Wheelchair Girl: Chapter 4-2

RAWS: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2611p/18/

Chapter 4-2: Okonomiyaki Restaurant

－2－

After having finished all their supplementary materials, Kazutaka and Haruka went to the staff room and then left the school building.

The evening sun peeked through the crevices of the clouds, dying the world in madder red. The shadows of the girl in the wheelchair and Kazutaka who was pushing her from behind stretched long on the ground.

When they came out of the school gate, Kazutaka said:

“Damn, using my head this long made me hungry, wanna grab something to eat?”

He checked the time on his wristwatch with a glance. Even if they went home just like that, it’d be still a bit too early for dinner.

“I’m planning to drop by somewhere to get a grub, if you’re cool with that, would you like to join me, Harukawa? Let’s go eat out somewhere!”

“Somewhere?”

“Hm… how about okonomiyaki?”

A bit further from the school, there was an okonomiyaki vendor that was frequented by the students.

“But eating right after purchase or dropping by somewhere is not good. It’s against the school regulations.”

She uttered a line that could come straight from a diligent class rep.

“And most importantly, haven’t we just got the teachers mad at us already?”

“Oh man, you’re way too serious, y’know? You Miss Serious, enjoy your life a bit more.”

As Kazutaka teased her like that, Haruka found herself being invited to the path full of sin.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. That place is somewhat out of reach for teachers.”

“Out of reach?”

“The guy who owns the place is super scary so they don’t dare to approach it.”

Haruka tilted her head and asked:

“So it is managed by a scary person?”

“Well, kinda? More or less. That’s why it’s also no problem to complain about it.

(TLN: Idk what he means here…)

“Fuuu?”

“That aside, let’s go!”

Kazutaka grasped the grip of her wheelchair and pushed her in a different direction from her home.

Haruka who sat in her wheelchair said:

“Ano, I haven’t said yet if I actually want to go or not, you know?”

“Isn’t it fine? I’d feel lonely if I was all by myself, so keep me company.”

He kind of half-forcibly invited her.

“…Mou…, it can’t be helped.”

Although she complained like that, in fact, she was very happy to be invited like this. She was humming and holding in her smile.

“Does that place offer delicious food?”

“Yup, it’s super tasty.”

☆

They reached the okonomiyaki place called ‘Karakusa.’ It was a relatively small and cozy restaurant with a retro appearance. The front had bamboo blinds and used the vines of plants as curtains.

Kazutaka opened the sliding door and went under the vines.

“Hello”

The restaurant was already crowded with students in their uniforms and other youngsters. The heat of the grill and the delicious smell of okonomiyaki entered his nose drills. 

“Welcome!”

A white-haired gramps in an apron greeted the two of them.

After giving Haruka in her wheelchair a quick glance, the old man asked Kazutaka casually:

“At the moment only the tatami room is available, is that okay?”

“Ah, yeah sure.”

Haruka nodded.

“Is that so? Then please follow me.”

Following the old man, Kazutaka brought the wheelchair to the tatami room.

“Can you do it by yourself?”

“Mhm, it’s okay.”

Haruka placed both her hands on the tatami mat and with a ‘heave-ho’ pushed herself from the wheelchair.

After getting on the floor, she took off her shoes dragged the rest of her body, and moved towards the table that had a grill attached to it.

Kazutaka who stood close by and was watching over her felt a sudden gaze on him.

(Why…?)

He casually looked around the restaurant.

Up to the moment when Haruka took her seat, it felt like someone turned down the volume of the whole place and Kazutaka felt like all eyes were on them.

Haruka sat on the zabuton with her legs tucked to the side. She fixed up her lap blanket and covered her lower half with it.

(TLN: Zabuton refers to a type of cushion and the raws say お姉さん座り which roughly translates to ‘Onee-san sitting style.’)

Kazutaka also took off his shoes and took her seat, on the opposite side of the table.

While checking out the menu, he asked:

“What do you wanna eat?”

The menu was quite extensive. From Kansai-style okonomiyaki to Hiroshima-style with yakisoba noodles. There was an abundance of options and toppings. They even offered savory pancakes.

“Well, since I still have to eat dinner at home, I’d rather not eat too much here…”

“Then, how about ordering the big one and splitting it for the two of us?”

Haruka responded while glancing at the handwriting that seemed very old.

“I’m surprised that it is this cheap.”

