It’s Too Early to be Having Newlywed Syndrome! ~Childhood Friends Who Rekindled their Love for Each Other ~ - 4 - 24 - Egg Day?
Egg Day?
“I can act leisurely for a while starting tomorrow, right?”
Naoto, who was asked that by Iida, had an astonished expression.
“The heck are you saying? Starting tomorrow, you’ll be busy as well, you know.
So that Tachibana-san and Nagatomo-san could spend that day resting without reservations, I wanted to have at least the two of them take it easy. Meaning, we’ll only look for at least eight girls to accompany us from our school. If we split it between the two of us, then we’ll have to look for four girls each to reach eight.
I already invited Natsuki, Ninomiya-san , Hirose-san invited and Sasahara-san who I was on a call with earlier, so that leaves you to find the other four girls to join us.”
“Isn’t it unfair to count the three of them all to your quota?”
“Because, didn’t we agree that if I invited Tachibana-san to come along with us, you’ll do your best starting tomorrow, Iida? In reality, if we counted Tachibana-san and Nagatomo-san whom I’ve also invited, then that would really want me to make eight girls your quota.
If we think of it like the time when we had a pool class in the middle of an influenza epidemic back in middle school, then eight out of the twelve girls in our class not being able to attend would still have us barely have the numbers.
I’m expecting to increase the number of girls joining us, so I gave Iida a quota of 4 girls.”
“Eeh—-…… Me inviting four girls, isn’t that too hard?”
“Four girls from my class and four from yours, looks balanced, right?”
“I’m telling you, four girls is impossible. Let’s just make it eight girls from your class, Morita.”
“If we do it like that, it’ll probably pan out like them thinking ‘Disregarding the girls from the other school and Morita-kun, that Iida guy is from another class, so why did he came along on his own?’”
“I don’t mind that though. Four girls is unachievable.”
“There’s a chance that Tachibana-san’s side will bring their friends as well, so without thinking of getting four girls, how about at inviting one girl from your class to join us at first?
You’ve been staying still in the middle of your youth for many years now, so I think it is good for you to dash in it with all your might for this month at least, Iida. Having more female friends you can ask for advice with, and being able to do so without getting embarrassed is good for you.”
“Whether I could find even one person……”
“You’ll easily find one. Even if you’re not that close, you can still wing it. Even though I’m not friends with Sasahara-san, and we haven’t talked that much before, I was able to get a yes from her.”
“Ya serious?”
“Yeah, serious.”
“Eh, is that so? Even if they’re not friends, he’s able to invite her?”
Iida looked at Sakurako.
“Hmm…… in the case of Hatsumi, they have a connection through the novel, so she looks at him favorably.”
Sakurako, not knowing how to explain it, pondered.
“It seems different than that, though.”
“Natsuki. Even though I’m not that close with Sasahara-san, I did my best to talk to her on the phone, didn’t I?”
Naoto gripped Natsuki’s hand, and stared intently at her.
“Yup”
“See, that’s what Natsuki has to say about it.”
“It looked like you pressured her to say that just now.”
“I didn’t pressure her or anything. Natsuki hates that kind of thing, after all.”
“Then, would someone you’re not even friends with really come?”
“They will.”
“But isn’t that because it’s Morita who invited them? If I’m the one who invited them, won’t they doubt my intentions?”
“If you tell them ‘It might be the final time I’ll have the opportunity to see my first love, so if you could just make it look like you volunteered to come. In exchange, I replace you on cleaning duties and stuff’ wholeheartedly, then you might get about four people to cooperate.”
“I told you, four people is difficult.”
“If it’s me, I’ll be able to get four people. If I tell them that Natsuki’s also going, that’ll greatly lower the hurdle.”
“If it’s as you say, then we have to invite those in Morita’s class after all.”
“I do have a girlfriend, so it wouldn’t be good if I work too hard for Tachibana-san’s sake.”
“That ain’t fair.”
“If you emphasize the part where they can at separately form the guys, and that there are lot of other girls coming, then you’ll be able to gather a group of kind girls.”
“Maybe I’ll try asking them. Speaking of, how about asking Nagatomo-san’s friends?”
After groaning,
“The girls in my class are mostly indoors people, would that work? They haven’t experience going to the mountains or the beach.”
Said Makoto.
