids anymore, I guess.” “That’s unusually profound for you.” “Hey!” “Anyway,” I said with a sigh… “What was with us today? We got really intense about pretend sword fighting.” Yuzuki scooped up some water in her palms with a splosh. “But you still want to be a kid for a little while longer, right?” For some reason, her voice was hushed, like a whispered prayer. Right, I thought with a lonely smile. September of the second year of high school. High school was halfway over already. Maybe I didn’t have as much time to goof around and enjoy this part of my life with everyone as I thought. Deep down, I think we were all aware of that sadness. Maybe that was why we’d been getting so fired up about this school festival. Yuzuki made an “oh, by the way” sort of nonverbal throat noise. “Haru, what do you think of Kureha?” “Hmm, what do I think of her…?” I thought about Kureha and what I’d seen of her so far. “To start, she’s really pretty. But she’s also honest, earnest, straightforward, considerate, smart, and a great athlete. Like, don’t you kinda wanna poach her for the basketball team?” Yuzuki’s face relaxed. “Yeah. I agree.” “Why do you ask, all of a sudden?” “Well,” Yuzuki mumbled, looking away, “just a bit of self-loathing, I guess.” Immediately, I got an image of Kureha dancing cheek to cheek with Chitose. We’d egged them on for the fun of it, but seeing how happy Kureha looked in Chitose’s arms…kinda hurt. “…It’s getting into cringe territory.” I tried to play it off like a joke, but it was actually unpleasant to witness, somehow. Thinking about that day when I collapsed in the gym and Chitose scooped me up in his arms… The memory filled me with embarrassment, then joy, then finally sadness. No. Don’t hold another girl in your arms like that. If anyone’s cringe, it’s me. It’d be one thing if it was Yuzuki or one of the others…but to be so jealous and envious of a cute junior student? How pathetic is that? And the more I watched them… Both Chitose and Kureha were in perfect sync, like partners who’d been dancing together for years. They were so cool. Graceful. Beautiful. Why wasn’t I the one dancing with him? “In that case, I won’t be dramatic and ask you to consider me. “As long as I get to gaze at you all I like…then that’s enough.” Just the other day, I was thinking that. Guh! I’m sick of being so emo about all this. I was about to dunk myself under the water but stopped myself just in time when I remembered that (a) this wasn’t my own bathtub at home, and (b) I still had that hair pack on. Instead, I glanced at Yuzuki’s face. I wondered if the beautiful girl opposite me ever felt this confused and pathetic. I’d do anything to open up to her, of all people. But she’s the one person I can’t talk to about this. I think we both knew how the other felt. We’d just never verbalized it. Once we said it, our roles would get all mixed up. Like in basketball—I cover the inside of the court, and Nana takes care of the outside. I’d end up hating the idea of winning and losing. Oblivious to my anguish, Yuzuki commented, “I bet Nishino and Kureha are waiting for their baths, too. We should probably get out.” “Right.” I grabbed the showerhead and sprayed my head with cold water. “Hey!!!” Hit by the splashback, Yuzuki drummed on my back in mild annoyance. After doing my simple skin care routine, I returned to the living room, where Kaito looked up at me as if he’d been waiting for me to emerge. “Huh. You took a longer bath than I would have expected from you, Haru.” “Don’t act like you know how long my baths are.” “Oh, I’ve got a pretty good idea.” Hmm… Well, all right. With Kaito were Chitose, Mizushino, and Kureha, who seemed to have just finished a bout of practice. The four of them were apparently discussing something. Even though I used that hair pack, I’d kinda rushed drying my hair, so it was still a little damp. I was rubbing it with a towel as I spoke to the group. “So? Did you want something?” Kaito chuckled. “We were talking about going to Hachiban’s for a midnight snack with the rest of the group, but Saku said we’d better wait for you or you’d tear us a new one when we got back.” I glanced at the clock. This definitely wasn’t the appropriate time of night for a delicate girl to get all excited about going out to