Chapter 172

Chapter 172 – Arrival and Reunion

After buying everything that was necessary, not necessary and something that was useless but might be handy in an emergency, we continued on toward the mountain road leading to the family home of the Asanagis.

It was currently noon, but the road was dim under the shade of the tall trees. They said that it’d get brighter after we passed the tunnel ahead of us, but I was confident that I would get lost if they left me alone here. Though, the signal was pretty strong here, so I could probably find a way out with my phone.

While I was thinking that inside the car that was swaying gently, a question suddenly appeared in my mind.

“By the way, Umi, what kind of person is Mizore-san?”

“Grandma? I don’t really know… I barely visited her, so I don’t know much about her, but I’ve talked to her on the phone a few times and she sounds really nice. When I told her about you, she told me to introduce you to her.”

“I see, that’s great.”

Since I was a complete stranger, I was afraid that she wouldn’t welcome me even with Daichi-san and Sora-san as guarantors. Hearing Umi’s words made me feel a bit relieved.

“Grandma? Kind? …You barely even see her, of course you’ll think of her like that. Besides, she had been wanting a granddaughter for so long, so she’s especially soft on you.”

“Right, Riku-san used to live with her, right? What kind of person is she from your perspective?”

“…A strict person. Well, she isn’t an unreasonable person, but…”

“I see.”

I guessed that would be the case when I asked him that question. Well, as long as I was polite, there shouldn’t be any problem.

By the way, Sora-san has been showing an ice-cold smile ever since we started this conversation, but I’ll pretend I didn’t see it.

Suddenly, I imagined being married to Umi. In our case, our moms were good friends and I got along reasonably well with both Daichi-san and Sora-san, so I shouldn’t have much problems in that regard.

“Don’t worry, Maki-kun, that person loves to keep up a kind front, as long as you act like your usual self, it would be okay. Hehehe…”

“I-I see.”

Her tone was calm but there were hidden thorns in each of her words.

Having to separate what you actually thought on the inside and what you showed to people on the outside, the world of adults was tough, huh?

“Umi.”

“Mm.”

While resolving myself to get along well with Umi’s family, I gripped her hand tightly.

* * *

After that, with Riku-san’s careful driving (not to say that Sora-san was careless or anything), Umi and I managed to doze off together. After passing through the tunnel, we came out into a brighter place.

Our destination was a small town in the mountain… Maybe a village would be more appropriate in this case. In any case, beyond the guardrail, terraced rice fields spread out as far as the eye could see. At the edge of those rice fields, there were various houses and big buildings.

We would probably be staying in one of those big buildings.

I opened the window to take a clearer view of the scenery. Suddenly, a stale scent entered the car.

“Umi, what is this smell?”

“You noticed? There’s a hot spring here, though not as big as the famous ones. It’s at the inn we’re going to stay at.”

“Huh, that’s the first time I’ve heard of it.”

“Just so you know, there’s no mixed baths, so we have to enter separate baths.”

“I don’t care… Why are you telling me that anyway?”

There was a part of me that felt disappointed, but then again, places like that would have other people and I would definitely feel nervous if I were to be thrown there.

But, I couldn’t help but imagine Umi standing in an open-air bath with just a towel on. Couldn’t blame me for that, I mean, I was a healthy high school boy.

“Oi, you two, we’re almost there. Close the window.”

From there, it only took a few minutes before we arrived at Mizore-san’s house. We left our luggage at the inn except for Sora-san’s since she would be taking it with her. After we finished unloading the luggage, we headed toward the front door.

One could say that the house looked old-fashioned. It was a two-story house with a tiled roof. The building itself wasn’t that big, but the land, including the garden, was really wide. There was an unnatural patch of empty plot near the garden. I assumed that it was where Umi’s parents’ house was previously located.

“The garden is neat, someone must have been taking care of it regularly… Huh, is that a natsumikan tree?” (T/N: It’s a citrus that grows in the Yamaguchi prefecture)

“Yes. My, Maki-kun, you seem to know a lot about this kind of thing?”

“Not really, it’s just, my grandparents’ garden also has one. In any case, did Mizore-san do this all by herself?”