The okonomiyaki prices were even affordable for children with their pocket money. It makes one wonder how this place even makes a profit.

Kazutaka who happened to be also a regular explained:

“That’s just that old man’s style, y’know. He can’t bring himself to take too much money from just students, so he never really raised the prices.”

Incidentally, this place was pretty much managed only by that old man alone.

Since the main customer base consisted of just students, he was probably not making much profit and it wouldn’t be a surprise if it turned out that he was in the red every month.

However, this restaurant remained in business for many years for some reason. Always open for hungry students to get a nice meal with the same good taste and price. 

After talking for a bit, the two of them decided to order the basic okonomiyaki with pork and shrimp. 

Haruka looked around the store interior with curious eyes.

The laughter of the students reverberated in the narrow restaurant.

Matching the age of the old man who manages the place, the restaurant itself had a good old feeling as well, giving retro vibes.

On the wall, there were Polaroid photos of children. Most likely those kids were students who had been photographed when they dropped by these restaurants. Some photos seemed very old, already having gained a sepia tone in color.

The wall of photos was almost telling the history of this place, dedicated to those children from various generations, enjoying delicious okonomiyaki.

Right around the corner, there were three elementary school girls chatting with each other. “I wonder if this is enough…” “Are you still not done yet?” “I’m so hungry!” They were causing a little uproar but also kind of represented the very ‘self’ of this place.

This restaurant just felt like a pleasant place to be in, it was really cozy.

Haruka voiced her impressions.

“This is a nice place. Although it’s my first time here, it makes me feel kind of nostalgic for some reason.”

“Well, there are also people who just claim that it looks outdated.”

“I really didn’t know that this kind of place was so close to our school…”

Haruka felt quite moved and continued in her reverie-like tone.

“If I had never met Akasaka-kun, I would have never come to this okonomiyaki place. I would have just gone back and forth from school to home.”

“Heh, so to avoid that, I’ll show you various other places, look forward to that.”

Since Kazutaka has lived in this town his whole life, he knew his way around like it was his backyard.

And he wanted her to come to like this town as well.

“Yes… thank you.”

With a shy laugh, she nodded.

☆

After a short while, the old man came with the ingredients for okonomiyaki as well as a spatula.

Although they didn’t order it, for some reason he also served them two eggs on a small plate.

Kazutaka looked up to the old man.

“Huh? We didn’t order eggs though?”

“Ah, that’s just this ole gramps’ service.”

“Service?” 

“Isn’t this your first time here, young lady? I hope you’ll keep coming in the future.”

With those words, the old man playfully winked at Haruka. His somewhat adorable wrinkled face furrowed even deeper.

The old man sat next to them on the tatami mat.

He gave Kazutaka an irritating grin and continued to talk:

“I honestly didn’t expect you to bring over a girl to this place. Wow, isn’t that a first? Maybe it’ll snow tomorrow, who knows.”

“Shut it, leave me alone.”

Kazutaka, feeling somewhat awkward, acted coldly and quickly turned away, drinking from his cup.

The old man turned towards Haruka.

“Young lady, what’s your name?”

“Harukawa Harula. Nice to meet you.”

Haruka bowed politely.

That made the gramps feel happy and he nodded in agreement.

“Mhm, she knows her matters. A good girl. A yamato nadeshiko.”

He made a face as if he was looking at his adorable granddaughter or something.

“I did hear a bit of an accent though, are you perhaps from Kansai?”

“Yes, I just moved here this spring…”

“Have you gotten used to your life here?”

“Yeah, more or less, Akasaka-kun always helps me out.”

“I see, I see… And Kazu-boy? Are you like this?”

As the old man asked, he raised his pinky

(TLN: Kind of a way of asking if she’s his girlfriend/lover).

The old man casually brought it up.

“Pfu..!”

It was so straightforward that Kazutaka ended up spurting his drink.

“How far did you two go? A? B? Or perhaps already C?”

(TLN: A: Deep kissing, B: Groping/Touching, C: Oral stimulation/Fingering, D: Sex)

The old man kind of tried to play it off as: ‘I won’t tell anyone’ while covering part of his face with his mouth.

(TLN: I suck at description but think of this cartoonish way of being secretive with someone in a conversation, hand around the cheek area kinda…) 

“So please feel free to talk to this gramps’”

Haruka’s cheeks dyed red right away and she quickly shook her hands.

