Chapter 141

Why are you so nervous?

"I asked calmly."

"Aaaaaaah..."

Realizing that he was only making things worse by trying to explain, Kita froze on the spot, his face contorted in disbelief, just like Bocchi.

Ishikawa Hayato was completely absorbed in the fun of washing Bocchi's hair, but as soon as he stopped, he immediately sensed that something was wrong with Bocchi and quickly reminded her before rinsing her hair.

"Bocchi, it's time to flush!"

"Um..."

Bocchi's voice was a little sweet, which made Ishikawa Hayato's heart skip a beat. He had to forcefully control the flow of blood in his body to calm down.

A basin of water was slowly poured over her, and she groaned softly before gradually calming down.

After Ishikawa Hayato dried her hair, he said...

"I'll go get another bucket of water and rinse myself off, then I won't need to wipe myself down."

"Good..."

"Paradise..."

After everything was settled, the five of them lay down on the beach chairs, enjoying the pleasure of resting peacefully under the warm sun, in the sea breeze, and listening to the leisurely sound of the waves, after exhausting their energy.

Of course, some people can't find peace of mind.

That person was Nijika, and she always felt that the day she would be in danger was getting closer and closer.

Aside from Kita accidentally calling Ishikawa Hayato "Hayato-kun" earlier, Ishikawa Hayato suddenly asked him to wash her hair after watching Ishikawa Hayato wash Bocchi hair.

Ishikawa Hayato refused very decisively.

He said, "Liang, you're strong enough, and besides, Bocchi is with me..."

Liang interrupted him directly.

"If you help me with my laundry, and you want to share a room with us during future dorm stays, I'll side with you."

Ishikawa Hayato gasped, his attitude instantly undergoing a 180-degree change, and said respectfully.

"Lord Liang, please allow me to wash your hair."

She struggled for a while after snapping out of her reverie, but quickly gave up.

Being distressed isn't a good thing, and besides, she only said we could date. For many couples, dating is just the beginning; there are still plenty of opportunities to run away.

She put aside her worries and turned to look at her friends.

Kita squinted his eyes with a happy smile, enjoying the moment. Ryo was already fast asleep, and Ishikawa Hayato's head was resting on his hand; it was unclear whether he was asleep or not. Bocchi couldn't see him.

However, with Hayato-kun around, there's probably not much to worry about.

She turned her gaze to the distance, looking at the relaxed sea and sky, and felt as if she had lost all sense of time. Gradually, she relaxed.

She even put the music festival incident that had been troubling her before out of her mind.

122. Fire and smoke

After resting enough, they started playing on the beach again.

Even Ryo, who initially wasn't interested in the beach, joined in.

Play volleyball, bury things in the sand, build sandcastles, and draw on the beach.

In this way, an afternoon passed quickly.

In the evening, the five of them went back, changed into their everyday clothes, and came back with their stroller.

However, this time the car contained a barbecue grill and ingredients prepared by Ryo's mother.

The atmosphere among the five was different from that morning. The girls chatted happily, while Ishikawa Hayato leaned weakly on the handle of the stroller and followed it.

But if you could hear the words he was muttering, you'd understand why the girls weren't paying attention to him.

"Swimsuit, I haven't seen enough of this swimsuit yet! Why can't I wear it a little longer after spending so much effort to buy it? Waaaaah!"

They were used to Ishikawa Hayato's personality and could simply ignore this situation.

Even when Bocchi wanted to go and comfort Ishikawa Hayato, Nijika stopped him.

She declared righteously and sternly, "People whose heads are filled with vulgar thoughts should be punished."

However, upon hearing what Nijika said, Kita glanced at her and thought to himself.

That's what Ijichi-senpai said, but is the so-called punishment simply not comforting Hayato-kun? Isn't that spoiling him too much?

Upon hearing Nijika's words, Ishikawa Hayato cried even louder.

When we arrived at the beach, it was already 5:40 pm, but the sky was still quite bright.

Summer nights come particularly late, and since they were by the sea, the whole day felt incredibly long.

But the darkness could not conceal the fact that night was approaching. Strands of orange-red sunset clouds and patches of blue and yellow skies reflected in the sky, along with the increasingly fierce sea breeze, told of the approaching night.

When they arrived at the beach, the five people's clothes fluttered in the sea breeze.

The wind was blowing fiercely. Liang took a few steps on the beach and noticed a cloud of sand being blown away by the wind when she lifted her foot. She looked back.

Nijika, Ishikawa Hayato, Kita were frantically setting up the barbecue grill behind them, while Bocchi looked around, unsure how to lend a hand.

Liang sighed and walked over to complain.

"This meat, which would be incredibly delicious with just a little cooking, is left here to collect dust and dirt."

She had previously told them that they could simply cook something at the villa and eat it, without going through all that trouble.

However, her proposal was strongly opposed by several people.