eat a heavy bowl of ramen. I mean, I wasn’t worried about late-night calories or anything. As Yuzuki would say, it’s about the optics. Besides, I’d had a large portion of Ucchi’s curry and even went back for a second helping. I stared at Chitose. “Excuse me. I am a respectable lady of marriageable age.” “So you’re not coming with?” “Oh, I’m coming with.” “I figured.” This decidedly non-sexy talk between us still lifted my spirits. If they’d all gone ahead without me, that would have sucked—but the important thing is that Chitose thought about me. He thought about me when I wasn’t there. Right now, that felt like enough. Speaking of which… I directed my gaze at the younger girl. “You’re coming, too?” Kureha’s face lit up. “Yep! Wouldn’t miss it!” “Maybe I’m not the right one to bring this up, but… You sure you want to eat ramen this late at night?” “Yep! That way Asuka can take a nice long bath. And anyway, isn’t sneaking off from the main group, like, the thing to do on a high school training camp?!” I had to smile internally. After all, she was right. Come to think of it, during last year’s girls’ basketball summer training camp, I’d dragged a reluctant Yuzuki to go eat ramen nearby. Miss Misaki read us the riot act afterward. She wasn’t mad at us for breaking the rules, just that we didn’t ask her to join us. Back then, I couldn’t have imagined caring wholeheartedly about anything other than basketball. The court was where I lived, and my teammates were my whole world. “Come to think of it,” Kureha said, tilting her head. “Don’t we have to wait for Yuzuki?” “Even if we ask her, she’ll just raise an eyebrow and say, ‘What are you, crazy?’ I speak from personal experience.” “I can so see her saying that!” I watched Kureha giggling, surrounded by (to her) older students, and let my thoughts drift. There was a time when I was able to be an uncomplicated young girl like that. Having friends to have fun with was everything back then. I looked at girls who pined after boys and obsessed over romance and couldn’t figure out what they got out of it. Sorry for who I used to be, I thought, to no one in particular. But at least tonight, I wanted to be that way again. I wanted to be that innocent, childhood blue, before another color started to seep in. It was still a bit too early to call this a midnight snack, but still, Hachiban’s was pretty empty. I ordered veggie ramen, which I hadn’t had in a while. Mizushino ordered salt veggie ramen. Kaito ordered miso char siu ramen, Chitose had his usual spicy ramen with spring onions and extra noodles, and Kureha ordered the same thing. There were no other orders in the queue, so our bowls came pretty quickly. “Watch this, Kureha,” said Chitose. “…See, the right way to eat it is with tons of vinegar and chili oil.” “Okay!” I rolled my eyes. “Don’t do what he does, Kureha. You’ll burn your tongue right off.” “It’s okay—I like spicy food!” “Still,” Kaito said, “there’s something immoral in going out to eat ramen at this time of night.” Mizushino smiled faintly. “It certainly doesn’t feel like any regular night.” Chitose spoke as he mixed his noodles. “It’s nice, isn’t it?” The boys also seemed to be in an unusually sentimental mood. Still, I got it. It felt a little different when Yuzuki and I would come here on our way home after club practice. You’re at a different time than usual, with a slightly different crowd than usual, breaking off from the main group to go eat ramen. But what is it that makes it feel so special? I looked at Chitose slurping down noodles, and I narrowed my eyes. Yuuko, Ucchi, Yuzuki, Nishino…none of them were here. So right now, I’m the only one gazing fondly at you as you slurp down your ramen. Wow, I’m a dork. What am I doing, sexualizing a guy eating ramen? While I was distracted with these thoughts, Kureha suddenly began choking. I chuckled and offered her a glass of water. “See, I told you so.” Kureha chugged the water, then smiled. “Whoops. I forgot how vinegar makes your throat close up.” Yeah, I felt the same way the first time I tried it. It was May, I think. Seems like such a long time ago now. “Oh yeah,” Kaito said. “Do you have a boyfriend, Kureha?” Smack. Whack. Thwump. “What’d I do?!!!” Chitose, Mizushino, and I each spoke in turn. “Down, boy.” “Girls