Chapter 11: 5.2

Chapter 5 : She’s Starting Her Date – Part 2

It was Sunday.

At the designated time of 9:30 a.m, Shoichi arrived in front of the entrance of NION, one of the largest shopping centers in the area.

The three-story store was not as large as a so-called mall, but it offered a variety of ingredients, clothing, and daily necessities, as well as a small food court, so it was often used by local residents.

Shoichi himself had been here often, but this was the first time he had visited this early in the morning when the store wasn’t even open yet. And besides himself, there were a few other customers around.

There were many women–and accompanying men. They seemed to be a couple or perhaps married. All of them had one thing in common, the women were somehow more motivated, while the men looked as if they had given up on something.

And then a strong wind blew. A buzz of killing energy swirled around, causing sparks to fly between each pair.

Wait, wait , wait. What kind of war is this?

As Shoichi was getting impatient with the strange atmosphere, he heard a familiar voice from behind him.

“Sho-chan, sorry to keep you waiting!”

“Ah, Amiru. You’re late. You told me to come so early, but what are you doing being late?”

“Sorry, sorry, I spent more time on my makeup than usual… Look, isn’t it beautiful?”

After saying that, Amiru spread her arms and spun around.

But honestly, Shoichi couldn’t tell the difference. She was wearing the same outfit as before, a shirt and denim shorts. There were some extras that he hadn’t seen before, like the hat and boots. But was it really that much of a change?

“…What’s different?”

“It’s completely different! I’m using darker blush, wearing false eyelashes, and wearing a lot of accessories! I even brought out my favorite hat and boots. Look! Look!”

“Well, now that you mention it. I barely recognized the hat and boots… But the rest, I’m not sure.”

“Mou, even though I was so excited and dressed up… Sho-chan’s mean. Good for nothing.”

“I don’t think you can use the word ‘good for nothing’ in a situation like this!? And by going out, I thought we were just going shopping for sales today.”

“What? That’s…”

When Amiru was about to say something.

A young man, who seemed to be a clerk at NION, shouted with a megaphone in his hand after opening the automatic door with his key

“The NION Shopping Center will be opening soon. The big clearance sale will be held on the first floor today. Please don’t rush and stay calm…”

“””Charge!”””

“””Ohhhhhhh!!!”””

The voices of the women overlapped, and they all rushed into the store at once. They ignored the man’s instructions.

When Shoichi was stunned, Amiru said next to him with a fight burning in her. “We’ll follow suit, Sho-chan!”

“Ah, yeah.”

“Charge~!”

And the two entered the store.

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It was a battlefield–as Shoichi Kashima would later recount.

The sale was in the form of items from each outlet being sold together in one place. Daily necessities were placed on wagons and clothing items were hung up on hangers. This was probably to present the sale items in an easy-to-reach way, but it also made it so that customers could gather in one place.

Underneath the banner that proclaimed, “50% to 70% off,” women pushed and shoved each other, sometimes pushing each other’s faces away with their hands, pulling the arms of those in front of them, and saying, “Get out of the way!” “That’s mine!” and “Don’t take it from the side!” as they fought for the goods that were being sold at a discount.

Honestly, it was a battle of wits.

It wouldn’t even go this far in the bread section of the store.

Shoichi was standing in a nearby rest area, thinking about this. On a nearby bench sat a group of tired-looking men. They were probably with the women who were currently active in the battlefield.

Shoichi could understand how hard it was to be overwhelmed by the power of women. After all, Amiru was also there on the battlefield. She was lively and boisterous from the start, and mixed with her greed, she was now desperately trying to catch her prize, saying, “This is mine!” 

There’s no point in dressing up now, is there? That said, I have nothing to do.

With many vain thoughts in his mind, Shoichi bought a cup of coffee from a nearby vending machine and sipped it. It was his favorite, black with a lot of sugar.

After waiting for about an hour, Amiru came with a lot of paper bags, apparently having finished her shopping.

“Yahh~, I got them. Here you go, Sho-chan.”

“Yeah.” As promised, he took it and made a dubious expression. “But what did you buy?”

“Ah, don’t look inside. There are bras, panties, and stuff in there.”

“Huh.”

