I started coming to this campsite because he was the one who invited me many years ago. We used to go to the same high school, despite being in different courses, and we spent a good amount of time together. He’s a fun guy, he’s the nephew of the owners and will probably inherit the camp since he loves it so much. Most of the time he’s serving at the bar rather than working at the office, his grandparents prefer to keep everything under control, but he still checks that everything is working out from time to time, and does most of the hard work. He’s more responsible than he might look.

“You got an extra chair I can borrow?”
“Sure, forgot yours?”
“Nope, I got an unexpected guest.”
“… A girl?”
I know where this is going. “She’s too young for you, don’t even think about it.”
“Dude, we’re the same age!”
“Yeah and I’m not trying to hit on her either. Inami forced me, long story.”
“I see, I see… Interesting… So Inami is the one you’re into, huh?”
“Can you please just lend me the chair?”
“Alright, alright, I’ll take it to your tent!”
“… No dude, give me the chair and leave the girl alone.”

So we go back to the tent. Yes, he’s following me. Kai, of course, is swimming in the lake, forgetting once again that he’s a cat.
“Rori what the hell, your cat is broken!”
“I know, when I first noticed the warranty had already expired.”

While Kane and Kei are chatting, I take off my riding overpants and get the chairs, table, wood, and everything else ready. It’s way too soon for lunch, so I think I’ll start reading the book I brought with me. Not before they stop talking, I’m the kind of person that finds it hard to focus with other people talking around me. So for now I’ll just sit and look at my graceful son swimming in the lake. He’s not wearing his trunks even though he said “meow” when I told him to get them. Maybe I’ll go for a swim too, later in the evening. Actually, let me text my pizza order to Inami before I forget.

“Bye-bye, come grab something at the café later!”
“Maybe we will, bye!”
Phew, he’s gone. “Did he try hitting on you?”
She gets all smug. “Nope, I told him I have a boyfriend as soon as I noticed his intentions.”
“You have one?”
“Nah, boys are not worth my time right now,” then with a deep voice, “I’m studying the blade.”
“Wise girl. I even told him you’re too young for him.”
“How old is he?”
“23, I suppose. We were in the same grade in high school, although in different courses. Wouldn’t call us buddies, but we used to spend some time together.”
“Ah, same school, that explains a lot. I thought you were older than that, are you younger than Inami?”
“Yeah, she’s older but not by much, we’re a few months apart. She was born in October, and I’m from March of the following year. We’re both 23 right now.”

Now that I think about it, I guess hers is not that far away from now, huh? Maybe I should start thinking about what to get her. I got to know her a couple of years ago, it was in the middle of the summer and she had just opened her café. I was still a student, but despite having good grades I’ve never been the kind of person that spent a lot of time studying, so I went camping even more often than I do now. I was going to the lake and noticed this new café from afar because of the lights, so I went and gave it a try. We had a quick chat then, but we only got friendly over time because I wasn’t as sociable as I am now.
She has a thing for graphic design and drawing, so last year I got her a fountain pen and a fancy bottle of ink and she loved them, I know for sure that she makes her menus with them. I once asked her if she’d rather be a designer or an artist, and she said no without a doubt. “They’re fun, but I would never give up my café for anything else. This is where I really feel like myself,” or something like that.

“I’ll read for a bit before lunch, what do you plan to do?”
“Mhh, I’ll go take a walk after we eat, but for now I’ll just chill here. Oh, and don’t worry about lunch, leave it to me.”
Sounds interesting. “You sure?”
“Yep, that’s the least I can do after you brought me with you,” she says with a huge smile on her face. She really does love cooking. “Hope you don’t have any allergies.”
I shake my head, “nope. I’ll give you the tools and the few ingredients I brought with me later.”

