Summer Vacation Arc: 56 Thanks and Cheers

Summer Vacation Arc
56 Thanks and Cheers

“It’s over. I’m the grand millionaire.”

Meru said, letting her cards fall gently.

Right now, Shoutarou, Fuuga, Yuuri, and Meru were playing Daifugo in the Kusuhara house’s living room.

“I’m the beggar again…”

Fuuga hung his head on the desk.
Since they had started, Meru was always the grand millionaire and Fuuga the beggar, so it had developed into a game where Shoutarou and Yuuri competed for the position of millionaire and poor.

“Ruu-chan is good.”
“I feel like it’s the natural result.”

Hayate and Laila were drinking tea with Mariko while spectating.

“When Meru-chan plays card games with the family, she never loses either. It’s true that her strategies are great, but luck is also on her side.”

Mariko said with a pout. Laila was surprised by that, but Hayate smiled as though that was obvious.

“Then, if she and Hayate have a match, I wonder who would win?”

Laila murmured, looking at Hayate from the corner of her eye.
As far as Laila knew, Hayate had never lost to the executives when playing cards either.
How would it turn out if the two who had never lost battled it out?

“I bet it would be exciting if Hayate-kun and Meru-chan fight.”

Mariko spoke and Hayate smiled.

In Othello, a game of pure intellectual strategies, Hayate and Meru had a 50/50 win rate. Adding luck into that, with Meru having luck on her side, the result could easily be seen.

“But Meru would surely lose intentionally for my sake.”
“Ruu-chan surprisingly doesn’t care about winning.”

Meru would certainly do that, Mariko thought.
But Mariko was truly surprised that those two who had just gotten to know Meru a few months ago understood her this well.

“True, true.”

Mariko enjoyably watched over Meru playing cards with a smile.

“Ugyaaaaaaa!”
“Rengetsu-kun, you’re too weak.”
“You’re too strong, Kusuhara-san.”
“Kusuhara is definitely strong, but Rengetsu is too weak.”
“Shoutarou-kun, you don’t have to say it so bluntly!”

They played Daifugo three more times after that, but Fuuga remained the beggar in the end.

While they were doing that, the light outside began to fade.
Since it was summer, the sun set late. In other words, since darkness was beginning to come on, quite some time had passed.

“Are you all going to stay for dinner?”

Meru asked while putting away the cards.
As expected, the executives all politely held back, but that they wanted to eat Meru’s homemade cooking was written clearly on each of their faces.

“Stay. Shigeharu-san and Kei are going to get back soon, so you should meet them, too.”

Mariko sensed their mood and invited them. The five of them accepted and ended up sharing a meal.

“I’ll help with something, Ruu-chan.”

Laila stood up to follow Meru into the kitchen, but Mariko stopped her.

“Guests should sit! Plus, the kitchen is Meru-chan’s territory. Meru-chan is disgustingly good at getting everything done, so you would actually get in the way and she’ll get mad.”

Mariko winked. Since she had said it like that, Laila couldn’t insist and obediently sat back down.

The entryway door opened shortly after Meru went into the kitchen.

“I’m home!
I’m home…but isn’t the number of shoes weird?”

Shigeharu and Kei’s voices sounded at the same time, so Meru paused her cooking and moved to the living room.

When she came in, Shigeharu and Kei entered the living room at the same time.

“Welcome back.”
“Welcome home.”

While Meru and Mariko said that, the executives all each said, “We’re intruding” and bowed to the newly arrived duo.

“Ohh, we’ve become a large family!”
“Dad, your reaction is wrong. Might you be the student council executives?”

Kei flung off his enamel bag and kneeled in front of the executives.

“I’m Meru-nee’s little brother, Kei!”
“Uwahhh! Stop, stop! Kei-kun, don’t be so polite!”

Fuuga shouted and for some reason bowed along with Kei.

“Um, I’m Rengetsu Fuuga. Meru-chan’s father and younger brother will eventually be my father-in-law and brother-in-law, so…”
“My apologies. You can ignore this idiot. I’m Kamishiro Hayate.”

Hayate, who was sitting next to Fuuga, grabbed his head as he began to run wild and squashed it into the floor.

“It’s nice to be young!”

