CHAPTER TWO:
MIDSUMMER
A Momentary Happiness
FIRST THING IN THE MORNING THE NEXT DAY, I went to check on Tsuru’s wound.
“Tsuru-san,” I said. “Let me take a look at your shoulder.”
“What?” she replied. “Oh, I’m fine, dear… Don’t worry about it.”
“Sorry, I am worried about it. Now show me.”
Tsuru shot me a strained smile, then pulled back her collar to reveal her shoulder.
“Oh, man…” I said. “Yeah, that’s a pretty nasty bruise…”
“Well, yes,” said Tsuru. “But it’s just that, a bruise. Nothing more.”
“Still, though, I think it’d be best if you took the day off today.”
“I’ll be fine, dear. Really.”
“No, no, no! I’ve already decided—today is a day for healing!”
I forcibly dragged Tsuru over and sat her down in the tatami room, then put up a paper sign that read, “CLOSED FOR THE DAY” at the entrance of the mess hall.
“I’ll take care of all the chores today,” I said. “You just focus on resting up.”
“I feel bad, though…” said Tsuru.
“Well, don’t! I’m allowed to pay you back for your kindness occasionally, aren’t I? Just let me handle everything.”
“Mmm… If you insist, I suppose…”
Finally, Tsuru relented and took a seat. I breathed a sigh of relief and got to work cooking. As I chopped up the pickled vegetables on the cutting board, I thought back to when I was just a little girl.
Back when I was in elementary school and my mother and I still had a very good relationship, we’d always be working in the kitchen together. On days when my mother seemed too exhausted from work to cook, I’d always insist on making dinner all by myself that day and snatch the kitchen knife right out of her hand. Yet for whatever reason, as I grew older, I’d stopped participating in the cooking altogether. Or even checking in with my mother to make sure she was doing okay after a long day at work.
If I ever had the chance to see my mother again, though…
I’d want to make dinner together with her, just like old times.
With no restaurant work to take care of today, it felt like time was moving more slowly than usual. I finished all the housework by noon. As such, I figured I might as well clean the storefront while I was at it, so I headed out into the dining area—when suddenly, I heard a customer standing outside.
“Oh, sorry!” I said, opening the door. “We’re closed today…”
“Morning, Yuri,” Akira said, greeting me with his usual smile.
“Akira?” I said, blinking a few times. “You’re here? All by yourself?”
“Yep, that’s right.”
“Well, I’d love to serve you, but I’m afraid the mess hall’s closed today…”
“Not a problem. I didn’t come for a meal or anything, I just thought I’d check in and see how you and Tsuru-san were holding up after yesterday.”
Tsuru emerged from the other room; apparently, she had heard us talking.
“Well, if it isn’t Sakuma-san!” she said. “So kind of you to stop by!”
“Don’t mention it,” said Akira. “How’s your shoulder holding up?”
“Oh, just fine, dear! Doesn’t even hurt one bit!”
“Ah, that’s good… I’m glad to hear it.”
“How about you? Is your head okay?”
Akira took off his uniform cap to show his forehead. Above his brow, I could see a fresh, reddish scar—though it was a surface-level one, hardly even visible.
“A-OK here too,” said Akira. “The bleeding stopped really quickly, and I disinfected it as soon as I got back to base, so it’s all healed up.”
“It doesn’t hurt?” I asked.
“Not at all,” he replied with a smile. I couldn’t tell if he was just saying this to reassure me, but I was relieved to see that, at the very least, he was in good spirits.
I made some tea, and the three of us chatted idly for a while until eventually Tsuru suddenly clapped her hands together as if she had just remembered something.
“Say, I’ve got an idea!” she said.
“Oh? What’s that?” I asked.
“Why don’t the two of you go out and do something together?”
She flashed me a playful smile.
“Huh? Wait, what?! Wh-why do you say that…?” I stuttered, discombobulated, as she grabbed my hands and squeezed them tight.
“Why not?” she said, her eyes narrowing sweetly. “You have the day off, and so does he—that doesn’t happen very often, now, does it? You should make the most of it!”
I looked over at Akira. His eyes were wide with surprise too, but soon he was grinning at me as well. I could feel my heart skip a beat; he and I hadn’t really been able to spend any time together recently—at least not just the two of us.
“Go out and have some fun, Yuri-chan,” said Tsuru.
