ch41-ch60 · 042-ch41

Chapter 41: Take Care of Your Eyes

"......so that's what happened."

After finishing up business for the day at Rock Kitchen, Papa and I headed to the optical shop where Kiriko's older brother, Choji, works.

While Papa was getting his eyesight checked, I told Choji about the tense back-and-forth between Sumi and Yanagiko-san from earlier.

"That sounds rough."

With his black hair neatly parted down the middle and thin-framed glasses, he was the very picture of a nice young man! And indeed, the super-kind Choji sympathized with my troubles.

"Right? I don't know if they're having some kind of family feud or what, but I wish they wouldn't go at it like that even at our shop."

"...Well, rather, maybe it's because they met at Rock Kitchen... but I bet Yanagiko-san never imagined her own niece would become her rival..."

"Huh?"

"Ah, nah. It's nothing, nothing."

He was muttering to himself, but when I asked him to repeat it, Choji just laughed it off. Maybe he knows why they're fighting?

Just then, Papa finished his examination and came back.

"Good work, how'd it go?"

"Yup, my vision hasn't changed, so I'll get the same lenses made."

Papa is nearsighted, but not terribly so.

Still, because he drives for work, he wears glasses to see properly. He seemed a little happy to learn his vision hadn't gotten worse.

Among my friends, I have good eyesight and don't need glasses.

Kiriko's vision is gradually getting worse. Since she can't see the blackboard well from the back seats, during seat changes, she always hopes to sit in the middle or toward the front. According to Choji, it's only a matter of time before she'll need glasses.

Sumi's vision is pretty bad. She's been wearing contacts since middle school, and now she even uses colored contacts.

"I'll go with the frames Ai picked out for me earlier."

The ones I chose were black Wellington frames. The lenses are a bit bigger than his broken glasses, but they're made of a lightweight, soft material, and Papa seems to like them. Especially the fact that they're 'sturdy and hard to break.' The best thing would be if nothing happened that would make them break again, though.

"Rokuro-san, I heard Yanagiko-san and Sumi-chan came to your shop."

"Yeah, they did. Ryun-chan comes by all the time, but I was surprised to see Sumi-chan since it's been a while.... I heard from Ai that she'd be coming with friends next week, but I guess it wasn't with Sumi-chan?"

"No, Sumi's coming too. And Kiriko, plus one more friend that Papa doesn't know."

"Eh, is that so?"

Papa looked a little puzzled. I also wondered why, if she was coming next week anyway...

Back when I was little or on the way home from elementary school, Sumi used to come play almost every day when I was always at the food truck.

But now that school lets out later, she only occasionally comes with her mom on days off.

"Maybe because you were there, Ai?"

"Hmm, but it didn't seem like she heard it from Kiriko."

She didn't notice I was there at first, after all.

"There was a photoshoot happening nearby, so maybe she wanted to show you a different side of herself than usual?"

Choji chimed in with a somewhat troubled expression.

"Hmm, if she knew I was there, then I'd get that... but..."

"Maybe the photoshoot ran long and she was just hungry?"

Oh, right, that makes sense. If Papa's shop is nearby, serving delicious food that's easy to get, of course you'd want to stop by.

Right, right, I was overthinking it so much that I'd forgotten how delicious Rock Kitchen is!

Watching us father and daughter, satisfied with our understanding, Choji gazed at us with a smile... but why did it look a bit like a wry smile?

"When it comes to being dense, you two really are alike..."