I Drink Every Night With a Lookalike of a Popular Idol on the Riverbank
As July rolls in, not only does the temperature rise, but the air by the river becomes sticky with humidity, and even when standing still, sweat slowly beads on your forehead.
“…Isn’t it kind of muggy today?”
Nanase said, fanning her neck with her hand.
“Yeah. It feels even hotter than during the day.”
“Hmm. Yeah, you’re right. I wish they’d install air conditioning on Earth… with the heat vented into space.”
“What temperature would be ideal?”
“Well, it’d be like 26 degrees with air conditioning, right? It’d be nice to be surrounded by that cool breeze wherever you go.”
“Hmm… That’s true. But then we wouldn’t be able to go wakasagi fishing anymore.”
“Haha… Is wakasagi fishing the representative activity you do in the cold?”
“I don’t do winter sports…”
“Well, wakasagi fishing is a winter sport too.”
“You just sit there!”
“If you say that, then skating is just sliding too.”
“Well… That’s true. Skiing is just sliding too…”
“Yeah. Snowboarding is just sliding too.”
“…Are there any sports other than sitting or sliding!?”
“Well, bobsledding, for example.”
“That’s sliding too!?”
“…Curling?”
“That’s sliding too!?”
“It was dangerous drinking in front of the cram school today.”
Nanase smiled mischievously, like a little devil.
“It’s okay, because it won’t happen again…”
Two drunk people repeating the ominous word “slide” in front of a cram school would obviously look suspicious.
Nanase took a sip of her canned chuhai and said, “But…”
“I would never say this normally, but when you think about living with someone, the first thing you have to agree on is the air conditioner temperature setting, right?”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Because if someone who hates the heat and someone who hates the cold live together, they have to agree on one setting. For example, if I hate the heat and Yosuke hates the cold, what temperature should we set the air conditioner to?”
“Ah… I see. What temperature do you set the air conditioner to at home, Nanase-san?”
“Hmm…”
She paused for a moment, as if deep in thought.
“I set it to 24 degrees.”
“24 degrees!? Isn’t that too low!?”
“Is it? I love it when it’s super cold, and I can sleep under a thick blanket. It’s the best.”
“Won’t you catch a cold? It seems bad for your health.”
When I voiced my genuine concern, she laughed cheerfully.
“That’s the point. It’s like the sense of security you get from hibernating animals, you know? It feels like I’m being protected from the world.”
Protected from the world. I thought that slightly exaggerated expression was typical of her.
“What about you, Yosuke? How many?”
“I’m… 28 degrees, I guess.”
My overly practical answer. She laughed out loud again.
“Wow, that’s practical! But it’s so Yosuke.”
“Is… is that so?”
“Yeah. If we lived together, we’d probably settle on 26 degrees as a compromise.”
“Wouldn’t that be too hot for you, Nanase?”
“No, Yousuke, wouldn’t that be too cold for you?”
“Well… I could just wear layers.”
“No, I could just take off a layer.”
“What are you going to take off in the summer!?”
I blushed as I said that. Nanase smiled teasingly and said, “I’ll just make the room cold and wear long sleeves.”
It felt like she had read my mind, imagining her taking off the last piece of clothing while wearing only a short-sleeved T-shirt.
“Well, there’s a pervert here, isn’t there?”
Nanase said that with a laugh.
“It depends on whether you’re surprised that there’s a pervert here or that there’s a normal pervert here, but what do you think?”
Nanase tilted her head at my question.
“The answer is inside you, Yousuke. In a room with air conditioning set to 26 degrees, how many layers of clothing was I wearing?”
“…Two, right!?”
“Hmm. That’s quite perverted. So, which do you prefer, summer or winter? If you’re cold-natured, you’d probably prefer summer, right?”
“Well… I don’t know.”
“Just tell me.”
She urged me for an answer like a child.
“Hmm… I guess I like summer. It just makes me feel more open.”
“Huh. I think I like winter better. I don’t like the cold, but I can wear lots of layers.”
I sarcastically said, “But you always take your clothes off as soon as it gets hot,” but Nanase just laughed it off.
“Don’t you go to summer festivals or fireworks displays? There are so many of those in summer.”
It would be a lie to say I had no ulterior motive. It was a question meant to lead into something else. When I asked her that, she looked into the distance for a moment.
“…I don’t think I can go. I’m pretty busy with work.”
She smiled a little sadly.
“I see… That’s true. During summer vacation, there are a lot of events, and live shows and festivals, so the staff behind the scenes must be busy too.”
“Hehe… You’re right.”
I didn’t ask any more questions and just nodded.
“But… I hope we can go someday. To the festival. I’ll wear a yukata, and my face… I’ll just have to hide it with a mask. A fox mask or something.”
“Yeah… You’re so much like her that you’d cause a panic in a crowd…”
“…Yeah. That’s true.”
For a while, the two of us drank canned chu-hi in silence.
The sound of insects and distant car noises flowed like background music.
Eventually, she murmured softly.
“When I talk to you, Yousuke…”
“Hm?”
“Even trivial things sound special.”
She looked straight into my eyes and said that. Caught off guard by her words, I couldn’t respond properly.
My heartbeat grew slightly louder.
“The air conditioner setting is important, isn’t it? It’s not trivial.”
I finally managed to squeeze out those words.
“Haha… that’s true. Then, 25 degrees.”
“No, no, maybe 27 degrees.”
At my words, she smiled softly, seeming genuinely happy.
Maiasa