Just before 1am. I rubbed my sleepy eyes and made a final check in the full body mirror next to the front door.

It was a special outing, but because we were just going to a morning market, I thought it would be excessive to dress up. Because of that, I wore a hoodie, pants and sneakers, clothes that were easy to move in.

I tied my hair up into a bun, even though there wasn’t anything attractive about it. I tried to make it a bit fancier than usual.

 

For some reason, Ryoko-chan has been pressing me more and more, telling me not to be shy. But the Owner also seems to be a herbivore, so I felt like I could escape if I was attacked.

Two herbivores (impalas) together, I just wanted to get along while leisurely eating grass.

 

Five minutes before the meeting time. I gave a yawn. It seems that I’m quite tired from preparing for the cultural festival.

Yesterday, I made tickets and posters on my computer, made a final check of my apron costume and went to bed after 3am.

I had taken a short nap earlier, but I still couldn’t stop myself from yawning earlier.

I really wanted to sleep. But I also wanted to go out with the Owner.

I slapped my cheeks to energise myself and went down to the first floor.

 

The Owner had already arrived.

While the wind was a little cold, he greeted me outside when I left my apartment.

Getting into the car, we left immediately.

 

「Are you sleepy?」

「I am sleepy, what about Owner?」

「I’m not sleepy.」

 

Well, if the Owner had said ‘I’m sleepy’, I would have to stop him from driving with all my strength.

 

「Sleep until we arrive.」

「No way! I can’t just sleep in your car.」

 

Before I knew it, I was fast asleep in the Owner’s car.

 

What’s more, but the time I woke up, the sunlight was already pouring down.

 

「–Uwa!!」

 

When I tried to hurriedly get up, a hand held my head.

My seat belt had been unbuckled and I almost hit the roof of the car.

 

「Don’t suddenly jump up. It’s dangerous.」

「Ah, thank you very much.」

 

It was the Owner who helped me.

Thanks to his amazing reflexes, I didn’t hit my head.

 

「Sorry, this……」

「No, don’t worry about it. I’ve achieved what I came here for.」

 

When I asked the Owner if he was done with shopping, he shook his head.

Then, as I was wondering what he had been doing, the Owner pointed to the back seat.

Casually placed on the seat was the fine SLR camera that he had brought to Oshima last time.

 

Apparently, he had come to the morning market just to take photos.

He had already taken his photos. Following his cliff side enthusiasm, I found out that he is also very enthusiastic about morning markets.

Well, that’s good then.

 

「You also took off my seat belt, right?」

「Because it was digging into your chest–.」

「Yes?」

「No, nothing.」

 

I couldn’t hear it because he said it too fast.

Even so, the sea in front of me was too dazzling. Bathed in the morning sun, it was shining brightly across the street.

 

「What time is it now?」

「6:30am.」

「Uwa……I slept for 5 hours.」

「You were sleeping like a log.」

「I’m sorry.」

 

In the end, I couldn’t fight off my sleepiness.

 

「Are you hungry?」

「I’m strangely hungry.」

「Then, do you want to eat something here?」

 

Even though I hadn’t done anything in particular, I was feeling hungry.

The Owner said that there was an eatery in the market and we decided to head over there.

 

It was already the market as soon as we left the parking lot.

Because the sea was nearby, there was a lot of seafood around.

There was an eatery in one corner of the market. The time was quite early, before 7am, but there was already a small queue.

 

「We’ll have to wait here a little. There are some coffee shops near here that do morning business as well.」

「This is a rare opportunity, so let’s line up.」

 

Having breakfast with the Owner at a coffee shop……!

I almost sighed at my idea of an ideal date. But, my mind was firmly set on the set meals from the eatery.

What I wanted to drink wasn’t cafe au lait, but miso soup.

I was amazed at my decision of ‘appetite > making myself attractive’.

I thought I would gather the courage to ask him out to a cafe date next time.

In Nagasaki city, there was a nice cafe that Komada-san had talked about in the club the other day. I wanted to repair our relationship, so I had been about talking to Komada-san the next time I saw her.

The line moved very slowly because everyone was taking their time to eat.

Looking around, I noticed that the morning market was becoming more and more vibrant.

 

「There’s a lot of people.」

「There will be even more from now on.」

「Heh~~.」

 

While talking, my nose started itching and I sneezed.

