60 - Meeting my friends outside of school feels awkward (Patreon)

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Sunday.
I was exhausted from all the questions Tadashi had been asking me while I was at school, but Sunday finally arrived. I have been practicing with Hiuri many times in the dream, so I'm ready.
After all, I did my confession practice on the person herself. There is probably no practice as perfect as this one where I go as far as confession rehearsal.

Yesterday's exchange was particularly interesting,

[I'll confess to you properly, Hiuri.]
[Yes, I'm looking forward to it.]

It's a mystery.
From the perspective of someone who doesn't know the circumstances of the dream, they probably wouldn't even understand what the conversation was about.

“All right, let's go.”

I encourage myself and leave the house.
My mother, who happens to be home, is making a dubious face at me, but I don’t mind it because I’m going to an important place now.

......

We plan to meet at 9 am.
That said, Hiuri told me not to arrive at the last minute, so I leave the house while making sure I arrive a little earlier. This is a chance to do the “Did you wait long?” “No, I just arrived here” exchange that often occurs in fiction.

That's why I came to the station about 15 minutes earlier...

“Ara, Kazuki-kun, hello.”
“Hiuri... aren’t you early?”
“I just arrived here.”

I lost... I guess the right answer was to come a few minutes earlier.

“Could it be, were you planning to get here before me?”
“That’s right...”
“Too bad. Please try harder next time.”

How frustrating.

“That's a cute outfit.”
“Thank you. Since you said we are about to go out, I tried to pay a little attention.”

The light blue skirt is cute. White clothes also go well with her.

Come to think of it, Hiuri is normal today. This week, whenever I ran into Hiuri at school, she always blushed and ran away... but the fact that we are able to have fun as usual is good for me. Because if Hiuri keeps blushing, I'll get embarrassed too.

“So, why did you suddenly decide to call me?”
“I just thought I didn't play with Hiuri that often.”

This is true. Since I play with Hiuri in the dream, I didn't really try to play with her in real life.
Of course, please also take into account that it takes a considerable amount of courage to invite Hiuri out in real life.

“That's certainly true. Even though I’m quite free.”
“It takes courage to invite Hiuri, you know.”
“Then that means you’re showing courage today?”

You could say I’m showing courage, or you could also say I was urged to do it by various people...

“Well, whatever. Where are you taking me today?”
“For now, shall we go to the city?”

There are only so many things we can do in this rural town. So we decided to take the train to the city.
The train will arrive a little after 9 o'clock (we set the meeting time to match that), so we have a bit of spare time.

In the station, there aren’t many people even though it’s Sunday.
I take the plunge and try telling her what I thought earlier.

“Hiuri, I see you're not running away today.”
“!~... that was, because we were at school. If it's just the two of us, I won't be embarrassed.”

Hiuri said that with a slightly reddish face. As expected, it was because we were at school, that’s why she ran away.

“If I'm just with Kazuki-kun, I feel more calm than shy.”
“That’s an honor.”

Hiuri doesn't really like noise, and she probably doesn't feel comfortable in crowded places even if there's nothing there.
I've come to understand Hiuri's personality quite a bit over the past six months. Especially about her likes and dislikes, I’ve heard about them from Hiuri, so I think I know what to avoid.

“...Me being calm is true, you know?”
“...I see.”

Somehow, I feel like the atmosphere is similar to when I'm talking to Hiuri in the dream. It feels like a not uncomfortable silence.

As I was thinking about that, the train finally came.

“I wonder if the number of trains will increase a little more?”
“I think it will be difficult unless the number of users increases.”

It's rather empty inside the train. As expected, it’s not like there is no one here, but there are a lot of empty seats.
Since this is how it is at this time on Sunday, the number of trains will not increase unless there are more people.

We sit side by side in our seats and the train starts to move.

“I'm looking forward to it. I'm happy Kazuki-kun invited me.”
“I did, more or less, prepare a plan.”

Unlike that time when we happened to meet during summer vacation, I made a plan with the premise that we’d go out to play. If I can make Hiuri happy, that’s all I need...

“...”

Hiuri silently moves a little closer to me.
Somehow, we already have the atmosphere of being lovers, but we’re still not. Hiuri in the dream did say that she’d pray to keep the atmosphere nice, so I guess this is the effect of that.

We don’t talk much on the train, and arrive at the city just like that.

“It's been a while since I last visited the city.”
“You don’t come to the city much?”
“I don't have that much money after all.”

Since the school doesn't allow part-time jobs, Hiuri's money is only what she receives.
The living expenses Hiuri receives from her parents include pocket money, so she doesn't have much money to spend freely.

