Chapter 141: Fire and Smoke
Ishikawa Hayato had been completely engrossed in the fun of washing Hitori's hair, but after stopping, he immediately sensed Hitori's unease.
Before rinsing her hair, he quickly reminded her.
"Bocchi, it's time to rinse, okay?"
"Mmm..."
Hitori's voice was a little soft, making Ishikawa Hayato's heart skip a beat.
He struggled to control his blood flow until he calmed down.
A basin of water slowly poured down, and she let out a soft hum before gradually relaxing.
Ishikawa Hayato wiped her hair and said,
"I'll go get another bucket of water to rinse your body. No need to wipe it down."
"Okay..."
...
"Bliss..."
After everything was done, the five of them lay on the beach chairs, enjoying the pleasure of resting quietly after exhausting their energy, under the warm sun, in the sea breeze, listening to the leisurely sound of the waves.
Of course, some people couldn't calm their hearts.
One such person was Nijika.
She always felt that the day when danger would befall her was drawing ever closer.
Besides Kita accidentally calling Ishikawa Hayato "Hayato-kun" just now, after Ryo saw Ishikawa Hayato finish washing Hitori's hair, she suddenly asked Ishikawa Hayato to wash her hair too.
Ishikawa Hayato flatly refused.
He said, "Ryo, don't you have the strength yourself? Besides, Hitori is with me..."
Ryo directly interrupted him.
"If you wash my hair, I'll be on your side if you want to share a room with us during the next training camp."
Ishikawa Hayato gasped, his attitude instantly doing a 180-degree turn. He respectfully said, "Ryo-sama, please allow me to wash your hair."
Kita detached herself from her reminiscence, struggled for a while, but quickly gave up again.
Worrying wasn't going to solve anything, and she had only said they could date.
For many couples, dating was just the beginning, wasn't it? There were still plenty of opportunities to escape.
She let go of the worries in her heart and turned to look at her friends beside her.
Kita was enjoying herself with a happy smile, her eyes squinted.
Ryo was already fast asleep.
Ishikawa Hayato rested his head on his palm, unsure if he was asleep.
Hitori couldn't be seen from her side.
But with Hayato-kun there, she probably didn't need to worry too much.
She turned her gaze to the distance, looking at the relaxed and leisurely sea and sky.
She felt as if she had lost all sense of time, and gradually, she relaxed.
She even pushed the music festival, which had been bothering her, to the back of her mind.
...
After enough rest, they started playing on the beach again.
Even Ryo, who initially seemed uninterested in the beach, joined in.
Playing volleyball, burying themselves in the sand, building castles, drawing on the beach.
Thus, an afternoon quickly passed.
In the evening, the five of them went back to the villa, changed into their everyday wear, and returned to the beach with a small cart.
However, this time the cart held a barbecue grill and ingredients prepared by Ryo's mother.
The atmosphere among the five was also different from the morning.
The girls chatted happily, while Ishikawa Hayato lay weakly on the cart's handle, following the cart.
But if you listened closely to what he was muttering, you'd understand why the girls weren't paying attention to him.
"Swimsuits, the swimsuits I haven't seen enough of, I spent so much effort buying them, why aren't you wearing the swimsuits for a little longer, Waaah (╥﹏╥)."
They were used to Ishikawa Hayato's personality by now.
This state could simply be ignored.
Even Hitori, who had thought of going to comfort Ishikawa Hayato, was stopped by Nijika.
She righteously declared, "People filled with lewd thoughts should be punished."
However, hearing Nijika say this, Kita glanced at her and thought to herself.
'Ijiichi-senpai says that, but is the so-called punishment simply not comforting Hayato-kun? Isn't that spoiling him too much?'
And Ishikawa Hayato, hearing Nijika's words, cried even louder.
...
They arrived at the beach.
It was 5:40 PM, but the sky was still quite bright.
Summer nights come particularly late, and since they were by the sea, the entire daytime felt prolonged.
But the sky couldn't hide the fact that night was approaching.
Streaks of an orange-red sunset and the sky, dyed blue and yellow, along with the increasingly fierce sea breeze, announced the coming of night.
On the beach, the five people's clothes swayed in the sea breeze.
The wind blew fiercely.
Ryo walked a few steps on the beach and noticed a cloud of sand being blown away by the wind when she lifted her foot.
She looked back.
Nijika, Ishikawa Hayato, and Kita were frantically trying to set up the barbecue grill behind them, while Hitori looked left and right, unsure how to help.
Ryo sighed and walked over to complain.
"Meat that would be delicious with just a little cooking, why put it here to get covered in dust and dirt?"
She had told them earlier that they should just cook it simply at the villa; no need to make it so troublesome.