Today I’m reading one of Sadanatsu Anda’s light novels, “Aoi Haru no Subete”. We didn’t publish it yet but I’ve been allowed to read the “release candidate” translation of the first volume. The title has been translated into “During The Spring Of Our Youth”, but they used it as a subtitle since the original is a bit more vague than that. It’s a relatively old story, being from 2014, but sadly this is the treatment that many less-famous authors receive; honestly, it’s great that it even got a translation in the first place. I read Anda’s first novel, Kokoro Connect, quite some time ago, and it’s thanks to that series that I started getting an interest in light novels that slowly brought me to pick this career. As soon as I found out that we got the license for the series I begged everyone to let me take part in the project. In the end, the team had already been selected, but they promised to let me “proofread” it even though it already went through the entire process.

A now-dry Kai decided to leave my lap empty and chose Kei instead, who’s watching something on her phone. Traitor. I’m feeling like something is missing and it’s making me a bit distracted. The sky finally cleared up completely, I don’t even need to look up since the lake is reflecting it almost perfectly.
I wonder what she’ll cook for us today.
Maybe I should just focus on reading.

This book is good. I’m three chapters in and didn’t even notice, I’ve been sucked right in. Kei is getting up from her chair and stretching.
I glance at my watch: it’s close to 13:00. “I guess it’s about time, huh?”
“Yeah, my stomach has been grumbling for a while now, but I doubt you even noticed.”
“Nope, I’ve been somewhere else. What will you be cooking?”
“Mhh, I don’t like telling people what I’m gonna cook. Do you mind?”
Huh, now that’s weird. “How come, any particular reason?”
“Not really, let’s call it a weird chef’s trait. It’s a mix of wanting to surprise people and not being questioned for my choices~”
Yep, she’s weird, and I know from my job that this is just how some artists are. I kinda like it that way, though.

I’ll try not to look at her too much, I don’t like it when people do it with me when I’m busy, but I’m also kinda curious: maybe I can learn something from looking at her, I do all of my cooking after all.
She’s very organized and meticulous, she takes some clear plastic containers with ingredients from a thermal bag and puts them over the table, some are already prepared, I guess to avoid bringing unnecessary tools. I see grated zucchini, cheese, crushed nuts, herbs, and some ravioli. Also stuff like salt, pepper, butter, and a small bottle of oil. She took a skimmer and readied the stove, a pan, a pot, and a different kind of plastic container. I might have an idea of what she’s making, but I won’t bother her.
She points at one of my bottles, “can I use this water for the pasta?”
“Sure, is the pot large enough?”
“I can make it work by boiling in batches, once the water is hot it won’t take much anyway. It’s actually larger than the saucepan I brought in case you didn’t have one.”

Her tone is different than before, maybe it’s because she’s in work mode? She doesn’t even look at me while speaking, it’s almost as if I’m talking to a different person. She puts the grated zucchini in the pan and starts cooking them, then sets some aside and puts them with some more oil, salt, and the nuts in… oh, it’s not a container, it has some blades inside. I guess she’s gonna use it like a blender. “That’s a cool gadget!”
“It’s the first time I use this thing, my sister is the kind of person that buys a lot of useless kitchen gadgets. Let’s hope it does its job.”
She pulls the cord for a while until she looks happy with it, meanwhile the pot was already on the stove. Despite her focus on cooking, she seems willing to chat. “It’s a bit more work, but it’s nice to cook outdoors. I had this pasta in the freezer and thought of a nice way to cook it when I came home, so I did as much prep as possible beforehand and decided to try it now.”
“You made this much so quickly, that’s crazy.”
“I just grated the zucchini and cheese, the rest only needed to be put in the containers. I would’ve made the pesto at home too if I had the time.”
“You really love cooking, huh?”
She smiles softly. “Yes, absolutely. To me, it’s all a matter of instinct. I feel like I move before I even think about what to do.”
“I can see it, you look so focused and immersed.”
“Like when you’re reading.”
“Yeah, but seeing someone in the same flow state while cooking is very impressive.”
“So you understand why I want to do this for the rest of my life.”
“Yeah, I do. It’s as clear as the lake.”
She cooks the ravioli in two batches, sets them aside in a container, and puts the pan back on the stove to melt some butter. I got it. “Ravioli with sage, butter, and zucchini pesto.”
“Correct. The butter gave it away, didn’t it?”
“Yes, I like them this way a lot, it’s simple yet tasty.”
“You don’t know the filling yet, that’s gonna be a surprise~”
As soon as the sage is fried well, the ravioli get the same treatment, and she adds the pan-fried zucchini from before. “Do you want them the aesthetic way or the correct way?”
“I’ll leave the decision to the chef.”
“Correct way it is,” and with that she adds the pesto to the pan, mixes everything together, and puts it on the plate.