“Ehh? A-Ano, we’re not like…!”

Kazutaka shouted as well.

“Even if you ask about where we got, we got nowhere!”

Seriously, what the heck is this old man talking about all of a sudden?

“What? You still haven’t done anything. How boring.”

The old man let out his true feelings of curiosity and pouted.

“Oi, what are you yapping about, old man? Did you perhaps hit your head somewhere?”

Kazutaka glared at the old man.

Gramps, on the other hand, ignored the person in question and just kept nodding to himself.

“Well, even if he didn’t manage to reach A. Seeing that small Kazu-boy getting a girlfriend, how great!”

“No, seriously listen to what people are saying.”

“Finally Spring has come to you, Harukawa indeed.”

(TLN: Spring = Haru)

“You’re annoying.”

“To be honest, she’s way too pretty for you. Really adorable… but of course, she loses against granny by a landslide.”

“Shut it, aren’t you just bragging about your wife.”

“Since we’re already at it, should I whip up some red rice?”

“Heck no! Seriously, what do you want to pull at an okonomiyaki restaurant!”

The old man made a disgusting smile and patted Kazutaka on the shoulder.

“Please only burn okonomiyaki on the grill, don’t heat up your love.”

“No, why the heck are you making a smug face you know? Just that you know, you didn’t say anything smart there, okay?”

“Who hit his head? I didn’t get Alzheimer’s yet.”

“You’re way too slow! That tsukkomi came way too late!”

As if the two of them were genuine grandchild and grandfather an unreserved banter unfolded.

As Kazutaka desperately talked back, the old man seemed to enjoy himself to the fullest. 

“We’ve got all we need for the okonomiyaki. Your part is done, so you can go now.”

Kazutaka was trying to shoo the old man away, treating him like a fly.

“What’s up with that? Aren’t you a bit mean to your gramps here? I thought we had something going Kazu-boy.”

“The heck are you talking about?”

Kazutaka felt exhausted.

“Also, don’t call me ‘Kazu-boy’ all the time and treat me like a child. I’m already 18 I have you know.”

As Kazutaka sighed, the gramps responded right away.

“Who cares about that, I’m already 80.”

Gramps made a smug face.

As the two of them continued their back and forth, Haruka looked at their faces alternatingly and then asked:

“Aren’t you two quite close?”

“Well, I’ve come to this place since elementary school, so I know this gramps for quite a long time now.”

“I knew this guy before his thing grew hair.”

As Gramps patted Kazutaka’s head, he continued:

“Haruka-chan, if this guy ever makes you cry, feel free to come to this gramps’. I’ll make him cry as well.”

The old man laughed heartily like Mito Kouman

(TLN: If you google it, you get some images about some old Japanese dude from a TV show)

Kazutaka didn’t think he could win against this guy.

Kazutaka had known this old man since he was very little. He had been managing this okonomiyaki restaurant since then.

Although that guy was now in his 80s, he was still quite lively. It made Kazutaka wonder if he’d be still serving okonomiyaki when he and Haruka had grown old.

The majority of this town has eaten at this old man’s place at least once, thus most of them felt like his children or grandchildren at this point.

The same applies to the teachers of their school.

“Didn’t I say that dropping by after school and eating right after buying is forbidden!”

There was a time when a teacher caught some students red-handed in this restaurant. At that time, the old man came between them right away and:

“Hoho, you’ve grown from a middle school bed-wetter to quite a good man, haven’t you?”

“O-old man?!”

A teacher in his 40s still seemed like nothing but a brat from Gramps’ perspective.

The old man could casually leak their embarrassing past to the students, so the teachers pretty much gave up. They were no match for him.

“It’s not like they did anything bad, y’know? Isn’t it better for them to just come to this place and eat okonomiyaki together rather than loitering around the road in groups?”

“Well, yeah bu-”

“Ah, it’s been so long Eat something as well.”

In the end, the teacher also ate okonomiyaki with the students and then they all left together.

In front of this guy, everyone turns back to being a kid.

And thus, this okonomiyaki restaurant has become somewhat of an oasis, untouchable by teachers.

“Excuuuse me!”

It seems the three elementary school girls from earlier got their okonomiyaki burnt and were asking for the old man’s help as it turned pitch black.

“Hurry up, they’re calling for you gramps’”

Kazutaka quickly took advantage of that opportunity and tried to shoo the old man away while clapping his hands.

