Chapter 173 – Asanagi Riku and Shimizu Shizuku

The young woman's name was Shimizu Shizuku-san.

She worked at the Shimizu Inn, where we were going to stay for the trip. Her parents ran the inn and she was their only daughter.

As one could see from the way they called each other 'Rikkun' and 'Shi-chan', they had known each other since they were young. In other words, they were childhood friends.

"Jeez, I didn't expect Rikkun to come home~ Why didn't you tell me, Granny? If I knew that Rikkun is coming, I would have put on a little more makeup~"

"Grandma, you didn't tell me that Shi-cha– Shizuku is here?"

"Shizuku? What's wrong, Rikkun? Why won't you call me Shi-chan again?"

"Uh, let's talk about that later… Anyway, why didn't you tell me anything, Grandma?"

"Yeah, yeah, why didn't you tell me anything, Granny?"

"The two of you are as noisy as always, jeez. I just forgot to tell you. I'm not so young anymore, you know?"

When the two of them pressed her for answers. Mizore-san immediately gave them one and admitted to her mistake.

The table was filled with sushi, appetizers and various other dishes made by Shimizu. Shizuku-san was on the clock, but Mizore-san invited her anyway since she hadn't had her lunch yet.

"Ah, by the way, Rikkun, why didn't you attend the reunion last time? I was looking forward to seeing you since it's been a while. I sent you a postcard, didn't I?"

"Really? I don't think I received them–"

"What do you mean, Brother? Didn't you get it a while ago? Pretty sure I've seen a postcard inside your room before. Wait, is that why you've been fidgety lately?"

While gobbling up the sea urchin and salmon roe gunkan maki that Shizuku-san's dad made, Umi asked that question.

Honestly I had noticed Riku-san's strange behavior for a while now. But, since I wasn't particularly close to him, I just kept it to myself without asking anyone about it.

"You blabbermouth idiot…"

"Sure sure, call me whatever you want. But, why did you lie to her, Brother? Isn't she your childhood friend?"

"Ugh… Yeah, but…"

From his reaction, it seemed like he was reluctant to meet Shizuku-san.

Could I assume that this was part of the reason why he decided to look for a job?

"Hm~ This is the first time we've met, but aren't you a straightforward one, Umi-chan? Nice to meet you, Rikkun has always been taking care of me since we were little."

"Ah, nice to meet you too. I should be the one who's thanking you for having to deal with my brother's antics… C'mon, Brother, say something!"

"Ugh… Maki, why don't you stuff something in her mouth so this idiot would stop talking."

"Haha… Umi, I understand how you feel, but you should finish your food first."

"Fine~ Feed me that fatty tuna, Maki."

"Roger."

As she requested, I immediately fed her some food from the plate. For the time being, we decided to observe the pair of childhood friends.

"Hehe, are those two lovers? They look so close. That said, we used to feed each other back in the day, right? Do you want to do it for old time's sake?"

"That was twenty years ago… I won't do something that embarrassing at this age…"

"Haha, right… We're almost in our thirties, huh?"

"Yes, and I hate the fact that I'm going to be that old soon."

"Right?"

The two of them conversed fairly well in the beginning, but after a while, the air between them grew awkward.

They were close when they were kids, but was this what would happen if you didn't meet someone for a long time? 

"…Um, Rikkun, if you feel uncomfortable, you don't need to force yourself to talk much, okay?"

"Okay."

"So, I heard from Granny that you worked with Daichi-san, so, um…"

"Ah, right, I quit already… In winter, two years ago…"

With an embarrassed look on his face, Riku-san managed to squeeze out a reply.

Winter two years ago, around the time when I moved into my current house with mom.

So, during that year, my parents got divorced, Umi changed schools and Riku-san quit his job.

Me aside, it seemed like the Asanagis got into a time of turmoil. I guess the reason why they could still live peacefully now was because of how amazing Daichi-san and Sora-san were as parents.

"I-I see! S-Sorry, I asked something strange, huh?"

"No, it's okay. I was going to tell you eventually anyway… What about you? How are things going for you? You used to complain about how you'd hate to take over the family's business, so why do you seem comfortable working at Shimizu now?"

"Ah, Um… I mean, when you become unemployed for too long, things like this just happen, y'know~"

"Huh? Are you, maybe?"

"H-Haha… A-Actually I quit my job a while ago too, that's why I moved back…"

"I-I see… Sorry, that was insensitive of me…"

"M-Mm, it's okay, at least we're even now!"

""…""

Their conversation completely stopped there.

Both of them were probably trying to avoid landmines that they might trigger, but sadly neither of them managed to bring up a topic to continue.

Umi complained about how watching them made her feel frustrated and honestly, I agreed with her.

"Shi-chan, isn't your break almost over? The landlady will scold you again if you dawdle."

"O-Oh, an hour passed already? It's been a while, so I lost track of time. T-Then, I have to go now…"

"Oi, Shi-chan, the money!"

"E-Eh?! S-Sorry, Granny! What was I thinking, seriously?"

Mizore-san noticed her predicaments and gave her a lifeline. 

After this, Riku-san, Umi and I would be going to Shimizu. Would she recover by the time we got there?

Umi and I didn't know what happened between those two, so it wasn't like there was anything we could do to help them.

"T-Then, see you later, Rikkun!"

"Y-Yeah, see ya…"

And so, the reunion of two childhood friends ended on an awkward note.

After hearing the sound of Shizuku-san's van slowly fading out, Riku-san let out a sigh.

"Are you okay, Riku-san?"

"This was more nerve-wracking than the last time I went to Hello Work… Well, at least I managed to see her again after a long time."

"She's such a beauty, isn't she? I heard she got married already."

"?!"

Riku-san gave out a strong reaction to the word 'married'.

I guess he had feelings for her after all, huh?

"I've never heard of that, are you serious, Grandma?"

"What's with that look? …Well, I don't really know about it myself, but that girl moved from the countryside to the city once, so she's bound to find a man or two, right?"

"I guess yeah, but…"

Shizuku-san was quite a looker, though I didn't really take the time to take a look at her properly.

It seemed like Riku-san was imagining what happened to her during the time she was in the city and what exactly happened to make her quit her job and return to her hometown. He seemed to be a little heartbroken when he thought about it.

"Maki, this person is a virgin even though he is this old already."

"N-No! …I-I mean, there's a step you have to take before that, you know?"

"Riku-san, stop. Take a deep breath."

I could understand his feelings, I was sure that Riku-san didn't end up like this because he wanted to.

Apparently adults and children had something in common. They wanted to look good in front of everyone and they would do anything to hide their embarrassing side.