Chapter 22: Shopping for the Training Camp
Yesterday, I heard that Airi-senpai broke up with Sahori-senpai.
Since I have my own stuff going on, I wondered if I could learn something from it, but I realized every couple is different.
Even Sahori-senpai, who seemed so full of flaws, apparently really loved her.
Airi: "Honestly, I thought his selfishness, his big mouth, even his loose and careless attitude were cute. I figured as long as I was reliable, it'd be fine!"
Seriously, is she a bodhisattva or what?
Airi-senpai definitely has a thing for hopeless guys, so she should be a little more careful.
Hopefully next time, she'll find a decent, honest guy.
Even a bodhisattva like her finally threw in the towel, so cheating really is a no-go, absolutely!
Anyway, I spent the morning at a prep school near the terminal station for summer cram school, and arrived at the back entrance of Hokusho High School thirty minutes early for our meeting.
The training camp facility is a ten-minute walk from the school grounds.
To be precise, it's the dormitory for the sports department's boarding students and the training camp facility.
There's a small gymnasium and a mini field there too, but we mostly do our training at the high school.
From here, we'll mainly be buying groceries and stocking the kitchen at the training camp facility.
Airi-senpai's family is providing the car, but it's a lot of running back and forth between the supermarket and the car, then the car and the kitchen—lots of heavy lifting!
Even with the third-years gone, there are still almost thirty club members to feed and prepare meals for... just imagining it is exhausting.
While I was thinking that, Tomonaga-san showed up.
Tomonaga-san was wearing a breezy short-sleeve top and loose pants, just as instructed—easy to move in.
Tomonaga: "Thanks for coming, Kousuke-kun."
I was the one who invited her. Shopping is hard work, and since she'll be helping as an assistant manager starting tomorrow, it's good for her to do this kind of job too.
Since she had the morning off, Tomonaga-san looked calm, with a gentle smile—maybe because her exercise was just a light walk.
Tomonaga: "...? What's up, Kousuke-kun?"
"...Tomonaga-san, your cheeks are looking a lot slimmer...?"
Tomonaga: "Really?! Are you serious?"
She checked herself from different angles with her phone camera, not really seeing it herself, but she seemed really happy.
Of course, seeing results would make anyone even happier!
As I watched Tomonaga-san happily squealing, Airi-senpai arrived ten minutes before the meeting.
Airi-senpai looked like the picture of a summer lady, with a stylish hat, a pale dress, and sandals.
...Isn't this supposed to be hard labor?
Airi: "Kousuke-kun, you're early—sorry to keep you waiting♪ ...Tomonaga-san, you're here too?"
Huh? That look?
Kousuke: "I figured it'd be heavy lifting, plus I needed help with manager duties, so I called her. Was that not necessary?"
Airi: "...Hmm, no, we do need her. Why did I wear something this frilly... Ah—!"
She looked like she just realized it this very moment!
The car behind us... it's a huge van! With this, we might not have to make as many trips.
Wait, it's not a family member driving? It's a helper. She really is a proper ojou-sama.
I can't quite imagine cooking for nearly thirty people, but Airi-senpai did it last year, and the basketball club has a notebook passed down through the years with rough estimates for everything.
Like, how many kilos of rice wasn't enough, or there was too much curry.
Using that as a base, they calculate the amounts and make a little extra, and also prep more side dishes just in case. If there are leftovers, there's always someone to eat them.
The training camp kitchen has equipment that reminds me of a school cafeteria.
So, we all pile into the van—which can fit eight if we really squeeze—and head to the large supermarket nearby. No way a small supermarket could handle this much. Since Airi-senpai called ahead, it sounds like the rice, meat, and vegetables have been set aside for us at a bit of a discount.
Worst case, we can restock, but we're thinking about enough for thirty people for three days—so it's a ton!
For the stuff we haven't pre-ordered—meat, vegetables, fish—we split up, compare prices, and try to get everything as cheaply as possible, then haul it all to the car! On top of that, there's a mountain of tofu and all the stuff you put in the hot pot!
Especially on the first day, we're hosting a joint practice with a nearby high school, so lunch is our responsibility! For us managers, tomorrow is the big test!
Airi: "That's why tomorrow, it's curry right off the bat."
Tomonaga: "We're starting with curry...?"
Airi: "Hehe♪ Chicken breast curry!"
Tomonaga: "Eek!!"
Airi: "Just kidding, just kidding! But we really are going to make a mountain of cheap chicken curry. Be ready, okay?"
With Airi-senpai's gentle vibe, it's hard to imagine the chaos that's coming.
I listen to the conversation, quietly carrying things to the car.
There's no way we could carry this to the training camp facility by hand, right?
All the ingredients for tomorrow's chicken curry lunch, for the hot pot dinner.
And for the next morning... Like that, we packed three days' worth of food into the car, literally packing it full, and drove to the training camp facility.
Tomonaga-san and I shuttled back and forth between the car and the facility.
Airi-senpai provided the car and checked off everything we bought.
She might seem like an ojou-sama, but Airi-senpai handles the logistics with amazing efficiency.
Tomonaga-san did her best carrying things and supporting Airi-senpai.
I was on heavy lifting duty!
Airi-senpai was explaining things to Tomonaga-san.
Airi: "Last year, I really tried to pay attention—like keeping the salt low, balancing things, making the flavors subtle... but boys going through puberty don't care about that at all."
She had a "what can you do" kind of expression.
Airi: "Most boys would rather have barbecue sauce, salt and pepper, a little garlic! That kind of flavor lets them eat three bowls of rice. My one-plate breakfast last year was nothing compared to the second night's random meat, veggies, fish, and hot pot that the upperclassmen came up with. Meat twice in a row? All the boys just wolfed down rice, made it into porridge, added udon noodles... I was shocked."
This training camp is tough.
Still, I'm glad Tomonaga-san and Airi-senpai seem to be getting along so well.