I Started Dating Someone By Taking Advantage Of Her Weakness, But I Was Actually Dating Her Mother - Chapter 37-38: The Second Date (Part 13&14)

“Tsukimizato-san, there’s a crepe shop over there.”

“You’re right. A food truck is set up there.”

Jin spotted a food truck parked a little distance away from the bench where they were sitting. The vehicle was a mobile vendor selling crepes, and families and couples were lining up to buy crepes.

“Shall we go, Tsukimizato-san?”

“Sorry for making you worry about me. I’ll treat you here.”

“Tsukimizato-san, you don’t need to take out your wallet. I’ll treat you here, so feel free to order whatever you like.”

(I could have managed to pay for just crepes with the money I have on hand, but sorry for making you worry about me. Sigh, but Kaneda-kun is truly so wonderful for being able to say such things naturally.)

Since Yoriko had been letting Jin pay for everything, she tried to return the favor even in just a small way, but he naturally and gently stopped her.

“There are so many. I’m having trouble deciding which one to choose.”

“You’re right. Crepes run deep, don’t they? There are so many kinds, from ones I know to ones I don’t understand at all.”

A board with the menu was set up in front of the food truck, where names, photos, and prices were clearly displayed.

“There are some crepes with rather high price settings too. I understand that caviar is sturgeon eggs, but what is surströmming? Do you know, Tsukimizato-san?”

“No, I don’t know. Since it’s priced higher than other crepes, I wonder if it’s delicious? From looking at the photo, it seems like fish… maybe?”

Jin and Yoriko looked at the photo of the surströmming crepe and became interested in the mysterious expensive delicacy.

“Excuse me, what is surströmming?”

“Customer, you’ve found quite a good item. Surströmming is herring preserved in salt water. It has a bit of a peculiar taste, but once you get used to it, you can eat it very deliciously.”

When Jin asked the shop person about the mysterious ingredient, the male staff member politely explained what it was.

“I think I’ll try this one. What will you have, Tsukimizato-san?”

“Let’s see. I think I’ll go with strawberry cream.”

The two decided on the crepes they would order.

“Excuse me. We’d like a surströmming crepe and a strawberry cream crepe, please.”

“Heh, heh, heh, thank you very much. I’ll make them right away, so please wait.”

The staff member who took the order began making the strawberry cream crepe that Yoriko had ordered first.

“Here you go, thank you for waiting. The strawberry cream crepe is ready.”

“Thank you.”

“Now, let me make your boyfriend’s order.”

Yoriko received her strawberry cream crepe, and then the staff member was about to make what Jin had ordered.

“I’m back. Hey, what are you trying to make?”

“What do you mean? A surströmming crepe.”

At that moment, a female staff member who had been out returned. She asked the male staff member what he was trying to make, and when he answered, the female staff member’s expression changed.

“You idiot, don’t serve such a joke menu item to a couple on a date!”

“…Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry. The surströmming is sold out. Please order something else.”

“Huh?”

These two staff members seemed to be a married couple. The male staff member, scolded by the female staff member, reluctantly canceled Jin’s order and asked him to order something else.

“When they say it’s sold out, it somehow makes me curious about it.”

“That’s true. What’s gone is gone, I suppose. But the custard chocolate cream crepe you chose in the end also looks delicious.”

Jin ended up ordering a custard chocolate cream crepe. Incidentally, surströmming was an ingredient that produced such a tremendous stench that it affected the surrounding area. It had been added to the menu as a playful joke by the shop owner, and if the female staff member hadn’t returned, Jin and Yoriko would have been caught up in something terrible.

(500 yen each, so 1000 yen for both of us. My sense of money has gotten a bit warped, so a price like this is somehow reassuring.)

Jin and Yoriko had purchased their crepes and were sitting on a bench close to the mobile vendor. This was because the park had no trash cans installed, so the only place where they could dispose of the paper wrapping their crepes was the trash can set up by the food truck.

“Well then, Kaneda-kun, let’s eat.”

“Please go ahead.”

“Chomp. Mmm, it’s sweet and delicious!”

When Yoriko bit into the strawberry cream crepe she was holding, the sweetness of the fresh cream spread through her mouth, and she showed a blissful expression.

“Chomp. When I see the happy face Tsukimizato-san makes when eating sweet things, it makes me happy too.”

“If you say things like that, it’ll make it hard for me to eat.”

After Jin took a bite of his crepe and commented on how Yoriko looked happy while eating, Yoriko showed an embarrassed expression.

“Oh, that’s right. Kaneda-kun, would you like a bite?”

“Huh?”

Yoriko quietly offered her half-eaten crepe to Jin.

(Th-th-this would be an indirect kiss.)

Jin became conscious of the fact that if he ate the crepe Yoriko offered, it would constitute an indirect kiss.

“Are you perhaps being conscious of it because it would be an indirect kiss?”

“W-well, that might be the case.”

When Yoriko asked such a question with an upward glance, Jin answered in an embarrassed manner.

“Hehe, when we ate the parfait last week, wouldn’t that have been an indirect kiss too? If we did it before, there shouldn’t be a problem now, should there?”

“Ugh, so you did notice.”

“I wonder about that. Well then, I’ll have some of Kaneda-kun’s first. Chomp. Mmm, this custard and chocolate harmony is exquisite too.”

Yoriko brought up the story of eating the parfait on their previous date, saying that since they had already done the indirect kiss thing then, there was no problem, and then took the opportunity to bite into Jin’s crepe.

“Well then, please go ahead.”

“Can’t be helped. Chomp. Yeah, the strawberry has a good flavor.”

Yoriko watched happily as Jin ate the strawberry cream crepe. Taking turns tasting each other’s crepes like this, Jin and Yoriko enjoyed a pleasant snack time.

“I’m sorry. Today I have to buy ingredients for dinner and then prepare it. It’s unfortunate, but we should head back to the station plaza soon.”

“I see. I wanted to stay together a bit longer, but it’s regrettable.”

“We can meet anytime again.”

“That’s true.”

After finishing their crepes, Jin and Yoriko strolled through the park while chatting happily. Before they knew it, it was time for Yoriko to head home. Though both felt reluctant to part, they decided to leave Central Park and return to the station plaza.