Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko:Volume5 Chapter3

Chapter 3 - The Banquet of Those Unsure of What "In Full Swing" Means

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Chapter 3 - The Banquet of Those Unsure of What "In Full Swing" Means

“Ryuuko-san slaaash!”

“E-Erio slaaash.”

“In that case, Niwa-kun, slaaash!”

“Huh? Isn’t that my technique? Well then, errr, Nameless slaaash.”

We went through these kinds of exchanges countless times.

“Aaah, my whole body aches.”

In the end, the three of us continued playing chanbara until evening. It’s often depicted in sports mangas about training camps, but I realised that running around on the sandy beach did put a considerable strain on the legs and back.

Both my knees were shaking uncontrollably. Will I be able to participate in the sports chanbara event tomorrow in that condition? Similarly, when we headed back to the inn, Erio’s legs and back were like those of a newborn fawn. As expected, it was the sports-orientated Ryuushi-san who was still moving around until the very end.

Maekawa-san never returned to the beach after all. I was a little worried, but there hadn’t been any commotion at the inn or among the tourists, so I guess she must be fine. Her parents must have kept her resting as a precaution.

When I returned to the room I shared with my aunt Meme-san, she was laying down on a futon wearing her swimsuit… I felt dizzy, in a bad way. I felt like I was dreaming. But if I were making these kinds of dreams, it would be the end of the line for me.

The nutrient I was lacking right now wasn’t eroticism. It was common sense among relatives. Meme-san turned around with a smile.

“Welcome back, Mako-kun. Looks like you had a fun day.”

“Considering the circumstances, it felt like a dream.”

“And for tonight’s fun, leave it to Meme-chin!”

She gave a thumbs-up. “Yay!” Should I shout “Yay!” and run away? But my legs wouldn’t move freely. I just wanted to fall forward and rest in my room. Driven by that urge, I took off my shoes and collapsed onto the tatami mat. I didn’t even try to break my fall and hit my chin, but besides the dull ache, there was a definite sense of relief that spread softly throughout my body. I exhaled and felt even more at ease.

“Oh my, don’t go to sleep before laying out your futon.”

“I don’t want to ask, but why are you still wearing your swimsuit?”

“So Mako-kun, whose eyes were glued to his aunt’s bosom, can have a clear look at them in the light.”

My mouth pressed against the tatami mat, I grumbled, “You’ve added yet another joke to my life, you damn trauma-inducing machine.”

Meme-san left her futon and skipped over to me. Her struggle on the beach had passed, and she seemed to be in a much better mood. She knelt down beside my head and started pressing her fingers into the crown of my head. I waved my hands above my head. “Stop pleeease.” No effect.

“I know you’re tired, but the party’s about to start.”

“Ah, right… we’re all having dinner together. I need to get changed.”

I pressed hard on the tatami mat with my right hand to force my heavy body to stand up. My whole body ached; apparently I was already experiencing muscle pain. As I arched my upper body to stand up, I made eye contact with Meme-san’s smiling face up close. I instinctively turned my face away, and she said, “Hmm, it looks like my cute nephew is asking for a kiss on the cheek.”

I hastily turned my face back towards Meme-san. And there she was, standing up as if she had leaped.

“But unfortunately, cheek kisses and other kisses will have to wait until tonight. Come on, let’s go to the dining hall.”

“No, as I said, I need to change clothes.”

I shook off my aunt, who was trying to pull me up by putting her arm around my elbow, and picked up the folded clothes next to my bag. I then gave verbal instructions to Meme-san who showed no sign of leaving the room.

“Please go outside so I can change.”

“I’ve seen Mako-kun naked before, so don’t mind me.”

“Wasn’t that when I was a baby more than ten years ago?”

I shooed her off into the corridor. But she was the kind of person who could come back in at any moment, so I hurried and got changed. Sure enough, right as I had finished, she opened the door again and entered into the room. And she dragged me out into the corridor, still in her swimsuit and with her shoes only half-on. She was humming loudly without any regard for volume and even linked her arm with mine.

“Let’s go, let’s goooo!”

As I listened to her song, it felt like all the Youth Points I had accumulated at the beach were about to fly away into the distance.

“Please don’t cross your arms, don’t skip, and wear normal clothes.”

“So I’ll have to reluctantly give up just one of these three. Now, which one will it be?”

Even though I thought, “All three of them,” the fact that this person was willing to listen to even one of my objections made me feel like I had encountered an incredible coincidence and stroke of luck. How sad that my own brain and perception became like that.

“Five secoooonds left, foooour, threeeee, twoooo,”

She pressed on, speaking in a tone that sounded like she was counting down the remaining time in a shougi match.

And the one I chose on the spur of the moment was…

“… Please don’t skip.”

Because my legs and lower back were extremely tired. A little more than my mind.

I certainly did *not* settle for my young-looking aunt just because I didn’t have a girlfriend. I’m serious.

It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that her breasts were pressing against my upper arm. No, seriously.

In the dinner hall, which was covered with tatami mats, Erio and Ryuushi-san were playing.