He hurriedly took down the bag and hung it under his arm so that he wouldn’t see what was inside. She didn’t have to go so far as to tell him what was in it.

I mean, don’t girls buy their underwear at a more stylish store? Is this on-sale stuff enough?

“Since I don’t have a lot of money, I have to be creative in buying things like this.” Amiru murmured, as if she had read his mind.

Seeing how flushed her face was, it was probably just an excuse. The truth was, she probably wanted to buy it at a fashionable store too.

Feeling pity for her, Shoichi followed up, “Well, it’s better than wasting money badly, isn’t it? You have a solid sense of economics.”

“Eh… Yeah, maybe so. I’m solid!” Amiru nodded triumphantly. 

To tell the truth, it was doubtful that the woman who bombarded him with sales had any economic sense, but Shoichi deliberately kept quiet about it. Instead, he carried the paper bag and turned towards the exit of the store.

“Well then, now that we’ve accomplished our goal, let’s go home. Do you want me to carry this to your house?”

“Eh, ah, wait a minute. We’re going home already?”

“Yeah? Because that’s what we’re here for today, isn’t it? On-sale shopping?”

“That’s true, but that’s not all.”

“What?”

“Because, if we just went shopping, it wouldn’t feel like a date. Mea-chan said that I should just let you carry my stuff, but… I want to hang out with Sho-chan more since we’re here.”

“O-Oh…?”

“We’re going to have fun, Sho-chan! That’s why I worked so hard to dress up!”

Amiru smiled and then pulled Shoichi’s hand.

Shoichi’s eyes blinked.

U-Um… Does this mean…we’re really going on a date?!

The unexpected turn of events made him nervous, and his mind went blank. Because, this was the first time in his life that he had ever been on a date.

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Even though it was a date, the two of them didn’t have a lot of money. Long distance trips and expensive games had to be ruled out from the start.

For the time being, they decided to go to the area in front of the station near NION.

This area was one of the more prosperous parts of the city where Shoichi and Amiru lived. In addition to shopping malls like NION, there were old-fashioned shopping arcades, bus stops that offered service in many directions, a large amusement park with karaoke, darts, and bowling alleys, and various other stores and facilities that dotted the area, attracting a wide range of visitors from the elderly to the young.

At any rate, after dropping off their luggage at a coin locker in front of the station, they decided to go to the shopping district and have a little early lunch.

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“So, Sho-chan, what will we do for lunch?”

“Ah, today is the day I listen to Amiru’s wishes. I’ll let you choose what we eat.”

“Really? Then~, I want that!”

And they went to–

“Oi, isn’t this a stand-up noodle store?”

“Yeah, Japanese food is good for your health. And I like to eat at a stand-up noodle shop because they’re cheap.”

“Well, I like it too because it doesn’t take long to eat, but… When someone says ‘stand-up noodle shop’ in that fancy outfit, that doesn’t sound right.”

On a day off, on a date, a gal JK was slurping down soba noodles at a stand-up joint, a bit of a mismatch, but that was typical of Amiru.

Shoichi ordered zaru soba and Amiru ordered tenzaru soba.

“…Just zaru soba, Sho-chan? Isn’t that too little?”

“This is okay. I’m not one to spend a lot of time eating.” (T/N: This guy is crazy… Trying to be efficient by reducing the amount of food he eats. Damn.)

“No, you can’t do that. If you eat too little, you won’t get enough nutrition and you’ll get skinny! Here, I’ll give you one of my tempura.”

“I don’t need it, don’t put it on top of my soba without permission… And don’t just leave the shiso leaves! I don’t even want to be handed this!”

“Eh, Shiso leaves are quite nutritious, containing beta-carotene, vitamin B, calcium, potassium, and even sterilizing substances.”

“That’s not the point… Rather, how come you have no idea how to study, but you can come up with this kind of knowledge so easily?”

Despite their dismay, they satisfied their hunger for now, and Shoichi and Amiru walked out of the establishment.

Now, it was time for the date to begin.

“So, where do we go from here?”

“I wonder, where do you want to go, Sho-chan?”

“I…don’t come around here much. I spend most of my days off at home. Weekdays, too, at that.”

“Isn’t that a shut-in…?”

