My Childhood Friend Is Dangerously Sexy and Cute - 24

Chapter 24: Spending Time Differently from My Childhood Friend

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“Hey, hey, Asama-kun. Want to go grab some ramen?”

“Ramen?”

“Yeah! I’m starving.”

It was after school, on the way back from our now-routine extra practice session. Hoshino, walking a few paces ahead of me, turned around and made the suggestion.

“There’s a delicious shop nearby!”

Ramen, huh. Since Yuki had been doing the cooking, I didn’t get many chances to eat out. Consequently, the invitation felt quite appealing. 

I mean, Yuki’s cooking is the best in the world, okay?

“Ah, but I have to let Yuki know… wait, no, it’s fine. Let’s go then.”

“Really? You were about to say something, though.”

“Yeah. It’s no problem.”

Usually, Yuki always prepared dinner for us. However, during this sports festival period, our schedules often didn’t align, so I had told her to just head straight home. Yuki had been reluctant, and I felt a sense of loneliness since the time we could spend together was limited. Still, Yuki must have been tired from her own after-school practice. I didn’t want to be a burden to her. Because of that, my meals lately consisted almost entirely of convenience store bento.

“In that case, let’s go. It’s that way!”

“Hey, don’t run.”

“But I’m famished! We have to hurry!”

That’s why I told you if you run like that, your skirt will…

But I decided to keep that to myself. Besides, thanks to the spartan practice, I didn’t even have the energy left to run…

The teacher doesn’t understand the feelings of her student.

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“Welcome!”

As I followed Hoshino into the shop, the staff’s voices greeted us. The name of the shop was “Ramen Jiro.” Apparently, orders were placed via a ticket machine. Seeing Hoshino buy a “Large Ramen,” I bought the same thing, determined not to be outdone. If a girl was ordering a large portion, it wouldn’t do for me, a guy, to just get a regular size. I was hungry, so it should be fine.

“Would you like garlic?” 

“Everything maxed out!” 

After sitting side by side with Hoshino at the counter for a while, the staff member asked that. Hoshino answered with full confidence, but…  Hoshino, didn’t you completely miss the point of the question? Was she going to be okay? Based on the staff’s reaction, it seemed there was no problem.

“And for you, sir?”

“Eh? Oh, um… the same…?”

“Understood!”

I answered instinctively. Well, if it was the same as Hoshino’s, there shouldn’t be an issue.

“Ohh, as expected of a boy.”

“Huh?”

I didn’t quite understand the meaning behind Hoshino’s words. I ordered the same thing as a girl, so why was she saying “as expected”? Since entering this shop, I was surrounded by things I didn’t understand. It was beyond my comprehension. Then, a few minutes later, I learned all the answers, and at the same time, my brain short-circuited. My stomach prepared itself for death.

Thump.

What was placed before Hoshino and me with a dull thud was—a mountain. One mountain stood before me, or rather, two mountains including Hoshino’s. What was this? Didn’t I order ramen? All I saw was a mountain of bean sprouts.

“Hey, Hoshino, this—”

“Private chatter is strictly forbidden. All that’s left is to face the ramen before you!”

“O-Oh…?”

“Thanks for the food!”

Hoshino gripped her disposable chopsticks and confronted the ramen (?). I didn’t understand what was going on, but I also readied my chopsticks and took a mouthful of a corner of the bean sprout mountain.

Oh…? This is delicious…?

Was it thanks to the backfat poured over the bean sprouts? It was well-seasoned and tasty. I could keep eating this. It was also delicious when eaten with the extra-thick chashu pork. Hoshino next to me was already slurping noodles with incredible momentum, and I, for my part, was becoming engrossed in the deliciousness.

After a while, I finally reached the noodles buried far below. They were different from others—firm? Chewy? Was that what you’d call it? They were thick noodles with that kind of texture, and I could taste the deliciousness of the wheat. However, that happiness only lasted for the first half.

“Urp…”

What was with this amount? This wasn’t an amount a human could eat… I felt like half the noodles were still left.

“Phew~ that was delicious~~~~ thanks for the meal!”

“—!!??”