We clean the table, give a raviolo to Kai, and start eating ourselves.
“Mmh, mh… Is it salmon?”
“Hehe, it is indeed!”
She’s back to her usual self, her serious persona gone with the flames of the stove. The pasta is great, even when she had to make it work with a single stove and in a cramped space. “You’re a great cook, Kei, this stuff is just too good!”
“I know, right~? Teehee~”
The more I eat, the more I agree with her decision to inherit the restaurant, I have no idea why her father is making things so hard: she has a great talent and she wants to make use of it, and his restaurant will eventually need a new chef and owner. It’s a win-win situation. Maybe he knows something I don’t know? I’ll try asking more questions about this later, now I just want to eat all of this goodness.
“This is such an italian dish, I love it.”
“Both my parents are from there, so I got influenced a lot. I’m not particularly into other styles, I try japanese cuisine from time to time, but that’s about it.”
“Oh, so that’s why your father’s accent was a bit different from Sogna’s.”
“He’s from Turin, my mom from Bologna, and they met in the capital. They say Sognans’ accent is closer to central-southern Italy’s.”¹
“Huh, I didn’t know that. That’s where Shigure was from, after all.”
Kei points at her head, “this is also why we don’t have the ears. Man, I want them too…!”
Huh, it’s true. I didn’t even notice, maybe it’s something that non-natives pay more attention to. “Well, you can still marry a wolf-eared man and let your children have them.”
She makes a smug yet slightly embarrassed face, “I’ll marry you then~”
I’m not gonna give this tease the reaction she wants. “You’ll have to work hard for it. You should try with Kane, he’d be an easier target.”
Her grin gets even smugger. “Well, of course that’d be hard, I can’t just surpass Inami~”
Alright, she’ll get a reaction. “Mhh, what about her?”
She starts laughing loudly, “pff, look at you!! ‘Uhhh what about her???’, who are you trying to fool, hahaha! Are you gonna tell me that you don’t have a thing for her?!”
Well, thinking about it, I never gave much thought to my relationship with Inami. “I… honestly have no idea about how I feel about Inami.”
She stands up and starts looking at me with shock on her face, “dude, you’re such a loser! Put your mind to it, right now!”
Put my mind into it, she says… I mean, she’s a good friend, we have a lot of fun together. We chat once in a while during the week, and we meet relatively often, when I go to her café. And… that’s it? The truth is that I just don’t know that much about her.
“Rori, your plate is empty, stop trying to stab it.”
“… Huh? Ah, right.”
“Made up your mind?”
“Not really, I just realized that I don’t know that much about her.”
“And…? Wanna know more?”
“I guess I do…? Yeah.”
She gets back on her chair, “well, that’s a start, let’s leave it at that.”
I don’t know if I can just “leave it at that” now that I started to think about it, though.

Right after cleaning the table, Kei went inside the tent to take a nap. I have to give it to her, she hasn’t been a nuisance at all, if anything I loved her food. I’m starting to feel bad for treating her the way I did, but y’know, I did get a weird impression of her for valid reasons and anyone else would’ve gotten a similar impression of her.
Whatever, it’s in the past. Back to my book, now that I got my fur blanket back.

1. Sogna is an italian-speaking country.

Licensed under Yozakura BY-NC-SA-NoAI 1.0