The Happiness That The Shinigami Gave Me - V1 Chapter 17

T/N: Thank you satorri for the coffee!

Volume 1 Chapter 17

It was the morning of the first day of school after the long summer vacation. I showed up at the usual park and found Natsuhara-san there.

She looked a little tanner than the last time I saw her. It was great that she still looked healthy and cute.

“Summer is simply the worst. It’s hot and stuffy inside a bogū. I felt like dying.” (T/N: Bogū is armor you wear in kendo.)

Apparently, Natsuhara-san spent her summer vacation practicing kendo. The kendo club had a summer camp, so she spent her time there. Besides that, she attended kendo practice in a dojo she had been going to since grade school.

“Running around under the sun for ‘increasing your fitness’ felt miserable. Thank God everything is over now.”

“Sounds rough…”

“Well, I mean, our school’s kendo club is strong, so it’s a given. Anyway, what have you been doing, Yamaoka-kun?”

Her question made my heart jump a little.

“Eh? Are you interested, Natsuhara-san?”

I leaned forward.

“Idiot. I’m just asking because I’m curious what people without club activities normally do.”

My expectations immediately crumbled after hearing that.

Well, it wasn’t like she was interested in me or anything, I shoulda known that. She was just wondering how plebeians like me live our normal lives.

Whatever.

“I read books, did my homework and went to a beach in Shizuoka with my family.”

“I see. I want to go to the beach too…”

“Huh? You never went there?”

“Never. I’m always busy with kendo.”

She chewed the limited-edition Marroncream melonpan as she mulled over her words. Could I call it Marronpan to shorten its name? (T/N: Marroncream as in the Hello Kitty character.)

She looked out of it, totally unlike her usual self that was filled with vigor. Now that I think about it, it was possible that she didn’t have any parents, like me.

I made a blunder. I should never talk about family trips in front of her ever again. Time to change the subject.

“Anyway, how long have you been doing kendo, Natsuhara-san?”

“What’s that, all of a sudden?” she asked, looking completely wary of me. Still, she answered me honestly anyway.

“Since I was five.”

“Since that young?!”

Could someone that young do kendo in the first place? The shinai would be bigger than her body, wouldn’t it?

“Why did you start doing kendo?”

For a five-year old, she really had guts deciding to do kendo.

“…My parents did kendo when they were young.”

Her answer shocked me. I tried to avoid talking about her parents and somehow we got here anyway.

“Well, they don’t seem to be interested in kendo anymore nowadays.”

She chugged through her milk in one go. As I was watching her drink with such vigor, I realized that her parents were still alive. It was great that my imagination was off.

Still, when she was talking about her parents, she had a fragile expression on her face.

And that expression bothered me.

TL: Iyo

ED: samheart564

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