Nijika realized the problem, but they had already gone to so much trouble to move the barbecue grill to the beach. Even though it was Ishikawa Hayato who carried it, it would be too stupid to move it back now that they were already here.

She was busy with her hands, shouting all the while.

"Stop muttering and come help!"

Soon, the initial division of labor was completed: Ishikawa Hayato lit the charcoal fire, Bocchi and Kita prepared the ingredients, and Ryo and Nijika tidied up the tableware and the messy condiments.

Despite the strong wind, Ishikawa Hayato managed to light the charcoal fire with little effort.

Watching the smoke rise from the charcoal, he leisurely picked up a chair and sat down. The crackling of the burning coals and the sound of the waves crashing on the sea created an extremely soothing tranquility.

Meanwhile, the rising heat timely neutralized the gradually cooling sand.

He sat watching the barbecue grill while keeping an eye on the movements of the other people.

Beside him, Bocchi and Kita were squatting at a small table, preparing corn, mushrooms, green peppers, and some vegetables.

Kita chopped with a cleaver, while Bocchi helped out.

As Ishikawa Hayato watched Kita chop vegetables, he realized she did have some cooking skills. However, after seeing some of her ingenious ideas, he gradually couldn't resist trying them out.

After Kita finally succeeded in carving the shiitake mushroom into a flower shape, she showed it to Bocchi with a grin and said...

"Gotou-san, isn't she cute?"

"Ah... yes."

He agreed verbally, but what Bocchi was really thinking was...

Can these things be cooked?

She occasionally helped her mother cook at home, and seeing the pile of irregularly shaped ingredients that Kita had processed, she began to worry.

However, she still didn't say anything and silently continued to help out.

Just then, Ishikawa Hayato walked over and delivered a chop to Kita's head, who was grinning and preparing to sabotage the next batch of materials.

"How are you going to bake it if you cut it like this...?"

"But doesn't looking at something so cute make you feel better?"

Kita looked up at Ishikawa Hayato with a bright smile and said.

Her smile is infectious; just looking at it makes you feel better.

However, considering that everyone was already complaining about the cold food, Ishikawa Hayato probably would put on a completely deadpan expression after eating something that was either undercooked or burnt on the outside but raw on the inside.

He pointed to the chair he was using to watch the charcoal fire.

"Kita, go check the charcoal fire. Just turn it over a little, don't make a mess of Stonehenge!"

"Eh..."

Feeling rejected, Kita voiced his dissatisfaction with a cute complaint.

"No 'Hey' allowed," Ishikawa Hayato interrupted her cutesy act with a laugh.

Kita, puffing out her cheeks in slight annoyance, walked over to the charcoal fire.

Then, Kita glanced at the charcoal and realized it would be a while before it needed to be flipped, so he sat down in a chair, hunched over, propped his arms on his knees, and glared angrily at Ishikawa Hayato.

Without any hesitation, Ishikawa Hayato reprocessed the mushrooms that Kita had just carved, slicing them horizontally and vertically into even small pieces.

Kita's anger level has increased.

Other dishes were also made into sizes that were easy to cook.

During this time, Nijika also came over to take a look. Seeing how nimble Ishikawa Hayato was, she thought his cooking skills were extraordinary, so she felt relieved and went to prepare the seasonings.

She took out the various barbecue seasonings from the box, including salt and pepper, pepper powder, cumin, and five-spice powder.

In the end, she picked up a large jar of white sugar and looked at it with a puzzled expression.

Do we need this much sugar for grilling?

Gradually, the materials were almost all processed, Bocchi stood there, unsure of what to do, his hands tangled together.

Suddenly, Ishikawa Hayato's voice, sounding as if he was about to cry, rang out.

"Bocchi ~~"

She looked up abruptly and saw Ishikawa Hayato's tear-streaked face.

"Ah...?"

Bocchi panicked for a moment, then quickly looked down at Ishikawa Hayato's hands and was relieved to see that he had been chopping onions.

Seeing Bocchi's flustered appearance, Ishikawa Hayato smiled, realizing he had successfully tricked her, and prepared to continue cutting, but then he heard Bocchi say something.

"Falcon, then, let me do it..."

Bocchi spoke, he half-stretched out his hand, as if to take the kitchen knife from Ishikawa Hayato.

Ishikawa Hayato remained silent. Bocchi is so sweet... she even wants to help him chop onions.

"It's okay, I'll be done cutting soon."

As he was speaking and preparing to continue, he suddenly remembered there was someone else beside him, and he looked over there.

Kita saw Ishikawa Hayato's Ishikawa Hayato yet amused expression, she was about to smile back when she remembered his earlier rudeness.

She snorted and looked away.

With all the ingredients prepared, and the charcoal fully burned, the sky grew darker.

After glancing at the girls who didn't seem to pose much of a challenge when it came to barbecuing, Ishikawa Hayato took over the task of barbecuing again.