Chapter 80: Teased by an older woman

In the end, of course, I took it off.

Swimming with beauties—two of them, no less! Which old cadre could withstand such a test?

Once in the water, all three of us had decent swimming skills. Surprisingly, Yuko Tanaka was the best; her freestyle, butterfly, and backstroke were all incredibly fluid. Kanako Higuchi was also quite skilled at freestyle, and her underwater swimming was impressive too.

As for Naoki Nagayama, a child who had taught himself to swim in the sea, he only knew a bit of breaststroke and freestyle—er, and he also knew a bit of the doggy paddle...

After swimming a few laps, we leaned against the edge of the pool to take a break.

"Yuko-san, your swimming technique is amazing. Did you learn it before?"

"Back when I was in university, I joined a swimming club. There were professional instructors who would come to guide us."

"That's great. And where did you learn, Kanako-san?"

"I signed up for a summer training course while I was still in school. There should be many such courses in high school, right? Didn't you participate in any, Naoki-san?"

"I really didn't. Because I lived in a small town by the sea, it was assumed that I already knew how to swim. My older brother was the one who taught me." Naoki Nagayama's mind drifted back to the time when he and his siblings would play by the sea as children.

Kanako Higuchi interjected: "Aren't you an only child, Naoki-san?"

"No, there are three of us siblings. I'm the middle child; I have an older brother and a younger sister."

"Families with siblings are great. You have playmates from a young age~"

"Yeah, yeah. If I have children in the future, I definitely want to have a few more."

"And you can help each other out after you grow up."

I didn't know why the two women had suddenly shifted the conversation to family and how many children to have.

But if you knew how serious the low birth rate in Japan would become after the bubble burst, you wouldn't be considering so much~

At this moment, Yuko Tanaka turned her head again to ask Naoki Nagayama: "Naoki-san, how many children do you plan to have in the future?"

Naoki Nagayama was completely stunned by the question. How did it get to me?

Two pleasing beauties, two pairs of bright eyes, were actually looking over. The sudden pressure was immense.

"Who knows... I'm still a child myself!"

"Pfft... Hahaha, that's true too. Naoki-san isn't even an adult yet! Hahaha~" Kanako Higuchi burst into laughter.

This time, even Yuko Tanaka was struck by the humor, and the two of them couldn't stop laughing.

"You two!... Tch, I can't be bothered with you!"

There was no helping it when being teased by older women. Naoki Nagayama could only go off to swim a few more laps.

After swimming a few more rounds, more than half an hour had passed.

We were all a bit tired. The two girls wanted to go for a spa, while Naoki Nagayama planned to have a steam bath.

After discussing it, we decided to meet at the restaurant at 9 o'clock for a late-night snack together.

Watching the two graceful figures leave, Naoki Nagayama also wrapped himself in a bathrobe to go for a steam bath.

It was only while walking on the path that I remembered my clothes had all been sent for dry cleaning. I couldn't wear a bathrobe to a late-night snack later, could I?

It looked like I still needed to buy a set. Did high-end hotels at this time have boutiques or clothing stores?

I consulted the service staff on the fourth floor, and this hotel actually had one. However, it leaned towards custom-made suits and kimonos; other fashionable clothes were not provided.

Naoki Nagayama wasn't picky; having something temporary was fine. So, after a simple steam bath, I entered the custom suit shop on the second floor.

After entering the door, there was a counter. A dazzling array of suits, trousers, shirts, and leather shoes were arranged in a certain order, circling the tailor shop. In the middle was a full-length mirror and a half-open small door. Inside, one could faintly see cutting tables, sewing machines, fabrics, and the like; it must have been the workshop.

An elderly Japanese man in a suit and glasses was cutting something at the counter, a tape measure draped over his shoulders, looking every bit the craftsman.

Seeing Naoki Nagayama enter in a bathrobe, he wasn't too surprised and greeted me: "Welcome. I am the tailor of this shop, Hideo Tezuka. Would you like to order a custom suit?"