“But…you’ll be all by yourself for the rest of the day…” I said.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll stay in bed and rest like a good girl.”
I looked at her nervously, still unsure what to do.
“So, Sakuma-san,” said Tsuru. “Take good care of Yuri-chan, would you?”
She put her hand on the small of my back and gave me an encouraging push over toward where Akira was standing.
“Of course,” he said, nodding.
“Been a while since we’ve taken a walk like this, hasn’t it?”
Akira gazed upward as he spoke. I lifted my head up to the sky as well.
The summer sky was clear and blue, not a cloud in sight.
“Perfect weather for it, too, eh?” he said, looking over at me.
I tried to formulate a response, but my mind was too preoccupied by his sheer proximity to me that the words just wouldn’t come. I could feel my palms starting to sweat.
I was a gigantic knot of nerves, and I knew it. But how could I not be, all alone with a boy like him, walking through town together without any destination or goal in mind aside from indulging in each other’s company? I’d never done anything like that before.
Unable to say a word, I just stared down at the ground and focused on walking. Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot. Rinse and repeat, again and again.
As I counted my footsteps, I racked my brain to try to remember how I’d made conversation with him so casually in the past. What sorts of things had we even talked about? I couldn’t recall; my mind was a total blank.
“What’s wrong, Yuri?” said Akira. “Are you not feeling well?”
I jerked my head up and shook it from side to side.
“No, I’m fine!” I said. “Sorry, I was just spacing out a little.”
“Ah, I see,” said Akira, nodding. “Well, is there anywhere you’d like to go?”
He flashed me a welcoming grin, but I couldn’t think of anything at all. As long as I was with him, anywhere would be fine with me, I caught myself thinking—then immediately got bashful and started feeling a bit tight in the chest.
“W-well, not especially…” I said, scrambling. “I still don’t know that many places around here, I’m afraid…”
“Ah, I see. Fair enough,” said Akira, nodding. “Honestly, me either. I don’t really get to go out and just wander around like this very often.”
“Right, yeah… That makes sense.”
“Still, we should make up our minds and do something, at least. It’d be dangerous to loiter too long on a hot day like this.”
“Dangerous? Why’s that?”
“Well, we wouldn’t want you to start feeling faint, and need me to carry you again.”
He craned his neck and looked over at me with an ever-so-slightly impish grin. His face was so close to mine that I panicked. I pretended to be offended in a hasty attempt to conceal how flustered he had me.
“Look, I had a lot going on that day, okay?!” I said. “I can handle the heat now!”
“Is that so?” said Akira. “I have to admit, I was definitely caught off guard, seeing a girl collapsed by the roadside like that… Had to wonder how you ended up in that predicament in the first place.”
“Oh, hush, you! I couldn’t help it, all right?!” I grumbled.
“Okay, okay! Sorry,” he said, chuckling. “But in any event, we really should figure out something to do… Hrrm…”
Akira scanned the vicinity, then suddenly came to a stop.
“Wait, I’ve got an idea!” he said, turning to look at me. “Come on!”
He grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me over to a nearby cafe with the words CONFECTIONERY & SWEETS written on the edge of its awning.
The moment I saw the word SWEETS, I let out an audible gasp.
You see, sugar was considered an almost priceless commodity in this day and age. One certainly couldn’t buy it in any old store like you could back in my own time, and it only got rationed out to the general populace every once in a blue moon. Even then, it was only given in very scarce amounts and would be used up in no time. As a result, the only remotely sweet things I’d eaten since arriving in this time period were things like boiled pumpkin and steamed yams, and those weren’t exactly desserts.
“Wait… They have sweets here?” I asked. “You’re kidding… Like, with real sugar in them? Seriously?”
I could hardly contain my excitement as we walked into the cafe and sat down across from one another at an open table.
“I’ve heard the store owner here has a supplier that can get them as much sugar as they want,” said Akira. “It’s the only reason they’ve been able to stay in business.”
“Whoa… I guess there must be a story there, huh?”
“So, Yuri… What do you feel like having?”
“Uhhh, let me see…”
I looked up at the menu, which was written in ink on wooden plates that hung side by side on the wall above the kitchen—but I genuinely couldn’t tell what sorts of dishes the words that were written on them were supposed to represent. I had no idea what to order. Akira had apparently mistaken my confusion for me worrying about the prices, though, as he placed his hand on top of my head.