don’t like guys who are too pushy.” “Not a shred of tact.” “But we’re hanging out at night during a training camp… We have to talk about romance, right?” His voice cracked. I rolled my eyes. I was pretty surprised when I’d heard that Kaito had confessed his feelings to Yuuko. But even I could tell that he wasn’t trying to slide on in there during her moment of vulnerability. Kaito’s silly, but he’s not that kind of guy. I don’t really know, but I think he just couldn’t bear to see the girl he liked so upset. But even though she rejected him, he wasn’t trying to rebound onto Kureha or anything. Like he said, he just wants to chat about romance. Still, he could have segued more smoothly into the topic. Kureha flapped her hand in front of her face. “No, no, no, no boyfriend!” Looking sheepish from all the scolding, Kaito tentatively said, “But I bet you’ve got your pick of guys, huh…?” “Hmm, you know, I’m not so sure about that…” Kureha scratched her cheek, frowning. “Though guys do often come up to me and ask me out.” Mizushino spoke in a teasing tone. “On a frequent basis, would you say?” I rolled my eyes. “Well, duh. She’s like Yuzuki, if you removed her prickliness and air of aloofness.” “Eep! Haru! Please don’t say that in front of her!” I grinned, tickled by her reaction. Yeah, this kind of chitchat wasn’t so bad after all. When Kei was around, we’d often talk about boys in the clubroom. But recently, things in the basketball club had gotten so serious. It’s all about practice sessions and games now. Besides, after everything that had happened over summer, this was a nice moment of calm. Nothing too serious. I felt a little bad for Kureha, being teased this way, but on the other hand, chatting about a younger girl’s love life was the perfect thing to make this night nice and light and fun. Looking back, maybe Kei was trying to foster group harmony by discussing something casual like boys with the team. …Or maybe she was just kinda boy-crazy. Who knows? “Don’t you want a boyfriend, Kureha?” Kaito was saying. Kureha leaned forward. “Oh, I’m definitely in the market.” Mizushino grinned mischievously. “Interesting. It sounds like you’ve broken a few hearts already.” “Kazuki! Don’t hound her!” “Maybe you’ve got high standards. What kind of guys do you go for?” Wow, he’s really going for it, I thought with a wry smile. It was easy to forget, because Chitose’s always making dumb jokes, but Mizushino was actually the type to tease people like this, too. Kureha thought it over for a second, then lowered her gaze. “Erm,” she said, shyly. “I guess I like the kind of guys who’d casually offer you an umbrella on a rainy day.” Kazuki chuckled. “All right, you pass. Smart answer.” Chitose didn’t seem interested in chiming in. He just watched Kureha with a calm expression. I don’t mind a contemplative Chitose, but without your usual jokey banter, the mood isn’t quite there. I decided I could pull a Chitose myself. “So, out of these three guys, which one is the best-looking, Kureha?” “Whaaat?” Kureha looked taken aback. “Just the guys? Not including you, Haru?” “Huh? Kureha, do you see me as one of the guys?” “Hmph! Don’t tease me!” If I asked her for her type, that would be tough to answer, so I thought limiting it to looks might be easier. I don’t usually take the teasing role in these types of conversations, so I overthought it. …Still, what’s the big deal? It is an easier question, isn’t it? Kureha thought deeply for another moment, then lifted her head. She glanced absently at Kazuki, then quickly averted her eyes. Then she turned to Chitose. “I’m your dance partner…so I think I’ll just go with you.” We all burst out laughing. Without missing a beat… “Hey, you were obviously looking at Kazuki just now.” “Nope. Never happened.” “You could try to sound more convincing?” Then Kaito yelped. “Hey! At least consider me, too!” We all exchanged glances and burst out laughing. She’s smart. She’s got the measure of everyone, even after such a short time. We finished up our ramen and left Hachiban’s. The breeze was cooler than I expected and felt good on my body, which was still warm from the bath. Crick, crick, crick. Ree, ree, ree. The air was filled with the chirping of insects, heralding the coming of fall. We took