You Were Experienced, I Was Not: Our Dating Story 6th Date (Light Novel) (eBook)
250 Seiten
J-Novel Club (Verlag)
978-1-7183-0984-5 (ISBN)
Nearly three years have passed since Runa and Ryuto celebrated Ryuto's birthday under the cherry blossoms. Unfortunately, his current life leaves much to be desired. After almost two years at Houo University, Ryuto has even fewer friends than he had in high school, and he's not satisfied with his part-time job as a cram school tutor either. But the real problem lies elsewhere...
Runa has landed herself a full-time job at a chain clothing store. As if that didn't keep her busy enough, she has her father's new children to look after at home. With all these responsibilities, the two almost never get to see each other anymore, which is a source of stress for both of them.
What does the future hold for Ryuto and Runa? And how are things working out for their old friends?
Nearly three years have passed since Runa and Ryuto celebrated Ryuto's birthday under the cherry blossoms. Unfortunately, his current life leaves much to be desired. After almost two years at Houo University, Ryuto has even fewer friends than he had in high school, and he's not satisfied with his part-time job as a cram school tutor either. But the real problem lies elsewhere...Runa has landed herself a full-time job at a chain clothing store. As if that didn't keep her busy enough, she has her father's new children to look after at home. With all these responsibilities, the two almost never get to see each other anymore, which is a source of stress for both of them.What does the future hold for Ryuto and Runa? And how are things working out for their old friends?
Chapter 2
“Sorry to have you working on your first day, Kashima-kun,” Fujinami-san said with a smile.
It was now evening. I’d just finished the work I’d been told to do and reported as much to Fujinami-san, a member of staff here.
Having come to the manga-and-magazine editing department of Iidabashi Publishing after Kurose-san had referred me, I’d had a quick interview, filed some paperwork, and had been put to work right away.
Fujinami-san was an editor who must’ve been in his late twenties. Apparently, he worked with many writers and it kept him very busy. Thanks to his medium build, his kind face that didn’t leave much of an impression, and his amiability, even an introvert like me could talk to him comfortably.
“Kurose-san said you were earnest and talented, so I had some expectations. You’ve outdone them.”
“Oh, it’s not like this work makes you use your head...”
I’d meant that as an expression of modesty, but then it occurred to me that it might’ve sounded like I was making fun of the work I’d been given. I panicked a bit.
Fujinami-san didn’t seem bothered, though, and smiled gently. “It may seem like work that doesn’t make you think and that anyone could do, but it takes a smart person to do it efficiently.”
“Huh... Thank you, sir,” I said.
Despite my fears, he’d praised me. It made me embarrassed how much of an adult he was compared to me.
“All right, you can go now. And Kurose-san, you can leave early if you want too. Why don’t you two go together?” he said.
Kurose-san’s hands stopped. She seemed to have been organizing documents at a desk in another part of the room.
“Okay. Thank you, sir,” she said.
Thus, the two of us left together.
It was just before 7 p.m.
It was Wednesday, so I’d normally be holding tutoring sessions at this time of day, but all of my Wednesday students had been studying for entrance exams. I’d actually been free on Wednesdays since earlier in February. My university was already on spring break too, so I’d gone to the editing department from home by 2 p.m., as instructed.
As I’d seen through the window earlier, it was completely dark outside already.
“Kashima-kun, are you hungry?” Kurose-san asked as we approached the station.
“Well... Yeah, I guess,” I replied, though I was hesitant at first. I’d been a bit hungry for about two hours by this point, so I couldn’t lie.
Looking up at me, Kurose-san grinned. “Wanna get something to drink?” At some point, her face had become that of an adult woman.
***
“Oh, you’re still nineteen,” said Kurose-san.
I’d just told her that I couldn’t drink alcohol yet.
“Sorry to bring you to an izakaya.”
“That’s okay. You can go ahead and drink yourself, don’t mind me,” I replied.
It was already February, so almost all of the people I’d gone to school with before were now old enough to drink. The only person I ever ate out with besides Runa was Kujibayashi-kun, but since he wasn’t good with alcohol, I hadn’t thought much about it until recently.
“Okay, I’ll take you up on that, then,” said Kurose-san. After briefly looking over the menu on the table, she raised a hand toward a waitperson. “I’ll have a draft beer. Do you know what you want, Kashima-kun?”
“Um, well... Do you have cola?”
“We do. A draft beer and a cola, then.”
After the waitperson left, I looked around the place. We were in a cozy, bright, Japanese-style establishment that felt like something between a restaurant and an izakaya. Judging by the menu paper on the wall, there seemed to be a good amount of cheap options here. It looked like the kind of place where men came to relax after work.
“Here you go. One draft beer and one cola.”
A different staff member brought our orders. A mug of foaming liquid was placed before me.
