Chapter 200

T/N: Here’s a new arc! Overworked myself so decided to take a rest for a few days, so sorry about that. Kinda a slow arc this time, at least for me, but it’s still a nice one. Have fun reading!

Chapter 200 – The Beginning of Summer

As promised, we had gone to the prefectural baseball stadium to support Nozomu.

The first round had just begun. The other team seemed to be a strong one and there were a lot of people who came to cheer for them on their side. Meanwhile the seats on our side were pretty much empty. Aside from us, only some of the parents came. We were the only ones wearing our school uniform.

Honestly, I prefer it to be this way, since we wouldn’t be cheering in a cramped space.

“Maki, have you put on your sunscreen yet? I brought some with me, let me put it on for you if you haven’t.”

“Hm? I haven’t but I don’t really care about it, so don’t worry.”

“No. It’s too sunny today, if you don’t apply some, you’ll get sunburned in no time. C’mon, turn around, I’ll start from the back of your neck.”

“Fine, fine…”

As soon as I sat down, Umi started to take care of me as usual. I had prepared to prevent heatstroke. I wore a cap, brought my towel and plenty of water, but I forgot to take care of my skin. Honestly, I felt grateful for her at times like this, but…

Doing this in front of other people felt embarrassing…

“Oh my~ Umi’s sneakily flirting with Maki-kun again~ What about me, Umi? I want you to put sunscreen on me too~”

“Nina, you heard the princess. Do it.”

“Why me?~ C’mon, Yuuchin, stop acting spoiled, do it yourself.”

“Jeez, you two are no fun!”

Even though we were sitting in an inconspicuous spot, those three still drew attention from their surroundings.

By ‘those three’, I meant Umi, Amami-san and Nitta-san. My girlfriend, and two of my precious friends.

When the game started, everyone started paying attention to the game, but I could feel some people were staring in our direction.

I could hear the same words like what I used to hear in school being thrown at us. And like usual, they would all start talking about Amami-san, before noticing Umi, Nitta-san and lastly, me.

At this point, I got used to this kind of thing, so I just ignored them.

Suddenly, a grown up woman sat down beside me.

“Being popular is tough, isn’t it, Maehara-kun? Here’s some water.”

“Thank you Eri-san. At this point, I don’t care about what they say anymore, it isn’t like they have the guts to do anything else.”

“Oh my, Maehara-kun has a cool side in him too, huh?~ Now, if only you could act like this in front of Rocky~”

“Impossible things are impossible, Eri-san.”

This woman was Amami Eri-san, Amami-san’s mother. Originally, we planned to go by train, but she offered to give us a ride instead.

“What took you so long, Mom? Was the parking lot crowded?”

“No, I just did a little fan service for the people on the street. Everyone, here’s your cold water~” (T/N: Yeah, she said that in the raw.)

“Fan service? It’s been a while since you last did that.”

“Right? I’ve retired long ago, but it seems like some people still remember me. I was surprised, you know?”

I heard that Eri-san was a former model and entertainer on a local TV show. I had only moved here recently, but according to Umi, she was quite famous here.

Eri-san thinks of herself as just someone you could see anywhere, but I don’t believe that. Despite her age, she looked so young and beautiful.

Even Umi’s mom, Sora-san, and my mom couldn’t compare to her.

They were supposed to be the same age, but how could they be this different?

“Maki, why are you ogling Eri-san, hm?”

“Huh? I’m not. I’m just thinking that Amami-san looks a lot like Eri-san…”

The last time I’ve seen Eri-san was during Umi’s birthday party and back then I couldn’t see her closely like this. Apart from their hair color, they looked alike. If I didn’t know better, I’d mistake those two for sisters rather than parent and child.

“Oh my, Maehara-kun, are you interested in me? No matter how pretty I am, you can’t set your eyes on married women, Maehara-kun~” (T/N: FYI, you can if you’re brave enough.)

“…Mom, this is embarrassing, so please, stop.”

“Eh~ doing this once in a while is fine, isn’t it? I want to play with a younger boy sometimes too~”

“What are you talking about, mom?! Get your hands off Maki-kun!”

“Hm? Yuu, why is your face red? Oh my, is my Yuu thinking of dirty thoughts in this hot weather? By ‘playing’, I meant just hanging out with everyone here, you know? My daughter has started to think about that kind of stuff, huh?”

“U-Ugh… M-Mom! M-Mind your own age!”

“What a horrible thing to say to your mother~”

With that, the parent and child pair began to scuffle with each other, ignoring Umi and I completely.

Eri-san was just joking around, but Amami-san seemed to have second-hand embarrassment from her behavior.

Well, to be fair, if I were in Amami-san’s position, I would tie her up and throw her out of the premises, no questions asked.

“Are those two always like that?”

“Well, yeah. Yuu always denies it, but this is what their relationship usually looks like.”

Their relationship seemed closer to a sibling relationship rather than parent and child.

Well, I guess every family had their own dynamics. My mom and I, Umi and Sora-san, Riku-san, Shizuru-san and Reiji-kun…

“By the way, you haven’t apologized to me yet.”

“Huh? Do I still have to say it?”

“Of course. Well, you can choose not to, in which case, just stop talking to me, hmph.”

After saying that, she pulled away from my side and turned her face away.

It felt cooler when she moved away from me. I was sweating all over the place when she clung to me tightly like that. But at the same time, it felt lonely when she wasn’t clinging to me.

And so, I leaned over to her ear and whispered.

“Sorry, Umi. Also, you’re prettier than usual today.”

“…H-How exactly am I prettier?”

“I noticed you cut your bangs today and your nails too… You look neater overall and your perfume is more noticeable… Sorry if I’m wrong, though…”

“Since when did you notice it?”

“From the start, obviously. I didn’t notice the perfume until you got closer to me though.”

I always watched her closely. I could immediately notice the slightest changes in her.

By the way, this was the second time I told her that she was pretty today.

“…I’ll forgive you.”

“Thank you, Umi.”

“Dummy.”

She clung to my arm again.

After the trip, things between us had become a little awkward due to… Things… Sometimes we were too shy to approach each other, but it didn’t take long for us to act like normal again. Actually, we were even closer than usual ever since then.

Since we were currently in public, though, I tried to not go too far with our flirting.

“You two… We’re here to cheer for Seki, aren’t we? Stop getting carried away and watch the game properly.”

Said Nitta-san. I could feel her frustration in her voice. She was right. We were here to cheer for Nozomu, but somehow, we were lost in our own world.

Well, we could flirt at any other time, I had even planned for a date with her.

I looked at the field. Nozomu, the starting pitcher, was getting ready to pitch.

“Nozomu-kun, do your best!”

He looked so focused on his match to the point that he wasn’t even budging when Amami-san cheered loudly

With the sound of the ball hitting the mitts and the umpire’s high-pitched strike call echoing throughout the stadium, our summer began in earnest.