Today, we met at Nagasaki station at 8am.

The first one to arrive was Ryoko-chan. Because we were going to a campsite, she was heavily equipped with long sleeves, long pants and sneakers. I was in two minds over it as well, but I was scared of insect bites, so I had worn the same style of clothes.

I was wondering if I should have come out in a cute dress.

 

「Good morning, Ryoko-chan.」

「Good morning.」

 

I wondered where Ryoko-chan bought the country-style straw hat she was wearing. Speaking of items that were brought from home, I was surprised that ordinary female university students didn’t have that many.

 

「Oto-chan has good taste in kimonos and is good at cooking brown food, you’re a mysterious creature aren’t you?」

「All my clothes were given to me by my grandmother, as for the brown food, I can’t say anything to that.」

 

When I brought my own lunch for the university spring cherry blossom viewing, I was laughed at when I took out four dishes of karaage, boiled fish, grilled ginger and grilled mackerel with salt. Everything in it looked like a lunch box my mother would make. The dishes that the other girls brought were all colourful.

 

「But, I think Oto-chan’s food was the most delicious.」

「Thanks.」

 

Both my parents worked and my grandmother did the cooking. While helping out, I naturally learned.

As I was studying to be a dietician, I couldn’t separate cooking from my life.

 

While talking with Ryoko-chan, Iida-san arrived.

Looking at the time, it was exactly 8am.

He had run over with a large amount of baggage.

 

This was the first time I had seen Iida-san not in his business clothes.

He was wearing a black cap, a hoodie and T-shirt to move around easily in, and jeans below.

Normally, he looked 30 or so, but it’s strange that when he’s wearing plain clothes, he looked the same age as the Owner.

 

「Sorry I’m late.」

「No~, you’re just on time.」

「That’s good.」

 

Curious, Ryoko-chan asked about his large amount of baggage.

There was a long narrow case with a square shoulder strap looked like it held fishing equipment.

 

「The cooler box has meat, the backpack has a pot and rice cooker.」

 

He seemed to have prepared a lot of things to eat barbecue and curry at the campsite.

By the way, I was in charge of the rice and curry roux, Ryoko-chan was going to handle the vegetables.

 

While talking about this, the Owner contacted me saying that he had reached the station.

The three of us moved to the agreed meeting place.

 

「Ah~, good morning, Mukai-san.」

 

Iida-san called out to the Owner, who was waiting in front of the car.

The Owner was wearing a long sleeved shirt, thin down vest and chino pants suitable for a campsite. Unusually, he was wearing black-rimmed glasses today.

Seeing that, Ryoko-chan asked a question.

 

「Those, are your glasses just for looks?」

「They’re real glasses.」

「Huh. Is that so.」

 

It seems he brought them because he’ll be driving long distance.

 

Ending the conversation, we loaded our bags into the Owner’s car.

Then, when I tried to sit in the back seat, Ryoko-chan blocked me.

 

「Oto-chan, go to the front!」

「Eh, but.」

「Iida-san, do you want to sit next to the Owner?」

「I can’t really say.」

「That’s why!」

 

I was forcefully pushed over to the front passenger seat.

I greeted the Owner, who was looking at us with an expression asking what we were doing, and thanked him in advance.

 

Under the blue sky, the car started moving.

It takes about two hours by car to Oshima.

 

The inside of the car was lively as Iida-san talked about interesting topics.

The Owner still kept his surly expression.

 

We arrived at Oshima just after 10am.

We decided to go to the campsite to prepare for lunch.

 

The campsite was a place where the grasslands spread out, a simple place with cooking spots, a water supply and a sheltered place for eating.

 

Iida-san was in charge of food, the Owner was in charge of the barbecue and Ryoko-chan and I were in charge of the curry.

 

「Please use this meat.」

 

Looking at the meat that was offered, Ryoko-chan raise an ‘ahh’.

What was printed in gold letters on the package was “Saga Beef“.

Iida-san seemed to have bought a high-class Japanese beef from the neighbouring prefecture.