“Yeah, figures.” Kurose-san chuckled and swapped the mug with the glass of cola from her side of the table. “To your first day on the job. Cheers!” she exclaimed and clinked her beer mug against my glass.
“Cheers,” I replied, drinking a gulp of my cola and putting the glass back on the table.
Kurose-san drank her beer in big gulps, holding the mug at a large angle against her lips. It was almost like she was trying to pull in all the foam from the surface.
“Phah! Man, there’s nothing like a beer after work.”
Licking off the bit of foam stuck above her lips, she put the mug down. The grimace-like smile on her face told me just how much she loved alcohol.
“You like beer?” I asked.
“Yeah. Any alcohol, really. Though I’m not a big fan of shochu.”
“I see...”
Given her prim-and-proper image back in high school, I couldn’t have imagined her being like that. I was surprised beyond words.
“It looks like I can hold my liquor pretty well. Runa can’t, though. When we drink together, she usually gets dead drunk right away,” Kurose-san explained.
“Huh...”
Whenever Runa and I ate together, she would order nonalcoholic drinks because of me. It seemed like she didn’t like alcohol much, but it turned out that Kurose-san had no problems with it.
Kurose-san now felt like an adult woman I didn’t know. With such a person telling me things I didn’t know about Runa, it felt like I was left behind all alone, being nineteen.
“Though...maybe Runa is bad with alcohol because she’s always tired,” said Kurose-san all of a sudden, looking nowhere in particular. “She’s really working hard. I saw it firsthand the other day too.”
She must’ve been talking about when she’d borrowed Runa’s phone to call me.
“It looks like Misuzu-san hasn’t fully recovered yet. I hear she still has a prescription from the hospital.”
“Huh...?” I didn’t know what she was talking about and ended up staring at her.
Kurose-san gave me a puzzled look. “Runa didn’t tell you? Misuzu-san has postpartum depression.”
What even is that...? I wondered, my breath taken away.
Kurose-san then explained to me that after Misuzu-san’s infertility treatments, she’d only just barely managed to get pregnant. She had then been bedridden with threatened preterm labor and had become a mother of twins. Without having time for the wound on her stomach to recover, she’d been immediately beset by hectic days of childcare. Looking after newborns would’ve been harsh enough on its own, but her situation had made things twice as rigorous. She was also in such poor shape that she had been unable to breastfeed. Apparently, she’d been completely overwhelmed mentally.
Runa’s father was busy with work and barely got involved with home matters at all. Her grandmother—Misuzu-san’s mother-in-law—was helping with shopping, laundry, and cooking, but she refused to look after the babies, perhaps out of reserve.
Until Misuzu-san had gotten married, she had always lived in Kansai, so she didn’t have any siblings or friends in the area who could help. That was why Runa had proactively taken on the duty of looking after her new sisters in order to relieve Misuzu-san’s burden however much she could.
That concluded Kurose-san’s story.
“So that’s how it was...” I said.
“Just don’t tell Runa I told you. I think she didn’t say anything of consideration for Misuzu-san’s privacy.” Kurose-san took another gulp from her mug. “You two haven’t been able to see each other at all, right? You might’ve been wondering why she’s going that far to look after her sisters from a different mother—that’s why.”
“Right...”
“She’s so nice,” Kurose-san said with a fond look on her face. When her eyes met mine, she smiled amiably. “Though I’m sure you know that already.”
“Yeah...” I said, sitting there feeling overwhelmed with emotion.
“By the way,” began Kurose-san as if having thought of something. “Let’s order something to eat.” She opened up a menu and passed it to me. “Pick what you want. It’s my treat today, since I’m your senior at work.”
Saying that with a smile, Kurose-san looked more natural and relaxed than I’d ever seen her. She was now a very attractive adult woman.
***
Come next week, I was having lunch with a certain someone.
“’Sup, Yamada.”
Sekiya-san was in front of the Ikefukuro statue where we’d agreed to meet, raising his hand toward me.
I smiled awkwardly. “It’s been a while since you last called me that,” I replied.
“I kinda just suddenly remembered what you were like in high school.”
Despite everything, Sekiya-san and I still went out to eat together once every few months.
The station was lit up more than it would be during the daytime, thanks to all the artificial light here. As we walked side by side, he looked at me and smiled.
“Man, you’ve grown.”
“Huh? Really?” I asked. “I’m only a centimeter taller than I was in my sophomore year.”
It didn’t feel like the difference...
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 23.1.2025 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | You Were Experienced, I Was Not: Our Dating Story |
| Illustrationen | Makiko Nagaoka |
| Übersetzer | Makiko Nagaoka |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Themenwelt | Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen |
| Schlagworte | Coming of Age • first girlfriend • Gyaru • high school drama love story • Light Novel • modern day romance • the experienced you and the inexperienced me |
| ISBN-10 | 1-7183-0984-8 / 1718309848 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-7183-0984-5 / 9781718309845 |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
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