But her suggestion was strongly opposed by the others.
Nijika also realized the problem, but they had already gone to so much trouble to move the barbecue grill to the beach (though Ishikawa Hayato was the one who moved it). Now that they were here, it would be too silly to move it back.
She kept her hands busy and shouted, "Stop mumbling over there, hurry up and help!"
Soon, the initial division of labor was complete.
Ishikawa Hayato lit the charcoal fire, Hitori and Kita processed the ingredients, and Ryo and Nijika organized the tableware and the scattered seasonings.
In the strong wind, Ishikawa Hayato still lit the charcoal fire with little effort.
Watching the charcoal emit smoke, he leisurely grabbed a chair and sat down nearby.
The crackling of the burning charcoal and the lapping of the waves created an incredibly soothing sense of tranquility.
At the same time, the rising heat appropriately neutralized the gradually cooling beach.
He sat by the barbecue grill, watching it while also keeping an eye on the girls' movements.
Beside him, Hitori and Kita squatted by a small table, processing corn, mushrooms, green peppers, and some other vegetables.
Kita held a knife and cut, while Hitori helped out.
Ishikawa Hayato watched Kita's chopping movements.
It seemed she knew a little about cooking, but after seeing some of her whimsical ideas, he gradually couldn't hold back.
After Kita successfully carved a flower out of a mushroom, she grinned and showed it to Hitori, saying, "Gotou-san, isn't it cute?"
"Ah... yes."
She replied with her mouth, but Hitori was thinking inside.
Can these things even cook properly?
She occasionally helped her mother cook at home.
Looking at the pile of irregularly shaped ingredients Kita had finished processing, she started to worry.
However, she still didn't say anything and silently continued to help.
Just then, Ishikawa Hayato walked over and gave Kita, who was smiling and about to "ruin" the next ingredient, a chop to the head.
"How are you going to grill them if you cut them like this...?"
"But wouldn't seeing such cute things make you feel better?"
Kita looked up at Ishikawa Hayato with a radiant smile and said.
Her smile was very infectious; just looking at it made one feel better.
However, Ishikawa Hayato considered that if everyone ate undercooked or burnt-on-the-outside-raw-on-the-inside food later, Ryo, who was already complaining, would probably put on a completely deadpan expression.
He pointed to the chair where he was watching the charcoal fire and said, "Kita, you go watch the charcoal fire. Just flip it a little; don't make a Stonehenge!"
"Eh...?"
Kita, feeling disliked, let out a cute complaint.
"No 'eh' allowed." Ishikawa Hayato smiled and interrupted her attempt to act cute.
Kita pouted slightly and walked to the charcoal fire.
Afterward, Kita saw that it would be a while before the charcoal needed flipping, so she sat on the chair, hunched over, resting her face on her hands with her elbows on her knees, looking angrily at Ishikawa Hayato.
Ishikawa Hayato unceremoniously re-processed the mushrooms Kita had just carved into flowers, cutting them horizontally and vertically into uniform small pieces.
Kita's anger level rose.
The other ingredients were also cut into sizes convenient for cooking under his hands.
During this time, Nijika also came to take a look. Seeing Ishikawa Hayato's nimble movements, she thought he had extraordinary cooking skills, so she relaxed and went to organize the seasonings.
She took out various barbecue seasonings from the box: salt and pepper, pepper powder, cumin, five-spice powder, etc.
However, at the end, she picked up a large jar of white sugar, looking at it with confusion.
Does barbecue need this much white sugar?
Gradually, most of the ingredients were processed.
Hitori stood there, not knowing what to do for a moment, her hands intertwined.
Just then, Ishikawa Hayato's voice, as if he was about to cry, suddenly rang out.
"Bocchi~~"
Her gaze immediately shot up, and she saw Ishikawa Hayato with tears on his face.
"Ah ah...?"
Hitori instantly panicked.
She quickly looked down at Ishikawa Hayato's hands and relaxed when she saw he was cutting onions.
Ishikawa Hayato saw Hitori's flustered look, smiled after successfully teasing her, and prepared to continue cutting.
But then he heard Hitori say, "Hayato, then, let me do it..."
Hitori said, even half-extending her hand, wanting to take the knife from Ishikawa Hayato.
Ishikawa Hayato was speechless.
Hitori was so sweet... she even wanted to help him cut onions.
"It's okay, I'm almost done cutting."
As he spoke, just as he was about to continue, he suddenly remembered there was someone else nearby, so he looked over in that direction.
Kita saw Ishikawa Hayato's crying-and-smiling face and was about to show a slight smile when she remembered how impolite Ishikawa Hayato had been to her just now.
She let out a "hmph" and turned her gaze away.
...
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