Seeing the little girls, the old man made a gentle smile.

“Arara, can’t be helped. I’ll go then. Well, see ya Kazu-boy, Haruka-chan. Please enjoy yourself.”

“Yes, thank you very much.”

“I will even without you asking me to.”

With Kazutaka’s rather harsh words, they saw the old man off.

☆

Finally, he’s gone… that damn old man…

Kazutaka sighed.

“…I’m kinda sorry for various things, Harukawa.”

Kazutaka peeked at Haruka’s face while apologizing. Seriously, he really wondered what the heck he should do when that guy suddenly talked about A and B.

“Maybe it was a mistake to bring you here?”

“No, it wasn’t.”

Haruka shook her head with a pleasant smile.

She watched that man skillfully teaching the elementary school girls how to prepare okonomiyaki properly.

“That gramps seems super nice and fun.”

“I think he has a bit too much fun.”

You could kind of call him friendly but also unreserved. He’ll treat you as a friend from the same age and gender and will be thus very casual.

Yet no one really could hate him for that.

This place was damn comfortable. It almost felt like you got home.

You often have these moments where you get teased way too much by that Gramps and you swear to yourself to never set foot in this place and before you know it, you find yourself here again.

While Haruka gazed at the gramps’ back, she uttered words of gratitude.

“He really is a good person. He didn’t bring up my legs at all.”

“Ah, come to think of it… you’re right.”

Gramps had not even once addressed Haruka’s legs or the wheelchair. He just treated her like any other customer.

“Yeah, I’m really grateful that you introduced me to this place.”

Haruka smiled gently, thinking she had found herself a new favorite spot.

☆

“:..Thank you.”

As they were casually chatting, Haruka suddenly thanked him.

“Hm? For what?”

Kazutaka tilted his head, genuinely having no idea what she was getting at.

“I… just a good while ago, I’ve been someone who primarily spent her time at home since I got this body. Because living in this body with these legs was so inconvenient, I found myself thinking it’d be too troublesome to go out and thus spent most of my time just at home.”

Haruka started to talk about her past.

Kazutaka felt that it was a bit sudden and looked at her face.

“…Is that so?”

She was tied to her wheelchair.

The town was filled with obstacles for her. It wouldn’t be a surprise to find out that she’d rather prefer to stay indoors.

“Before I moved here, I spent my life just going back and forth between my home and school. Again and again, that was my everyday life. The same street, the same every day, unending.”

Haruka talked about this in a self-deprecating manner while staring at her wheelchair.

“If I had never met Akasaka-kun, my world would have been much smaller, narrower.

Surprised about Haruka’s sudden shift in mood, this rather somber atmosphere she was emitting, Kazutaka grew worried and asked her with an uneasy expression.

“Oi, what’s up with you all of a sudden? You good?”

“Hm, yeah I’m fine.”

Haruka reassured him with a hearty nod and a cheerful smile to dispel his unease.

She straightened her back.

“I’ve always been alone. Always stuck in my wheelchair. But Akasaka-kun pushed me and took me around various places. Since I met you, the world has been just ups and downs. It gained depth”

She looked straight into his eyes.

“My world has expanded since meeting you.”

And then with an expression akin to a blooming sunflower.

“That’s why… thank you so much for taking me out of there.”

“Ah, well, it’s not like I…”

Kazutaka felt a bit embarrassed and scratched his nose in response.

For Kazutaka, the world has changed as well. His rather boring days came to an end.

It felt like the world had gained color.

Until now he had just lived his life idly, not attending any club activities nor spending too much of his time on his studies but now he felt like he had finally found his purpose.

“Actually, it should be rather me who should thank you.”

Her smile looked so dazzling to him.

Translator’s note

Sorry for the belated chapter and also sorry for the quality, scene was difficult to translate. So if this one really feels bad, I’ll probably start to revise my translations more often which means slower uplouds. I do think my quality is slightly better than MTL and also more closer to the original translation but because I ‘think in Japanese’ I find myself sometimes having a hard time to put my understanding into words. Sorry for that.

As for the reason why I failed to keep my 3 day quota, I had to work on a group project thingy. The project will go on for the whole semester, so I assume there will be more occasions where this kind of delay will happen. My plan is it to get this novel done before Summer but we’ll see how far I’ll get. Worst case, weekly updates but I won’t drop it / suddenly disappear.