abcnovels
Chapter 126: Looking At The Sea At Night
Chapter 126: Looking At The Sea At Night
Chapter 126: Looking At The Sea At Night
Though the foreign ghost’s trolling led to Ryuji’s embarrassing moments being recorded in real-time, fortunately, people’s interest in him quickly faded.
This was because, from the start, the arm-wrestling was merely a time-filler for the main vote tally, and the organizers announced that the tally was complete as soon as both the men’s and women’s arm-wrestling ended.
And finally, the announcement of the winner of the swimsuit contest with a total prize of 100,000 yen.
The honored winner was…
Not me, nor Ryuji, nor the muscular man named Yoshida, but the clumsy female participant from before.
“Eh? Me? Yay! I hit the jackpot!”
An entirely unexpected twist.
Initially, it was thought that the men’s votes would be split, but the results turned out to be the complete opposite.
Instead, it was the women’s votes that were more scattered.
Thanks to my efforts in the preliminaries, I also received a fair number of votes, but a narrow margin flipped it, landing me in second place.Missing out on the first prize of 100,000 yen was disappointing, but the second prize wasn’t bad either.
Especially since the second prize was a Nintendo Switch, enjoyable for the whole family.
I had finally gotten my hands on a console game system, something I had hesitated to buy, feeling it was somewhat unnecessary.
“That’s great. Now we can play games together.”
“Yeah.”
Ryuji, who was with me at the award ceremony, was happy for me as if it were his own achievement.
As expected, he was a really nice guy.
If it weren’t for my prejudice about him being a love comedy protagonist, we might have become friends earlier in the semester.
Looking down at the 10,000 yen bill I received as the arm-wrestling prize money, I said,
“Let’s go. I’ll treat you on the way back to the lodging with this.”
Ryuji then whistled and asked,
“Can we eat something expensive?”
“You’ve worked hard, so I can let one slide.”
After the swimsuit contest was completely over, we joined the others who were waiting under the stage and headed to the lodging.
After returning to the lodging, we ate dinner in the yard of the guesthouse.
The dinner menu was a seafood barbecue, and it tasted absolutely delicious, perhaps because we were so hungry.
Especially after finishing the shrimp, the heads fried separately in butter were a delicacy.
Later, we chatted while eating snacks and drinks bought from a convenience store with the prize money from the arm-wrestling contest.
“It’s already this late.”
Rika, squatting in the guesthouse yard and staring blankly at a sparkler, one of the fireworks bought at the convenience store along with snacks, murmured this.
And Karen responded to her comment.
“Yeah, it’s been a while since we lost track of time having fun.”
The Class President, who had been listening quietly to their conversation, chimed in.
“Isn’t this exactly the magic of summer?”
“Indeed… It’s a plausible explanation.”
As Sasha nodded seriously, Satoru, who was eating ice cream, spoke up.
“So, what’s next? We’ve had dinner, snacks, and even fireworks. Are we done now?”
“Shouldn’t we? It’s getting quite late.”
I said this while checking the time displayed on my phone.
10 p.m.
In the city, it would still be early, but in places like this remote beach, most stores close after 9 p.m.
“Phew.”
When the sparkler in her hand went out, the Class President was the first to brush it off and stand up.
“Let’s go in. If we want to play early tomorrow, we need to save our energy. Otherwise, we’ll all sleep in.”
Certainly, a valid point, so no one disagreed with her.
Eventually, even the firewood in the bonfire whitened, and the flames died down.
That served as a sort of signal, and one by one, we all got up.
“Let’s call it a day then. Everyone, have a good rest, and let’s meet tomorrow morning with smiles.”
After concluding the situation like that, the Class President led the way into the lodging.
This created an awkward atmosphere to stay outside any longer, so, taking cues from each other, we, one by one, went inside the lodging.
Rika, who was the last to go in, caught my eye and waved at me with her usual bright smile.
“Good night, Ryu-chan.”
“Yeah. You, too, sleep well.”
After saying that to Rika, I followed Satoru and Ryuji into the lodging.
The room we guys were using was a reasonably sized four-person room.
As we laid out our futons on the tatami and lay down, a flickering fluorescent light slowly blinking caught my eye.
“It feels like we’re visiting a grandmother’s house in the countryside.”
Ryuji, lying next to me, muttered this, and Satoru chimed in.
“Agreed. Especially this mosquito coil smell is no joke.”
Indeed, the musty smell of the mosquito coil provided by the guesthouse was strongly stimulating our nostrils.