 

「Uwa~, I’m happy, but I’m also nervous.」

「That’s true. If you cook it wrong, it will be a waste.」

 

Ryoko-chan and I looked down at the pack of meat with a sense of tension.

 

「Oto-chan, let’s do our best.」

「Y-Yes!」

 

Time was wasting, so I started cooking right away.

 

I left the meat to Ryoko-chan. It seems that if it’s marinated with onions, it would become more tender.

She teared up greatly as she rubbed onion over the meat.

 

I decided to cut the vegetables that Ryoko-chan bought.

It seems she had been thinking of making a summer vegetable curry, there were many beautiful colours.

I cut the eggplants, zucchini, tomato, paprika, pumpkin and carrots into bite sized pieces.

Spreading olive oil into the pot, I put it onto the cooking stove where Iida-san had started the fire.

First, I stir fried the hard root vegetables until they were slightly cooked before adding the other vegetables. When they had softened, I added the seasonings, water and consomme before boiling.

While doing that, I also added the Saga beef that Ryoko-chan had done her best to prepare.

 

Simmering the ingredients, when it boiled and everything was thoroughly cooked, I added the curry roux and stewed it further.

Stirring the pot, a fragrant smell drifted out and my stomach growled.

Looking at the time, it was 12pm.

The curry was ready! Iida-san’s rice seemed to be cooked as well.

 

A square tent shade was set up and the preparations for the barbecue were also completed.

There were no tables, but there were camping chairs for everyone.

Vegetables and meat were put on skewers and were roasting with a jiu~jiu~ sound.

The pot holding the curry was placed on the cooler box padded with newspapers.

As much curry as we wanted was poured on top of the rice that Iida-san served.

 

Juice was also brought out of the cooler box that the Owner had brought along. He handed over a beer to Iida-san, but Iida-san declined.

 

「You can drink if you want to.」

「I’ll be fishing after lunch.」

 

Iida-san replied as he received a carbonated fruit juice from Ryoko-chan.

 

And we were ready.

Placing the plate of curry on our knees, we put our hands together.

Seeing that everyone started to eat, I also scooped up some of the curry rice with a spoon.

 

–Delicious!

 

The tingling fragrance, moderate acidity and the sweetness of the vegetables was outstanding.

The vegetables were soft and crumbled in my mouth. The meat was also delicious and gave me a happy feeling.

The rice was hard enough to match the curry roux. The okoge was also deliciously crispy.

 

Everyone ate in silence without talking about the taste. It might have been because we were a little tired from traveling and cooking.

 

After eating, Iida-san praised my curry.

It was worth making.

I expected the Owner to have some reaction, but he just looked the other way.

 

Next was the barbecue skewers.

The Owner took the vegetables and meat from the skewers and served them on a plate for easy eating. He also added sauce.

This was also very delicious.

The meat was roasted until the surface was crispy, and biting into it, gravy dripped out.

 

「Oh, this is good. It’s delicious. It was worth the effort.」

「Iida-san, thank you very much……!」

 

I gave a deep bow and thanked him unconsciously.

At lunch time, we split up.

Iida-san and Ryoko-chan went fishing.

The Owner and I went to the observatory.

 

The Owner looked enthusiastically at the cliff and stared at it intensely as he started taking pictures.

I’d never thought he’d bring his camera with him.

 

I decided to look at the sea instead of the cliffs.

 

It was a quiet sea today without any waves.

It glistened brightly under the sun.

It was a scene I could keep in my mind for a long time.

 

I was surprised to hear a click and shutter sound from next to me, I was startled.

The Owner was standing next to me and pointing his camera at me.

 

「Ah, just now, I had a weird expression!」

「That’s why I took it.」

「No~~」

 

I told him to delete it, but I was told he couldn’t because it was a film camera.

I thought he was hooked onto the cliffs, so I was completely off guard.

 

I was impatient to know how it turned out, but the Owner was laughing unusually happily, so I thought it was fine.

 

Like this, the pleasant summer day passed.

[Previous Chapter] [Table Of Contents] [Next Chapter]