My Childhood Friend, a Cool, Beautiful Girl With a Pure Face, Is a Monopolising Yandere
I arrived at this small country town after taking a local train.
When I left the ticket gate, the area in front of the station was more compact than I had imagined, and looking around, I could not find anything that looked like a prominent tourist facility.
At best, there is an old, empty face-panel and a stone monument that describes the local history, which I don’t understand.
However, I feel that this simplicity enhances the feeling of ‘having come on a trip’
This is it.
This is what I’ve been looking for. ……!
After a brief look around the station, Ran and I headed for a small wooden café just a few minutes’ walk from the station.
The time was already past noon, as we had been rocked by the slow train.
The sign in front of the station said ‘Lunch OK’, but the handmade sign at the entrance said ‘Coffee & Lunch’, so I was sure this was the right place.
“It’s quite an old building. But it looks relaxing.”
“It doesn’t look crowded either. Let’s go here.”
Ran quickly opens the glass door and enters.
The shop is furnished with retro furniture and the aroma of coffee wafts through the air. It has an atmosphere reminiscent of a Showa-era coffee shop.
“Welcome. Please have a seat of your choice.”
The refined-looking, elderly owner guides us to a table and we sit down.
The menu consists mainly of standard items such as sandwiches, pasta and omelettes. My stomach rumbled as I gazed at the menu with its mouth-watering photos. I was already quite hungry, partly because I had woken up early in the morning.
“I think I’ll have an omelette. What about Ran?”
“I think I’ll have pasta. I heard they use local vegetables.”
After placing our orders, we looked around the restaurant. The walls are decorated with photographs of the local landscape, showing rural villages and the coastline.
The sea looks beautiful.
I wish I had time to go to the seaside somewhere, even just for a glimpse, but it’s too early to catch the train home and it might be difficult.
Soon, the good smell of butter heating up from the kitchen made me even more excited. My hunger peaks when the aroma of fluffy eggs and ketchup from the omelette looms over me.
“Itadakimasu!”
The omelette brought to the table looked simple, but the eggs were melting and the rice inside was well seasoned. Ran’s sandwich had soft bread and the ingredients were well sandwiched together and looked good.
“Not bad. For this quality at this price.”
“The omelette here is also delicious. with a homely, comforting taste.”
We enjoyed a leisurely lunch, chatting lightly with each other. The relaxed music playing in the restaurant was pleasant and made us forget the heat outside for a moment.
After lunch, the owner asked us if we would like some shaved ice.
“Well, since we’re here, ……’”
“Sure.”
I ordered strawberry milk and Ran ordered green tea, and the owner smiled gently and said, ‘It will take a while, but please take your time.’
The shaved ice arrived a short time later, with plenty of sweet syrup on coarse, old-fashioned ice. I put my spoon in, scooped up a mouthful and took it into my mouth, and the heady coldness and sweetness came rushing in.
“Haah …… sizzling. Delicious.”
“Indeed,…… the bitterness of the matcha is just right. Not bad.”
Ran had a cool face at first, but her eyes narrowed every time she ate shaved ice. This is probably proof that she likes it a lot. We left the café looking contented, chewing on the happiness of being able to enjoy a cold dessert on a hot day.
As we left the café, the sun was getting stronger and the blue of the sky painfully stained our eyes.
The sound of cicadas is even louder, and I can feel the sweat slowly seeping down my back.
“What next? I’ve been seeing signs for a sunflower field earlier.”
I glance at Ran and she opens her mouth to nod as she operates her phone.
“It looks like there’s a signpost about 10 minutes’ walk from the station. Since we’re here, let’s go there.”
“Yeah, I agree!”
A narrow road off the main street in front of the station is followed by a chorus of cicadas.
The pavement is peeling in places, and the road is dotted with fields and a sparse number of houses.
I felt a bit of nostalgia for a landscape that had nothing to do with the hustle and bustle of the city.
After a short distance, a dazzling yellow burst into view. It was a carpet of sunflowers in full bloom.
Large sunflowers as tall as I was stood in rows, and at the edge of the field stood a sign saying ‘Entrance to Sunflower Maze’.
Combined with the blue of the midsummer sky, the landscape looks like a picture postcard.
“Wow, …… it’s even more amazing than I thought. There really are sunflowers all over.”
“There are so many of them.
I wonder if they are all well cared for.”
Ran gazes at the scene.
The sunflowers, wide open and bathed in the full force of the summer sun, seemed to cheer her up just by looking at them.