“Don’t you want to go shopping or something?”
“Let’s see... are you going to take me along?”
“Today, we’re going to the shopping mall first.”
“Then I guess I'll take advantage of your words just now.”

The reason I choose a mall is because we can eat sweets here.
If I am to go out with Hiuri, it is better to increase the number of food-type items. Of course, this is not a dream but real life, so we have to be careful not to eat too much, but as long as we are careful, this should be the route that's highly satisfying for Hiuri.

“Could it be, are you letting me eat sweets?”
“Hiuri would be happier that way, right?”

If we only want sweets, we can find them just by walking around the city, but if I want to satisfy Hiuri’s needs, there is no better place than a shopping mall.
I want to take her to a place like a cake buffet someday...

“Then, let's go.”

......

Although this is a city, the shopping malls here are a little small as this city is far from a big city.
But, since this is the only large shopping center, many customers crowd into this small building.

“There are so many people... this seems a little tiring.”
“Yeah...”

Right now, we’re sitting on a bench eating the crepes we bought earlier.
As soon as we arrived at the mall, Hiuri was drawn to a crepe shop near the entrance, so we bought crepes before anything else.

“Is it okay to eat crepes this early in the morning?”
“I'll be walking a lot today, so it's okay.”

Hiuri said this before, but it seems like she especially wants to eat sweets when she's with me. I think it's because she gets used to doing it unconsciously in the dream, but if I don't restrict it to a certain extent, she will have a hard time later on.

Also, the fact is that I don't have that much money. I don't get many chances to spend my pocket money properly, so I don't hesitate to pay for something if I need it, but Hiuri doesn't really like that after all...
In that sense, I will probably need to control myself so that I don't spend too much money on food.

“A simple crepe with strawberries and cream is delicious after all.”
“I guess raw chocolate is too sweet for me.”

While eating crepes, we decided on our next plans.
There are a lot of people, so if we don't decide on the order properly, we probably won’t have enough time.

“Then can I take a look at some stationery?”

With Hiuri's words, we decided to go to the stationery store.

I finish eating my crepe and stand up. Although I hesitate, I hold out my hand.

“We don't want to get separated, right?”
“...Fufu, Yes.”

We weave our way through the crowd. Holding hands so as not to get separated.

Before long, we arrive at a stationery store. Since it’s Sunday, there are many students here.

“Kazuki-kun, do you want to take a look at something too?”
“Come to think of it, I think I ran out of mechanical pencil lead.”

While Hiuri is looking at the ballpoint pens, I look at the mechanical pencil lead corner.
They come in a variety of thicknesses and densities, so I have to make sure not to mistake them with the one I usually use...

“Nakano-kun?”
“Sasa-kun, what a coincidence meeting you in a place like this.”

There was a familiar face in the mechanical pencil lead corner. It was Sasa-kun from the same class as me.

“So Nakano-kun also comes to a place like this.”
“Well, I'm a student, after all.”

Sasa-kun doesn't seem to notice Hiuri. Let's continue like this and disband.

“I just came to buy a mechanical pencil lead.”
“I see. I came here to buy paper, pens, mechanical pencil lead and various other things.”

Sasa-kun already had a bundle of paper and a ballpoint pen in his hand. A notebook would be better but, so he uses that much paper.
I'm curious about what he does at home, but I can't worry about that right now.

“Well then, see you.”
“Yeah, see you again.”

The uncomfortable feeling when I meet my friends from school outside is great.
I've met Hiuri many times in the dream, so coming to a place like this with her doesn't feel uncomfortable, but I’ve never met Sasa-kun outside, so it feels strange.

“Ah, Nakano-kun.”
“Eh?”
“Do your best with your date.”

So he knew.

......

“What's wrong Kazuki-kun? Your face is red.”
“I just thought there was no such a thing as a one-sided superiority.”

After leaving the stationery store, we are now moving to a boutique. Hiuri said, “I want new clothes,” so we did this to fulfill her request.
I haven't told Hiuri that I met Sasa-kun at the stationery store. I don't think Sasa-kun and Hiuri know each other, but if she knew that someone from the same grade is here, Hiuri would probably be bothered.

After walking for a while, we arrived at the boutique. There are more adults than before.

“It looks like my luggage will increase...”
“I won’t buy that much.”

Clothes are heavy and bulky. We should try not to buy as much as possible...

“I know! I’m going to buy clothes for myself, but let's buy clothes for Kazuki-kun as well.”
“Eh, I don’t need one.”
“I'll coordinate it for you.”

A slightly pushy Hiuri takes me to the men's clothing corner. I'm not that tall, but I wonder if I’ll be fashionable.

“I think Kazuki-kun will look good in casual clothes. And so, put this on.”