If there were mosquito nets, it would have completely created that feeling.
Listening quietly to their conversation, I asked Satoru,
“Ah, by the way, Satoru, are you still upset?”
Satoru replied with a look of disbelief,
“Do people usually ask that outright?”
“Well, I wouldn’t know if I didn’t ask.”
Then, Satoru said,
“It’s fine, man. After all, I was the one who overdid it earlier.”
Surprisingly, Satoru readily admitted his fault.
After hearing Satoru’s answer and pondering for a moment, I spoke up.
“Let’s definitely hang out, just the three of us later. I’ll join in, whether it’s hunting or whatever.”
Satoru chuckled and replied,
“Yeah, let’s plan a guys’ trip next time.”
“That’s not a bad idea.”
Ryuji agreed, and Satoru, perhaps feeling sleepy as he lay down, yawned and said,
“Let’s get some sleep. If we’re moving around tomorrow, it’s better to go to bed early, just like the Class President said.”
“Yeah. Good night.”
After saying that, I slightly sat up and turned off the light, the only illumination in the room.
As the room darkened, only the sound of quiet breathing could be heard.
Then, as someone began to snore, I slowly closed my eyes.
I had a dream for the first time in a while.
And the dream wasn’t about me, but the memories of ‘Kim Yu-seong.’
In the faded memory, Kim Yu-seong was raised by his grandmother when his parents were busy working, before his grandmother passed away.
In the memory, his grandmother’s face was wrinkled.
With hands that had weathered the passage of time, she gently stroked Kim Yu-seong’s head and told him old stories.
It seemed Kim Yu-seong was very fond of his grandmother.
Otherwise, there would be no reason to feel such sadness indirectly in the dream.
Perhaps the smell of the mosquito coil, which he hadn’t smelled in a long time, triggered ‘Kim Yu-seong’s’ memories.
At this stage, it was just a speculation, though.
I opened my eyes in the darkness.
Rubbing my eyes, a tear fell.
Probably, the content of the dream caused a physiological reaction.
Quietly getting up, I left the room alone to wash my face.
The hallway was silent as a mouse.
Each step forward in the creaking hallway created a strange atmosphere.
After washing my face at the sink in the nearest bathroom, I intended to return to my room to try to sleep again.
But on the way, I unexpectedly ran into someone.
“Eh? Ryu-chan?”
It was Rika, unusually dressed in pajamas.
Since we had already run into each other, we decided to take a short walk outside.
We were both up anyway, having woken up to use the bathroom, and it didn’t seem like we’d be able to fall asleep again right away.
We walked along the white sandy beach, stretching alongside the night sea.
The grains of sand between our sandals and toes spread around, giving a soft sensation.
Even though it was summer, the sea breeze blowing from the night sea was quite cold.
Noticing I wasn’t the only one who felt it, Rika, walking beside me, slightly hunched her body.
It turned out to be a good idea to bring a cardigan, just in case something like this happened.
“Here, wear this.”
“Oh, thanks.”
When I offered her the cardigan I was holding in my right hand, Rika accepted and put it on without hesitation.
Then, a subtle silence followed.
We often hung out together, but it was rare to feel this way.
To break the mood, I looked up at the moon in the sky.
“The moon is beautiful tonight.”
“Eh?”
Rika then looked at me with a surprised expression.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
Rika mumbled that, then quickened her pace a bit.
Following her, I asked,
“Why are you walking so fast?”
Then Rika replied,
“I just felt like getting a bit of exercise.”
Honestly, it sounded like an excuse to anyone listening.
But I decided to play along as if I didn’t notice.
“Thinking about exercising at this hour, that’s impressive.”
“Hehe, I got praised.”
Rika said that, turned around slightly, and asked with a bright smile,
“So, Ryu-chan, why did you come out?”
“Me? I was just, you know, in a bit of a complicated state of mind.”
Walking in such situations was a great help in organizing my thoughts.
Occasional memories of Kim Yu-seong made me feel as though I was making a big mistake.
In reality, I was just caught up in the situation.
Living someone else’s life—their existence—was never easy.
Perhaps anyone else in my place would feel the same.
I looked at the dark night sea and said,
“It’s nice and quiet.”
“Right?”
We walked along the quiet beach, exchanging small talk.
Then suddenly, Rika looked at me with a serious expression.
“Ryu-chan, I have something to tell you.”
“You have something to tell me?”
“Yeah. Something I’ve wanted to say for a while.”
Rika said this and then paused for a moment.
And then…