Shigeharu laughed loudly. Somehow, his reaction was off.
Laila had a wry smile as that conversation happened in front of her.

“Um, I’m Hiiragi Laila. Err, it’s been a while.”
“Ohh! It’s you! Wow. That appearance makes me happier.”

Shigeharu said with his nostrils flaring. Even if Mariko agreed with that, her cheeks puffed out slightly.

“Ah, you’re the person who was hit on before, right?”

When Kei asked that, Laila said “You remembered?” and smiled happily.
Kei blushed seeing Laila like that. Of course, Kei also knew that Laila was a boy.
They had only met once several months ago, but it was true that he had helped her out when she was being hit on, so she was memorable. Furthermore, it was impossible to forget someone as beautiful as Laila.

“I’m Katsuragi Shoutarou.”
“Ahh! The hypnotizing glasses-kun!”

Shigeharu yelled excitedly while pointing at Shoutarou. His energy was similar to Mariko. All of the executives felt that it was as expected of a married couple.

“If that’s the case, I’d like it if you could hypnotize me to cure my stiff shoulders.”
“I’m sorry, but I think you should go to the hospital for that.”

Shoutarou answered with narrowed eyes.
Shigeharu and Mariko let out an “Ehh!” in protest while Meru and Kei both put a hand to their heads.

“I’m Aidou Yuuri. Please take care of me.”

Yuuri kneeled and gave a courteous greeting.
When he lifted his head, Kei approached him with shining eyes.

“Are you the head disciple of the Aidou house who fully mastered the Aidou sword style!?”
“More or less…that is the case.”

When Yuuri answered diffidently, Kei gripped both of his hands and said, “I’m a fan!” deeply moved.
Kei had a considerable knowledge of sports-related matters, and martial arts were not an exception. Kei often heard the Aidou school’s name on the sports programs he watched.

And so, Hayate and Shoutarou became Shigeharu’s companions while Mariko was pleased with Fuuga and Laila and Yuuri began to have a good time with Kei. Meru gazed at that scene with a gentle expression, then took a deep breath and headed back to the kitchen.

“Then, I’ll keep making dinner, so all of you rest up.”

 

Meru went to the kitchen and while they were waiting for her food, the executives, Shigeharu, Mariko, and Kei chatted around the table.

“Still, I was surprised that there were this many people here when I came home.”

When Kei said that, Hayate once again apologized as the representative.

“I’m sorry. Suddenly coming over uninvited…”
“It’s fine! Completely fine!”

Shigeharu nodded at Mariko’s words.

“I wanted to meet you all, too.”

Shigeharu spoke in a soft voice and the executives were all puzzled.

“You wanted…to meet us?”

Fuuga asked uneasily. Worried about what he was going to say, Fuuga put himself a little on guard.

“Rengetsu Fuuga-kun, Aidou Yuuri-kun, Hiiragi Laila-chan, Katsuragi Shoutarou-kun, and Kamishiro Hayate-kun.”

Shigeharu looked at each of their faces with a grin as he said their names.

“They’re all names Meru happily told us about.”

The surprised voices of the executives echoed in the living room. Mariko smiled wryly seeing their reaction.

“Meru never really talked to us about school up until now. Even if we asked, she’d just say ‘It was normal’…”
“Meru-nee used to give her all in anything she did. She never cut corners or anything… But then a lot happened, so she became like that…”

Kei said a little sadly. The executives couldn’t immediately understand what Kei meant. Nowadays, there would be times when she gave something her all, but when they first met her, she cut corners and did everything to the bare minimum. And so they thought that was Meru’s nature from the beginning. They thought she had always done that to avoid standing out from the crowd with her abnormal memory…

“Meru-chan was always alone.”

Everyone was quiet at Mariko’s words. Meru sometimes said things that gave that impression. But when they actually came into contact with her, they couldn’t believe that someone as helpful as her had no friends.

“But, I think it’s been since May. Right around when she entered the student council. Meru began to talk about what happened at school on her own.”
“‘Even though Rengetsu-kun is really good-looking, he’s an idiot. But he’s really a good person, and it seems like he likes this candy, so I’ll share with him,’ things like that.”