“”Muuui! Muuui! Muuui!””

Sitting in their seats, they were once again pulling each other’s cheeks. I really liked these two. They had both changed into a yukata provided by the ryokan. Their light blue yukata was adorned with several small swirling patterns, and it seemed as if radio waves from a distant city were reaching all the way here.

Ryuushi-san, on the other hand, was wearing an indoor yukata as well as a felt hat on her head.

“What are you doing?”

When I called out to them, they both took their fingers off their cheeks, as if startled. Then they waved their right hands from side to side, saying, “Nothing,” “Nothing, nothing”. What? So they were being good friends after all. Just as I was about to see something heartwarming, their eyes suddenly turned suspicious. Hum? I followed their gazes.

“…Ah, that’s right.”

“Yahoo!”

A woman in a swimsuit crossed her arms and waved in response to the attention. Waah, she’s being stared at. The other elderly people and the waitress bringing the food were also staring at the 40-year-old wearing a swimsuit. How annoying that everyone around me is so sensible. I wished I could be one of them, but I suppose it wasn’t possible.

“N-nice body!” Erio clapped her hands, giving praises in an awkward way.

“Mom, your swimsuit,” said her daughter, directly pointing at her.

“That’s right. Erio, you’re cute too, aren’t you?” Meme-san complimented her daughter while casually adding a “too” to assert that she herself was cute as well. I thought to myself, “How shrewd,” but all I could do was get pulled by my crossed arms and shaken roughly.

Was this how a tree trunk that’s about to wither feels? Ryuushi-san’s gaze was painful.

“N-nice body!”

Erio clapped her hands, giving praises in an awkward way. Meme-san, acting like an idol, responded with a “Yay!” and a peace sign and dragged me along, sliding into my seat. It wasn’t really a seat, though; it was just a purple cushion on a tatami mat with something resembling a tray in front of it.

The meal consisted of a sashimi platter with a strikingly distinct contrast of red and white and a small dish of chilli shrimp. There were lightly pickled vegetables and a salad of okara and vegetables. And spinach ohitashi . The lacquered bowls were still covered, and the rice bowls with wooden lids likely contained white rice. The glass cups were placed upside down.

“Please, let go of my arm already.”

“Hmm, well. I suppose Mako-kun has had his fill of my breasts.”

Was she doing this on purpose?! The corners of my eyeballs started to hurt, and the centre of my face felt hot as if it were buried in sand. I moved my eyes dramatically and awkwardly, and there, in front of me, Meme-san was puffing out her nose with a smug expression. This woman… shit! I covered my eyes. Didn’t she really lose some wrinkles since I first met her?

“Niwa-kun, you aren’t wearing a yukata?”

Surprisingly cold-headed, Ryuushi-san ignored the woman in the swimsuit and started talking to me. She grabbed the sleeve of my yukata and spread her arms wide like a scarecrow. I’d like to stick twenty scarecrows like that in my room.

“Do they provide yukata?”

“They do! I found mine in a drawer in my room. Niwa-kun, your investigation was a bit sloppyyyy. When you enter a room for the first time, you have to properly check the drawers and the vases.”

“Hoh hoh,” alright, if I ever get the chance to visit Ryuushi-san’s room, I’ll be sure to follow these instructions faithfully.

We exchanged our conversations over Erio’s head, which was slightly lower than mine. Ryuushi-san was in seiza, while Erio was w-sitting. And her face was looking up at me. She yawned softly and rubbed her eyes. Was she sleepy, or did she miss her favourite futon?

Currently, the seating order in the dinner hall was: Ryuushi-san, Erio, me, and Meme-san. I looked around to see if I should switch places with Meme-san or Erio, but it seemed impossible to have a proper conversation with my aunt, who was sitting in seiza in her swimsuit and smiling. I covered my face with my finger and waited patiently for the embarrassment and heat to subside.

A faint, indistinct sound like flowing water continued deep in my ears. The buzz of the dinner hall also sounded muffled. Peeking across through the gaps in my fingers, I saw an elderly couple pouring beer into each other’s glasses. They hadn’t touched their food yet, but it was only a matter of time.

“Mako-kun, you so excited about Meme-chin that you are having a headache?”

“Well, that’s not a wrong way to put it…”

Not quite what Meme-san is imagining, though. I mean, did that person really find teasing her nephew that amusing? But seeing her smile, I realised I didn’t need to ask that question: she must be having a blast. Maybe tomorrow I’ll link arms with her and take her out for a stroll in the sunshine.

“Ah, it’s Maekawa-san’s family.”

said Ryuushi-san, pointing to the entrance of the dinner hall. Looking over, I saw a particularly striking tall woman leading the way as she opened the sliding doors. The lanky Maekawa-san was also wearing a yukata rather than her crocodile costume. However, it was too short for her arms and legs. She gave the impression of a young boy in a short-sleeved shirt and shorts or like someone who had borrowed ill-fitting pyjamas to stay overnight at someone’s house.

