Episode 2 – School Madonna enjoys fishing

“Thank you for your help earlier.”

“Yeah, it’s nothing special, that much is obvious.”

As Watanabe san bows her head, her hair sways silently, and the good smell of rinse is faintly wafting in the air.

I felt uncomfortable with the floral scent in a fishing port that smells only of the tide……

“Oh……um……”

She tried to continue speaking, but after putting her hand over her mouth and thinking about something, she eventually fell silent.

She is fidgeting and looks at me with a flicker.

I guess she didn’t expect to meet my classmate in a place like this. I was surprised, too, but she seemed to have a very different impression from the Watanabe san I saw at school.

The Watanabe san I saw at school was not the shy type, but a sociable person who can talk openly to people she meets for the first time.

“Speaking of which, you knew my name, didn’t you?”

I ask a random question. I was surprised that she recognized me, since it had been less than two weeks since I entered the school and I had not yet come into contact with all the students in the grade.

“Eh? But Aikawa kun knows my name too, right?””

Watanabe san tilted her head cutely, put her hand on her chin, and made a ‘tehee’ mark above her head. The relaxed gesture was strangely sexually appropriate, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s no wonder. Watanabe san stands out.

Whenever there is a group formed, Watanabe san is always at the center of the group. I would remember her name even if I didn’t want to.

“Did I stand out? I’m sorry, I was noisy, wasn’t I?”

“No, you didn’t. You were always surrounded by people and looked like you were having a good time, so I just naturally paid attention to you.”

This kind of caring attitude is probably the origin of her popularity. She does not make you feel bad when you are with her, on the contrary, she creates an atmosphere that makes you feel at ease.

I somehow understood why people gathered around her.

“Are those the fish you caught?”

As if her tension had eased a little, she found a small fish swimming in a folding bucket.

“Wow, they’re alive and swimming. They are so cute.”

Unlike her smile earlier, she gives me a slightly childish, somewhat innocent smile.

“Yeah, this time of year we can catch horse mackerels, mackerels, and sardines. They are delicious when you cook them at home.”

Did I talk a little too much?

Maybe she was just talking to me in a socially friendly way. I don’t think it is necessary to tell her what I do with the fish I catch.

“You caught these fish with that rod, didn’t you? Hee, so this is how you catch them.”

The fishing I’m currently doing is to fill the basket with bait and sink it into the sea, and the bait will spill out due to the fluctuation of the waves, and the fish that come to eat will bite the hanging hook.

The rod has a bell on the end, so I can pull it up from time to time to replenish the bait, and I don’t have to stay in the water all the time.

She looks interested as she steps forward and peers at the surface of the sea. Seeing that kind of happy face makes me want her to have more fun.

“If you like, Watanabe san, would you like to give it a try?”

“Eh, is that okay !?”

She turned around, her eyes sparkling.

“Yeah, I’ve brought a spare rod, and I have enough traps and bait.”

I had a small fishing rod in case it broke. I quickly set her up so she could fish.

“Amazing, in no time at all, the rod was assembled and……I didn’t know a fishing pole could look like this. I imagined it was like a string and a tree branch.”

“Yeah, there are poles like that, though.”

What she knows is that it is the same kind of fishing rod that appears in the Urashima Taro story.

“Okay, hold this pole here. And hook the line with your index finger.”

“W-wow ! It’s lighter than I thought.”

When I approached her to show her how to use it, Watanabe san was puzzled, but did as I asked.

“This is a rod for catching small fish. If you want to catch a big one, you’ll need some pretty big equipment.”

There are tens of thousands of types of fishing tackle, and they range in price from the very cheapest to the most expensive. I wanted to get one because I had ambitions to eventually catch a big one.

“Also, if you raise this metal, the thread will come out, so bring the rod forward and slowly pull it out while catching the thread.”

“L-like this?”

The line comes out smoothly, and I can hear the sound of the line being plucked. The basket filled with bait falls to the surface and sinks further down to the sea bottom.

After a while, the line stopped coming out, so it seemed to have reached the bottom of the sea.

“Now that you’ve reached the seafloor, knock down the metal clamps and reel in the bait.”

“That sounds like fishing.”

“Yeah, well, we’re fishing.”

I was surprised that she was a natural at times, but a wry smile appeared on her face.

She followed my instructions, turned the reel and reeled in the line.

“After that, spread the bait in the sea to attract the fish. Try moving the rod up and down a few times.”

The way this fishing technique works is to let the bait drift in the water and let the fish hook onto the bait that has been mixed in.

“You can feel the fish’s “knick-knack” in the water.”

This is the feeling of a fish grabbing the bait. Many fishermen are so captivated by this feeling that they return to the fishing grounds just to feel it again.

“Now ! Put them together !”

“Eh? Together……?”

This refers to pulling up the rod when a fish is biting and hooking the bait into its mouth.

Since it is a pseudo-bait that I’m using, the fish will spit out the bait if it feels any discomfort.

If you do this, the fish will escape and the fishing will end in failure.

“Okay, here we go, here we go !”

“Kyaa !”

I hold the rod from behind her, and cause the fish to come out all at once.

I felt a “beep” in my hand and knew that the hook was completely caught in the fish’s mouth.

“Okay !”

I suddenly came to myself and saw her face at close range. Her eyes were wide open and moist.

“Ah, sorry. I just……”

“I-it’s okay.”

I let go of the rod, and she quickly moved away from me. Even though I lost myself when it came to fishing, the distance was too close,

“Just keep reeling the fish.”

But now I had a fish on the hook. We can’t stop.

I must not let my guard down here. Even though you have hooked the fish, if the line is loose, the bail will often come off when the fish gets out of line.

To prevent this from happening, I told her to keep reeling in the line.

“I could feel something at my fingertips.”

“That’s the weight of the fish. How is it?”

“It’s a little heavy, but it seems okay. Might be fun.”

She reeled in the reel with great vigor,

“I caught it !”

The fish came out of the water.

“Okay, stop reeling.”

A small fish was attached to the end of the swinging line. I grabbed the line and stopped,

“A small sardine, huh.”

“Is this a…..sardine? Beautiful.”

The surface of a freshly caught fish sparkles. Watanabe san’s eyes were sparkling with the shine of the silverskin.

“I didn’t expect you to catch it on the first cast.”

In many cases, the time spent fishing is longer than the time spent waiting. I was relieved that I could keep her entertained and not bore her by suddenly catching a fish.

“Fishing is so much fun, even I can catch a fish.”

Watanabe san smiles proudly as she holds a line and a fish over her head. I could tell she was truly enjoying fishing from the bottom of her heart.

We continued to enjoy fishing together for a while,

“Oh, it’s getting late. I should get back soon.”

Watanabe san looked at her watch and gave me a regretful look.

“Thank you very much for this. I really enjoyed myself today.”

“I enjoyed it too.”

I have always fished alone. I had a classmate who heard about my fishing hobby and accompanied me when I was in middle school, but I was not comfortable fishing with him because of the distance, manners, etc. That was the last time I fished with someone else.

However, fishing with Watanabe san was strangely free from the bad feeling I had then.

“Aikawa kun, do you often fish here?

“Yeah, it depends on the weather and the strength of the wind, but I’m usually here on weekends.”

“I see.”

When she heard my answer, her mouth relaxed and she looked happy.

“Um……is something wrong?”

I stare at Watanabe san, wondering if something interesting is going on.

“Nothing.”

She turns her body around and looks back at me,

“Then, Aikawa kun. See you later（・・）”

She left without waiting for my reply.