Chapter 4 :
After placing my order, I was about to open my mouth to make small talk. However, since there was an age difference of about 17 years between us, I didn't know what to talk about, so I closed my mouth immediately.
“How old are you, Asakura-san?”
“I’m 33 years old.”
“You are very young.”
“Is that so? I guess I'm an old man in your eyes.”
“No, you're not!”
Riko hurried to deny it.
“You look very young.”
“Thank you.”
I couldn't tell if she was flattering me or if she meant it.
I think I look young for my age, but maybe it's just my own opinion, and on the other hand, my looks are appropriate for my age. The truth is unknown.
“Um… what year are you in high school, Soma-san?”
“I'm a freshman.”
“Um...
It's a perfect match.
I'm afraid to call her by her first name "Riko" because it's too familiar, but I'm also afraid to call her by her last name "Soma-san" to be honest. I'm sorry to say that I am traumatized by the surname "Soma".
“Now, what should I call her…? "You" or "hey"?
When I was thinking about it, Riko said, "Actually, there's something that's been bothering me…”
Riko said to me.
"Something you're worried about?”
“Yes.”
Then Riko seemed to remember that she had ordered a drink.
“I'm going to go get a drink. What would you like, Asakura-san?”
"No, I'll go get it myself."
I took off my suit jacket and stood up.
There was a customer at the drink bar. A couple of high school girls were mixing several kinds of drinks to make the original drink. I felt nostalgic, thinking of how I used to do this when I was in school.
I put a little ice in the glass and pressed the ginger ale button. Riko pushed the button for oolong tea.
When I returned to my seat, the waitress brought me the food I had ordered. As expected of a family restaurant. It was fast.
I ordered spaghetti with tomato sauce and Margherita pizza, Riko ordered Doria, shrimp salad, and French fries for the two of us.
“Itadakimasu."
She said in a small whisper, and Riko started eating her salad.
Itadakimasu, or ...I also try to give her a pre-dinner greeting, which I don't usually do.
After taking two bites of the salad and a sip of oolong tea, Riko started to talk about what she had interrupted earlier.
“What's bothering me is what happened in the park earlier. Before I was picked up by the delinquents, Asakura-san was looking at me from a bench, right? You looked surprised and curious."
“I wasn't trying to pick you up."
Riko giggled elegantly as if she thought I was joking.
I had hoped she hadn't noticed, but apparently, Riko's senses were much more acute than I had thought.
“Why were you staring at me like that? There's a deeper reason, isn't there?”
“You're a beautiful girl, so I couldn't help but be fascinated.”
“I'm not a beautiful girl…”
Riko put her hand on her cheek and was embarrassed.
However, she quickly came back to her senses and glared at me sharply.
“Please don't dodge."
“I'm not messing with you."
“You are.”
"Yes… I might be dodging."
I chuckled and ate my Margherita pizza.
Riko glared at me with her big eyes, silently intimidating me. It wasn't that I couldn't stand the intimidation, but I honestly told her why I was looking at her.
“You look so much like a girl I used to date that I couldn't help but stare at you.”
"A girl you used to date?"
I guess she was asking me to elaborate on my story.
To be honest, I didn't want to, but I didn't think I could cheat or lie now. I decided to tell her the details.
“The girl was my childhood friend. I confessed to her in the first year of junior high school, we started dating, and we broke up in the first year of high school.”
“Can you tell me why you broke up with her…?”
“She cheated on me."
I smiled sadly and drank some ginger ale.
“The guy she cheated on me with was a friend of mine…”
“Ugh…”
Riko put her hand over her mouth and exclaimed.
After the shock wore off, she apologized lamely.
“I'm sorry about that…”
“No, it was a long time ago. Don't worry about it."
After that, we ate in silence for a while. It wasn't an awkward silence. Riko ate her Doria carefully, bit by bit, and seemed to be thinking about something serious.
Eventually, Riko opened her mouth.
"Um… could you tell me the name of your ex-girlfriend?"
...To be continued!
Translator Corner:
Thanks for reading my translation works.