Maekawa-san turned her head and spotted us. She came towards us, a step ahead of her parents. She raised her right hand slightly and said, “Yah!” so we raised our hands back.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fu fu fu, Maekawa-san is fully revived.”

Despite her declaration, her face was pale. Or rather, perhaps I had just forgotten what her usual complexion looked like after seeing her face so red earlier in the day. Maekawa-san sat upright next to Meme-san and then stared at her swimsuit.

“You’re as strong-willed as ever, Meme-san.”

“Are you talking about my style?”

“No, your courage. I could never be so confident wearing a swimsuit.”

“Maekawa-chan, I don’t want to hear that from you.”

It was rare, but I completely agreed with Meme-san. Then Ryuushi-san, for some reason, stretched her neck and rose her hand with a brisk attitude and tone. It was as if she was peering between Erio and me.

“Touwa-san, would you mind switching seats with me?”

“Hmmmm,” Erio shook her head. “Defend to the death,” she muttered, spreading both her arms wide to the sides. Ryuushi-san groaned, “Muuu”, slamming her knees against the floor while still in seiza, creating a unique atmosphere.

“”Muuui!”” “Don’t” I grabbed Erio by the scruff of her neck and pulled her closer. Muuui avoided. Erio and Ryuushi-san’s fingertips each pinched the air. Having seen that, I released Erio who was sulking at being treated roughly like a cat, asking, “What are you doing?” Yet she never complained about being rolled around in the hallway wrapped in a futon. I can’t understand her standards. She started hitting me repeatedly. I ignored her.

“Alright everyone. We’ve all gathered now, so we can start eating. Please enjoy the drinks, food, and conversation. Take your time and have fun.”

The organiser took on the role of leading the toast using a karaoke microphone that was in the corner of the banquet hall. Hearing this, almost everyone picked up their chopsticks and said “Itadakimasu” in unison. Then, a swirling tumult ensued.

“Yaaay, it’s sashimi!”

Meme-san, who loved fish, threw her hands up in delight. Her ample bosom jiggled with her movements because she was wearing a swimsuit… Shit, why didn’t I notice that out of the corner of my eye? What an idiot I am.

“Yay, sashimi!” exclaimed Ryuushi-san, stretching her body and kneeling on the tatami mat, as she then transferred all her sashimi onto my plate. She even took all the garnishes from my sashimi. Hmm, a vegetarian act of banditry was quite an unusual thing. I guess she was gathering vegetables to enjoy the health benefits all to herself.

“Good, good,” said Ryuushi-san, looking satisfied with her plate piled high with radishes.

“When a fruitarian eats raw meat, his stomach will just melt into a gooey mess.”

Fruitarians are scaryyy. If this happened to an ordinary person, they’d probably think of it as something that triggered an illness or something. It was a road that looked sweet and sour with fruit juice, but surprisingly, thorns were forcibly cultivated using that nutrition.

Maekawa-san and Erio were eating normally, but their chopsticks were moving slowly. Maekawa-san was frowning at the contents of her bowl. I opened mine and took a look at the soup. The strangely cloudy white broth had several objects floating in it that looked like dumplings. I picked one up with my chopsticks and took a bite… Carp dumplings, huh? They tasted a little muddy. There were bones sticking out of the dumplings. Not my cup of tea. Maekawa-san didn’t seem to like them much either and was nibbling on them little by little.

Erio seemed tired from playing and was sleepy, her head nodding, and she leaned on my shoulder, still holding her chopsticks. I couldn’t just brush her away, so my left arm, holding my bowl, remained fixed in that position.

“… It’s hard to eat.”

I wasn’t sure if it was in reaction to what I mumbled, but Ryuushi-san held the tip of her chopsticks between her lips and stared intently at Erio and me out of the corner of her eyes. “How can I put this…” she prefaced, leading into a conversation.

“I kind of understand why Touwa-san is sooo attached to Niwa-kuuun.”

“Oh, really? I mean, I guess she took a liking to me, or something like that?”

“But morally speaking, it’s scandalous. Bubububuuun, bubububuuun, bubububun, bubububun, bubububun, bubububun, buuunbuuunbubunbunbunbun, buuunbubuuun, bubuuun.”

Her song seemed to express dissatisfaction, yet it was a remarkably auspicious choice of music. Anyway, besides being bad for public morals, it was also not good for my own youth.

Along with Meme-san, this scene made it look as if I were sitting in the same frame as the Touwa family.

There is no sense of the exuberance of youth in a parent-child relationship. Scandalous indeed.

Driven by some inexplicable anger, I was picking spinach when Ooi-san, holding a beer and her cell phone, waved at me and called out, “Ooy!” For a moment, I wondered if it was an impromptu pun on “Ooy” and “Ooi.” Ah, I then noticed Maekawa-san spitting out a small laugh from her bowl. Was the thinking the same thing I did?

“Makoto-kun, which do you prefer, right or left?”

“Huh? That again?”

