Chapter 401: Chapter 400.

Chapter 400. A Heart-Pounding Day Together with My Girlfriend: Eating Marshmallows while Telling a Campfire Story. (1/4)

On our way through the thicket I apologized, “Sorry, we didn’t come across it in the end.”

“It’s not a big deal. We at least got my tank top back. It’s good enough.”

When we arrived at the tent the campfire was already out. Well, we’d taken a lot longer than expected, so it was only natural. Rosa hopped off my back, entered the tent, and got dressed as I busied myself with the fire.

While she put her clothes on, I used a lighter, some dry leaves, and a few sticks to restart the fire. I plunged a long broken-off tree branch into the ground a safe distance away from the campfire and suspended Rosa’s soaked tank top from the tree branch to dry it.

When Rosa exited the tent with a towel in one hand and I saw the shirt she had on, I asked, “Why’d you put on my shirt instead of one of your own?”

She sat down on the rock across from me in front of the fire. The campfire was set up between three large rocks and our tent which formed a box around it. We’d chosen here to set up our tent since the rock formation prevented the wind from blowing it out easily. 

“I wanted to. Do I need a reason more than that?” She bent her legs up on the rock and hugged them as she looked me directly in the eyes from over her knees.

“Uh… no, I guess it’s fine. I have another shirt I can wear.”

“Your hair, we should really dry it.”

“Oh yeah, you’re right. Give me the towel.”

She suddenly hopped up to her feet but didn’t hand it to me as I requested. Rather, she sat down sideways on my lap, pulled the towel over my head, and dried it for me.

“I can do it myself.”

“I want to do it.”

“You sure want a lot of things.”

“No I don’t. There’s only one thing I want, and that’s your everything.”

“You can hardly classify everything as one thing.”

“Well too bad, I did. Women are unreasonably demanding, deal with it.”

Honestly, everything was going so well between us, to the point I was a bit paranoid that something awful would happen to balance things out.

Today had definitely been an enjoyable one, there was no question about that. I could only pray that things stayed this way. Peaceful and relaxing… without any sudden bear attacks or anything like that.

“Hey, Rosa?”

“What?”

“Just to make sure, you’re sure there aren’t any bears around here, right?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. I checked around the area while you were setting up the tent earlier. Why? Are you scared because it’s dark now and we can’t see if anything’s coming?”

“I’m not scared.”

“Oh? Really? Then if a bear attacked would you jump in front of me to protect me?”

“I’d push you to the bear while I use the time they buy to hop on my motorcycle and run for my life.”

She pinched my cheek and stated with a dissatisfied pout, “You would jump in front of me to protect me.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll jump in front of you and protect you.”

“How sweet of you~”

“If it’s sweet of me, why are you pinching my cheek harder?”

“I’m not~” she stopped pinching me then poked my cheek and continued, “It’s your i-ma-gin-a-tion~.” She’d poked my cheek once per syllable between each pause.

“Hey, since we’ve got a campfire going, why don’t we roast some marshmallows?” Rosa suddenly suggested.

“Marshmallows? Did you bring some?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“How far-sighted of you.”

When my hair was dry she left the towel hung over my shoulders, hopped off my lap, and crawled back inside the tent. She exited with a bag of marshmallows in hand.

“Now that I think about it, I’ve never actually eaten a marshmallow before let alone a roasted one.”

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“Really? How have you gone your entire life without so much as trying one?”

“I’ve never actually gone camping before.”

“Huh? But you don’t seem unused to this at all.”

Rosa picked up two sticks from the ground and whittled the ends away into a point using her sharp fingernails. Honestly, it was pretty impressive how sharp her fingernails were. They could be quite useful if you didn’t have a knife.

“Well… though I was born here, I used to live in a third-world country for some time when I was really young. Being surrounded by bushes and trees isn’t something new to me, but going on a leisurely camping trip isn’t something I’ve experienced before. Even if I had gone camping, it’s not like we’d have much money to spend when living in a third-world country. Money was extremely tight for us. Sweets were considered expensive luxuries.”

While I explained, Rosa stuck the ends of the stick inside the fire to sterilize the pointed ends before she cut open the bag of marshmallows with her fingernails and stuck two on the ends.

She sat down on the rock across from me, held out both the sticks with marshmallows on the ends over the fire, then asked, slightly hesitant, “By us, you mean you and… your mother, right?”

“Huh? Yeah… my mother.”

Rosa pulled her legs up on the rock and hugged her knees with her left arm while continuing to hold the sticks in place over the fire with her right hand.

“...”

“...”

After a short pause in our conversation, she broke the silence and asked, “Your mother, what was she like?” When she was still alive. She tactfully didn’t add on that part.

“She was a hard worker unlike me. She was born in that third-world country but she worked hard to move here. When she finished high school she went into teaching immediately.”

“Your mother was a teacher?”

“Yeah… she became one eventually.”

“Became one eventually? When you say she went into teaching you mean she got a teaching degree first, right?”

“No, she didn’t. In her country, there was a major backlog to get into the teacher’s college. The country set things up so you could become a sort of student-teacher for elementary school as soon as you finished high school before even getting a formal higher education. You’d work as one without any formal teaching experience for two years before you’d be admitted to the teaching college there.”

“Really? That sounds pretty convenient.”

“Well, those days were much slacker than the way things are now in her home country. Back then, it was actually free to get into the teacher’s college. Though that was only the case for elementary school teachers. High school teachers still had to pay their way through as with any other degree. These days it’s no longer free, funded through government scholarships like it used to be, and they have to pay their way through.”

“Oh, so that’s how she was able to get in.”

“Yeah, if she had to pay for her education at that time, she’d never have been able to afford it. Her mother outright refused to help pay for anything and focused all her money on her two sons.”

Rosa raised the sticks up in front of her mouth and blew on them with her lips forming a small o.

“Here, your marshmallow’s done.” When they were cooled down enough she stuck the marshmallow on the stick out over the fire and positioned it directly in front of my mouth. When I went to pinch the marshmallow with my thumb and index finger she pulled the stick back before I touched it.

“Weren’t you giving it to me?”

“Open your mouth, duh.”

I opened my mouth as instructed and she stuck the punctured marshmallow on the stick inside. When I bit into it, she pulled the stick out.

It was hot, texture-wise, gooey. In terms of taste, sweet and fruity was the best way to describe it. Overall, it wasn’t bad.

“How is it?” Rosa asked curiously.

“Better than expected.”

She cutely bit into hers and chewed with a cat-like expression. She stuck another set onto the ends of the two sticks and put them over the fire to roast.

“Continue with your story.”

“My story?”

“Yeah, your mother’s teaching career. Surely there’s more to it, right?”

“Well, yeah, there is.”

“Then, please continue. I wanna listen since I’m planning to become a teacher myself.” 

“Sure…"

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