Gimai Seikatsu

The digital clock next to my pillow said it was 6:30 am. Even the slightest move allowed a cold breeze to enter beneath my blanket, making me shiver in terror. Outside the window, I could see nothing but darkness. Since we’re close to the winter solstice, it will probably be another 15 minutes before the sun starts to rise. By the way, winter solstice refers to the day the sun is at its lowest when reaching the deep south. Its face appears for a brief time at the east and sinks back down again like it’s playing hide and seek. Thanks to that, the nights are much longer and the sunrises far away, especially here in Japan.

“And I hate getting up when it’s still dark outside.” I pulled the blanket over my head and once again thought about my plans for the day.

Tomorrow, it’ll be one week since my birthday. In other words, it’s Ayase-san’s turn. And the present she wanted was “Soap I can use in the bath.” When I did a quick search online, I found a special store in my local Shibuya area that focuses on bath goods in particular. That’s where I decided to buy the soap. Because my plans were packed with prep school and part-time work, I didn’t have any time to go shopping before today. Since the bath goods store is close to the prep school, I’ll be using the time between my lectures to buy it.

In my mind, I came up with a detailed schedule. And while I was pondering that, a certain thought that had been on my mind asked for attention. After receiving unexpected presents from Fujinami-san and Yomiuri-senpai, and realizing the joy of experiencing a surprise like that, I’m starting to feel like I want to give Ayase-san a bit of a surprise, too. After all, a surprise is the best spice when it comes to love—or so it said in “The Seven Rules To Follow That Will Make You Succeed in Love,” the book Narasaka-san gave to me. Though I still don’t know if I should believe anything it says in there or not.

Of course, I don’t want to be bothersome to her, like some kind of prank. It should be something that’ll catch her by surprise but make her feel happy in return. For example, add an extra ingredient on top of the initial present. Since I didn’t have to get up early, I was spending a much longer time rolling around in my bed than normal when suddenly my alarm rang. Out of shock, I threw the blanket up into the air. When I looked outside, it had already become bright.

I changed out of my pajamas and headed into the living room, where I ran into my old man, who had no work today, and Akiko-san sitting on the sofa. Since she had just gotten home from work, she’ll probably head to bed soon.

“Saki already finished her breakfast and went back to her room.”

Akiko-san was about to stand up, but I told her I’d be fine and made her sit down again. I could see my breakfast already on the table. The rice is in the cooker, and the miso soup is probably inside the pot. I warmed up the miso soup and served myself some rice. For the main entrée this morning, we’ve got salmon munière, and when I pulled off the aluminum foil, I was greeted by still-lukewarm pink flesh. When I reached for the soy sauce, I remembered my conversation with Ayase-san when we ate gyoza together. I decided to instead try the fish without adding anything else and stuffed it into my mouth—Mhm, sweet.

That was the first impression I got. And it wasn’t just the sweetness from the butter. The lemon atop the munière seasoned with salt and pepper had strong enough of a flavor for me to be able to pick up on it independently. Maybe she held back on the seasoning a bit? Tasting fish like this felt like a new world had opened up in front of me. I was just so used to my own preferences. And the fact that it actually tastes good made me feel oddly frustrated.