Aren’t You Too Sweet Salt-God Sato-San? - Chapter 5.2
TL : Listless
ED : KhanMc
[What?]
[Muscles grow only when they hurt each other.]
In response to this, Kazuharu-san let out a deep sigh of dismay.
[Didn’t you hear what I said? There are also some humans who stop growing after getting hurt…]
[And muscles cry when they’re deprived of the opportunity to hurt themselves.]
I stare back at Kazuharu-san.
I understand his beliefs and determination, but… But still, he’s wrong.
Because-
[It’s neither you nor me, it’s Koharu-san herself who desires it. Even if it’s objectively illogical, she chose this way of growth.]
[Then what will happen if it causes her to break down…]
[She will not…]
I declared it firmly.
…Sato-san is certainly not good at communication, and her mental strength may not be very strong.
But she definitely uploaded a picture to Minsta that time.
It was the first time she uploaded a photo of her ice cream roll to Minsta.
I’m sure she must have a lot of anxiety and remorse swirling around inside her that can’t be put into words.
…Even so, she had ventured out alone into the vast sea of the Internet. There was no way she was going to be broken by a little failure.
[You are talking about the theory of education but you are just being overprotective. She has always been a strong person, contrary to what you think.]
[…I see.]
Kazuharu-san retracted his extended hand.
There, I noticed that the scorn and look of contempt had disappeared from his eyes.
[Seems like you aren’t saying this superficially. Since it has become like this, it will be just endless arguments, so let’s change the subject.]
Saying that, he pointed to Sato-san’s smartphone.
[Currently, Koharu is obsessed with Minstagram. But what does it really mean?]
[What does…]
[I just can’t understand it. I don’t get it. Is it really worth the risk we talked about earlier? It just looks worthless to me, nothing else.]
Kazuharu-san’s eyes looking at me once again turned sharp.
[I heard that all the junior high and high school students nowadays are eager to show off their photos on this app, but what value is there in that act? I also don’t understand why they are taking pictures of everything, whether it’s food or not. People say it’s to preserve memories, but I’m an old-fashioned person, so that’s what I think.]
He pushed up the bridge of his glasses with his middle finger and said in a cold tone.
[I don’t see the need to record something that would otherwise fade from memory.]
[That’s…]
I clamped my mouth shut.
It’s not that I don’t have words to return back. In fact, I knew that a question like this was bound to come up, so I had even prepared a response in advance so that I could theoretically refute it.
The reason why I refrained from speaking was because I felt that it would be different if I came here and answered in an orderly manner with prepared words.
I gulped down all the crappy answers I had prepared, stood up slowly, and said…
[…Is it that strange?]
Currently, all the scenes since I have met Sato-san are flashing back inside my mind.
When we drank the tapioca milk tea, when we ate the ice cream roll and then when we both took the photo.
[Certainly, it’s just as Kazuharu-san said, there may be no point in recording things that would otherwise disappear.]
Behind me, the setting sun was about to sink into the horizon.
A single tear trail down my cheek.
I know exactly what these tears really mean. They were the tears of grief for the days of my unrequited love that would never come back.
It was heartbreakingly sad, but still, I had no regrets.
Because…
[No matter how much fun you had, no matter how much you want to remember, most things will be forgotten sooner or later, everything will change, but still…]
Because I can still remember.
I can remember the excitement, the hesitation, the struggle, and the inexplicable happiness of that moment when I was in love with her.
And then it came to us.
[That’s…]
It wasn’t only Kazuharu-san.
My father and the girls who were sitting on the other side of the terrace even forgot to take a breath as their eyes were snatched away by the spectacle unfolding.
The world was enveloped in a warm golden colour.
The “cafe tutuji” and the flower garden decorated with seasonal flowers were all enveloped in the golden color and shining.
Everything I saw was colored by the fantastic lights, and the magic began.
That’s the thing I wanted to show to Sato-san and her father. The treasure that only my father and I have been monopolizing till now.
A magical time that comes only for a short time, just after sunrise and just before sunset.
A momentary miracle of soft light that makes for the most mysterious and dramatic photos of the day.
I said to him in the pale light.
[Is it so strange to want to show off, to want to remember, even if only for a moment, the excitement of being with someone important?]
Magic hour.
The hues of the world change vividly, and the flower garden changes its appearance again and again.
All of them are beautiful, and none of them are the same, not even for a second. This fleeting and shifting scene itself was my answer.
[…I see. So this is what Koharu saw.]
Kazuharu-san exhales a little.
When I noticed, his face was back to the usual sour face, but still.
My dad and I believe that our treasure was able to move his heart, even if it was just a little bit…
However…
[…That’s enough.]
He said so coldly, pushing up the bridges of his glasses with his middle finger. The eyes behind the glasses are as sharp and wet as a sword.
I lost.
Even the girls who have been fascinated by the magic of the magical hour, the same as Kazuharu-san, probably noticed this and immediately held their smartphones to execute the next strategy.
But Kazuharu-san got the better of it and said,
[I said enough is enough, they’re your setup too, aren’t they?]
Kazuharu-san sharp eyes caught sight of a group of four men and women sitting around a table under a parasol a short distance from here.
[Hiiii!]
It was Shizuku-san who let out a short squeal when exposed to his intimidating glare.
Ren held his head in his arm in the blunder of his big sister, Mayo-san who sighed slightly, there was also Rinka-chan with her back facing this side.
All of them had their phones in their hands and were preparing for the next strategy, “Send a bunch of MINE to Sato-san’s phone using her friend’s taste and appeal to her emotions,” but it seems that Kazuharu-san had already seen through them.
[I don’t know what you are planning to do, but that’s shallow thinking.]
[Kuh…]
I let out a cry of frustration.
Kazuharu-san took back the smartphone placed on the table and then lifted the paper bag placed near the chair.
He is going.
I tried desperately to think of a way to keep him from leaving, but no words came out.
If my dad and my treasure didn’t do the trick, then I can only feel the despair that any words I say will be meaningless in front of him.
As my mind was in midst of burning frustration, Kazuharu-san looked up at me,
[…They are the friends of Koharu, right?]
For a moment, I was at a loss for an answer.
However I rethink and immediately answer strongly.
[Yes, that’s right.]
[…So including you, there are five people…Hmph… That’s a lot more than me.]
[What…?]
Kazuharu-san… laughed?
When I was surprised at the scene in front of me, Kazuharu-san once again turned to look at me,
[…First of all, you guys are misunderstanding something.]
[Misunderstanding…?]
[Oshio Sota, why do you think I took back the smartphone from Koharu?]
[Why… Because you didn’t like how Koharu-san was using her smartphone, so you took back the smartphone…]
[Wrong.]
Kazuharu-san shook his head.
…Huh, what? Is it different?
[What kind of parents would do that nowadays? This is the cause of it.]
With that, Kazuharu-san took something out of a paper bag and spread it out on the table.
It was several pamphlets of a major telecommunication carrier, and a small box of some kind. Is this…
[A Wi-Fi router…?]
When I raised my eyebrows quizzically, Kazuharu-san sighed deeply once more, and then uttered a shocking line.
[It’s a communication restrictor. It’s really troublesome to have an ignorant daughter.]
Time stopped.
2 seconds, 3 seconds… I don’t know how much time passed, but eventually the silence was broken.
「「「「「What???!!!!」」」」」
Mine and four other screams overlapped.
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