Ooi-san’s question felt like déjà vu, or rather, déjà entendu. It was the same question Maekawa-san asked on the bus, or more precisely, the person she was phoning. I hadn’t paid much attention to it back then, but the second time around a deep frown furrowed my brow. I tightened my left arm, which was supporting the bowl and Erio.

“I was told to ask Makoto-kun about it.”

said Ooi-san, pointing to her cell phone. Behind her, her daughter was clinging onto her, half-hidden behind Ooi-san’s feet, peeking at us. She was like a smaller version of Erio.

“Why me?”

“Well. They’re complaining about returning to space, but do you have anything to do with that, Makoto-kun?”

Ooi-san shrugged. This cannot be. Or rather, who was that person?

“Aah, well then, right.”

It just so happened that Erio was leaning on my left arm, holding chopsticks in her right hand. Ooi-san nodded and said, “Roger that,” then casually told the person on the other end of the phone, “He said right.” Who the hell was it on the other end of the phone? Maekawa-san also followed Ooi-san’s back with her eyes and let out a laugh that sounded somewhat exasperated.

I tilted my head at being questioned, feeling left out of the loop, and Erio, who had been leaning closer, suddenly sat up, perhaps reacting to my movements. She rubbed his eyes, then vigorously wiped her mouth.

“Good morning.”

“I-I wasn’t sleeping.”

As I made a slightly sarcastic remark, Erio shook her hair wildly from side to side. Hey, don’t just randomly scatter your particles all around. The food on the tray will no longer look normal. Worse than covered with gold leaves.

“Hoh, so what were you doing just now?”

“M-meditation.”

She clasped her hands together, saying “nin nin”. Wasn’t that being a ninja? Do ninjas meditate while working? No idea.

“Eri-chan, how was it? Sleeping with your head on daddy’s arm?”

“I-I wasn’t sleeping.”

Erio’s was sputtering particles again. Wait, that’s not it; I need to deny the part about being her daddy.

“… Meme-san, could you please switch seats with me?”

“”Ok, ok””

For some reason, Meme-san, Erio, and even Ryuushi-san all shook their heads at the same time.

I sighed, feeling embarrassed by those three stereotypical dissenting votes.

At this gathering, the only one who didn’t object to the change in the role of Erio’s parent was Maekawa-san, who was struggling against her carp dumplings.

Should I say the party was in full swing? What that even meant, I didn’t know. Maybe I should interpret it as the atmosphere being lively? It had been almost an hour since we said “Itadakimasu”, and the atmosphere of a dinner party had completely dissipated.

The dinner hall had completely transformed into a place where squeals and shrieks were floating like soap bubbles.

Outside, the sun had set and night had fallen, but in inverse proportion, excitement was soaring up the stairs.

The woman who had been declaring, “I’m under 10, so I can’t drink alcohooool,” has blended in with a group of elderly men and women, laughing, “Guwahahaha”. The fact that she was just as energetic as the other drunks even without alcohol proved that she was practically drunk all the time. I had learnt my lesson: think twice before taking her seriously.

Meme-san was welcomed and doted on by the elderly, as if she were a daughter or granddaughter. It was the same with Grandma Tamura. It seems that people with Meme-san’s personality were well-liked by the elderly. I wonder why.

“Cousin, are you interested in mom?”

Erio, who was sitting to my left, looked around for a moment before tilting her head. What a huge misunderstanding.

Before I could even respond to that misunderstanding with “Not really,” Maekawa-san and Ryuushi-san reacted.

“Is it because she’s wearing a swimsuit?” “Eh? I knew it. It’s because she’s wearing a swimsuit? Grrr.”

Please don’t jump to conclusions. Don’t end my youth by making my aunt my only romcom interest.

Amidst these pleas, I clutched my glass tightly, bowed my head, and let out a gloomy sigh.

Our group of high school students (one of us being a former student) abandoned our usual neat side-by-side seating arrangement and instead lined up the four trays to form a square so we could face each other. It was like having lunch in elementary school, and the kids in our group sat facing each other at their desks.

If I were to illustrate it, it would look something like this.

[Diagram of where everyone sits.]

The dinner hall was currently arranged roughly like this. Erio’s position was a little odd because it was a recreation of how it would look from above. She was surprisingly close to me. She really was a small animal. Space hamster, Touwa Erio. It’s completely irrelevant, but the thought of a blue hamster was a little creepy.

Erio, now awake, was munching on the pickles left on her tray while slowly sipping the apple juice in her glass. I wondered how such a combination of flavours could taste.

“So Niwa-kun, you’re a swimsuit-lover, huuuh? Hmm, that rolls off the tongue pretty nicely.”

The contents of the tray were gone, and Ryuushi-san sat there with a wobbly glass of orange juice in her hand, her face showing an ambivalent expression. A swimsuit-lover, she said? I couldn’t deny it, but wasn’t that like asking a high school boy, “Do you like erotic magazines?” I almost wanted to retort, “Why do you think I came to the beach?” But I was tired of seeing a swimsuit on a woman in her forties.

“Well then, this might be my only option.”

“What is?”

