I think I might need a moment to elaborate on what just happened: a young girl, wearing a seifuku and holding a chef’s knife, just wandered around my uncle’s bike, calling it ugly. It’s not like she’s entirely wrong, but it’s not that bad. She seems to have enraged the gods of rain, too. I know why she has the knife with her, but I don’t know about the uniform.

“So… why the attire?”
“You mean this?”, she says as she lifts one of her sleeves.
Inami comes back from the kitchen. “By the way, Kei, why the cosplay?”
“Well… hahaha, that’s kinda the consequences of my own actions…”
“Is your mom back from her business trip?”
“Yeeeah, about that…”
I got it. “You forgot to wash your clothes and that’s all you had left.”
“Ugh…! Well, yes,” she waves to Kai and comes to the table, pouting.
“Is your father in the same situation?”
“No, he’s been washing his clothes every day, but I told him not to touch mine. You can guess the rest,” she tells her, quite annoyed. “Well, this is fine too, I can just say I’m cosplaying.”
Inami seems to have gotten a grasp of her situation. “Don’t tell me… Are you two in the middle of another fight?!”
“Ugh”. She freezes before biting her croissant. Spot on.
“You ran away, again.”
“Ugh. Aw, come on! I’m not running away! I’m… taking a break. From dad.”
Inami sighs deeply, “give ME a break…”
“Alright fine, I get it, I’ll just go upstairs if you don’t want me around!”
I hear a second, louder sigh coming from Inami. I’m just sitting there, looking at the plants, becoming one with them, not getting involved.
“Kei, it’s not about you being there, it’s about you two being unable to just… speak. Talk. Communicate. The weird thing people - no - all living beings do. Have a discussion and find a solution, a compromise, whatever.”
“How the hell am I supposed to talk with someone like him?! He just starts crying out of nowhere every time we talk about my future! MY future, not his!”
Don’t get involved, just keep looking around. Man, the drizzle turned into rain. It’s pouring hard. That sucks.
“It’s true that he overreacts every time, but you still gotta try to endure and try to talk, or you’re never gonna get out of this.”
“Maybe when mom comes back, but not now! Fine, if you don’t want me here I’ll go somewhere else!”
Oh look, a Lancia Delta just passed by. Love that car, so classy. Let me grab a glass of water.
“Again, it’s not that.”
Oh, it’s blue too, the best color for that car.
“You, dude with the ugly bike.”
Don’t look at her, don’t show any interest. “Rori. Respect the Busa.”
“Take me with you.”
I almost spit out my water. So much for not getting involved. “What?! That is NOT happening.”
“Why not?” she replies in a monotone voice.
“I can think of a LOT of reasons not to take you with me.”
“Like what?” - her voice still monotonous.
I start counting with my fingers. “First, I want to relax alone. Second, I don’t even know you. Third, you don’t have a helmet or any kind of gear. Fourth, I don’t want to take responsibility for a kid that is not even related to me.”
“I’m 17.”
“Yes, which means you’re a minor. Fifth, you don’t even know where I’m going, and I know you’ll get bored there and then be annoying because you’ll want to leave. Besides, it’s pouring outside, if you get a cold that’s on me.”

As I say those words, it stops raining.

“Stop doing that!”
“Doing what?!”
“This… thing with the rain!”
“… Dude, how am I even supposed to control the rain!?”
Inami keeps looking at us, quietly.
“So, where are you going?” she asks acting like she didn’t hear anything of what I just said.
I’m NOT getting involved. “Why should I tell you?”
Inami suddenly speaks. “Camping at the lake.”
“Oi, why did you tell her?!”
“It might get busy here…” she says looking away from me with a grin on her face.
“So you don’t want me here after all!”
“Yeah, she’s a liar!”
“Yeah! So, can I come with you?”
“No!”
“Aw, come on! I’ll mind my own business and… I’ll just suck it up if I get bored! It’s not raining anymore and, and.. we’re getting to know each other as we speak!”
“Message from her dad, he says to look after her.”
“Tell him I’m going to the lake with a friend of yours.”
“Will do. One of my sister’s old helmets should be in the back.”¹
I can’t believe Inami’s actually involving me in this mess. “Please, leave me alone.”
She leaves the table. “Rori, come with me for a sec, I need help to move a table in the kitchen.”
“Aren’t they all bolted to the floor?”
She gives me an intense stare.
“Alright.” I look the girl in the eyes, “this conversation is not over, you’re NOT coming with me.”

