Men and women with little material desire

For now, I pushed aside the feelings I had toward Hayashi and recalled today’s purpose.

The final memory to be woven with Hayashi. It’d be a bit of a waste to let even that end up half-baked because of my current mood.

“Hayashi, so where are we going today?”

Originally, a date is something a man should take the lead on.

It’s a stereotype, an obsession, and also a matter of a man’s pride.

But I asked Hayashi as if it were the most natural thing. It’s all because of my lack of life experience. I don’t know the kinds of places a woman like Hayashi would enjoy.

…I sounded like I knew what places women other than Hayashi might like, but truth be told, I didn’t even have that going for me.

In any case, I don’t know any places that could entertain Hayashi. Today’s date, above all, is meant to be for Hayashi’s comfort.

Swallowing my pride and asking her where she wants to go seemed like the quickest solution.

“Let’s see. Do you have any place you want to go?”

“Don’t worry about me. Just pick a place you want to visit.”

“That’s not how it works. Today’s a date for both of us, isn’t it? It’s meaningless if we don’t both have fun.”

Hmm. That’s perfectly reasonable. Unfortunately, being someone with little material desire, I didn’t have any particular place I was dying to visit right now.

“…You’ve got that ‘I don’t have anywhere I want to go’ look on your face.”

“Sharp as ever. That’s exactly right.”

“Why do you look so smug about it? That’s so weird.”

“Fair enough.”

I gave a wry smile.

“…Well, seeing that super tidy room of yours, I can tell you don’t exactly have anything you’re craving right now.”

“Exactly. So, I was thinking, why don’t we go shopping for something you want? I can cover the cost.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Well… I heard somewhere that on a date, a guy just needs to keep his wallet loose.”

“Huh? Why does it sound like you’re assuming you’d pay for everything? Meals are split, and I buy what I want with my own money. Isn’t that obvious? It’s because you pay with your own money that getting something you want feels even more satisfying.”

“Is that how it works?”

“…That’s how it works.”

Looking at Hayashi’s exasperated expression, I scratched my head.

I don’t know if what she said applies to women in general. But one thing’s for sure—she’s not the type to let me foot the bill entirely.

…Seeing her like this, it’s clear she’s the complete opposite of some queen who expects everything to be handed to her.

Come to think of it, she’s always been fiercely independent.

“…Alright then, is there anything you want to eat?”

“Something to eat?”

At Hayashi’s question, I fell into thought. Food I want to eat. Surprisingly, I haven’t had anything specific in mind lately.

“Okay, what about something you like?”

“Beef tongue.”

“So old-school! You’re such an old man.”

Does eating beef tongue make you an old man? Whatever, beef tongue’s great.

I used to love kalbi, but around high school, the greasiness started getting to me.

That’s when I met beef tongue. The texture. The clean, light flavor. It matched my tastes perfectly.

“…Alright, let’s go to a beef tongue specialty place.”

“Oh, nice!”

Speaking of beef tongue, Miyagi’s the place to go.

I’ve heard that lately, tons of Miyagi-style beef tongue restaurants have been popping up in Tokyo.

Beef tongue with tororo rice. Now that she mentioned it, I suddenly got a craving for it.

“…Then it’s settled.”

Hayashi had a resolute look on her face.

“Let’s go to Yokohama.”

“Yokohama?”

“Yeah. There’s a beef tongue place there, and we can do some shopping in the area too.”

“…Shopping, huh?”

I don’t mind tagging along, but I don’t exactly have anything I want to buy.

“…Why don’t you check out some cleaning supplies or something?”

“Oh, that’s it!”

Come to think of it, I’m supposed to be a cleaning enthusiast. And yeah, these days you can find all sorts of handy cleaning gadgets at general stores. Browsing wouldn’t be a bad idea.

“…What about you? Are you okay with this?”

“With what?”

“We’ve been talking about places I want to go. Don’t you have somewhere you’d like to visit?”

“…Don’t worry about me.”

Hayashi stated firmly.

“Because today’s date is about showing my gratitude to you for this past month.”

“…We’ve got a difference of opinion then.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I agreed to this date thinking it was for your comfort.”

I didn’t say it outright, but basically, I wasn’t going to let this date proceed entirely according to her plan. That was the stance I wanted to make clear.

“…But honestly, I don’t really have anything I particularly want either.”

“What about stuff for your new life? You must have things to prepare for.”

“…That’s all pretty much taken care of.”

“Taken care of, huh?”

If that’s the case, then maybe Hayashi really doesn’t have anything specific she wants either. Despite how she seems, she’s not someone driven by material desires either.

“…Well, standing here arguing isn’t getting us anywhere. Let’s figure it out when we get there.”

“Yeah, that’s probably best.”

We hadn’t fully settled on a plan, but we started walking toward the nearest station.

Thanks for the 2nd place in the daily genre ranking, posting ahead of schedule!
Who the heck said they’d post two chapters a day?! You only managed two chapters in one day!
That’s not even a three-day streak!!
Reviews, bookmarks, and comments are greatly appreciated!!