Glancing to my side, I saw that Hoshino had already finished eating. She had a truly blissful look on her face. So you were a big eater…

“…Hoshino, do you always eat this much?”

“Hmm, I wonder. I feel like I’ve been eating a lot lately.”

A high school girl said that so nonchalantly… 

Isn’t she worried about her weight?

Or was it something else? Was she perhaps building up stress? Come to think of it, not much time had passed since that day Hoshino confessed and was turned down. Since then, she had been working hard consecutively on the sports festival cheer squad. It wouldn’t be strange if she were stressed out.

“Aren’t you getting tired?”

“Not at all? I’m full of energy!”

“…I see.”

Knowing Hoshino’s personality, even if she were tired, she probably wouldn’t vent that to someone like me. Lately, I had been seeing her every day, running around and looking after many students besides myself as a member of the cheer squad. To me, she looked radiant.

“By the way, Asama-kun, are you okay with that? Can you eat it?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

I wondered if I had said that because I didn’t want to lose to her. There was no point in pushing myself in a place like this, but I still forcibly stuffed the ramen into my stomach, which had already reached its limit.

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“…Ugh, I ate too much… I’m gonna barf…”

After leaving the shop, I groaned while clutching my stomach. In contrast to me, Hoshino seemed perfectly fine.

“Ahaha~, you didn’t have to push yourself.”

“A man has his pride.”

“Then shall we walk for a bit? Until you feel better.”

“Let’s do that. Slowly, though.”

“Got it, got it.”

The two of us, Hoshino and I, walked through the town where there weren’t many people. The sun had already set.

Man, seriously, I feel nauseous… but it was delicious. The ramen.

Since the sports festival period started, I had been spending a lot of time with Hoshino. Under the guise of dance lessons, we had gone to karaoke. In the end, it didn’t turn into practice because Hoshino just spent the whole time singing her heart out. She also dragged me to an arcade. Together with a high-spirited Hoshino, we mowed down countless zombies and survived a post-apocalyptic world. Looking back, all of it seemed like a way for Hoshino to release stress.

But it was fun because it was all things I didn’t usually do with Yuki. Maybe I should go with Yuki next time. Even though I should have been having fun with Hoshino, I found myself imagining time with my childhood friend after all. Was that strange?

“Ah, Asama-kun! Look, that’s the Milky Way, right!?”

Hoshino pointed at the starry sky. Countless sparkles spread out across the expanse.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, probably.”

“So you can see it even when it’s not Tanabata.”

“I think you can see it pretty much anytime, can’t you?”

In this town, which couldn’t exactly be called prosperous, there were no city lights to interfere.

“Is that so~. Then, are those two especially bright ones Orihime and Hikoboshi?”

“That would be Vega in Lyra and Altair in Aquila.”

“…? Is that different?”

“No, it’s not different, but…”

I’m at that age where I want to show off even trivial knowledge. Please understand, Teacher.

“Orihime and Hikoboshi can only meet once a year on Tanabata, right? I wonder if they live solely for that one day.”

“Maybe.”

“But perhaps that’s why their love grows deeper…”

“Isn’t it usually the opposite? I hear all the time that long-distance relationships don’t last.”

“That’s true. But still, because they can’t meet normally, I think each and every encounter becomes precious. I think that’s very wonderful.”

Hoshino seemed to be staring somewhere even further away than the Milky Way spreading across the sky.

A relationship built little by little by being together all the time. I think that is something very precious. However, in this world, there are relationships born from encounters brought together as if by fate. Sometimes, there are flames of love that burn brighter precisely because people are apart. Precisely because there are hardships. When faced with that kind of “special,” perhaps the time accumulated doesn’t mean anything at all.

In that case, what is a “childhood friend”? Is the relationship between Yuki and me special? Right now, we are simply dependent on each other. If some different fate started moving, would our relationship crumble?

Would we see each other less and less? Like during this sports festival period. Like Hoshino and her childhood friend. I don’t want things to turn out like that though. Because…. No matter what the world says, no matter what anyone says, surely our encounter was special to us. Because I have Yuki… So…

“I think I want to be together all the time. I couldn’t stand only being able to meet once a year.”

“…You’re right. I guess I feel the same way, too.”

I wished that I could find the answer quickly.

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