We get to the kitchen of the café, meticulously clean and organized as usual.
“So, which one-“
“Please take her with you.”
Oh no. “God, why is that?”
“She needs a break, and I know you can talk with her and make her collect her thoughts. Maybe she’ll finally have a proper talk with her father.”
And here it goes, my comfy weekend. “Fine, fine, I get it. Tell me what’s been happening.”

Inami starts explaining the whole situation. Once Kei graduates, she wants to go to a cooking school and take over the restaurant when his father gets too old. Her father thinks she’s just being nice to him and forcing herself, since her older sister has no plans of taking over, and without her the restaurant would either close or end up in the hands of someone from outside the family. He doesn’t want to dictate her future and is fine with closing the restaurant. The problem is that Kei loves cooking, and she really wants to work at the restaurant, but every time they talk about it, her father starts crying.
Inami once had a talk with her mother, and she says that Kei’s father feels guilty for placing all the weight on her daughter and wants her to choose a different path that would make her happier. Whenever he starts crying, Kei snaps at him and runs away from home, usually to Inami’s café.
Long story short, the father sucks at paying attention to what her daughter tells him, and she can’t stand the fact that he turns into a crybaby. Neither of them can communicate properly.

“… What the hell, those two are dumb beyond belief.”
“I know, right!? And I get caught in their mess every time! That’s why I want you to help her, you seem good at understanding people and you might be able to make her think of a way to have a proper discussion with her father.”
“Just so you know, this will cost you a real complicated pizza, you won’t get away with a simple Margherita.”
“Just help me and I’ll even put a whole 1kg steak on it if that’s what you want.”
“Don’t tempt me. I’ll text you my order when I get there.”

When we get back, we see Kei sitting on the floor next to Kai, both looking outside, almost as if waiting for something. The sky is taking some of its blue back from the clouds, but the grey seems to have found shelter inside Kei, taking the place of the joyful face she had when we were talking before. I hand her Inami’s helmet.

“Tell me where you live, it’s too cold to wear a seifuku at the lake. And no knives allowed.”
Her eyes light up. “…Can I? Really!?”
“Just this one time, don’t get used to it.”
“I…! Thank you, Rori!” and with that she evicts the grey from her face with the brightest smile. I smile a bit, too.

Since her home is beside her restaurant, I’m going there to introduce myself to the father while she’s taking the stuff she needs. I’ll be with his daughter for the whole day, so I guess he should at least get to know me. He looks quite gentle and caring, especially when it comes to his family, and he let me get inside with Kai since we were at the entrance.

“I’m sorry you got involved in our argument! Maybe I shouldn’t let her wander like this every time…” Oh no, he’s about to cry again. “Don’t worry about it! Inami told me to take her to the lake with me to help her relax a bit.”
“This is my fault too, please be good to her! Come eat here next time, it’ll be on the house!”
“Thank you, it smells delicious here!”

We talked about the restaurant and how this small town feels different from the city until Kei got ready. She didn’t enter the restaurant, probably because her father was there, so I left as I saw her waving at me through the window, avoiding his eyes with a nervous look on her face.
Instead of the seifuku, she’s now wearing some dark pants and a bright yellow hiking jacket, also a blue backpack. Doesn’t look like she brought the knife.

“… Is the knife home?”
She pouts at me, “only because I’m scared of what could happen in a crash.”
Well, that’s a relief. “So you do have some common sense.”

I thought of going to the butcher’s to get some meat for lunch since I’ll be eating pizza for dinner, but Kei said she brought food with her.
Thankfully the helmet that Inami gave her is of the right size but, for obvious reasons, it doesn’t come with a communicator, so we started a phone call and she wore one of her wireless earphones. Traveling in complete silence and being unable to talk would be depressing, and I guess if we’re gonna end up talking about the restaurant incident we gotta start by getting to know each other. It takes around 10 minutes to get from here to the lake, so I think we can have a good chat for a bit.