“Ryuuko-san running across the beach wearing a swimsuit and Niwa-kun chasing after her! Kyakya wafufuuu, swimsuit, wait! wait! Kyaaa, Niwa-kun you’re drooling, slurp… How’s that?”

“…Ryuushi-san, weren’t you supposed to be in charge of enforcing public morals?”

I hadn’t reached the level of a swimsuit aficionado who appreciated swimsuits on their own. Ah, but chasing Ryuushi-san on the beach at night might not be so bad. That is, if my legs and back were in perfect condition. Right now is a bit tough.

“That’s right! And I told ya, I’m Ryuuko. When is the name Ryuuko going to stiiick?”

She slurped her orange juice. Then she glared at Erio, the source of the Name Hazard (if I’m not mistaken?) with a sulky expression. Erio conspicuously averted her gaze and took refuge in tilting the surface of her apple juice. She remembered being the reason the name “Ryuushi” spread.

It looked like Maekawa-san wanted to avoid the topic of swimsuits, averting her eyes and remaining silent. A slight blush was visible on her pale face. Noticing my gaze, she gave me a disapproving look and glared at me as if to say, “Don’t look at me like that.” Unlike Ryuushi-san’s cuteness demon, this one was the real deal. How scary, how scary.

“And Cousin, you also like Mom's scent.”

“Hey, why are you suddenly talking about other people’s preferences, girl?”

I almost blurted out “exposed” instead of “talking,” but I restrained myself and calmly assessed this as a good decision considering the storm raging in my brain. However, I couldn’t deny that I also acted on it. Shit, it’s been like this all day. I couldn’t save myself from humiliation.

Sure, that person smelt really nice, but that was just how it was. It was like how spiders and carnivorous plants used their scent to attract prey. It was the cunning of one who lost her power (youth) and was now trying to lure young people with technique. I’m the one who was crazy for falling for something like that!

“What?! Niwa-kun was pursuing Mother!”

“Well, I have never heard such a definitive statement before.”

“Heh, the transfer student has a mother complex. You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

“Maekawa-san, you’re the last person I want to hear talking about appearances versus personality.”

“Cousin’s mother complex, or in short, ‘itokon’.”

“Do you enjoy turning people into konjac noodles? Ah?”

“More importantly!”

Ryuushi-san tapped the corner of her tray with her chopsticks.

“The important thing is, since Niwa-kun has a mother complex, what should we do about it?!”

“Could you please not continue the conversation in that direction?!”

Why were the other two applauding and saying “Ooh!” in admiration? Maekawa-san was definitely just messing around. Erio was scary because she seemed to genuinely believe it. Because she herself adored her mom.

“So, I, Ryuuko-san, will now unleash my full maternal instiiiincts! Without further ado, drum-roooools!” she said, wiggling her fingers and squirting something onto me.

“What kind of finger technique is that?”

“When one thinks of a mother, one thinks about the sea. And when one thinks about the sea, one thinks of swaying grass, so the image of Japanese kelp vaguely comes to mind. Squelch, squelch.”

“No, no, enough of that seaweed-smelling maternal instinct; look, you forgot something. When one thinks of Ryuushi-san…”

“I told ya I’m Ryuuko! Starting next month, we’ll be having a yachuuni special intensive training month!”

Yes, there! A beautiful interplay of hands, like pounding mochi. That was what I wanted from Ryuushi-san far more than this mother nonsense. So there ends the mother complex talk. Actually, lately I’ve been forgetting what my parents look like. Heartless of me, right?

“So, does anyone in Japan have any opinions on today’s meeting about Niwa-kun’s mother complex?”

“Please end thiiis.”

I squeezed out a low, cursed voice. Ryuushi-san looked startled in a comical way, then burst out laughing heartily, “Ha ha ha”. Maekawa-san was also smirking, and Erio was engrossed in her apple juice.

“Come on, we’re just kidding."

“Why did you bite your tongue there?”

Ryuushi-san stuck out her reddened tongue and fanned it with her hand. Seeing this, Erio imitates her for some reason. She stuck out her tongue flip-flap. Who would have thought that even Erio’s tongue wasn’t light blue (obviously)? Her pink, spotless tongue flicked against her lower lip. Hmm, it was kind of erotic.

Seeing Erio’s movement, Ryuushi-san’s movements froze. For some reason, Erio also tried to intimidate her in her own way, saying “Mu.” Her original appearance was childlike to begin with and far too impressive, so it just looked like a child’s intimidation. “Nunu,” “Mumu,” the two exchanged glances across the two trays of food. “Nununu,” “Mumumu,” watching from the sidelines, I had the feeling that something bad was going to happen. “Stop that.”

I didn’t know why these two were competing, but I decided to put my cousin in her place for the time being. Erio flipped a section of his hair up like cat ears and pulled back her leaning body, groaning, “Mu mu mu mu.” Perhaps feeling the heat subsided, Ryuushi-san also straightened up, groaning “Nu nu nu nu.”

It looked like Maekawa-san had been looking forward to the two of them arguing and clicked his tongue “Tch” in annoyance. But her face looked relatively amused, and she seemed to be comfortably basking in the atmosphere between us.

Then the Cooking March sung by an elderly passionate duet, came to an end, and they called out into the karaoke microphone, “Alright, who’s next to sing?” Glancing at them out of the corner of her eye, Ryuushi-san quietly said:

“But isn’t it strange? When April first started this year, all four of us barely had any connection to one another. But now we’re facing each other like this.”

As if to demonstrate that connection, Ryuushi-san spread her arms wide. That was certainly true. I had almost no connections at all, in fact, right after transferring schools. The fact that I had been able to get to this point in less than five months was probably close to a perfect score for a young man in his prime.

The problem was that, despite all that, my accumulation of Youth Points was incredibly slow. How strange, was there a hole in the bottom of the safe where I saved them? Or was there a youth thief nearby? …Ah, the Touwa family, huh?

“Our connection is basically based on the fact that you are a transfer student.”

Maekawa-san spoke up to supplement Ryuushi-san’s statement. Huh, me? Before Erio could even form a questioning expression “N?” with her lips, she nodded, and a new song began playing through the karaoke microphone.

The next singer was Meme-san. She sang passionately, swinging her free left arm around. Her song choice was an original… Was it normal to sing a song about the sorrows of a forty-year-old? It was the same song she sang at the entrance in July.

“That’s because Ryuushi-san and I don’t chat on our cell phones. The connections that are centred around the transfer student haven’t extended to the people next to them yet. It’s kind of like the structure of a bicycle wheel.”

“Fu fu fu,” Maekawa-san had a strangely triumphant tone. Was that really something to talk about in such a positive way? Ryuuko-san, who had been called out, shook both hands frantically in front of her chest as she panicked, trying to explain, “Well, you seeeee, well, I am considering it positivelyyyy, I told ya I’m Ryuukoooo,” but she was hesitant. But she didn’t forget to correct us about her name. I can’t wait for the training month.

Maekawa-san grinned, her lips curving as she looked down at her opponent. In response, Ryuushi-san flinched and tensed up, “W-what is iiiit?” She also readjusted her felt hat.

Erio, unable to join the conversation because she didn’t own a cell phone, was looking downcast. The apple juice in her glass was already gone, and there was no longer any reflection of an escape route on its surface.

“Well, I guess what Ryuushi enjoys the most is talking to the transfer student, right?”

“What, what about iiiit?! What’s wrong with thaaaat?! I told ya I’m shushushushu!”

With a whooshing sound as she swung his fist, she thrust it towards Maekawa-san. Ryuushi-san’s face instantly turned redder, and it looked like she was about to break out in a cold sweat. I was blushing too, just from being brought up in the conversation. Hmm.

“Ah, youth,” said Maekawa-san, teasing the flustered Ryuushi-san. But it wasn’t Ryuushi-san who reacted the most, but the girl with light blue hair. Even the voice that came from her throat seemed to be enveloped in particles as it vibrated in our eardrums with a strange resonance.

“Youth, what’s that?”

It was a pure question, imbued with an air of innocence. Drawn in by her voice and her question, which seemed to dispel all confusion as if water had been poured over my head, I looked into Erio’s eyes. Her light blue eyes, sparkling as if mimicking an uninhabited Earth, were waiting for my words.

Meanwhile, Maekawa-san answered immediately in a light-hearted, joking tone.

“If you want to experience a typical youth, just dive into the relationship between Ryuushi and the transfer student.”

“Heeeey! I told ya I’m Ryuuko, and what are you teaching heeeeer?!”

“And then, look, this is what happens.”

“So this is youth?”

“No it iiiisn’t!”

Ryuushi-san’s arms were spinning like crazy. They were spinning so much that I was getting worried about her shoulder joints. It was a very difficult topic to comment on, so I covered my mouth with my hand and lowered my eyes. Ugh, I’m kind of embarrassed too. My relationship with Ryuushi-san. Now that it has been pointed out again, I guess it was youth indeed.

That was precisely why it was a spot I could unearth some Youth Points from. But if I dug too hard, it would dry up in an instant, and worse, I would end up banned from that spot. Deepening human relationships was such a difficult thing.

“……Kay”

Even amidst Ryuushi-san’s dizzying commotion, Erio’s eyes were fixed on me. The atmosphere of a child suddenly asking their parent a complicated question and waiting for an answer was hanging between us.

“About youth?”

Erio nodded, lowering her chin.

She was asking me about youth?… Well, I didn’t really have any strong opinions on the subject.

She’d have to ask “the girl” who first created the Youth Points, back in the day.

“Uh, well…” “It means you’re young.” “Whoa!”

Meme-san, still holding the microphone, stepped between us. Apparently, she had moved behind me without me noticing. Her eyes closed, she continued singing with a composed expression, as if she were an idol singer.

“Packed~with~fla~voooour~”

“Please don’t make up lyrics full of jealousy on the spot.”

“You guys ~sing too~! Yaay~”

She came right over. Towards me. “Please, don’t lean on me!” So little of her skin was covered, so it was obviously going to rub against me! All sorts of things over my skin! Ugh, shit! Why was she so soft?!

