When I heard the cry of cicadas in the cool morning, I felt sad that summer is over.

University began again and the daily challenge to walk up the Dutch Slopes resumed.

While waiting for my next lecture, I started to organise my schedule on a smartphone schedule app in a small lab.

At the end of summer vacation, I quit my ice cream shop part time job.

I wanted to go bargain hunting, but after being busy with various things, the holiday break was quickly over.

For now, I was busy preparing for the cultural festival.

As for rain……was it going to rain?

It was sunny weather, day after day, and there was no work at all in the Evening Rain.

The Owner seemed to be busy so I didn’t contact him. There wasn’t any particular contact from him either.

 

However, sometimes I wondered if should send him a message on a sunny day anyway.

If I didn’t pay attention, the relationship between the Owner and Nanase-san may also progress.

Ryoko-chan told me to use my youth and energy as a weapon.

However, I was nervous that if I was too aggressive, he would dislike me.

What should I do?

I was severely lacking in romantic experiences and I was stuck.

I put my cheeks on the cold desk as I lost my energy and deleted the message I wrote before sighing.

As I looked at the contact for Owner Mukai on my phone, my phone disappeared from my hand.

 

「–Eh!?」

 

I was surprised and looked up. Ryoko-chan was looking at the message screen on my phone.

 

「Oto-chan, you haven’t messaged the Owner again?」

「……Eehh, that’s right.」

 

I didn’t really have anything important to talk to him about……I told her the sad situation.

 

「Well, if you want to see him, that’s important enough.」

「T-That’s true.」

 

When she asked me how it had been since we last met, I started to count.

……About a month?

I feel like there were days that rained, but it always stopped by evening.

Because of that, the Evening Rain Cafe never opened.

 

「If you haven’t seen him in that long, you should definitely contact him.」

「But when I met him last time, he looked busy.」

「It’s been a month, so maybe he’s already done with things.」

「Mmm.」

 

I knew I was timid. Maybe I’m afraid that the casual relationship we’ve had so far would disappear.

 

When I looked out the window to see if it would rain tonight, I heard the sound of a meow from my phone, telling me I had sent message.

 

「–Has it sent?」

「Ryoko-chan?」

「What?」

「Don’t tell me, you messaged someone just now?」

「I sent a message just then.」

 

Ryoko-chan, who looked kind of happy, returned my phone.

I didn’t refuse and it quickly came back into my hands.

 

Who did she message?

I opened the message list with trembling fingertips.

At the top of the opened screen was the Owner’s name.

 

「No~~, Ryoko-chan, what did you send to the Owner?」

「An invitation to a date.」

「Stop~~.」

「I’ve already sent it, so I unfortunately I can’t stop it.」

 

I was afraid to see the contents of the message, but I had to check it.

I worked up the courage and poked the screen.

 

–Hello~~! It’s still hot isn’t it? (^^♪ It’s a bit of a short notice, but why don’t we go to Glover Garden tonight? ♡

 

As soon as I read the contents, I lost all the strength in my fingers and dropped my phone on the desk.

 

「If you’re not careful Oto-chan, you’ll break your phone, you can’t repair your smartphone model in Nagasaki. It will have to be sent to Fukuoka.」

「R-Ryoko-chan!」

 

I was surprised that there were no stores here that would accept repairs for my phone, but that wasn’t the main issue.

 

「W-Why did you send a message to the Owner!?」

「Because you seemed so hesitant to do anything about it.」

「That’s true, but~~.」

 

When I told Ryoko-chan that the way her message was written was too casual, she apologised.

 

「Y-You even put a heart!」

「It’s fine. It’s not like you’ll lose anything.」

「I did lose something! I lost a lot of mental strength~~.」

 

Holding my head, I lied down on the desk.

How should I look at him like the next time we met.

 

But as Ryoko-chan said, our relationship won’t progress if I’m shy or scared of being disliked.

 

「……It’s no use, is it.」

「That’s because it’s Oto-chan. That’s just how you’re like.」

「Yea.」

 

I slapped both my cheeks to change my mood.

Then I thanked Ryoko-chan.

She apologised for her mischief.

Then, I used up all the courage I had right now and asked <If the Owner is okay, we could go to Glover Garden.

 

I took a deep breath and pressed the send button with my finger.

On the screen, a confirmation saying <Sent> appeared.

Holding down my rapidly beating heart, I breathed out.

 

「It’s done.」

「Oto-chan, well done!」

 

With that, Ryoko-chan patted me on the head and gave me a piece of candy she had in her pocket.