our time cycling along the country roads, which were devoid of cars. The rice stalks swayed and rippled with the breeze. Like we were sailboats, cutting through the night. Kureha was by my side. Click, click, click. Whirrr. The sound of the wheels rolling… That sound seemed to be carrying us all along toward the next season to come. When I, Yuzuki Nanase, finished my skin and hair care and reentered the living room, Haru and the others were nowhere to be seen. Instead, I found Yuuko, Ucchi, Nishino, and Yamazaki sitting on the sofa, chatting away happily and eating their snacks. I smiled wryly. This was the kind of scene you could only see during a training camp. I walked over to the others. “Nishino, I’m done in the bath. Sorry, I think I took longer than I meant to.” Nishino turned, and the smile on her face made her look younger, somehow. “It’s cool. Time flew by while I was chatting with everyone.” “By the way…where are the others?” “Ah, they all went to Hachiban’s.” “…Seriously?” Chitose, Mizushino, Kaito, and Haru, I could see. But Kureha went with them, too? After all that curry? How did she maintain her figure…? Nishino got to her feet. “Hiiragi, I’ll go use your bathroom.” “Sure! Kureha’s out, so you can feel free to take your time.” “Okay, thanks.” I took her place on the sofa. “Oh, Yamazaki… You didn’t go?” Yamazaki smiled wryly. “After all that dieting I did, I don’t want to just gain it back hanging out with King too much.” I nodded and spread my arms out toward him in an exaggerated manner. “Twinsies!” “…Whaaat?” Come to think of it, we usually only hang in a group. It’s pretty rare for him and me to have a chance to talk like this. I grinned impishly, thinking about how this stuff is all part of the fun of an overnight training camp. “Yamazaki, you’ve really grown as a man recently, haven’t you?” Yamazaki, who seemed to have misinterpreted my choice of words, visibly preened. “Well, I’ve been doing strength training. And recently, I’ve started paying more attention to protein and things like that.” “Ah, I didn’t mean that.” I paused for a second, then continued in a teasing tone. “You’re all alone with four beautiful women, this late at night… You playboy, you.” Yamazaki suddenly seemed to realize what I was saying, and he looked away, his cheeks blazing red. “C-cut it out, please, Nanase. I’ve been trying really hard not to think about that!” His reaction was so funny, it made me want to tease him even more. “Yuuko, Ucchi, and me are all freshly bathed and in our pajamas, you know.” Yamazaki clapped his hands over his ears, screwed his eyes shut, and started babbling. “Gaaahhh! Can’t hear you, can’t hear you! I saw a kitten eating chicken in the kitchen, I saw a kitten eating kitchen in the chicken… Gah!!!” Incidentally, Yuuko was wearing a Gelato Pique T-shirt, a long-sleeved hooded top, striped short-shorts, and a headband. Ucchi was wearing a set of blue satin pajamas with white stars and a Gelato Pique headband. I was wearing a Gelato Pique romper and a hooded top. These were the same pajamas we all wore for the summer study camp. I often wear shorts this short as regular clothes, but my pajamas are a bit baggier. It’s kinda like revealing a bit of my at-home self. Even though I am a girl, too, I was kinda stunned by the sight of Yuuko and Ucchi in their pj’s for the first time. I could see how a guy would find it overstimulating. I chuckled. “I’m just joking with you. Come on, open your eyes.” Yamazaki got to his feet. He quickly adjusted his glasses and in a mysterious, ominous voice said, “No. I am a man who lives by the way of the sword.” With that, he picked up his practice stick and walked briskly out into the garden. Uh-oh. Maybe I teased him a bit too much. Yuuko, who’d been watching, pouted. “Quit ragging on Kentacchi!” “Sorry, sorry, my bad.” Maybe I’d gotten a bit overexcited myself. Of course, I would never usually make jokes like that with any of the other guys from school. But Yamazaki’s been a friend for a while. I accidentally teased him in the same way I banter back and forth with Chitose. I’ll have to apologize later, I thought, scratching my cheek. Ucchi, who’d been watching all this, smiled softly. “It’s okay, Yuzuki. He probably is embarrassed, but I think he really