“Hmm, I’m not kidding, but there is a strong feeling of aunty complex.”

“No way, she is forcing herself on me! I didn’t want this! And besides, wasn’t I supposed to have a mother complex earlier?!”

“The way Niwa-kun is developing his aunty complex is, well…”

“I don’t think there’s any way to go to a parallel world!”

“Cousin looks so happy.”

“Study human anatomy some more!”

Just because she was perfect from the start didn’t mean that she needed to learn nothing! Also, let us switch places! Carry your own mother on *your* back! And cry over something other than lightness!

“No~you~won’t~”

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

She bit my earlobe! That was the trigger that pushed me to my breaking point, and I jumped up. I shook her off and ran out of the dinner hall like a loser. Why is it always my aunt I had to come into contact with?!

My day as a self-proclaimed ambassador for rom-coms is about to end, from being filled with nothing but Meme-san content. Where did it go wrong?

But at least I wasn’t caught during my escape, so I wasn’t the worst loser. This is what I thought to myself as I ran down the corridor, savouring the utterly pointless feeling of disappointment.

Aaah, how bitter. If this was what youth tasted like, then Erio should just forget about it.

A few minutes had passed since I fled to the restroom, so I washed my hands and went outside. I was relieved to see that Meme-san wasn’t waiting by the entrance. She was almost like a zombie attacking people.

“……Hum?”

Stepping out into the corridor, I saw Erio walking barefoot down the hallway, heading in a direction different from the dinner hall. It wasn’t the direction to Erio and Ryuushi-san’s room either. It didn’t seem like he was going to the toilet, and it felt unusual for her to be acting alone, so I decided to follow her.

I’ll keep it a secret that I was a little worried about her getting lost. It wasn’t worth of Youth Points, though

Following Erio as he stumbled out of the ryokan, I found myself heading towards the night sea. The night sea was dark, and the glittering surface that I had so vividly remembered during the day had vanished as if it had sunk. The sky was clear, but the stars were hidden by thick clouds, and the moon was nowhere to be seen. It had been warm inside the ryokan, but as I approached the dark sea, I began to feel a chill.

The sound of sandals crunching on the sand. Erio, walking a little ahead, was barefoot, so her footsteps didn’t reach me. What about the other way around? Erio didn’t look back and continued down the sandy beach. I followed her back without calling her out, as if I were taking a stroll… The fact that we could maintain a certain distance even when separated in this darkness meant that my body must have memorised Erio’s pace. It was a complicated feeling.

Erio stopped walking when she reached the water’s edge. The waves swallowed her ankles and swept away the sand as they left. Erio’s hair floated gently in the sea breeze, scattering particles onto the beach.

I closed the distance I had been maintaining and called out to let her know that I was there.

“Don’t try to go across the sea like you did back then.”

Even though I spoke from behind her, Erio showed no surprise. I guess she must have noticed my footsteps. She slowly turned around and smiled gently. I felt that her smile resembled Meme-san.

Against the backdrop of the dark, serpentine sea, Erio’s hair seemed to emit a faint glow, making it easy to discern the subtle changes in her expression. I walked along the damp sandy beach and came to stand beside Erio.

Sheo crouched on the sand while I stood and gazed out at the sea. The waves were pitch black, and each time they crashed onto the shore, they seemed to emit a living presence. But it was precisely because of the darkness that the sound was so clear. I listened to the sound of the waves washing over the sand, and a pleasant tremor spread through the faintly breathing inside of my body.

“Cousin, it’s been long since we’ve been on the beach, just the two of us.””

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Back in June when we came to the beach, we were all together. So, to be precise, this was the first time we’ve been alone at the beach since Erio’s self-introduction. There was no sign of Smakin.

I sat down and stretched my hunched body. My ribs cracked, my sides tightened, and a ringing in my ears rose up like a tidal wave. The moment it reached its peak, a sea breeze blew through my body.

The feeling of liberation was similar to dizziness. A hazy blur swirled in front of my eyes, and yet, it was also exhilarating.

“Cousin, was it hard peddling the bicycle?”

“Well, you know. Back then, my legs would get shaky just from playing a bit.”

“Me too,” said Erio, looking up at me with a smile. Then she picked up a grain of sand with her white fingers and threw it out into the sea. Without making a sound or any ripples, the grain of sand disappeared into the night.

“Coming to the sea at night, is that what youth is about?”

“No, no, that’s not youth at all. It’s just delusion.”

I strongly disagreed as a guy who’s a bit particular about youth. Erio supported her chin with both hands and narrowed her eyes thoughtfully with a “Hmm”. The waves that surged in soaked both our ankles.

“The sea at night is surprisingly cold.”

“Yeah.”

Erio maintained the same posture, slightly tucking her chin. Then, as the wave receded, she lifted her head again.

“Cousin, is it youth now?”

“…Yeah, I guess so.”

It was a little unwelcome, but standing by the sea at night with a girl was undoubtedly a moment of youth.

