Tenkou-Saki no Seiso Karen na Bishoujo ga Mukashi Danshi to Omotte Issho ni Asonda Osananajimi Datta Ken [WN] - Chapter 135

[Warning 15+]

Part Four
"―From Now On, You Better Treat Me with That Same Energy, Too!"
Chapter 136
Haven't Lost My Touch, Right?
After leavin' the Kirishima Residence, Hayato and the crew headed upstream, keepin' an eye on the river flowin' between the mountainside and the prefectural road—though the road was so beat-up you'd rather call it a "rough trail."
The river was only as wide as a street in some city suburb with a chill-ss current, and it wasn't even deep enough to hit your knees. It was basically just a creek or a stream, one of those tributaries feedin' into the big river on the other side of the mountain.
Even though it was still mornin', that midsummer sun was beatin' down hard, scorchin' their skin.
Everyone had beads of sweat poppin' up on their foreheads from the heat.
But still, everyone's walkin' on sunshine, feelin' light on their feet. They were all wrapped up in some total small talk.
"Oh yeah, Saki-chan, both Big Bro and I hit up a conveyor belt sushi joint the other day."
"Conveyor belt sushi!? You mean that place where the sushi actually goes 'round and 'round!?"
"It was wild... ...Not just the sushi, but the side menu was totally stacked too. Fries, fried chicken, cake... ...It was like a full-course meal, for real."
"Whoa, a full-course sushi meal! ...Himeko-chan, you're straight-up a city girl now, aren't you..."
"Hold up, sushi!? Hayato, when the heck did you go behind my back!?"
"During Finals week. I didn't exactly have the time to be cookin' every dmn day."
"I mean, Haru-chan, you barely even came over durin' finals anyway."
"Grrr..."
By the way, Himeko's favorites are tuna, salmon, shrimp, and egg—basically, she's got the palate of a total kid.
While they were chattin' away, they finally spotted a spot where the river made a huge-ss curve.
Maybe 'cause of the bend, the river widened out right there, and on the inside of the curve, there was a rocky bank spread out 'bout as big as a gym.
It's a hotspot for the locals in Tsukinose and the perfect base for some outdoor fun. That was their destination.
Right then, a cool-ss breeze swept down from the mountains across the river.
The misty wind felt chill, instantly rippin' the heat away from their bodies and coolin' down their sweat. It felt so dmn good they all just narrowed their eyes in bliss.
"Whoa, total nostalgia! This place hasn't changed one bit!"
"O-Oh, hey, Haruki!"
With her eyes sparkin' from seein' her old haunt for the first time in seven years, Haruki dashed straight for the riverbank and, with all that momentum, whipped a rock she'd just scooped up onto the water.
Plip-plap-plip, it skipped across the surface, kickin' up ripples and soundin' off for a solid ten-plus bounces like it was nothin'.
Haruki gave a smug-ss huff and looked back with a "Look at me now" face.
Guess Haruki wanted to prove she hadn't lost her touch.
"Pretty good, right? Even with a long break, I can still pull this off."
"Oh? Then how 'bout I show you how it's really done?"
"Huh!?"
Takin' that as a straight-up challenge, Hayato slid a stone across the river, lookin' chill but totally confident.
This one went plip-plap-plip too, keepin' pace with Haruki's, but it had just a lil' more kick to the bounce.
To anyone watchin', the number of skips was basically a tie.
But Hayato just shot Haruki a smug-ss grin.
Haruki's face twisted in total frustration as she let out a low-ss growl.
"It's been a minute for me too, but I think I got you by two skips, huh?"
"Th-That was just a warm-up, alright!? Just watch, don't go freakin' out when I actually get serious!"
"Oh? Big talk. Wanna bet a ramune on it?"
"Heh, you're on!"
And so, the stone-skippin' battle kicked off.
Both Hayato and Haruki took turns hurlin' rocks into the river, makin' 'em hop and dance across the water like they were alive.
Maybe 'cause they were gettin' back in the groove, the number of skips just kept goin' up and up.
The babblin' brook and the rhythmic tap-tap of the stones hittin' the water set the beat as the match got heated as heck.
"Check it, that one skipped one more time than yours!"
"Yeah, true. But look at the distance—I'm crushin' you on every single one."
"Grrr..."
"Ahahaha!"
"Man! What the heck are both Big Bro and Haru-chan even doin'!"
""---!?""
Himeko, who'd been totally floored by the sudden antics of her big bro and their childhood buddy, finally snapped out of it and barked a loud-ss complaint.
Himeko stood there with her hands on her hips in a total power pose, while Saki just gave a wry-ass smile next to Himeko.
Hayato and Haruki both looked away, lookin' awkward as heck.
That weirdly tense vibe was suddenly shattered by the sound of heavy splashes—ker-plunk, ker-plunk.
"Yah! Hmph~~, take that!"
Turnin' their heads toward the sound, they saw Shinta hurlin' rocks at the river.
Looks like Shinta got fired up watchin' both Haruki and Hayato's stone-skippin' match.
But the rocks he threw overhand didn't skip at all; They just sank straight to the bottom in a total fail. Shinta was makin' a face, lookin' pretty bummed.
That's when Hayato picked up a stone and walked over to talk to Shinta.
"Shinta, try to pick stones that are flat like this. It's better if they've got a bit of an edge for your finger to grip. Then, when you throw, keep it parallel to the water and focus on the spin... ...just like this, okay!"
"---!? Eh, okay, like this... ...whoa!"
Followin' the tips and the demo from Hayato, Shinta gave it another shot and tossed a stone into the river.
This time, unlike before, the stone skipped twice—plip-plap.
It only bounced twice.
Shinta was nowhere near Hayato or Haruki's level yet.
But hey, it actually skipped.
"It's also good to throw from as low a spot as possible. Like this, by droppin' down on one knee. Give it a go?"
"Like this? Yah! ...Wh-Whoa!"
"Oh, nice one, Shinta!"
"It skipped! A bunch of times! It jumped!"
And this time, it skipped four times.
Shinta threw his hands up with a cheer, celebratin' with every bit of energy he had.
While Saki was watchin' the whole scene with a warm-,ss smile, Haruki suddenly popped up next to Saki and gave Saki's hand a tug.
"Saki-chan, you should give it a shot too."
"Wh-Whuh!? Oh, well, I..."
"...Hayato, as you can see, is actually a pretty d*mn good teacher. He taught me back in the day too, y'know."
"Oh... ...oh... ...okay!"
Catchin' what Haruki was hintin' at, Saki took off runnin' as Haruki pulled Saki along.
"Hey, Haru-chan, Saki-chan! Wait up, girls!"
Himeko, lookin' like she was 'bout to be left in the dust, scrambled after 'em with a look on her face that said she was totally hatin' it.
Author's Notes:

Things have finally settled down, so I’m lookin' to pick up the pace on the updates.

Meow.

γ⌒ヽハ,,ハ

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