 

「Good kid.」

「T-Thank you.」

 

I threw the candy into my mouth and rolled it around with my tongue.

Then, a question suddenly came to mind.

 

「Come to think of it, why Glover Garden at night?」

「Hm? You didn’t know?」

「I don’t.」

「Glover Garden will be lit up for a limited time, and it will be lit up in the evening.」

「I see!」

 

So it was a limited time event.

It seems that up to early October you could walk around until 9:30pm.

 

「It seems the Western-style building is beautiful when it is lit up.」

「Uwa, I want to go!」

 

If the Owner declines, why don’t we go together? I tried to invite Ryoko-chan, but was refused immediately.

 

「I heard it’s all uphill.」

「Is that so……」

 

Ryoko-chan was sick of walking up the Dutch Slope that connected the university to her parent’s place.

The lecture was about to begin, so I stood up when I heard a low pitched cat meow.

This, it’s the reply sound from the Owner!

 

I checked my message screen in a hurry.

The answer was only a single sentence.

 

–What time should I pick you up?

 

「Uwa!」

 

Seeing my surprised voice, Ryoko-chan said ‘That’s good’.

Apparently she didn’t even need to ask.

But she knew me well enough.

My cheeks were definitely grinning right now.

 

◇◇◇

 

After the cultural festival meeting at my club, I quickly walked through the campus corridors.

I got too excited about it and went over time.

There were only 5 minutes left to the agreed meeting time.

Going outside, I hurried to the gate and walked carefully down the stairs.

 

The Owner was a short distance away from the university.

I wanted to adjust my breathing, but I wouldn’t make it in time, so I just kept going.

 

I managed to make it on time and was told that I didn’t need to rush that much.

 

「Well, I was the one who invited you, so I couldn’t be late……」

「I have no problem waiting.」

「This is something an adult should do!」

 

Isn’t that the case?

In my mind, I tsukkomi’d myself.

 

Today, the Owner was properly wearing his glasses.

If he didn’t wear any, he wouldn’t be able to see the Western-style building. I thought it would have been a waste, so I was relieved that he wore them.

We continued on foot to Glover Garden.

At the entrance, we paid the admission fees and went up the long slope on an escalator.

 

Glover Garden was designated as an important cultural property that symbolises the unique foreign culture of Nagasaki. It was also very famous as a tourist location.

This was my second time here. Once in spring, I came here along with friends from other prefectures.

The atmosphere of the garden completely changed at night.

All the Western-style buildings were beautifully lit up by the lights.

The hill was tough, but at night, it became much cooler and there was a refreshing breeze.

 

We went ahead while looking at the fantastic scenery.

 

「It’s beautiful.」

「If our shop increased the lighting, it might become a little more noticable and increase the number of customers.」

「There are only two lights right now, one in front of the gate and one at the front door.」

 

I thought it would be beautiful if the Evening Rain was lit up, but thinking about the horrible electricity bill that would come with it, it wasn’t realistic.

The Owner also looked to the side at the busy coffee shop in the garden and muttered that it might be better if business didn’t increase.

 

「Speaking of that, are you still busy?」

「Ah, it’s mostly cleared up. I was going to contact you soon.」

「That’s good.」

 

I was relieved that I wasn’t an annoyance.

At the same time, I found out that the Owner was going to Tokyo for a week from the day after tomorrow.

It seems to be for some business things. I was a little disappointed.

 

「In that case, the Evening Rain will be on break even if it does rain at night.」

「That’s right.」

 

It seems the rain will start to increase again as winter approaches.

But it’s still September. I felt like there was still a long time until winter.

 

As we talked, we arrived at Glover Garden.

There were quite a few people watching the beautiful night scenery.

 

You could see the cityscape of Nagasaki wrapped in warm lights, the dark sea and a pure white luxury liner from a foreign land.

I was captivated by it.

 

「Uwa~, this is so beautiful~.」

「I heard that the night view from Mt Inasa is even more amazing.」

「You have to get there by cable car.」

「I know that.」

「Of course.」

 

Because I invited my friends once and was rejected!

Since it’s a dating spot, it seems that the flirtatious couples detract from the scenery.

Speaking of that, the Owner was laughing when I said that.

 

「I know a place where there are fewer people, I’ll take you there next time.」

「Really?!」

 

Unexpectedly, we agreed on the next outing.

I’m glad I was able to bring out my courage.

 

I have to thank Ryoko-chan.

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