“Now that you mention that, Morita and I haven’t gone to faraway places either, have we?”
“No way we’ll do, it’s such a bother. We haven’t even thought about it. Whenever Iida suggests something like going to the amusement park, I would just rebut with why should with do that and is he and idiot and other stuff.”
“With that kind of thinking, won’t inviting four girls be challenging? Even if I’m friends with four of them, that doesn’t mean all of them are the types to go on a trip.”
“You know, I really hated the things like the bath at our field trip.”
“Then wouldn’t inviting someone to Health Land be super tough?”
“There’s no scheduled time for going to bath at Health Land, so you can take on at your lonesome. Or, putting it in extreme terms, you can even forgo taking a bath at all.”
“Would someone who don’t want to take bath even go to Health Land?”
“There are friends that want to go together on a trip, but don’t want to enter the bath together, that thing happens often, right? Even among newlyweds who’re supposedly saw each other naked, about thirty percent of them find it embarrassing to take a bath together, or so it seems.
People going to the beach even though they can’t swim, or people joining others to the karaoke even though they can’t sing, those things are not uncommon, aren’t they?
Even I in the past was excited to go to Health Land not because of the baths. If Natsuki’s not going with, I wouldn’t even get in the bus, and I’ll just stay home playing video games.”
“Aah, I see. Me too, even when I have no interest in fishing, I went with a friend on night fishing with the goal of getting to eat fish. Even though I’m basically more into games, I find camping outdoors quite fun.”
“Right? There’s also a manga corner at Health Land, and a movie corner as well. If you feel like you’ll forget to explain about that part, then should I send you those info, Iida?
It’s okay to cancel, aside from checking in, individual action is okay, talking only to just the girls, may it be asking them questions or consulting about something is okay, we won’t increase the number of boys, and if the two boys acted suspiciously, they’ll be sent home, have you memorized all that?”
“I forgot. I night forget the thing about not increasing the number of boys.”
Naoto, while looking at his smartphone’s screen,
“Then I’ll write about things like the facilities, these particulars, and that thing as well in an easy-to-understand manner. If we just say that we won’t increase the number of boys, those who hear it will not be convinced after all. After writing it so you’ll easily understand it after reading my message, I’ll send to you tonight or tomorrow.”
“Is that alright? Won’t that take too much time?”
“One I decided on what to write, it’ll be done in the blink of an eye. We just need to avoid pointing out about Tachibana-san’s fear of men, and gain their trust to some degree, and just explain to them that we’re different from the other boys.”
“That, send that to me too! I’m not quite good at explaining things like that. I’ll definitely forget some of those things otherwise.”
Makoto also demanded for a message.
“If that’s so, then maybe I’ll write the message now, and have it checked for corrections. It might take me ten minutes to finish it. If you think of any questions that may arise, tell me so I can take care of them in the message.”
The moment Naoto said that, everyone around him turned silent.
“……No, if you don’t have any, you could say that as well, you know.”
“We’re still thinking if we have any questions! You’re so impatient”
Iida answered while laughing.
“Is that so?”
“Ah. The food court inside is a bit expensive so if they join us, it might cost them quite the money, so would it be better to write that in?”
“I night forget that as well. Write that down.”
“To those who doesn’t have motion sickness, would should I write down that they can save on food expense by bringing something to eat and drink inside the bus? I’ll also follow up that since bringing outside food and drinks is not allowed, they need to throw any remaining snacks and pet bottles.”
“Please do that too.”
“Should I also write that if they sign up for membership, they can enter one-time for free on their birth month? Anyone whose birthday is on January might be able to avail that.”
“That’s a really important information!”
“Eh?! My birthday’s on January.”
Sakurako raised her voice upon hearing about the perk she hasn’t known before.
“Oh. Happy birthday.”
Iida greeted her in reflex.
“Thank you. Although it hasn’t happened yet, since at the end of the month. 29th, to be exact.”
“Ah, is that so? Then it’s too early for a happy birthday then.”
“I have mixed feelings at this month’s 29th. The 29th is meat day on the supermarket and at grilled meat restaurants, so my family would have meat for my birthday. If were not having sukiyaki at home, then we would be going to a grilled meat restaurant.”
“Somehow, doesn’t that sound like a good thing if anything?”