He actually had the surname Tezuka. It looked like his skills must be quite good.

Actually, I wanted to buy something off the rack, but being greeted like this, it felt like not ordering a custom one would be quite low-class.

Anyway, I had the money, so I might as well order a set.

"Hai. Besides wanting to order a set, I also need to buy a temporary shirt and trousers." I looked at the slippers on my feet, "And leather shoes."

"Hai, I understand!" Upon hearing the request, Hideo Tezuka didn't say any more nonsense and directly guided Naoki Nagayama to stand in front of the full-length mirror, then began to take measurements.

He then asked about the purpose of the suit, preferred style, material, color, and daily wearing habits—he even asked which side I kept my "little brother" on.

After understanding the measurements, he brought some blue-gray fabrics from the workshop for Naoki Nagayama to choose from. I basically couldn't tell the difference and just picked one that felt good.

As for the ready-made items, Hideo Tezuka directly chose from around the tailor shop: a plain white shirt, a dark blue suit and trousers, and casual leather shoes. The combination was also very refreshing.

Although I would only wear a shirt in the evening, buying it meant buying the whole set, right?

Just these two sets—one ready-made and one custom—actually cost nearly 200,000 yen. It really was a rip-off...

For the final payment, Hideo Tezuka said it would be settled together at the hotel.

"The customer's clothes will be delivered to the address you left within about a week. If there is any dissatisfaction, you can have them modified. Thank you for your visit."

Wearing the suit, I returned to the room and left the jacket on the chair. After getting used to wearing T-shirts, I wasn't quite used to wearing a shirt. Naoki Nagayama could only roll the sleeves up to his elbows to feel a bit more relaxed.

Turning his head, he saw the notepad on the table. The handwriting "On a Night When Fireworks Flicker" was still fresh. If left on the table, it might be treated as a draft or something else by the housekeeping staff.

There was no bag of my own in this room, so Naoki Nagayama could only fold the sheet music and put it in the pocket of his suit trousers to prevent it from being lost.

Thinking about what happened this evening,

I rode a houseboat, ate sashimi, watched the summer farewell fireworks, recalled a song, and even bumped into two beauties at the pool...

Ha~

The end of this summer seemed quite extraordinary.

Seeing the sheet music, I felt as if the background music was appearing faintly again.

Logically, after writing down the music, this emotion should have been vented out.

But for some reason, today, this energy hadn't passed yet.

Although the agreed time hadn't arrived yet, Naoki Nagayama didn't want to wait in the room anymore.

If I continued to wait quietly, maybe the background music would become clearer and clearer...

The restaurant was on the third floor. After Naoki Nagayama took the elevator down, he found it was a Western-style restaurant.

Seemingly to reflect the Western style, a black piano was placed in the center.

However, the decorations and such all had a Japanese style. Looking at the menu, it seemed they also provided Japanese food, so it could be considered a mixed-style restaurant.

There weren't many people in the restaurant at night, but there were about a dozen, men and women scattered in every corner of the restaurant.

Yuko Tanaka and Kanako Higuchi hadn't arrived yet.

Naoki Nagayama first ordered a cocktail and sat by the window, drinking slowly.

Looking out from the floor-to-ceiling window,

The night in Tokyo lit up with dots of fluorescence. On the commercial street by the shore, pedestrians walked and stopped in twos and threes. Occasionally, street vendors would hawk the goods on their stalls, attracting passersby to watch for a while.

The water surface of the Sumida River reflected the light and shadows along the shore, scattering into shimmering water light in the ripples.

The cocktail was a bit strong, making Naoki Nagayama's head feel slightly hot.

The background music in his ears became louder, seemingly urging him to bid a proper final farewell to summer.

Borrowing the strength of the alcohol, Naoki Nagayama sat on the piano stage.

The piano keys began to jump along with the melody in his mind... ===== CHAPTER 81 =====