For Some Reason The Girl Who's Too Popular Only Drinks with Me - Volume 1 Chapter 5.2

***

Having said “Itadakimasu,” I couldn’t very well not eat, so I decided to try the radish, purple onion, and tuna mille-feuille first. Yeah, it’s normally delicious. Despite its stylish appearance, it’s just normally delicious. Usually, one aspect is sacrificed for the other, but this is both stylish and delicious. It’s unbeatable.

“How is it?”

“Yeah, it’s delicious. Really delicious. The best.”

“Really? I’m glad.”

Hamasaki Mai smiled with relief as I shared my honest opinion. Perhaps she was using me to test her cooking skills.

“I made this before when my sister came over, and she said it was delicious, so I made it again this time. I’m glad.”

Turns out, I was overthinking it.

“So, you’ve made this for your sister before? Have you made it several times?”

“Hmm? Well, maybe two or three times. Oh, but I make this tuna and avocado dish quite a bit. It’s easy.”

“This? You make it often?”

“Yeah, avocado. Oh, do you not like it?”

“No, it’s fine, but…”

Living alone, I wouldn’t normally eat avocados. Well, maybe avocado lovers would buy it, but it seems like a low priority. Dried pasta comes first.

“Um, I don’t know if I should say this, but Hamasaki-san, you’re rich, aren’t you?”

Hamasaki Mai stopped what she was doing abruptly. She must have been asked this several times before. She seemed to have reached the point where denying it was too bothersome, mumbling ambiguously in response.

“Well, it’s not like I’m super rich or anything.”

“Well, I figured you weren’t as rich as Sugino-senpai, but still, you live in an apartment, it’s auto-locked, and it’s a 1LDK.”

“The room, well, Papa said it’s dangerous for a girl to live alone…”

“The furniture looks high-quality and expensive, you use a fancy laptop, and even have houseplants. Houseplants! In a single apartment!”

“Well, that’s because, you know, having greenery is calming.”

“I’m not blaming you or anything. It’s really amazing. I’m just envious. Compared to here, my room is like a trash can.”

It’s true, I am envious. My family wasn’t poor, but we weren’t rich either. We could afford a luxury once a month, but that’s nothing noteworthy.

Well, even if I had money, my miserable life probably wouldn’t change much.

“Come on, it’s not like that. And my family’s house isn’t anything fancy. Just an old house. And it’s in the countryside. Really, the countryside. House, rice field, rice field, grove, rice field, house, rice field, rice field, house, graveyard. Something like that.”

I chuckled briefly, holding my glass, as she counted with her long fingers and described the unique landscape. Indeed, that is unmistakably the countryside. It’s easy to imagine.

“In that case, my parents’ house might be slightly better. My place is just houses. House, field, apartment hair salon apartment, field, convenience store, dentist hair salon, house house house, something like that.”

“Wow, that sounds pretty urban.”

“It’s not urban, though.”

“But it’s more urban than my place. My elementary school didn’t even have a hundred students. My sister hated it so much she went to a private high school outside the prefecture.”

“Ah, she must have really disliked it. Didn’t you?”

“Hmm, I don’t know. I didn’t hate the countryside that much. It was inconvenient, though.”

Hamasaki Mai looked distant. “I’ll make some drinks,” she said, standing up and heading towards the kitchen.

Watching her back, I remembered something.

“Not just boys, but I dislike girls too. No, not dislike, more like I can’t trust them. I’ve become distrustful of people.”

Hamasaki Misaki’s words came back to me. Hamasaki Mai was betrayed by many people as a child. She was hurt by so many. After such experiences, it’s natural to become distrustful of people. It’s understandable if she couldn’t straightforwardly love her hometown where she grew up.

Yet, she is living with a smile now. Without completely closing off her heart, she lives while interacting with others.

I think it’s brave, but at the same time, it also feels painful. Even if thinking this might make me seem creepy, I can’t help but feel sorry for her.

“Sorry for the wait~”

Hamasaki Mai returned with cocktail glasses. Looking towards the kitchen, I saw cocktail-making tools, reminiscent of those used at university festivals.

“It’s a Dry Martini.”

The cocktail was presented before me. I gently took the glass, looked at the olive submerged in it, and took a sip.

The unique aroma and dry taste were unmistakably that of a Dry Martini. The alcohol seemed to rush through my body instantly, and I finished by biting into the olive.

“I got hooked on making these after playing bartender at the Rokuyou Festival. I’ve been making them quite a bit for myself.”

“I heard about it from your sister. That story.”

Hamasaki Mai froze with a bashful expression, then quickly looked puzzled and stared at me.

“Heard about what? What did she say?”

“I heard about your past. About when you were in sixth grade, during middle school, and a bit about high school too… I heard.”

I spit the olive pit into a tissue and scratched my nape.

Hamasaki Mai’s smile froze. Her hand dropped from the table as if drained of strength.

Why did I say that? I shouldn’t have. But I couldn’t bear it. The story was too heavy for me alone, but I couldn’t tell anyone else, so I thought I’d just tell her directly. It was almost on a whim.

“Ah, so you know already. Did Misaki tell you?”

“I was told not to tell anyone. I broke that promise. I’m sorry.”

I made sure to cover for Hamasaki Misaki, though I knew I’d probably be scolded by her later.

Hamasaki Mai seemed downcast, perhaps suppressing her anger, ready to explode at any moment.

I quietly took a few tissues from under the table, preparing for when she might spill her drink on me again.

A heavy silence filled the room. It was my own doing, so I had no one to blame but myself, but now I was nervous for a different reason.

Hamasaki Mai picked up the cocktail glass again—I quickly covered my face with the stacked tissues—and she downed the cocktail in one gulp.

(I thought she was going to splash it on me.)

To conclude, I wasn’t splashed with the drink. My guard-up tactic with the tissues was a swing and a miss.

“Did you also hear about why I broke up with my boyfriend in high school?”

She drank the cocktail, then looked at me with an unusually cold expression. I shook my head honestly, not understanding the intent behind her question.

Seeing my reaction, Hamasaki Mai stood up, collected the two cocktail glasses, and moved towards the kitchen.

Then, she made another cocktail and, surprisingly, sat next to me instead of across.

I visibly flinched at her sudden closeness, and Hamasaki Mai chuckled at my reaction before passing me the cocktail glass.

I took the glass and slightly shifted to put some distance between us.

“I became able to talk normally with boys in high school. Adults still scared me sometimes, and one-on-one was impossible, but I wasn’t too bothered by boys my age.”

Sitting next to me, Hamasaki Mai began to share stories probably known only to her with me, just an acquaintance.

“A senior confessed to me out of the blue. He was thin, pale, and looked like a girl. But he was very kind and gentle, so I decided to go out with him, partly as a form of rehabilitation.”

She paused to take a sip of her cocktail. Despite having drunk quite a bit today, her face wasn’t very red, which I thought was oddly off-topic.

“It was pretty fun, and I felt very comfortable. As we talked more, I came to think of him as a good person. We started dating around winter and a few months later, when summer came, he suggested going to the local summer festival. By then, I had gotten quite used to him, so I said yes.”