I was wearing long sleeves, but it was a little cold near the sea.

As I rubbed my arms, something warm was draped over my shoulders. It was the velvet jacket that the Owner had been wearing.

 

「Ah, this is, I’m sorry.」

「Just put it on.」

「No, no.」

「Unlike someone who was sleeping, I was walking around until now, so I’m not cold.」

「I-Is that so……thank you very much. It’s very warm.」

 

My body was getting warmer, but my heart was also beating faster.

What should I say?

Even though he usually has a curt attitude, to use the carrot and the stick tactic.

Right now, I almost shouted ‘I like you!’.

But if I confessed, the atmosphere on the way back would become awkward, so I held back.

At the same time, I felt how painful unrequited love was.

 

While thinking to myself in distress, we were guided into the eatery.

It was a small shop with only 8 seats.

The menu was mainly seafood! This was also a fishing port, so I thought that it was natural.

 

「Uhhh~~.」

 

Sashimi set meal, boiled fish set meal, grilled and salted mackerel set meal, horse mackerel set meal, seafood bowl, seafood tempura bowl……

I was at a loss on what to choose.

I came to a market near the ocean, so I thought about eating fresh fish, but I was also really interested in the fried set meals and chicken tempura.

I thought that the picture of the poached egg on top of the chicken tempura and rice was unfair. Because of that, couldn’t I decide on what to eat.

 

「What are you thinking about?」

「Chicken tempura or grilled and salted mackerel set.」

「The chicken is a specialty of Oita. There’s no need to eat it here.」

「That’s true. Then, the grilled and salted mackerel set meal.」

 

Since chicken tempura is common in family meals and other places, I thought it was a nationwide thing. I didn’t know it was a specialty of Oita.

 

「By the way, chicken nanban is a Miyasaki specialty.」

「Even chicken nanban!?」

 

In both cases, the Owner said that the authentic food is so delicious that it was incomparable to eating it elsewhere.

 

「Chicken tempura, chicken nanban……!」

 

It was a dish made of chicken tempura fried to crispy texture with soup stock and sauce poured over it. It was served by scooping nanbanzu, Japanese vinegar and nanban sauce, onto the chicken tempura before pouring tartar sauce over it.

Ahh, so wonderful, the specialty chicken of Kyushu.

My head was filled with chicken.

I shook my head side to side and switched to fish mode.

Raising my hand, the shop assistant came over.

The Owner seemed to have ordered the horse mackerel set meal.

Ah, horse mackerel! I noticed when he pointed to it.

The menu said that it had tartar sauce. It wasn’t a chicken meal, but it would satisfy my desire for tartar sauce that I had.

Well, that’s fine. A horse mackerel set meal is also available in the university cafeteria. I was determined to eat it next time.

Shortly afterwards, the meal I had ordered was served.

The Owner put a single piece of horse mackerel on my rice without saying anything. He then also handed over the tartar sauce served in a small bowl.

 

「Owner, is this okay? The tartar sauce as well!」

「Because it’s too oily.」

「Thank you!」

 

He also shared the horse mackerel, which there were only two pieces of!

For the second time today, I wanted to shout ‘I like you!’. But because we were in an eatery, I held back.

In return, I handed half of my grilled and salted mackerel to the Owner.

 

I immediately put the tartar sauce onto the horse mackerel.

The plump white flesh was wrapped in a thick white coat. The delicious taste of tartar sauce couldn’t be expressed in words.

Horse mackerel wasn’t in season right now, but it was delicious because of the fat.

 

「Ahh, I’m so happy!」

 

I was a little distressed about eating something so oily in the morning, but I couldn’t fight my appetite.

Mackerel was in season and it was definitely delicious.

Putting the chopsticks into the meat, the fat flowed out.

 

「Mackerel is the best with shabu shabu.」

「Mackerel shabu shabu!」

 

It was said that mackerel should be passed through hot water and eaten with squeezed yuzu and ponzu sauce.

 

「Delicious.」

「If you want to eat it, the best mackerel will be around late next month.」

「Autumn eggplant and autumn mackerel are the best match to eat together~~.」

 

The Owner said that he would find some time next month to take me out to eat it.

Since we decided on our next outing, I was happy.

It isn’t as stylish as a coffee shop date though.

 

In the end, a story that started with going out to a market ended with talking about food.

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