Beyond The Bad End - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Haru’s POV

Usually, lunch time was the busiest time for our restaurant, but during the obon festival holiday, the restaurant was more busy during the evening than during lunchtime.

As usual, that year’s obon festival was as just busy as the other years. During it, in the evening, my father and me were working full throttle. Even my grandfather who has retired from the business was helping out with frying and washing dishes.

Because my mother and grandmother couldn’t handle the customer service alone, my older sister who is four years older than me, also helped out at the restaurant during it. My sister was already working on her own, but she came back home and helped us out since she was on holiday as well.

In the evening, the number of customers began to increase around 5PM and by 6PM a line began to form in front of the restaurant.

That’s how the obon festival was for me, but as usual, Maki was late every time.

Her shift was supposed to start at 5PM, but she was always late and often arrived at 7PM. Even though everyone wanted to say something to her about it, we were too busy to reprimand her, so we just let it slide, and on top of that, even though she was like a family to us, everyone was still somewhat hesitated to confront Maki.

I was thinking that I should say something to her about it later, but by the time we closed the restaurant, I was too exhausted to say anything to her. In the end, I didn’t say anything to Maki and went straight back home.

After the obon holiday were over and things at the restaurant settled down, I wanted to spend some time with Maki for the first time in a while. However, she told me that she had an appointment with her friends and she apologized for it. We always spent time together whenever the restaurant was closed, so we never said anything about our date until the day. That was the first time she refused to go out with me.

I felt a sense of frustration and disappointed because I really wanted to spend some time with my girlfriend. I thought that we could spend time together just the two of us for the first time in a while. I didn’t want Maki to feel constrained dating with me, so I gave up.

It seemed that she felt bad about it. She told me that she was really sorry over and over again, she also promised to spend some time with me next time.

‘If you really feel bad about it, why don’t you just cancel your plans with your friends and spend some time with me today?’

I thought so in my mind. It made me feel even more frustrated.

Even though I felt frustrated about it, I also hated myself. I thought that I was really childish to get mad over something so trivial. To distract myself from such thoughts, I decided to study alone in my room.

Then suddenly, as I was studying in my room, Kataoka messaged me.

‘Matsuyama-chi, are you alive?’

‘Dead.’

‘How can you reply if you’re dead!?’

‘How are you, Kataoka-san?’

‘I feel kind of stressed out from all of the studying.’

‘Yeah, me too.’

‘Oh! By the way, I went to your restaurant again the other day, but the line was so long that I gave up and went back home!’

‘Ah, I’m sorry about that. It was during the obon festival holiday, right? It’s always really crowded at that time of the year.’

‘I see. Matsuyama-chi’s food is indeed very delicious.’

‘No, I’m just a part timer at the restaurant. It’s my dad and my grandpa who are really great.’

‘Hey, hey! Is the restaurant open after the obon festival?’

‘Yeah, of course.’

‘Can I go then? I want to eat Matsuyama-chi’s fried rice again!’

‘Sorry, but we’re closed today.’

‘I see, too bad! Are you on a date with your girlfriend?’

‘No, I’m studying in my room.’

“Eh!? Why!? Even though you have such a cute girlfriend! You should take her on a date on your day off.’

‘Yeah, I guess so.’

I actually really wanted to tell Kataoka what happened, that my girlfriend went somewhere else with her friends without me, but I don’t want to show my weakness to Kataoka. So I decided not to tell her about it.

‘Do you think it will be okay for me to go to the restaurant tomorrow? Will you be there in the afternoon, Matsuyama-chi?’

‘Yeah sure, I’ll be there in the afternoon.’

‘Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow then.’

It was nothing serious, it was just a normal conversation between friends. However, after talking to Kataoka, I felt a bit more relaxed and I was able to concentrate on my studies afterwards.

The next day, Kataoka came to the restaurant in the afternoon.

‘I’ll have the fried rice and Gyoza today! The Karaage was really delicious, but I’ll get fat if I keep eating it, so I won’t have it today!’

‘Even you care about your weight huh, Kataoka?’

‘Ugh! Wait a minute, what a terrible thing to say! What exactly do you think of me!?’

‘A gal who seems strong in a fist fight?’

‘What is that!? You’re really funny!’

Kataoka was as energetic as ever, even my mom was giggling at her.

Because of Kataoka’s blonde hair, my grandmother used to call her ‘a child with a head like gaijin.’

(TN: Gaijin means foreigner in japan.)