“I honestly don’t know what youth is, but it seems to be something that fills your heart.”

Moreover, its shelf life was incredibly short. It was created, given value and then disappeared in the same moment.

The particles emanating from Erio might be the very embodiment of youth. Or rather, it was not even certain whether these blue particles actually exist in reality. But my eyes have been steadily capturing them. Ever since the moment Erio removed her blanket in the light spilling from the convenience store.

“Are you satisfied with this answer?”

I answered her questions in the dinner hall in my own way. Erio looked out at the sea and lowered his chin, saying, “Kay.”

“Cousin, have you been youthful recently?”

“Not too bad in my own way. I seem to be pretty lucky, except for things related to your mother.”

But did it ultimately mean it was just bad luck? That was the question that arose after I said that, but I decided to seriously consider it later. Now was not the time to think about that; it was time to talk with Erio.

“But you can’t just copy me. You have to figure it out for yourself. Otherwise, it won’t turn out in a way that you’re satisfied with.”

I’ll set the groundwork beforehand. Erio nodded obediently, “Kay”, scratching her kneecap through the fabric of her yukata. I glanced at her, looked up, and the scent of the sea wafted into my nose as she moved.

As I winced at the unfamiliar salty smell, Erio began to speak calmly:

“My youth might have been swept away somewhere in the sea.”

“…When you were drifting?”

I decided to ask. Erio nodded. For a while, we looked ahead in silence. There stood the sea where Erio had been drifting and the sea we had jumped into. There was a surging sensation, as if the two were trying to blend together but were colliding instead. I kicked the seawater-soaked sand with a splash towards the gap between them.

The sand was heavy and hard. No matter how much we stepped on it, it never crumbled under our feet.

Following in the footsteps of the kicked sand, Erio threw the grains of sand she had picked into the sea, and then, after a pause, she continued, “But,” in a bouncy tone.

“When I flew with Cousin and dived into the sea, I felt like I discovered something.”

“What?”

Erio answered my question without hesitation. Her expression flowed smoothly, and with a smile, she said:

“Right now, I’m constantly chasing that something. That’s why I’ve come to think of this place not as a place of loss but as the place of a new beginning.”

“…I see.”

What was Touwa Erio searching for after returning from the sea?

Its true nature might be something like the distance between me and the moon that I felt when I was in middle school.

“I’m glad I am Cousin’s cousin.”

“How intricate,” I muttered, scratching my nose.

“I’m glad I could come to the beach with Cousin again.”

“Is that so?” I responded, fiddling with my earlobe.

“I enjoy being with Cousin and Mum.”

“That’s great,” I said, covering my eyes with my hand.

“With Cousin” “Ok, that’s enough.”

I lightly tapped Erio’s forehead with my hand. Was she trying to kill me with flattery?

For a second-year high schooler, your gratitude is too pure.

“Let’s head back now. Meme-san can be so overprotective it’s annoying.”

I made that suggestion partly to hide my embarrassment.

Erio nodded, seemingly oblivious to my feelings.

“Yeah. Now that you mention it, I wasn’t allowed to go out at night.”

Erio smiled at me, as if sharing the fact that she had done something slightly naughty. I nodded in response, watching her stand up. Once she was standing, I turned my back to the sea.

Looking back and up, we saw a landscape where the city lights softly illuminated the dark night. We slowly and steadily made our way across the sandy beach, aiming for those lights.

“…… Ah.” “Hum?”

Erio looked up at the sky and spun her head around as if chasing something. I followed her gaze. There was a small white light moving in the night sky. It was moving from the city towards the sea.

“A UFO,” muttered Erio as she stopped walking, her eyes still following the white light.

Did she really think a UFO would really fly so boldly over the skies of Japan? I thought at first that it must be an aeroplane. But the blinking was strange for an aeroplane.

Would a UFO visit this place, which seemed to be just a step away from the self-proclaimed city watched over by aliens?

No one could have imagined that the arrival of that UFO would usher in the beginning of a space war on the beach the next day… just kidding.

“I wonder? Maybe your father is in it.”

I said this in a light-hearted tone, but Erio shook her head far more vigorously and seriously than I anticipated.

“I hate my dad.”

“…… Hum.”

Maybe because she’s a mama’s girl. Even Erio had a surprisingly complex inner world. She was not just wrapping herself in a blanket. From my perspective, the fact that she would wrap herself in one stroke me as complicated, if not utterly bizarre.

After the light faded into the night sky, we began walking back towards the ryokan in silence.

Then, when we reached the back entrance of the ryokan, Erio spoke to me in a more formal tone:

“Cousin.”

“Yeah?”

With her hands still on the back of her waist, Erio strode past me and declared with a ticklish tone:

“I’m going to become a youthful girl.”

“…… Oh, good luck.”

As I answered, I stroke little Erio’s head as if to hug her while I found myself thinking.

Was it alright once in a while to feel a sense of Youth Points between Erio and me?

Was it alright once in a while to feel a sense of Youth Points between Erio and me?

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