“Rude. I do go to school and I do the shopping. I’m just an indoor person. What about you, for that matter? I bet you hang out with your friends a lot in places like this anyway.”

“Yeah, usually it’s karaoke or shopping or something of that sort, but I spent a lot of money on the sale.”

“Then, let’s go do something that doesn’t cost any money.”

–With that, they ended up settling for window shopping.

The idea was to wander around and find a store that caught their interest and take a look inside. For Shoichi, the most rational way to shop was to buy what you need, and this kind of cold-calling was irrational, in other words, it was not to his liking, but this time he held back to go along with Amiru.

Amiru seemed to be enjoying herself quite a bit as she looked at various things, from a hundred-yen store, drugstore, convenience store, bookstore, shoe store, and even a street vendor selling accessories.

“Wait, Sho-chan! There’s a microwave cleaner on sale at a hundred-yen store! Wow, this looks like it’ll clean up nicely! Ah, but it’s only a small amount, so I wonder if it’s better to buy it in bulk.”

“Ah, this store is offering triple points today. Maybe I should buy some cold medicine… But I still have some left, what to do?”

“This issue of the Yellow Pages has a special section on diet recipes. What should I do? Should I buy it?”

“Wah~, health slippers! They look painful. Nee~, Nee~, Sho-chan, try them on! I want to know which part of the body will hurt!”

“It’s amazing, Sho-chan. They have magnetic necklaces! It’s good for stiff shoulders! I’ve never seen an accessory store that offers health products like this!”

I don’t care what you call it, but this girl’s point of view isn’t that of her age at all! She smells strangely of life, or frankly, of old ladies.

When he boldly told her this, Amiru puffed out her cheeks and protested. “Mou, you’re so rude. Tell me I have all the makings of a housewife.”

“Does that make you happy?”

“Yes. Being a housewife is a dream job! It’s nice to be able to do housework all the time.”

He didn’t really understand. However, it would be wrong to deny what she just said so happily, so Shoichi just said, “I see.”

As it was, he tried to walk away. But then, Amiru’s presence disappeared in the background.

“???”

When he turned around, she was squirming and shrinking in place.

“What is it? Bathroom?”

“I’m a lady, you know!? No, I mean, you see, I’ve been holding back for a long time, but… My legs are getting a little tired.”

“Hmm?”

“Look, Sho-chan, you walk very fast.”

“Eh? I don’t think so.”

“It’s true. Look.”

With that, Amiru took a step forward on the sidewalk and invited Shoichi to join her. She wanted him to do the same.

Although he didn’t have any idea what was going on, he obeyed anyway and found out her intention.

“Ahh, the length of my legs.”

“Yeah. Sho-chan, you used to walk the same way I do, but before I knew it, your legs have grown longer.”

“…Don’t say that in a weird way. It’s just that I have a wider step than you. And I’m taller than you, so it’s no surprise.”

“That’s it, you see. I’ve been wondering for a while, Sho-chan, when did you get so big? It’s not fair!”

Her tone of voice was accusing, but the expression on her face was strangely happy.

Amiru stretched her hand over her head and positioned it in front of Shoichi’s two eyes. That showed how much of a difference there was.

It’s true that when they were in elementary school, there wasn’t this much of a height difference. Shoichi felt somewhat sentimental about it. The three years of estrangement between them in junior high school seemed to have left them outside of each other’s understanding more than he had imagined.

Just like I can’t understand Amiru these days, it’s not surprising if Amiru can’t understand me in some ways. After all, she was surprised when I drank coffee–

“Ah, I see. Coffee.”

“Eh?”

“No, um… Suddenly I feel like drinking coffee. Since we’re going out, why don’t we go to that place over there?”

Shoichi then pointed to a fast food restaurant that sold snacks and beverages. In addition to coffee, they also served tea, so Amiru could also enjoy herself.

Amiru tilted her head slightly, then suddenly smiled and nodded.

“Okay!”

She took Shoichi’s hand in a good mood and pulled him towards the fast food restaurant.

As he was being dragged, Shoichi had a complicated feeling inside.

I guess I was a little too obvious… It’s not like I had anything to hide. I should have just told her straight out.

Shoichi found it hard to understand why he had to make up an excuse for wanting a cup of coffee in order to let Amiru rest her feet. 

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