I Was Supposed to Be Giving Love Advice on the School Radio, but Before I Knew It, the Beautiful Girls at School Were Hitting on Me
The next day, I arrived at Tasunamaru at the usual time. When I parked my bicycle, there was already someone there.
“…Good morning, Kinami.”
I hesitated for a moment before speaking, but it would have been strange to ignore her, so I raised my hand and greeted her. Even though it was before opening time, she was diligently wiping down the plastic tables.
When I spoke to her, she froze for a moment, but then quickly looked up.
“Oh, good morning, Senpai !”
Her cheerful tone made me feel a little relieved. Feeling a sense of relief, I approached her.
“You’re here pretty early today.”
“Eh, that’s not true. It’s just that you’re late, Senpai.”
“…Maybe you’re right.”
Kinami replied in a light tone. Usually, I would make lighthearted remarks here, but today, I couldn’t seem to find the words. As I stood there, Kinami wiped the table with renewed vigor.
“Oh, by the way, Senpai, I’m sorry about yesterday ! I got some seawater in my eyes ! It hurt so much that I had to leave early !”
“Seawater in your eyes…”
“Yeah, did you know that, Senpai? Seawater is salty, and it hurts a lot when it gets in your eyes ! I’m done with water play for now.”
“Yeah, I guess I should be careful…”
Once we’d gone along with the conversation, Kinami nodded vigorously.
“Yeah, well, I’ll make up for it by working extra hard today !”
She declared this as if to convince herself, then resumed cleaning with renewed enthusiasm.
♢
Despite my concerns, today’s Tasunamaru was bustling with activity. This seaside restaurant was usually crowded, but today was even more so than usual. Even though it was past noon, there was still a long line of customers.
“Kageyama, are there still customers coming?”
“There’s a huge line ! But to be honest, it’s not organized !”
“Really…that’s the power of celebrities…”
Kaori chan muttered while making squid skewers in the background. In addition to the recent heatwave, it seemed that some celebrity had promoted Tasunamaru yesterday, and as a result, people had flocked here.
However, the real trouble wasn’t in the kitchen. While cooking yakisoba, I glanced over at her.
“Ah, there’s one seat available !”
“Number 15, your food is ready !”
Kinami was working nonstop, shouting her voice hoarse amid the crowd. Since the morning when the crowd started growing, she’d been going at this pace.
(Thanks to that, there’s no chance to talk…)
We’d planned to talk about yesterday’s incident when things settled down, but there’s no chance to get close.
“Um…”
“Yes ! Is something wrong?”
When I heard her voice and quickly turned my gaze toward her, the person who had just received juice and yakisoba from me was looking behind her and smiling wryly.
“I’m sorry, but is there a seat…”
“Well, it looks like we’re full right now, so if you have your own umbrella or something, you could use that…”
“Well, I thought I could borrow one, so I came empty-handed…”
The woman looked down at her feet with a troubled expression. There was a small child there, probably not even old enough for kindergarten.
It was probably their first time at the beach, but I couldn’t solve the problem either. As I was puzzled over it, a small shadow peeked out from the crowd. Kinami walked straight into the counter.
“Speaking of which, Kaori san, I think there were a few chairs in the back, right?”
“Eh, yeah, but they’re pretty old…”
Come to think of it, I remembered seeing something like that too. They were heavy, solid chairs that didn’t really fit in with the beach house.
Hearing Kaori chan’s words, Kinami turned toward the older woman.
“If you don’t mind old chairs, I can bring them out now. Is that okay?”
“Eh, are you sure !?”
“It’s fine. Just wait over there for a moment !”
Kinami looked up at the older woman, smiled, and walked past me toward the back.
“Hey, Kinami.”
“…..What is it?”
“That’s pretty heavy, and you’re alone. I’ll help you.”
“It’s okay ! I’m pretty strong !”
Kinami flexed her muscles and walked away without listening to my protests.
“I wonder if she’ll be okay…”
“Excuse me, may I order?”
“Oh, yes, please !”
“Um, ten yakisoba and ten frankfurters, please.”
Ten !? I was startled by the outrageous number and peeked at the line, where several high school-aged, well-built young men were waiting. …Not good, I thought for a moment that I should help Kinami, but I didn’t have time for that… As I was cooking a large amount of noodles, I caught a glimpse of Kinami struggling to carry the table.
“Hey, take a break when you’re done. You’re working too hard !”
But she didn’t respond and just walked away. I had a bad feeling about her leaving, so I sped up my cooking. But the customers didn’t seem to be decreasing.
“Excuse me, the line for Tasunamaru is here ! Please move forward without disturbing the other customers !”
Instead, she went outside and started organizing the line in the scorching heat. Damn her…! I pushed my work efficiency to the limit and managed to finish the task as quickly as possible.
“Here you go, yakisoba and frankfurters, 10 servings !”
“Oh, thank you…”
He piles the containers on the counter and quickly turns around.
“Kaori chan, I’m going to let Kinami take a break ! She hasn’t eaten or drink anything properly !”
“Gotcha !”
I turned around and shouted, quickly undoing my apron and leaving the counter. Kinami’s voice, which had been so loud, was no longer audible.
A vague, unpleasant feeling arose as he desperately pushed through the crowd. Kinami was at the end of the neatly lined-up queue.
“There she is…”
But something about her seemed off. Her steps were unsteady, and she seemed to be swaying. The moment he thought that—she suddenly disappeared from my field of vision.
“Kinami !”
It didn’t take long to understand the situation. I rushed over, but she had her eyes closed and didn’t respond to my calls. I grabbed her legs and back and lifted her up.
“Please move aside !”
She was as light as a feather, and the time it took to carry her into the beach house felt like an eternity.
Maitoshi