My Childhood Friend Is Dangerously Sexy and Cute - 19

Chapter 19: There Are Days When You Just Crave a Burger

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

On one day near the end of Golden Week, it was just before sunset. Yuki and I had visited a hamburger shop. Hamburgers were one of Yuki’s favorite foods. Every now and then, she would suddenly say she absolutely had to eat one. Today was one of those days. We had come to eat burgers together as an early dinner.

“Hiro-san, Hiro-san.”

“Hmm?”

Even as I bit into my burger, I responded to Yuki, who was sitting across from me.

“Why do hamburgers have pickles in them?”

“Well, probably because they taste better that way?”

“That can’t be true. These sour pickles ruin the whole burger. If they weren’t there, I’d want to eat this every day…”

“No, there are plenty of people who like the pickles…”

“Hiro-san, do you like pickles?”

“I don’t dislike them.”

“Then here you go.”

As she said that, Yuki held out just the pickle from her burger toward me, offering it with her mouth. “Mm.”

“What am I supposed to do with that?”

“Pwease eat mine too.”

Well, she couldn’t speak properly because she was holding the pickle in her mouth… She probably meant “Please eat my portion too.”

“I don’t mind eating it, but why are you offering it with your mouth?”

“Mouth to mouth.”

Mouth to mouth, huh. Somehow, it started to look kind of cute. Yuki leaned closer, still offering me the pickle.

“No way.”

I took just the pickle from her mouth with my hand, then ate it in one bite. My fingers almost brushed her lips, and my heart skipped a little.

“Geez… a pickle-through kiss would’ve been fine.”

Even as she said that, Yuki happily took a bite of her burger now free of the pickle threat, nibbling at it with her small mouth.

“It’s delicious.”

With a soft, satisfied expression, she said it as if reporting to me. She looked like a child. The way she looked while eating a burger hadn’t changed at all since long ago. Even though it looked like she took a big bite, she hardly ate much at all. Watching her slowly nibble away with her small bites was really enjoyable, and that version of Yuki was unbelievably cute. It definitely made it into the top five of her cutest moments. No doubt about it.

“Oh, Yuki.”

“…?”

When I called out to her, she tilted her head while chewing. There was ketchup on her cheek. I wiped it off with a tissue. Firmly, rubbing it clean.

“You had ketchup on you.”

“…Hiro-san… that’s not fair.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

For some reason, Yuki turned bright red and looked down. She might have been redder than the ketchup.

“I’m… not a child.”

“O-oh…”

“I can wipe it myself.”

Saying that, she went back to nibbling her burger, her expression quickly softening again. It didn’t seem like I’d upset her. Maybe she was just embarrassed.

Even though she does all sorts of things to me… She’s really a hard-to-understand childhood friend. Ah, she’s got ketchup on her again…

✳︎ ✳︎ ✳︎

After we both finished our burgers, we picked at the fries we had bought together and chatted casually. That was our usual routine whenever we came to eat burgers. By the way, although they were seated far from us, there was a loud group nearby. To me, their voices sounded suspiciously like those pig guys I knew, but Yuki seemed determined to ignore them. From what I could catch, they were discussing a birthday present for Sayuki. I wanted to tell them her birthday was still more than half a year away.

You guys are definitely being played by that naturally mischievous little devil Sayuki…

I thought to myself.

“Hiro-san, Hiro-san.”

“Yeah?”

While idly thinking about that and eating fries, Yuki spoke to me again.

Let’s just forget about those guys.

“What do you think happened with Hoshino-san?”

“Who knows?”

We hadn’t seen Hoshino since that part-time job day.

“I see…”

“Are you worried?”

Yuki and I had received a consultation from Hoshino. About how she could get closer to her childhood friend crush, how she could become his girlfriend. But apparently, that childhood friend already had a girlfriend. From the way the two looked at the café, that seemed certain. In the end, Yuki and I hadn’t been able to do anything about her situation, and there wasn’t really anything we could do.

“I’m not particularly worried.”

“Really? You seemed pretty serious when you were listening to her.”

“That’s true, but in the end, there’s nothing I can do. It depends on them. It depends on Hoshino-san’s choices.”

“Yeah… that’s true.”

It wasn’t easy to meddle in someone else’s love life. Being able to do that either meant you were thoughtless or that you genuinely cared deeply about those people.

Had I ever been able to care about someone like that? Had I built any kind of real relationship with Hoshino? I thought the answer was no. That was why all I could have was this kind of irresponsible conversation.

“Hiro-san, Hiro-san!”

This time Yuki spoke with a slightly excited tone.

“What is it?”

“Look over there.”

I followed where she pointed. In a corner of the burger shop, at a two-person table. Hoshino was there, along with the childhood friend boy we had seen before.

“Hoshino?”

“Is that her childhood friend?”

“Yeah.”

If my memory was right, there was no mistake.

“Why are they together…?”

“Maybe seeing that he already has a girlfriend made her feelings burn even stronger.”

Yuki looked a little pleased for some reason.

“Is that how it works?”

“That’s how it is. They call it stealing someone’s lover, right?”

If it were me… what would I do? If the person I liked already had someone else. For example, just as an example, if Yuki had a boyfriend. I’d probably feel like disappearing. Like I’d come to hate everything in the world. If I were in Hoshino’s position, I probably wouldn’t even have the energy to get out of bed during Golden Week. Stealing someone away would be out of the question. So Hoshino must have made a brave choice.

But somehow, from where I was sitting, her expression didn’t look like it was burning with the fire of love. If anything, she looked incredibly lonely. Like there was no strength in her at all.

“Hiro-san? What’s wrong?”

“Huh? No, it’s nothing…”

“Hiro-san, do you dislike things like stealing someone’s partner?”

“Yeah… I guess so…”

“It’s okay. We’ll always be together.”

Yuki gently took my hand, which had been gripped by a faint unease. Then she smiled softly at me. It was the smile I trusted more than anything in the world.

“…Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

She smiled at me again, so I probably smiled back at her too.

“Ah, Hiro-san. It looks like Hoshino-san and the others are leaving.”

Yuki stood up.

“You’re going after them?”

“Aren’t you curious?”

“Hey…”

Being pulled along by Yuki, we left the shop and followed after Hoshino and the boy. The two of us tailed them, almost like stalkers.

Is it really okay to be doing this?

Hoshino would probably get mad if she found out. But Yuki didn’t seem like she had any intention of stopping. If anything, her eyes looked more excited than before. There was definitely curiosity there, but more than that, she was probably worried about Hoshino.

Eventually, we followed them to that park from before. A place full of memories for me and Yuki. The cherry blossom viewing spot from just the other day. The cherry blossoms had already fallen. Deep green life filled the space now. Under the evening sun, orange and deep green mixed together. It was a beautiful sight in its own way.

What was Hoshino thinking, coming to this place? What was she thinking, meeting him here? 

We watched the childhood friend pair from the shadows at the edge.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー