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 ti, at least for , but it’s still a nice one. Have fun reading!
Chapter 200 – The Beginning of Sumr
As promised, we had gone to the prefectural baseball stadium to support Nozomu.
The first round had just begun. The other team seed to be a strong one and there were a lot of people who ca to cheer for them on their side. anwhile the seats on our side were pretty much empty. Aside from us, only so of the parents ca. 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 so with , let 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 so, you’ll get sunburned in no ti. 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 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 tis like this, but…
Doing this in front of other people felt embarrassing…
“Oh my~ Umi’s sneakily flirting with Maki-kun again~ What about , Umi? I want you to put sunscreen on too~”
“Nina, you heard the princess. Do it.”
“Why ?~ 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 ant Umi, Amami-san and Nitta-san. My girlfriend, and two of my precious friends.
When the ga started, everyone started paying attention to the ga, but I could feel so people were staring in our direction.
I could hear the sa 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, .
At this point, I got used to this kind of thing, so I just ignored them.
Suddenly, a grown up woman sat down beside .
“Being popular is tough, isn’t it, Maehara-kun? Here’s so 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 so people still rember . I was surprised, you know?”
I heard that Eri-san was a forr 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 soone 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 sa 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 ti 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 ? No matter how pretty I am, you can’t set your eyes on married won, 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 sotis 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 ant 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 seed to have second-hand embarrassnt 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 seed 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 yet.”
“Huh? Do I still have to say it?”
“Of course. Well, you can choose not to, in which case, just stop talking to , hmph.”
After saying that, she pulled away from my side and turned her face away.
It felt cooler when she moved away from . I was sweating all over the place when she clung to tightly like that. But at the sa ti, it felt lonely when she wasn’t clinging to .
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 perfu is more noticeable… Sorry if I’m wrong, though…”
“Since when did you notice it?”
“From the start, obviously. I didn’t notice the perfu until you got closer to though.”
I always watched her closely. I could imdiately notice the slightest changes in her.
By the way, this was the second ti 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 beco a little awkward due to… Things… Sotis 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 ga properly.”
Said Nitta-san. I could feel her frustration in her voice. She was right. We were here to cheer for Nozomu, but sohow, we were lost in our own world.
Well, we could flirt at any other ti, 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 sumr began in earnest.
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