just wanted some more solo practice time.” “Maybe,” I said, shaking it off. “Well then, shall we have girls’ night until the others get back?” Yuuko’s face lit up. “We still have plenty of snacks! Even Mister Donut!” “It’s a bit late for donuts…,” I said, even as my fingers reached for the chocolate old-fashioned. Ucchi got up from the sofa. “Yuzuki, would you like a drink? We have coffee, black tea, roasted green tea, hot milk, and Yuuko said we can drink the Welch’s grape juice.” “Oh, thank you. That’s so kind of you. Hmm, I haven’t had Welch’s in a while.” “Oh, oh, oh!” Yuuko raised her hand enthusiastically. “I’ll grab it!” Yuuko headed happily to the kitchen and returned to the sofa with three wineglasses filled with Welch’s grape juice. She put the glasses down on three coasters, then went to the wall and turned on the lights. The indirect light spilling out from the floor lamps gave a mellow atmosphere. Yuuko returned to the sofa. “This is how Mom always drinks her wine,” she said cheerfully. I had to smile. “It’s nice. Soothing.” Ucchi nodded. “So this is what your house is like at night, Yuuko…” We all held our wineglasses by the stem, like grown-ups. It was still way too soon to make good on the ten-years-from-now promise we made during our trip. But it still felt pretty good. Pretending to be grown women, with our glasses of Welch’s. Pretty much perfect. Yuuko piped up cheerfully. “Yo-ho!” ““Yo-ho!”” Clink. Clink. Clink. Our glasses touched and rang. I licked my lips, expecting bitterness, but the grape juice was sweet. Just like us. Sweet seventeen. Yuuko suddenly stood up and turned on the stereo, and the soft sounds of folk guitar and harmonica began to play. Somehow, the sound was melancholy. “Who’s the artist?” I asked. Yuuko turned around. “Oh, I just threw on a song. It’s Yousui Inoue’s ‘Itsumanika Shojo wa.’ Sorry, is it too gloomy?” “No, let’s hear it.” As I listened to the lyrics, I suddenly started feeling sentimental. Yuuko, Ucchi, Haru, Nishino. Witnessing my female peers growing up a little more with each passing season made me feel anxious sometimes. Like I was still stuck back in May, unable to move forward even a single step. Like I was going to stay this version of Yuzuki Nanase—no longer a child, but not an adult, either. I’m not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I gazed at the faces of the girls sitting near me, and I ended up blurting something out, like I accidentally forgot to lock the box I keep my heart in. “Ucchi, have you been cooking at his house lately?” Ucchi tilted her head with a puzzled look on her face. “Um, you mean at Saku’s house? The last time we went shopping was at the end of summer vacation, so it must have been then.” I should have known the answer without actually having to ask. And I knew that asking was only prodding the wound. Okay, yeah. That stings. Gosh, I’m an idiot. “Uh…” I recalled that look on Chitose’s face—confusion, sadness, guilt. And the words he didn’t say. That’s Yua’s seat. I looked away nonchalantly, unsure whether I could maintain a neutral expression. Ucchi wasn’t like me. She wasn’t the kind of girl to bring along her own bath towel and make herself at home. So the only explanation could be… That Chitose set up that seat. Just for her. I felt like I’d been slapped in the face. Just when I’d thought I’d closed the gap a little by becoming vice captain, I felt like the rug had been pulled out from under my feet. Thinking about it rationally, I understood there were several completely reasonable explanations. For starters, Ucchi cooked at his place on an almost daily basis. So she should at least have her own chair, right? And I think maybe it was sort of a token of gratitude for her help in smoothing things over with Yuuko. Still, I thought, biting my lip. What if it was actually a symbol of Chitose’s feelings? Like, here I am, forcing my company on him, when it’s really her he wants close to him. I think…I think I might start crying a little. “Yuzuki?” Ucchi’s voice snapped me out of it. She sounded worried. I smiled quickly, trying to hide my welling tears. “Sorry, my bad. I was just mulling over how amazing your pasta and curry were, and I ended up asking a weird question.” “Oh, right,” Ucchi said, her face