| The Summer of My Youth | KTH

1. My eggs!

"Suki! Go and buy some eggs from the convenience store for me." her mother calls out loudly from the kitchen.

The girl opens her eyes, blinking away the remaining sleep from her eyes. It was just the beginning of summer. The season to be lazy all you want. For her, it was rather boring, just sitting at home, munching on snacks without doing anything because of the summer break.

Tanaka Natsuki. Her name, Natsuki, literally means 'summer child', but to the irony of life, she wasn't really fond of the heat summer has.

"Yes, Mom!" she stands up unwillingly, heading towards the door.

"Don't forget to close the door, we don't want Kei to run out on the streets now." her mom reminds her to be careful. The last time she forgot to close the door, her dog, Kei, went out in the rain and had to be bathed again.

"Okay," she yells through now now-closed door as she steps outside the house.

The birds chirping in the background while the main attraction to her ears is the sound of the ocean waves coming from near her house as well as the rustling of tree leaves when the warm breeze blows past the trees. The sun is shining above her head as the scorching heat is burning her skin but it's bearable.

She threw a hat on her head to stay protected from direct sun rays and made her way to the store. She can see the beautiful shadow patterns made by tree leaves under her feet; one thing she loves to watch in summer.

The streets are almost empty with one or two vehicles passing by now and then, other than that it was a peaceful early summer afternoon. Natsuki walks on the hot pavement road, gazing at the ocean waves that capture her attention as they repeatedly hit the big rocks scattered across the shore making a satisfying sound.

"Oh, Suki! Going to the market?" the aunt from her neighbourhood yells out, peeking her head from the window of her house which faces the street. She must have spotted Natsuki walking alone on the road.

"Good afternoon, Aunt Kimura. Yes, I'm going to buy some eggs. See ya." Natsuki waves her hand at her, continuing to walk down the street.

•~•~•

She steps inside the convenience store as the cool air-conditioned air welcomes her, saving her from the heat.

"Good afternoon." she cheerfully greets the person who was standing at the cash counter when she enters and the bells jingle at her arrival. The cashier greets her back with the same enthusiasm.

She quickly goes to the aisle which has eggs and picks out a pack of 6 eggs, now going to the cashier.

"It'd be 200 yen." the cashier says as she rummages through her pocket for her wallet.

But seems like she forgot to bring it with her.

"Is there a problem?" the cashier asks her.

"Uh, I think I forgot my wallet," she says with a troubled look on her face, more like frustrated.

"I'll go back and get it," she mumbles and starts to step back but a hand stops her.

"Let me help." when she hears a voice, she looks up to meet a pair of dark brown eyes.

The voice belonged to a boy probably the same age as her but he didn't look Japanese. Is he a foreigner? But he is speaking Japanese...?