メロウレイン / Futtara Doshaburi Mellow Rain

Sweet Fruit

 

Munakata sent Hiiragi an email.

 

There’s something I want to send you, so tell me the nearest day you’ll definitely be at home.

 

Hiiragi replied that he had a day off from his part-time job in three days’ time.

 

Without receiving any explanation of what was being sent, he waited at home until a refrigerated parcel arrived.

 

When he opened the small box, he couldn’t help letting out a delighted cry.

 

“Wow!”

 

It was packed full of brilliant red berries.

 

“What sort of fruit is that?” Kazuaki asked.

 

“They’re goumi berries. Summer goumi.”

 

“I’ve never seen them before.”

 

“Yeah, I’ve never seen them sold in shops, either. These are the ones that grow wild in the mountains. I used to look forward to picking and eating them every year around this time.”

 

Hiiragi tipped the berries into a colander and rinsed them with water. He selected one of the glossy, red, oval fruits and tried it.

 

It was beautifully ripe. He picked up a second berry and held it towards Kazuaki’s mouth.

 

“Here.”

 

Kazuaki closed his eyes as he ate it.

 

“Sweet.”

 

“But there’s a bit of astringency, isn’t there? Or a sort of harsh aftertaste. Is that because they’re wild?”

 

“They contain tannins. When they’re still green, they’re unbelievably astringent. The taste really makes you go, Ugh! My grandad tricked me into eating one when I was little.”

 

“Even Sensei played tricks like that?”

 

“Well, half a prank, half an educational experience, I suppose?”

 

After making him eat the unripe berry, his grandfather had properly given him a fully ripened one.

 

Hiiragi, still wary, had been astonished by the sweetness.

 

“If you’ve experienced how unpleasant the unripe fruit tastes first, you’ll appreciate the sweetness of the ripe one all the more, won’t you?”

 

His grandfather had laughed as he said it.

Looking back, Hiiragi was certain there had been a message hidden in the lesson.

Someday, you should grow and change in the same way.

 

With time, sunlight and water, astringency and bitterness ripened into sweetness.

Leaving aside whether Hiiragi himself had grown as a person, the summer goumi berries now made him think of something entirely different.

 

Bitter and astringent at first, but now incredibly sweet. Doesn’t that sound exactly like someone I know?

 

And that very someone was now holding a third berry towards Hiiragi’s mouth.

 

Hiiragi was far too embarrassed to ask Kazuaki what sort of flavour he might have for him.

 

Instead, he quietly savoured that secret sweetness along with the fruit of early summer.