Hiuri gives me the clothes she had quickly taken and pushes me into the fitting room.
I don't often wear things like this though...

“As I thought, rather than just a shirt, it's better to match it with outerwear.”
“I don’t know about things like that though...”
“You have my guarantee.”

It's already a chilly season, so I think it's nice to wear something like this over it, but since I haven't worn this type of fashion before, the feeling of being worn is great.
Hiuri hands me even more additional clothes, so I change my clothes while trying various combinations. I change clothes so many times that I end up getting tired though...

“This one is... cooler you know.”

When Hiuri said that while blushing a little, I felt that everything was good halfway through.

“Yup, this one is good after all.”

And finally, I ended up buying one outerwear. Hiuri told me to continue to wear it like this today.

After buying my clothes, we’re buying Hiuri's clothes next. That said, I don't know much about fashion, so I'm in charge of telling my impression on the clothes Hiuri has chosen.

Hiuri went into the fitting room after taking some clothes. I’m waiting outside.
I could hear the rustling of Hiuri's clothes from inside... and it really bothered me. When I think that Hiuri is changing clothes on the other side of this curtain... no, don't think any impure thoughts!

[Kyuuuuun!]

Muu's cries echoed in my head, shocking my body. In exchange, thanks to Muu, I successfully chased out the strange thoughts in my head.
Thank you, Muu, I'll give you some snacks at night.

“Kazuki-kun, how is this?”

As I was waiting while expressing my thanks for Muu in my mind, Hiuri came out. Unlike before, she is wearing a thin red skirt.

“Hiuri might look better in that color.”
“Ara, really?”

Hiuri is strong-willed, so rather than a gentle color, a strong color matches her impression more, but you can still feel the gentleness within it... I’m kind of gross.

“Now that I think about it, does Kazuki-kun prefer skirts or pants?”
“Umm...... skirts, I guess.”
“You mulled it over quite a bit, didn't you...”

When I imagined Hiuri wearing pants, I thought it looked surprisingly good on her, but I came to the conclusion that a skirt would look better on Hiuri.

“They also have a matching top.”

After saying that, Hiuri went back into the fitting room.
As I was waiting while expressing my thanks for Muu’s cry, Hiuri came out with her top clothes changed as well.

“Cute.”
“!...Saying that before I say anything is cheating.”
“Sorry, I just...”

What Hiuri is wearing is gray clothes. I don't know what it's called, but it's very cute.
She's also wearing a cardigan over it, so it looks like she'll be fine even in this season.

A red-faced Hiuri returned to the fitting room, and after a while she returned to her original clothes.

“Kazuki-kun's reaction was good, so I'll go with this.”

Hiuri purchased the set of clothes that she showed me earlier. It ended up being in a fairly large bag, but not so large that it became difficult.

“I got hungry after coordinating Kazuki-kun.”
“You ate a crepe earlier, didn’t you? I know it's lunchtime, but...”
“Let's go to the food court.”

The current time is half past twelve. It's just the right time to eat lunch.
That said, perhaps because I ate the crepe earlier, I wasn't hungry at all. I wonder if Hiuri is a glutton...

The food court here is lined with many famous chain stores such as udon and burger shops. Maybe because it's autumn, the number of people eating warm udon is a bit much.

“What are you having, Kazuki-kun?”
“I think I'll have udon.”
“Then I guess I’ll have the same.”

The two of us put our luggage down and stand in line at the udon shop.
I chose regular kake udon and Hiuri chose kitsune udon. I was debating whether to add kakiage or not, but since I probably wouldn't be able to eat that much, adding nothing would be the best choice.* (T/N: kakiage; mixed vegetable and seafood tempura. From the dictionary. I don’t know what kake udon is.)

““Itadakimasu””

They serve the udon quickly. If two people line up, they will quickly take out food for two people to eat at the same time.

“It's been a while since I ate udon.”
“Is that so?”
“I don't eat much at home, and I don't go to shops either...”

There is more or less a cafeteria-like restaurant in the town where we live, and they serve udon there.
That said, there are a lot of elderly people and office workers after work there, so it was a bit awkward for us students to go there by ourselves.

If we want to eat junk food, we need to come all the way to this city, and if there were more restaurants in our town, it would be easier for us to gather there...

“What does Hiuri eat at home?”
“I cook something random and eat it. Instant food costs a lot of money, so I cook for myself, but there isn't that much variety.”

According to Hiuri in the dream, the instant ramen she sometimes eats tastes like sin and is delicious. Even though it costs money, she seems to keep some of them at home.

“So... what’s the plan after this?”
“If there’s nothing to buy at the mall, I thought about walking around the city.”
“I'm looking forward to it.”

Afternoon, this is where the real thing begins.

────

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