Chapter 63: Ishi Gets Grilled

The walk to his family’s friend’s house wasn’t long from the beach. Given the pace, Ishi and Otoya would reach there in less than ten minutes, but the weight of the grill would certainly take longer than that for the return trip.

“Hello, may we borrow your grill?” Ishi said when they arrived at the house.

“Ah, it’s Ishi.” The man was more than happy to see him. In fact, the entire family had come out to greet him and chat while the grill was being taken out of storage.

“How have you been, I hope exams haven’t been killing you this year.” The wife asked.

“I’m doing fine.” He responded, sounding a lot more nicer than usual. It was more than just because they were getting something from these people. His family had known them for a couple of years now because of his father’s work. They were always nice to him, so he was kind enough to respond in the same manner.

“Can I come, can I come?” The little boy ran up to him as the item was being transferred into his temporary possession.

“Sorry, but this one’s only for the big kids.” He replied, kneeling down to the child’s height. “Don’t worry, I’m sure my parents will want to do something special for the festival coming up.”

“Will you go too?” The dad asked. “I know it hasn’t been your sort of thing.”

“I’m sure someone’s going to drag me to it.”

“Oh yeah, he’s got a ton of girls into him now.” Otoya nudged him in the arm in a teasing manner. This prompted Ishi to pinch and grab the boy’s ear in retaliation.

“Anyway, we need to get going. There’s a lot of people waiting on us.” He bid the family farewell. Now it was time for him and Otoya to make the arduous journey to deliver the important package.

“You didn’t mention how big this was going to be.” It was assumed that this would be a regular small circular grill that was common for people to use. This was a behemoth of a beast that was twice as wide with tanks of propane underneath. “Why couldn’t you have asked for more help?” In an overexaggerated manner, he hung his head down in disappointment for the task ahead of them.

“Relax, two people can totally handle this.” The word ‘totally’ wasn’t something that was common in his vocabulary, nor was the tone he said it in. Perhaps he had been hanging around Ryugi a bit too much these days. “Plus it’s got wheels, so all we gotta worry about is carrying it in the sand.” With that, the pair rolled the grill behind them to return to the beach. On this return trip, Otoya had something he wanted to talk to Ishi about.

“So…” He started as the time seemed right to bring it up. “Got any girls you’re interested in?”

“I can only imagine what’s bringing this on.” Ishi rolled his eyes. “I’ve told you a million times. I’m going to find me a nice and quiet girl after I get to college.”

“Yeah, but that’s boring.” Those words were familiar to him as well. Rinse seemed to have the same complaint about matters, as if what the boy’s tastes were anyone’s business. “Come on, why don’t you just live it up a little with the rest of our time?”

“Because when high school ends, I don’t expect most relationships to continue beyond that.” He wanted to be real about it. High school relationships, both romantic and platonic, don’t continue past it. People move on to different schools, have separate goals for their careers. “What’s the point? I already got a plan for the future, let me work for that.”

“But what if you’re wrong? Maybe the girl you’re looking for is actually here at this school right now. Maybe she’s even someone you already know.”

“Please, everyone I know is just my friend.” He could tell where this conversation was heading towards.

“Really though, you got a girl like Ryugi talking to you. Plus, I saw you chatting up that other idol. She’s Kamagata’s older sister, right? Isn’t she already in college?” It was telling on the girl’s he didn’t mention what he thought about Ishi’s romantic potential with them. “Or maybe even Chinae would be all right. The two of you are both kind of standoffish.”

“That sounds like it would be a terrible reason to start a relationship.” Ishi countered. Not to mention that it would be rife with arguing if that’s what he was thinking of them. Though he would admit that Chinae had gotten along with him a lot better than expected. “I’ll just say this. I’m not pursuing anyone right now. And I know what you think about Rinse, so I’ll lay off of her.”

“That’s really nice from my best bud.” Otoya would’ve roughed up his friend’s hair were they not separated by moving this grill. “Not that it matters all that much with the rest of the boys.” Along with the fact that she was an idol. Generally speaking, they weren’t allowed to date.

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“So that means you’ll tell me about that girl you were hanging out with at the bonfire?”

“Eh? You saw me? Where were you? I didn’t see you there.”

“Let’s just say I was sitting in the dark.” Ishi left out who was with him during that time. “So, what’s her name?”

“Marika.” He answered. That was a girl who was in a different class as theirs. According to Otoya, they were classmates during their second year, which is why Ishi didn’t know who it was. “She asked me to join her.” The boy was looking for Rinse to try and ask, but since he wasn’t able to find the opportunity, he accepted this girl instead.

“Did you kiss her?”

“Of course I turned her down.” Her responded. “You know, the legend and all that.”

“Heh.” Ishi chuckled. This was the only time he had something over his friend when it came to social experiences. Not that he’d mention what happened, and especially not who was involved.

Finally they arrived to the beach where there were plenty of hungry teenagers waiting for some delicious food. “Okay everyone, we’re going to set this up. Can you all please be careful so no one gets burned?” His words seemed to fall onto deaf ears as everyone rushed the pair, knocking them off so that they could commandeer the grill.

“Looks like we’re just in time.” Rinse announced her presence along with that of the others who went to grab the supplies. This set off those who were waiting to cheer out in celebration that this barbecue could finally begin. “Let’s get some meat on the fire because I’m staring!”

There was just one minor problem with this as some of the others left off to set up some cheap folding tables to put their food on. No one seemed to be able to use the grill.

“Come on, how hard can it be?” Ishi got off his high horse rather quickly once he saw why they were troubled. Despite his family knowing the people who owned this contraption, he had no clue on how to operate it. “This is a problem… Ryugi, get over here now.” He called out for the one girl he knew would know how to use this safely with their tools.

“What?” She walked up to him in an upset manner. “I was just about to soak in some of the rays while you guys cooked.” Her tanned skin was the result of being sun kissed, which took a lot of effort.

“Let’s just cut to the chase, none of here know how to use this thing.” He presented himself, Rinse, and a few others who were looking bewildered at the thing. “And I know you know how to use a grill because your dad likes to do it.” Obviously that man passed on his knowledge to his daughter. Not to mention that they knew how to grill some killer ribs.

“Gosh, can you please get out of my family’s business?” She had heard him reference them multiple times now to get her to do something. He wasn’t wrong about it, but things were getting a bit much for her.

“Sorry, but my mom talks about it a lot.” It began to it him that most of what he seemed to know about this girl was information gathered from someone else. “Plus, it’s been really useful for me.”

“And annoying for me.” She muttered. “But I’ll do it.” Ryugi agreed to help out as she checked out the fine piece of machinery and turned it on. “As long as Ishi accompanies me.”

“Want me to suffer too?” He was certain on her motivations for the request. “Sure, I’ll play along.” There were practically no choice for him. There were a lot of hungry people around them and he also was in need of something to fill his stomach.

“What?” There was one person who was not on board with this plan. Rinse had her own desires when it came to where Ishi was going to be spending his time, but she didn’t get any say on the matter. “But I-”

“Hey Hattori, some girls and guys wanted to play some beach volleyball.” Already, she was being pulled into doing something else with people who wanted to hang out with her. Declining their offer was already to challenging for someone like her to do, so she ended up gingerly accepting.

“S-sure, I’ll play.” Rinse came with them, but she turned her head to look over at the boy. It was happening again as she was yet again not able to spend time with him. Instead, some other girl was able to put herself in the spot that she desired.

...There she went again with the thought about him as if she wasn’t already surrounded by people who wanted to be with her. Ishi wasn’t someone that wanted her attention, so why did she continue to pay so much of it to him?

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