Chapter 31: Next Time
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 31: Next Time
After that, we took some group sticker photos as a memento, then went to a bowling alley.
There, we drew lots. The President and I ended up on one team, with the Akagi siblings on the other.
We had a pretty intense match, but the Akagi siblings won in the end, so the President and I had to pay for karaoke.
That was because it was the first time bowling for both me and the President.
Afterward, we went to karaoke and sang for about two hours, taking turns.
What surprised me a little was how skilled the President was at singing.
When I asked how she got so good, she said she had learned it as part of her basic education as a child.
As expected of the young lady of a noble family, she was practically a jack-of-all-trades, excelling at everything she’d tried.
By the time we were done with karaoke, it was already 6 p.m.
We’d had ramen around 3 p.m., which meant we’d spent the entire time since then just having fun.
The sun was starting to set, so after leaving Nakano Broadway, I asked what everyone wanted to do for dinner. Minami suddenly made a suggestion.
"How about a get-together at Yoo-Sung's house? It's been a while."
At that, the President unfolded her fan and laughed, "Ohohoho."
"An excellent idea, Minami. The last time we visited Kim Yoo-Sung's home was last year, wasn't it?"
Listening to their conversation, the Vice President pushed up his glasses and nodded in agreement.
"I think that's a fine idea. We have to eat dinner before heading home anyway."
With the three of them in agreement, the plan naturally shifted to eating at my place.
Seeing my hesitation, the President smoothly pulled a black card from within her fan.
"Of course, we don't intend to freeload like last time. We will pay our way properly this time."
"No, that's not what I was worried about. I was just thinking my mother might be surprised if I suddenly bring friends over."
"...Would it be a problem?"
The President looked at me with a pleading expression.
Honestly, with her looking at me like that, how could I possibly say no?
I asked the three of them to excuse me for a moment and called my mother.
「What? Of course, you can. Bring them all over!」
Ms. Lee Mi-ja's hearty permission seemed to be audible to everyone around, even though the phone wasn't on speaker.
Once the dinner was decided, Minami immediately made a call, and shortly after, the same limousine from before pulled up in front of us.
As I was getting into the limo, a question suddenly occurred to me.
"By the way, how did you and the Vice President get here?"
The Vice President flinched slightly before speaking.
"U-Us?"
"We took a taxi. We're not accustomed to the subway."
Right. Since their job was to escort the President, they probably had very few opportunities to ride the subway.
Once all four of us were inside, the limousine began to glide down the darkening streets.
A lot of things had happened, but our final destination for the day ended up being my house.
*
"Welcome!"
As I opened the door and stepped into the restaurant, my mother, who was in the main hall, greeted us with a bright smile.
Perhaps because I had called ahead, the side dishes were already set on the table.
"Ohohoho, it has been a long time, Mother."
"Oh my, President, it's been a while for you too."
As the President stepped forward to greet her, my mother took her hands, looking delighted.
It might have been a coincidence, but my mother's and the President's names were identical except for one character.
Lee Mi-ja (李美子) and Saionji Kumiko (久美子).
Maybe because of that, the two of them clicked quite well.
"I heard the President and the student council friends were coming, so I prepared our restaurant's signature dishes."
With those words, my mother seated us at the pre-set table and called for my father in the kitchen.
A moment later, my father emerged, carrying a brazier filled with glowing charcoal.
"Be careful, it's hot."
As I gave a word of caution, the President folded her fan and watched with an excited expression as the brazier was placed in the center of the table.
"So this is that yakiniku."
"Is this your first time grilling it yourself?"
"Yes. Embarrassing, I know."
The President gave a self-deprecating smile, saying there were still so many things she hadn't experienced.
Well, she has an active desire to learn, so I figured she'd be fine in no time.
She was consistently going on these "commoner experiences" whenever she had free time, and nowadays she was capably handling things she would have never even considered before.
I picked up the tongs to serve the three of them.
"If this isn't enough, just let me know. I'll grill as much as you want."
The Vice President's glasses glinted as he spoke.
"Hoh—you're sure you won't regret saying that?"
"Of course."
I replied, placing all the meat from a plate onto the grill at once.
Our restaurant specialized in Korean-style yakiniku, so we sold cuts familiar to Koreans like samgyeopsal (pork belly), moksal (pork neck), galmaegisal (skirt steak), and hangjeongsal (pork jowl).
And it's only natural that the son of a BBQ restaurant owner would be good at grilling meat.
The meat sizzled on the grill.
The delicious aroma filled the air, and the three high school students, hungry from a day of fun, swallowed hard.
The kings of charcoal grilling are, without a doubt, samgyeopsal and moksal.
I grilled the samgyeopsal, fatty yet savory due to its layers of fat, and the moksal, which can seem a bit tough but has its own unique flavor, until both sides were perfectly cooked, then cut them into bite-sized pieces.
There's a common myth that you should only flip meat once, but really, as long as both sides are golden brown, you're good to go.