Mariko said with a smile while looking at Fuuga.
Fuuga stared in amazement hearing that.

Meru always acted like she found Fuuga bothersome.
Before she had gone to La Faust Academy, Meru had said she was thankful to him, but deep down, Fuuga thought that was Meru cheering him up out of concern.

By no means did he think Meru would say something like that. And then her family said that, so those were Meru’s true thoughts.

“It’s not just Fuuga-kun, though. She talks about all of you.”

Saying so, Mariko closed her eyes and recalled what all Meru had said.

“‘Aidou-kun mastered the Aidou style, and he’s super strong and courteous, but…sometimes, he seems to become another person, though that’s interesting, too.’”

“‘Laila-chan is super cute and more feminine than anyone else, but the truth is she’s a boy, and she’s someone amazing who can make anything.’”

“‘Katsuragi-kun hates women, but he’s friends with me, and he’s a little bit of a tsundere. He can use hypnotism and he’s very skilled, as expected of the vice president.’”

“‘Kamishiro-kun is always thinking ahead…and he’s also always helping me out. His grades have always been full marks, undefeatable at the top. Amazing, right?’”

 

Mariko told everyone Meru’s words that she could still remember.

“Meru-chan called all of you her friends. Probably unconsciously, though.”

Mariko said with a smile, then drank her tea saying, “I’m tired of talking.” Mariko didn’t have Meru’s memory. Despite that, Meru always talked a little about them at home, so she came to memorize some of it.

“It’s thanks to you all that that girl tries hard and came to be able to smile so cheerfully.”

Shigeharu bowed his head to them all. Mariko and Kei smiled.

“Thanks.”

The executives shook their heads at Shigeharu’s words of gratitude.

“That’s what we should be saying.”

Yuuri said “Please raise your head” to Shigeharu.

“Meru-chan is the one who saved me. In various ways.”
“Me as well.”
“Me too.”

Shoutarou and Fuuga agreed with Laila’s statement.

“We were all always isolated from other people. No one ever faced us outright. No matter how much they called us awesome, there was always a wall. But Meru was different. The reason we invited Meru to the student council wasn’t just because of her abilities, but also because she saw us for who we really are.”

Hayate spoke with a dignified expression and voice.

“We were the ones who wanted to be with her, and if I had to say, we arbitrarily made Meru stay with us. We are the ones who should be giving our thanks.”

Hayate said, “Thank you.”

“Meru would be glad if she heard.”

Kei had a slightly lonesome expression, but he spoke with true happiness.

With that conversation, the room became quiet.
As it did, Meru returned after finishing dinner.

“Eh, what’s up. This silence.”

Meru asked a little nervously.

“Kei’s gag dampened the mood.”
“Eh!?”

Kei’s voice cracked at Shigeharu’s absurd manner. Ignoring that, Mariko began to help Meru carry the dishes.

“Waa! Today’s dinner is wonderful! Meru-chan, you put in your best effort, huh?”
“Not really.”

Meru turned away while Mariko grinned.

On the table were Meru’s handmade qingjiao rousi, bang bang chicken, marinated summer vegetables, spaghetti aglio e olio, fried rice, chilled soup, and mozuku seaweed in vinegar. On top of that, there was the standard karaage, dashimaki tamago, and more lined up.
Everyone was deeply moved that she was able to make so much in such a short time.

“Let’s eat, then. Itadakimasu.”

Everyone picked up their chopsticks when Shigeharu said that. When the food met with their tongues, an admiring “Delicious” reverberated in the room.

“Meru-chan.”

Mariko was sitting next to Meru and spoke to her.

“They’re good friends.”
“Right?”

Meru said boastfully.
The enjoyable dinner continued late into the night.

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<TLN>
I absolutely adore the Kusuhara family, but Shigeharu kills me every time, haha!

But again, half way through the chapter, the feels! ;; Long, feelsy chapters, y’all.

Also usually, the author has the title specifically in the chapter somewhere, but they never did end up cheersing/kampai-ing. They just went straight to eating, hah. I even went back and double-checked I didn’t miss a line somewhere. Bizarre!

29 chapters left in the summer vacation arc!

Ko-fi link here.
August bonus chapters funded: 0/3 ($0/$30 to the first one!)