relaxing. “Um, well, actually—there’s something I’d like to ask you…” For some reason, she started fidgeting and averting her eyes. I looked at her in some confusion. “Sure, what’s up?” It was odd for Ucchi to be like this with me. Maybe she was having trouble with the cheer squad dance steps. “The thing is…!” Ucchi lifted her chin determinedly. Her lips wobbled. She folded her hands on her lap. “…Could you teach me how to make katsudon the way you do it, Yuzuki?” Her voice was so quiet, I almost couldn’t hear it. “…” For a moment, I couldn’t process what she’d said. The moment stretched out in silence. Then I got it. “…Pfft!” Unable to contain myself any longer, I burst out laughing. “Don’t laugh!” I felt bad for Ucchi, who was blushing with embarrassment, but…it was so funny. She’d looked so serious, I was like, yikes, what’s she gonna say? …But it was about katsudon. Ucchi, of all people, asking me, of all people. Once I was done laughing, I dramatically wiped my eyes. Ucchi looked down, pouted, and spoke in a sulky sort of voice. “That was mean. It took so much courage to even say anything.” “Sorry,” I said, forcing down another bubble of laughter. “Really. It’s just I wasn’t expecting it. But where did that come from?” Ucchi scratched her cheek, turning even brighter pink. “You made it for Saku, right? He said it was really, really good. Now I don’t feel like I can make it for him. But Saku loves katsudon! I don’t want to be stuck like this forever! That’s all.” She paused, flapped her hands, and then continued. “Of course, if you don’t want to, I totally understand! I mean, if Saku ever wants katsudon, he can always just ask you to make it for him…” Ucchi didn’t sound too enthusiastic about that idea, though. And yeah, it made sense now. Now I saw why she was so hesitant. I worked really hard to plan that recipe for Chitose. I fought back a wave of emotion and clenched my fists. Then I couldn’t hold back any longer. “Ucchi!!!” I grabbed her and hugged her tight. “Wh-what?” “It’s so noble of you! Aren’t you just the perfect traditional Japanese woman?” “Y-Yuzuki. You can let go.” “Mmm! You smell good.” “Don’t sniff my neck?!!!” After joking with her a little, I finally let go. “Of course I’ll show you. I mean, you’re always giving me cooking tips and tricks. It would be mean not to repay the favor, right?” Ucchi smiled with what looked like relief. “Really? Thank you, Yuzuki.” Then she scratched her cheek again, still looking embarrassed. “I don’t know if I could even pull it off, but I thought about making my own version of katsudon. But that felt like appropriating a precious memory you share with him…” “Oh, Ucchi…” “So I figured it would be better just to ask you, Yuzuki. Then Saku can still think of you every time he eats it.” Her thoughtfulness really warmed my heart. Honestly, this girl was so sweet. And she was being humble, too. If Ucchi wanted to, she could make a katsudon that would blow mine out of the water. But if she did that, Chitose wouldn’t be able to help comparing it to my katsudon. I think Ucchi wanted the most peaceful resolution for my sake, and probably for Chitose’s, too—even if it meant coming to ask me a favor. I felt bad for being so jealous. Of course Chitose would want to give this sweet girl a chair in his home. Gah. I sighed internally. I lose today. Unequivocally. I shrugged and laughed. “I’ll send you the recipe when I get home, okay?” “Thanks!” It was true that I worked hard on that recipe, getting it just right for Chitose. But if this sweet girl here wanted to keep that memory we shared going with her own cooking… Well, that was an honor. Also… Just hearing secondhand what Chitose said to Ucchi… That was more than enough for me. The three of us chatted for a bit, until I suddenly remembered something. “By the way, Yuuko, what were you talking to Kureha about after the couples’ dance part?” “Er…” Apparently, it hadn’t stuck in her memory. She rubbed her chin and frowned thoughtfully. Then she slapped her knee. “Oh, right! I said to take good care of Saku!” “Huh…?” I wasn’t expecting that… I mean, this is Yuuko. While she might not have gone as far as to tell Kureha that she and Saku were “endgame,” she could have made a cute joke like “Watch your back, little rival!” or something.