Thanks to the strong heat of the charcoal, the meat cooked in an instant. I moved the cooked pieces to the edge of the grill and put on a fresh batch.
The three of them, who had been sitting with chopsticks in hand and swallowing nervously, began to eat all at once as soon as I gave them the signal.
"Eat slowly. There's still plenty of meat left."
It seemed there weren't many customers today, probably because everyone was away on vacation.
With three hungry high schoolers showing up, at least we didn't have to worry about leftover inventory.
And once I start eating, I can put away a fair bit myself.
I explained the various side dishes to them.
"These are called myeong-i namul and kkaennip jangajji—pickled wild garlic and perilla leaves. They're delicious wrapped around the meat. Oh, and that's ssamjang, a sauce made by mixing gochujang and doenjang. It's a perfect match for the meat."
The Akagi siblings seemed to have had yakiniku many times before, but the President, being a first-timer, looked a little lost. I made a wrap for her and held it out.
"President, say 'ah.'"
Her face turned red as she replied.
"To do such an embarrassing thing in front of others... H-How shameless!"
"My arm's getting tired. Hurry up."
After a moment of hesitation, the President gracefully accepted the wrap I'd made for her.
Munch, munch—
"How is it? Delicious, right?"
In response to my question, the President shyly nodded.
Watching this from the side, Minami suddenly spoke up.
"Aren't you going to eat, Yoo-Sung? I think you can hand the tongs over to me now."
I was grateful for her thoughtful consideration, but for today, I decided to be stubborn.
"No, it's fine. It's better to have the person who's good at it do the grilling, right? Don't worry about me and eat a lot. I'm eating on my own, too."
As I said that, I picked up a piece of meat with my chopsticks and popped it into my mouth. Minami nodded with a reluctant expression.
"Hahahaha! I can still eat more! Kim Yoo-Sung!"
"Vice President, please eat a little slower. One would think someone's chasing you."
My chiding did nothing to slow the Vice President's pace.
Thanks to him, I was constantly putting more meat on the grill.
The President, who had been watching me intently, suddenly made a wrap and held it out to me.
"Oh, I can make my own."
"You keep saying that, but you're not eating."
She pushed it toward me again, and I couldn't refuse.
As I took the wrap, the President asked with a nervous expression.
"How is it?"
After chewing and swallowing everything in my mouth, I gave her a thumbs-up.
"It's delicious."
Only then did the President beam.
"Hee hee, of course it is. Look who made it."
The enjoyable night, with the entire student council together for the first time in a while, deepened.
*
"Goodbye!"
"Come again~"
Waved off by Kim Yoo-Sung and his mother, Saionji Kumiko and the Akagi siblings left the restaurant.
The sky had already turned completely dark.
Considering they had been bustling about since early morning to go to Asakusa, they had spent nearly the entire day out.
Her body was tired, but Saionji Kumiko felt a warm emotion lingering in her chest.
On the way back to the mansion, Akagi Shinjiro and Akagi Minami, sitting in the limousine seats across from her, bowed their heads simultaneously.
"We apologize, my lady. We should have been more perceptive and left you two alone."
"We were so caught up in the fun that we couldn't find the right timing to excuse ourselves."
At their sincere apology, Saionji Kumiko shook her head with a gentle smile on her lips.
"No, it's alright. I was more than satisfied with today."
As Kumiko spoke, she recalled the day's events.
Waiting for someone for the first time in her life, eating ice cream with Kim Yoo-Sung in Asakusa, laughing and chatting while picking out items, and Kim Yoo-Sung telling her she looked beautiful in the kimono.
But that wasn't all.
"It's been a very long time since I've had fun with the two of you like this, since we were children. It brought back a lot of old memories."
The student council, as an organization, fundamentally revolved around Saionji Kumiko.
While that was perfectly natural, she sometimes felt a strange sense of loneliness.
She had thought that the two of them no longer treated her the way they used to.
But that was all a misunderstanding.
"I had fun playing spot the difference with you today, Minami. Playing that game called bowling was also fun, and taking sticker photos and singing at karaoke together have become wonderful memories."
Her date with Kim Yoo-Sung, the man she adored, was wonderful, but the day spent united under the name of the student council held a special meaning that went beyond a simple date.
"Thank you for always being with me, Shinjiro, Minami. I'm always grateful."
As Saionji Kumiko said this and bowed her head slightly, both of their expressions turned emotional.
"...I will follow you for the rest of my life."
"My lady..."
As a strangely heartwarming atmosphere filled the air, Saionji Kumiko, perhaps unable to bear the awkwardness, cleared her throat with an "Ahem," and said:
"In any case, I'll be satisfied with this for today. This won't be the only chance we get. The two of you will help me, of course, won't you?"
The two of them nodded their heads in unison.
"Of course!"
"Naturally."
And so, the first night of the memorable Golden Week concluded with the three of them—master and retainers—strengthening their bond once more.