A pathway has been built through the field so that we can walk amongst the flowers.
There were a few tourists besides us, taking photos with the sunflower field in the background.
I took out my phone, too.
“Since we’re here, why don’t we take a picture?”
“…… Yeah, well.
You want to take it anyway.”
She pretends not to be too aggressive, but she does come to my side.
I take two shots with a sunflower field in the background.
A quick snap.
“Yeah, it looks good!”
“…… Well, not bad.”
After a few more photos, we continue along the maze of field paths.
The sunflowers were so tall that they were hiding people.
The sun was shining strongly, but the cool sound of the flowers swaying in the wind was pleasant to the ears.
“Amazing. …… You don’t see this kind of thing very often.”
“It’s true.
It’s a spectacle that can only be seen in summer.”
I was too absorbed in the sunflowers.
By the time we left the sunflower field, the sun had already begun to set.
The blue sky was gradually turning orange.
Although the scorching heat of the day had eased somewhat, the sweaty air still clung to my skin.
“It’s time to go back to the station. We should get back to the station in time for the evening train.”
“That’s right. I want to cool off for a while. If we get too late, it’ll be a hassle to get home.”
Ran checked the time on her phone and nodded quietly.
As we headed back along the farm road, we killed some time by buying drinks from vending machines along the way and admiring the riverside scenery.
The idyllic landscape of fields and forests was overlapped by the summer dusk, and the air was somehow nostalgic.
I kind of feel like I want to keep on relaxing. ……
“We have to catch the train home, don’t we?”
“Yes,.
It’s a place where there are no night buses, and it would be inefficient if we were to be late.”
The last word ‘inefficient’ is very Ran-like, and I can’t help but laugh at her.
The station was even more deserted in the evening than it had been in the morning. A few passengers were standing near the ticket gates, looking concerned about something.
I could hear announcements leaking from the platform.
I wonder……
As I listened carefully, I heard a series of unpleasant words, such as ‘inspection work underway due to distortion caused by high temperatures on the line’ and ‘no prospect of resuming operations’.
“Eh, seriously, ……? Does that mean the restoration is undecided?”
“Something like that. It’s unclear whether there will be a substitute bus or not..maybe the service is suspended for the entire section up to this point? ”
Ran stares at the information board on the platform and looks a little puzzled.
When she asks the station staff, she doesn’t get a clear answer, only to be told that the tracks need to be inspected due to the heat and that they don’t know when they will be able to reopen.
“Oh …… we’re completely stranded. I thought we were going to do a day trip.”
“There seems to be very little alternative transport out of this town. There are only a few buses a day ……we’ll be stranded again in the city.”
I have no choice but to wait in the waiting room.
I pass the time in the hope that things will improve, but when the evening sun sets, night falls and the owls hoot, the train doesn’t start moving.
“……………”
Me and Ran are sitting on the bench, completely silent.
I’ve done everything I can do on my phone to pass the time. I read all the serials on the manga app from Monday to Sunday, I’m bored with the shadow games and there’s nothing to see on social networking sites.
I-it’s bad. ……
I’m so bored I’m going crazy.
When I was at my wits’ end, Ran stood up with a start and made a surprising suggestion.
“There’s no point in sitting around waiting here. You said there’s a beach nearby, right? Let’s go see the sea at night.”
“Eh, at this time of night?”
“The trains aren’t running, so there’s no point in staying at the station. At this rate, it won’t reopen for a while. It’s more reasonable to kill time in a place that’s a little cooler.”
As expected of Ran. While she is talking about rationality, the idea of ‘going to see the sea at night’ is quite daring.
It would certainly be depressing for me to stay in the waiting room and do nothing.
“Okay. Let’s go. It might not be a bad idea to catch the night breeze.”
“It’s decided.”
After saying this in a strong tone, Ran called out to the station staff, “I’m going to come outside for a moment,” and began walking steadily outside the ticket gate.
I followed after her.
Outside, the buildings and trees are black silhouettes in the dark night of the countryside.
The cool breeze, which has begun to blow faintly, brings a different face of summer from the daytime.
“the sea…you know?”
“I looked it up a while ago. Watch your step.”
Freed from the endless hell of waiting, Ran’s profile as she walked outside the station looked like she was standing on her feet.
To be honest, I feel the same way.
My excursion, which was supposed to be a day trip, turned out to be a terrible trouble, but I’m excited like a hero just before setting off on an adventure.
We walked shoulder-to-shoulder along the country road with a deep night sky.