Chapter 39: CH 39

You get out of here quickly.

Translated by Dawn

Edited by Dawn

You get out of here quickly.

For a moment, there was silence.

The sound of people passing by was heard over the din of the crowd.

“What do you mean, of course, we’re here because there’s a festival. You can just tell by looking at us.”

Suddenly, I heard a voice from next to me.

It seemed that Shuji was answering for me.

I thanked him in my heart and followed him.

“Rather, what are you doing here, Yamamoto?”

“You can tell just by looking at me. I’m helping out. This is a stall run by the baseball team I used to be a member of. They were called the Yankees, and they were pretty known around here.”

“Really? What do they do with the profits?”

“They use it to run the team. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come all the way out here to help.”

“…I see.”

I was a little impressed, unknowingly.

I’d been through a lot with this guy, but his love for baseball was the only thing that was genuine.

“I used to play youth baseball too.”

Shuji squinted his eyes as if reminiscing about the old days.

Hey, I never heard that story before.

I thought he was a soccer player, but it was so unexpected that he also played baseball.

Yamamoto’s eyes suddenly change color when he heard Shuji’s story.

He grabbed Shuji’s shoulder with his free hand.

“Are you Ikeno from Fighters?”

“Hm? …Yeah, I think that’s the name of the team I was in.”

“…Really? I was wondering where that great guy had disappeared, but I had no idea you played soccer at the same school.”

Yamamoto put his hand on his forehead and sighed.

It was surprising to hear that Shuji was also a talented baseball player. Knowing that such a partner had moved on to another sport, Yamamoto, as a baseball player, must have had his own thoughts.

“Hey, what are you doing chatting around, Tsuyoshi! Hurry up and get the orders!”

An uncle who was grilling yakisoba noodles in his stall turned around and yelled at Yamamoto.

Yamamoto immediately turned around and replied.

“Shut up! I’m taking time out of my busy schedule to help you! You’ve got to treat me more respectfully!”

“What are you talking about! Your baseball team has already lost! You’re not even that busy!”

“……”

Yamamoto silently stared at the man, but the man just looked at him blankly and continued to cook the noodles.

Sighing, Yamamoto turned to us.

“What’s your order? With sauce or salt?”

“Two sauces, two salts.”

“…4 people, huh.”

He heard the number and must have guessed it.

Yamamoto looked around and stopped to look at the two girls waiting nearby.

He turned his attention back to us again. There was no change in his expression.

“It must be nice, huh. You seem to be having a good time.”

“…You look like you got a lot on your plate, Yamamoto.”

I said casually, and Yamamoto now glared at me.

“Shut up. You’re the only one I don’t want to hear that from.”

“…Ah, right.”

Then I wouldn’t say anything more.

After hearing our order, Yamamoto went to the back of the line to pick up more orders.

The stall looked quite busy, as it was thriving. Well, that meant more money for the team’s operations, so Yamamoto must be happy.

After a while, I came to the front of the line.

The man who had been arguing with Yamamoto earlier was there,

“Yes, two with sauce and two with salt.”

He handed us a plastic bag containing yakisoba noodles.

Shuji took it and I took money out of my wallet instead.

After the uncle hands over the plastic bag, he continued to stare at Shuji’s face.

“Are you Shuji from Fighters?”

“…Yes, what’s the matter?”

The uncle asked Shuji exactly the same thing as Yamamoto.

Shuji looked back at the uncle with a quizzical look.

A premonition of love. No, of course not.

Shuji’s reply made the old man blank out for a moment and then he smiled broadly.

“Nothing, hahaha!  It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, Shuji!”

“…um, who are you?”

“Well, you don’t remember me, huh? You used to be elected as a representative of the city, remember? I was also the city’s representative manager at that time. I was also the manager of the Yankees.”

“…By any chance, Gonda-san?”

“Yeah, right, right! I’m glad that you remember me!”

“…Hey, you’re the one chatting around, old man. Hurry it up and handle the customers.”

Yamamoto’s lips twitched as he returned from taking some orders.

Gonda-san came back to his senses and scratched his head in annoyance.

“Oh, right, right! My bad, my bad! Rather, we didn’t have enough people, to begin with! I should have to get another person, or maybe two more!”

“It’s too late. You should have realized that earlier.”

Yamamoto tried to rebuke him, but Gonda-san didn’t seem to hear it.

Perhaps he thought of a good idea, and his eyes suddenly begin to glow.

“…Wait a minute. Shuji, are you free right now?”

“…Why did you ask me that?”

Shuji asked back with a look of alarm on his face.

Gonda-san said exactly what I imagined he would say.

“If you’re free, I’d appreciate it if you could help me! You score a lot of points in the game against the Yankees, I’d like to think of it as an apology!”

“That’s not good at all! What’s with that mysterious theory!? Hey, help me out here!”

Shuji looked at me and Yamamoto alternately, his face twitching.

But…unfortunately, I didn’t know how to deal with this kind of pushy old man.

The more help for Yamamoto in the first place, the better, in other words, there was no reason for him to help Shuji. It looked like there was nothing more we could do about this.

“Natsuki! Please, save me!”

Shuji called Ogura, perhaps thinking that we were getting nowhere.

“What is it?” Ogura came over and finished listening to the conversation and said,

“It’s good. It sounds fun. Should I help too, then?”

“Huh? What are you talking about, Natsuki? It’s helping out at the food stall. It’s like a part-time job.”

“It’s different from a part-time job, no? Today is a festival, so if we were to compare it to something…it’s like a cultural festival, right?”

“Cultural festival…It sure sounds like fun when you said that.”

Shuji said, looking up into the air thoughtfully.

Is it okay? You’re definitely being deceived by Ogura.

“Hey, let’s do it.”

“Okay, let’s go!”

Ahh, I’ve been dragged into this, haven’t I?

What about me and Mizutani?

If Shuji and Ogura were going to help, were we going to help too?

There was no way the two of us were going to go around the festival alone.

“You, get out of here quickly.”

“…Huh?”

Yamamoto’s low voice interrupted my thoughts.

I looked next to me and he indicated Mizutani with his chin.

Mizutani stood there alone, looking puzzled.

“Two of them are enough manpower. You guys will be nothing but a hindrance, and more importantly, I don’t like the idea of working with you. So, get the hell out of here.”

“Huh? No, but—”

“It’s all right. Here, take this.”

Pulling two from a plastic bag containing four yakisoba noodles, Yamamoto handed them to me.

Surprised, I accept them, and Yamamoto pushed me back.

“Wa-wait a minute.”

“…Is there something else?”

I checked the plastic bag, then turned around.

Yamamoto was frowning.

“Can I have one salt and one sauce, please? I only have salt in this one.”

“……”

Yamamoto’s face contorted even more.