I Drink Every Night With a Lookalike of a Popular Idol on the Riverbank
As the year drew to a close, the cold on the riverbank grew unbearable.
“…I can’t do this. I give up.”
“Yeah. I’m at my limit too.”
Nanase san beside me nodded slowly, exhaling white breath.
“Guess we’re calling it a day then.”
“No, let’s go to a family restaurant! A family restaurant!”
I agreed to her suggestion, but immediately realized something.
“Are you sure? Won’t people misunderstand us in a crowded place?”
“Mm. It’ll be fine. If we sit in a corner, no one will see us.”
“What if the corners are taken?”
“I’ll hide with your body.”
“So that’s how it ends up!?”
Nanase, using it as practice, playfully buried her face in my shoulder.
A crack of static electricity snapped, making Nanase let out a cute “Nyaa!”
Then, pulling away from me, she looked up at the sky as if blaming the natural phenomenon, muttering, “Static electricity…”
◆
The place we chose to take shelter was a family restaurant glowing brightly in front of the station.
The moment we passed through the glass automatic doors, warm air mixed with the scent of heating and various dishes enveloped us.
The restaurant was moderately empty, and we headed for a booth in the corner. Sitting across from each other somehow felt like there was distance between us.
After ordering, we both got up and headed for the drink bar.
Coffee, tea, various juices and sodas. Standing before that row of machines, I felt my excitement rise just a little.
“Wow, they have melon soda. This really feels like we’re at a family restaurant.”
“Yosuke, you’re acting like a kid.”
“So what? What are you having, Nanase?”
“Hmm… I’ll start with… I wonder. It’s freezing outside, but the heating’s cranked up inside, so I really want something cold.”
She hesitated, reaching for the tongs to put ice in her glass.
Almost at the same moment, I reached for the same tongs to get ice too.
Just before our fingertips touched…
Crack! A sensation like sparks flying hit us.
“”Whoa!?””
Our voices overlapped perfectly. Like we’d been flicked, we pulled our hands back simultaneously. Static electricity. Winter’s dry, unexpected baptism.
“S-sorry…”
“N-no, it’s my fault.”
I could feel my heart thud loudly. Just static electricity. Yet my face and ears burned hot.
I couldn’t bring myself to look her in the face. Under the drink bar’s oddly bright lights, we stood frozen in awkward silence, passing the tongs back and forth.
Even back at our seats, the awkwardness lingered. I stirred the ice in my glass pointlessly with my straw.
“…Yosuke, you know…”
It was Nanase-san who broke the silence.
“Do you like drink bars?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Well, I guess I do.”
“All-you-can-drink seems really free at first glance, right? You can drink whatever you want, as many times as you want. But actually, it’s a really restrictive system, bound by this invisible obligation to ‘get your money’s worth’. It’s not free at all.”
There it was. Her unique philosophy.
“So, to get your money’s worth, you start with the priciest-looking veggie juice first…”
She said this while drinking what looked like the cheapest cola.
“Yeah, that’s the play.”
“Even though you’re actually satisfied after the first cup of coffee, you tell yourself, ‘I should still be able to drink more,’ and force yourself to go pour a melon soda. The goal shifts from ‘quenching your thirst’ to ‘beating this system.’ That place isn’t for enjoying drinks—it’s a battlefield testing your stomach’s limits and your cheapskate mentality.”
Her analysis was so spot-on I burst out laughing. The heart-pounding anxiety from earlier dissolved into a comfortable chuckle.
“You’re absolutely right. I’m a battle-hardened loser who gets stuffed on carbonation and gives up after just two drinks.”
“Hehe, you sound weak.”
Laughing together, the usual atmosphere returned.
“But you know,” she said, pointing mischievously at our table with a playful grin.
“Even now, we’re so caught up in talking like this, we haven’t gone to get our drinks at all. We lost our will to fight almost as soon as we arrived on this battlefield.”
“True. We totally haven’t gotten our money’s worth…”
In the warm light of the family restaurant, I spotted a tiny piece of potato stuck to the corner of her smiling face.
Without thinking, I reached out. I tried to gently wipe it away with my thumb, but Nanase-san smiled and deftly dodged my hand.
“What?”
“You’ve got fries here.”
Pointing to her own mouth, I showed her. Nanase-san said, “Oh, I see.”
“Well, maybe I’ll let you take it off then.”
Nanase smiled brightly, closed her eyes, and pushed her lips forward as she leaned closer. It looked exactly like she was waiting for a kiss.
“You don’t have to close your eyes!?”
“Oh, right.”
I reached out my hand, my fingertips almost touching the soft feel of her lips.
Snap.
Static electricity sparked between us again.
“Gyah…”
“S-sorry. Again…”
As I stammered out my apology, she stared at my face without blinking for several seconds. Then, suddenly, as if a taut string snapped, she flushed and smiled shyly.
“…Yosuke, are you electrically charged? Like Pikachu?”
“Maybe…”
“Fufu. But I guess it can’t be helped.”
She playfully continued, winking as she picked a potato chip crumb from the corner of her mouth.
“Static electricity is a winter seasonal word, you know.”
Maiasa