“I think so. Even though she’s already that old, she’s still doing this kind of thing. Sometimes I wonder what exactly her body is made of…”

“Definitely not an engine if that’s what you’re thinking of.”

““!””

A voice cut us off from behind along with a disappointed sigh.

I turned around to see an old lady standing here, dressed in clothes suited for gardening. I assume this person was Asanagi Mizore.

“Oh my, long time no see, Mother-in-law. You’ve been waiting for us outside?”

“No, I was grabbing my tools that I left in the field… Long time no see, Riku, Umi.”

“Hehe, hello, grandma.”

“…Long time no see.”

“Make yourself at home, Umi-chan. You’ve grown into a beautiful girl, huh? Is this young man the boyfriend you talked to me about?”

“Yes. Maki, come here, introduce yourself.”

“Mm.”

Umi patted me in the back and I took a step forward.

“Um, I’m Maehara Maki. Thank you for giving me permission to come even though I’m a stranger…”

I bowed my head and thanked her.

Even if Daichi-san and Sora-san allowed me to come, if Mizore-san were to say no, I wouldn’t be able to come here even if I wanted to. That was why I promised to myself, if there was anything that I could do to help her, I would.

“Oh my, you’re a young’un, but you have good manners. Riku, you should follow his example. Don’t be shy to thank your grandmother properly like this.”

“I know, jeez… Just open the door quickly, the nagging isn’t making this luggage any lighter.”

“What an impatient child… Well, the lunch I ordered will arrive soon, so you should relax until then. You too, Maki-kun.”

“Ah, yes. I’ll be in your care…”

And so, while holding hands with Umi, I entered Mizore-san’s house. As soon as I stepped inside, I could smell the nostalgic scent of wood, tatami mats and incense sticks. The atmosphere here was quite different from my grandparents’ house.

After placing Sora-san’s luggage in an empty room on the second floor, we went to the room with an altar inside. The room was around ten tatami mats in size. In the altar, there was a man’s portrait. It was most likely Mizore-san’s husband, in other words, Umi’s grandfather. After receiving Mizore-san’s permission, together with Umi, I gave my prayers in front of the altar.

“Where’s the food, grandma? I didn’t see anything in the kitchen or dining room.”

“I ordered some sushi, that girl should deliver it soon…”

Just as she said that, a van slowly entered the premises and someone brought us a tub of sushi and a few other things.

“Ah, speak of the devil… Now, where’s my money?”

“Hello~ Granny, I’m here to deliver your order!”

“Ah, yes, yes. I’m getting the money, so just leave it in the usual place.”

“Yes~”

That should be the delivery guy, except it was a young woman who came. From the interaction between her and Mizore-san, they seemed quite close. But, then again, this was the countryside, so it would be strange for them to not know each other.

When I was thinking about that, someone squeezed the hem of my clothes.

“Huh? What’s wrong, Riku-san?”

“Ah, sorry. Please don’t say anything and let me hide behind you. I have a bad feeling about this…”

“Huh?”

I glanced at Umi, maybe she would know something, but she looked as confused as I did.

He was fine just a few seconds ago, what happened to him?

“Hello, it’s ‘Shimizu’~ I’ll leave everything on the table.”

“My, thank you very much… Huh, that face… Are you perhaps?”

“E-Eh? C-Could it be?”

The moment the young woman entered the room and made eye contact with Sora-san, they seemed to notice something about each other.

“Auntie Sora?!”

“Shizuku-chan?!”

Almost at the same time, they called each other’s names. They seemed to know each other, but this Shizuku-san seemed to be in her mid-twenties, far younger than Sora-san.

Well, since Sora-san lived here for quite a while, she probably used to interact with the neighborhood children, but still…

“Huh?”

Then I realized something.

Sora-san and Shizuku-san knew each other, but because of the age gap, there was no way that they were friends.

So, that meant…

Shizuku-san was a friend of Sora-san’s son.

“Ah! Ah! If you’re here, then… Could it be… That person over there…”

Then Shizuku-san pointed at Riku-san, who was still hiding behind me.

He sighed in response.

“Rikkun?”

“…Long time no see, Shi-chan.”

Looks like my guess was correct.