“But it’s quite embarrassing as a girl to spend my birthday ravenously munching on meat. Though, it’s certainly a good thing, since eating them makes me happy and they’re delicious as well.”
“Then, it would’ve been better if we have each other’s birthdays. I heard mine’s on egg day, after all.”
“When’s your birthday, Iida-kun?”
“Mine’s on the June 9. Seems like that’s egg day.”
“Egg day? Why is it on June 9, I wonder?”
“It seems like if you write it in kanji, it looks similar to 6 and 9.”
“In kanji? Egg (玉子)……, to 6 (六) and 9 (九)?”
“Er, I don’t know which is which, but probably, the left side of the kanji for egg looks like 6, and the right side looks like 9…… I’m not talking about the kanji, but the Hindu-Arabic 6 and 9.”
“Eh, I don’t really get it. Am I the only one? How does the tama (玉) part even look remotely close to the number 6?”
Sakurako, expressing her impatience, became even more confused.
“Ah, I’m not talking about that kanji, there’s that peculiar kanji for egg (卵), right?”
“A peculiar feeling for an egg?”
(Here, Sakurako is referring to another word with the same pronunciation, kanji (感じ) which means feeling)
“I’m talking about the difficult kanji.”
“A difficult feeling for an egg?”
“That first character for the kanji of egg cell (卵子), I’m referring to that egg (卵).”
“Egg cell…… ah—! Uwa— I’m sorry, so that’s what you meant!”
“It’s okay that you understood.”
“I’m sorry, I made you explain many times. Why didn’t I get it quickly? It’s so embarrassing.”
“Don’t apologize, it’s my fault for sucking at explaining things.”
“That’s not it, I think, it seems like I was the only one who didn’t get it the first time.”
“No, really, I think that I didn’t explain it that good enough. I’m very sorry.”
“It’s all fine, it’s all fine. I’m the one who wanted to know about Iida-kun’s birthday.”
“But knowing my birthday doesn’t have any merit, right?”
“Eh—, there might be something. Sometimes, there are family restaurants that offer discounts to those who come eat on their birthdays.”
“I see. I can help you to search for any.”
“Really? I’ll take that as a promise, you know.”
“It’s a promise then. It’s my atonement for making you embarrassed.”
Iida answered while smiling naturally.
“I’ll take you up on that, you know?”
“I’ll also take you up on that, you know? Will you really eat out with me on my birthday?”
“Only if Iida-kun’s alright with that.”
“Of course, I’m alright with it. Last year I ate at a family restaurant with Morita, you know?”
“Are you not okay with Morita-kun?”
“It’s embarrassing for two guys to eat out together on birthdays, Christmas and Valentine’s, you know. While eating the free birthday cake at a family restaurant, even though I said we don’t need the picture taking service, the waitress onee-san really pushed for it, and we had the picture of the two of us together taken.”
“What happened to that picture?”
“I threw it immediately.”
“Eeh—, why?”
“Why, you ask, it’s because I have no use for it. Morita and I agreed ‘Let’s not look at this picture again’, then threw it away.”
“And I wanted to see it too.”
“I don’t want to see it again!”
Naoto, who was listening on Iida and Sakurako’s conversation, was impressed.
I see, so this is how people who are good at being with others connect their conversation topics. I should write it down on my smartphone’s memo.
Naoto, who thought that, already had his smartphone in his hand, that’s when he remembered that he’s on the middle of constructing the message. While the other two were in the middle of their conversation, Naoto focused on making the message.
Naoto typing the message while smirking, making a troubled expression and pinching his lower lips and think while thinking from time to time, natsui kept watching that without getting bored of it.
“——Alright, —I finished the message with roughly the minimum explanations needed, so I already sent it to Iida and Nagatomo-san. If Tachibana-san or anyone else wants a copy, then just forward it to them.
There might be things in the message that can also be found on the FAQs at Health Lands website, but for the time being, I only wrote the important points that I know of. I’ll go and shorten them later.”
Naoto said with a happy expression.
“Natsuki, were you thinking how cool Morita was while watching him thinking while writing the message?”
Aki whispered in Natsuki’s ear.
Natsuki discreetly nodded.
Aki patted that Natsuki’s head with affection.
“——That’s how he also looks like when thinking about his novel, so how about making him write it in front of you?”
“I will.”