Translator - Vodka
Editor - Soju
For the time being, I put aside the matter of Kaede being influenced by Kirasaka. After the meal was over, the five of us cleaned up the place.
Regarding Kaede"s cooking skills, it was a flavour that I had gotten used to a long time ago. It was delicious and warranted no complaints.
I also ate a lot from the bentos that Shizuku and Kirasaka had prepared. As expected, there were only a few words that I had like to say,
Rather, what can the two of you not do?
After we had our fill of the food the girls had prepared, we checked if the surrounding situation had gotten any better. We then moved towards the Canoe attraction as per Kaede"s request and got in line to wait our turn.
However, there was a problem.
The attraction"s explanation went on to say that people had to sit side by side in pairs. Going by that, I had to be seated alone while Yuuto Shizuku, Kirasaka and Kaede could form pairs with each other.
That was how the seating order was supposed to go down. It was not only me, but Yuuto, Kirasaka and even Kaede must have had thought the same. However at the last minute, Shizuku turned towards us and opened her mouth,
"For this attraction, I would like to ride it with Kirasaksan"
Hearing this, even Kirasaka herself looked surprised.
It was surprising, because not a single hint of friendliness could be felt from their usual interactions.
It looked as if Kirasaka had similar thoughts, as she showed a rare expression of seriousness towards Shizuku"s words.
"What is with these turns of events?”
"Isn"t it ok once in a while? having this kind of pairing that is?"
Shizuku"s smiling expression was similar to when she would be talking to her cla.s.smates, but those eyes……were not smiling.
……It was terrifying. Why were these girls capable of casting such cold gazes?
"What"s happening?"
Whispered Yuuto, standing next to me. I shook my head horizontally and said,
"Don"t know……for now, it would be better to just go with the flow"
“I guess so, huh”
Yuuto had a frown on his face. It would seem that he was also worried as to how he should react to the situation.
Only this time, the two girls were not clashing with each other over trivial things. They seemed serious.
At least, that was what I thought.
Did Kirasaka have the same feeling? She kept quiet, placed her hand against her chin and wore a pensive face.
Kirasaka"s gaze met with Shizuku"s eyes. Then when I thought Kirasaka looked at me for a moment, the girls confronted each other again.
"That"s true……it might be good once in a while"
"Well then, that is how it"s going to be"
……What does "that is how it"s going to be" mean? I would like an explanation.
"If that"s the case, I will ride alone"
After the girls" conversation had ended, Yuuto looked over in my direction and informed me so.
Indeed, if it had gone the original way, I would have ridden alone. However, now that Kirasaka and Shizuku had become fellow riders, I guess it would be better this way.
It would"ve been fine though, if Kaede and Yuuto sat together. Was he being considerate? Maybe he didn"t want Shizuku to see him sitting with another girl? ……It was fine either way.
"Well then, Nii-san, you must row it properly now, ok?"
"……Sure"
With this, my plans of sitting alone at the back and pretending to row the canoe no longer seemed possible.
Pair by pair, the line kept moving forward. When it was almost time for us to get onto the canoe, I looked at the two girls behind me one last time.
It went without saying but, there were no conversations between them, none whatsoever.
Why did these two people decide to sit next to each other?
In my own way, I tried thinking of things that they were likely to talk about……but there were none.
To begin with, I had never seen these two people truly engage in any conversations. It was pointless to just think about it.
"Please watch your footsteps!"
Finally when it was time for us to get on the canoe, we followed the instructions of the person-in-charge, as we went on board.
Yuuto sat in the front row, Kaede and I were in the middle, while Shizuku and Kirasaka sat at the back. The other empty rows were taken up by other people, and then the ride started.
"Ooh! It"s moving forward!"
"It"s unexpectedly not bad"
With a sidelong glance, I looked at Kaede who was happily paddling. As the boat swayed and moved forward, I watched the scenery change.
Varieties of things could be seen in several places – such as a small house that accommodated a water turbine and dummies of animals and people. You could even experience the ambience of going down a river.
Sometimes, water would splash on to my clothes, but it was nothing that warranted attention.
The canoe moved without us having to put in more effort into rowing, than what I had thought would be required. Hence, we didn"t have to get all desperate trying to row it. Honestly, I was grateful for that.
——
——
The conversations of the two girls behind us were drowned out by the chattering of the people and the sound of the water. I couldn"t even make out the contents of their conversations, but I could comprehend that they were definitely talking about something.
Surely, they too must have had matters they wanted to talk about.
Yuuto, who was sitting in front of me, kept looking at the girls while pretending to watch the surrounding scenery. Honestly, it was unpleasant.
This guy……how much did he think about Shizuku?
Until the ride was over, Yuuto kept looking at the back the whole time. I lightly hit his head with the handle part of the paddle. When we reached the end of the attraction, we followed the instructions and came back onto land after a short period of separation in the water.