“Yo, yo, you hear me?”
“Nope, not a single word.”
“Good. Rori’s bike is so ugly it makes naked dogs look good.”
“… Come on, it’s not that bad. And it’s not mine, it’s my uncle’s.”
“Why would you ask someone to lend you a bike this ugly?!”
“You’re not into motorcycles, you wouldn’t get it.”
“Explain then.”
“How can I make it simple… oh, there’s a straight road here. I’ll show you, hold tighter,” and so I go full open throttle as we get out of the town.
“What do you mean grab- WHAT THE HELL”
I think I felt her fingernails dig deeper into my stomach through the jacket as the wind force gets stronger. “Got it now?”
“MAN! I thought I was gonna fall off! You do this often?”
“… No, this is the second time, it scares the hell outta me.”
“What’s the point then?! And what about Kai!?” She lifts one of her hands to touch the carrier in the back. “No way, he’s purring!”
Of course he is.

We take a turn and enter one of my favorite roads, one that goes through a thick forest, with tall trees on both sides. This right here is the joy of riding a motorcycle: the feeling of being surrounded by nature, the loud singing of the birds that learned not to care about the road noises, and the harmonious blend of green, brown, and red dancing all around. Roads like this make you feel the imposing presence of the trees. This is a beautiful road even when traveled in a car, but on a motorcycle it just hits differently, it hits like it’s supposed to.
As if she read my mind, Kei says the same thing, her voice sounding as if she’s been enchanted, “this road feels so different on a bike.”
“Right? I love it. Motorcycles get you so much closer to your surroundings. Going through woods like this with a car is such a waste.”
“Yeah, agreed.”
“Don’t you think bikes are dangerous?”
“Hmm, maybe they are, but now I can see why people like you would rather live this kind of experience than travel in a safer way. And I feel like you’re gonna be okay with all the stuff you’re wearing.”

After meeting a deer along the way and letting it cross the road, we get to the highest point, where one of the sides of the forest ends and we can see the whole valley and its river. We get into the breeze that comes from the valley to cool our heads after they’ve been stuck in the helmets for… not a long time, actually. It’s mostly for Kei since she’s not used to it.
We’re getting our first taste of the gentle and charming smell of the forest that’s gotten stronger after the rain. This is what life smells like, at least for me. By looking at his satisfied face, I can easily guess that Kai is enjoying it too.

“Ahhh, I’m getting so emotional over a motorcycle ride and some grassy smell… I don’t go out that much and it shows, right?”
“Hehe, can’t blame you. It hits the same way every single time. If people had to take this road to commute, they’d get to their workplaces all teary every day.”
At first she appeared to be quite the extroverted girl, I didn’t think she’d be one to spend most of her time inside. Guess we’re not that different. “I thought you were more of an easygoing and sociable girl. Don’t you get many chances to travel because of your parents’ jobs?”
“Hmm, I’m somewhere in the middle. I don’t mind going outside and I have a decent amount of friends, but my hobbies are mostly indoor, like cooking and anime. And there’s not much to do in the town.”
“Favorite anime?”
“Noragami.”
“Great taste. Yuru Camp for me.”
“You don’t say.”

After filling our lungs with as much of that smell as we could get, we force ourselves to get a break from the scenery and get back on the road, talking about anime like the hopeless weebs we are. Our tastes seem to be somewhat similar, but of course I watched way more anime than she did. I now get why she owns a seifuku.
It doesn’t take long for us to arrive at the campsite on the lake. After checking in at the entrance, I picked a place for the tent and started getting it ready, with Kei insisting on helping me so she could learn. It took twice the time than usual.
Despite the rain, it didn’t get much colder than normal, so I’ll get the wood ready but skip the fire for now. The birds are starting to sing again and the lake is perfectly clear as always, Kai looks eager to go for a swim. I’ll leave him to Kei’s care for a bit, I need to ask if the owners have a spare chair for her.

Many campsites tend to be very spacious to accommodate a lot of people, but the compromise is that they don’t give that big of a sense of immersion in nature, many are nothing more than just a large field, and in the best case there are a couple of trees here and there. The owners in this one, instead, did their best to make the woods a big part of the experience, there’s not a single place that isn’t part of the forest except for the space between the trees and the lake, where I put the tent. I love everything about this campsite, the owners are very nice too, I come so often that we got to know them very well. Here there is one of them.

“Hey, Kane! Didn’t see you when I got here!”
“Rori, welcome back!”

1. Don’t just wear any helmet in real life, please be sure that the size fits you perfectly, that it’s not too old, and that it never got any hard hit. I’m simplifying things for the sake of the story. 

Licensed under Yozakura BY-NC-SA-NoAI 1.0