Underneath The Bandages, You Are Prettier Than Anyone - CH 14.2

The day of the barbecue came fast as lightning. We’d meet at Rikka’s house, and from there we’d get a lift to the actual place.

I was wondering if we’d rent a place in a park or a campground, but instead, I heard that the destination was a villa owned by the Takahashi family and that they’d provide the barbecue equipment. I honestly thought it was some kind of joke.

We’d only received a date, time, and location for the gathering, and no other messages.

I couldn’t hide my surprise as I walked to Rikka’s house alongside Yuki.

It was one of those rich residential areas with countless rows of houses much larger than mine. I was worried we’d gotten the wrong address, or that we might’ve been mistaken, but we kept following the directions.

“What is this place?”

“I’ve never been in a place like this before… probably.”

We finally arrived at a large house. It had an extensive yard surrounded by a tall fence, and an imposing gate prevented us from going further. The place was so large and spacious, you’d think some CEO would live there.

I’d never even stepped into a place as grandiose as this, and as I was puzzling over what to do, a white luxury car parked next to the gate, and one of its windows rolled down. It was Rikka, sticking her head out and waving at us.

“Yaho~ You guys came!”

“R–Rikka!? Why are you in that car?”

“I was itching to go to the BBQ, so I had a servant drive me out of the house so we could wait for you guys.”

“Then this really is your house, huh…”

“Mhm~ Well, I usually don’t have much to do, so I guess you’ll have to come to visit me some other time!”

“Oh, and where’s Akina?”

“She’s in a different car. Anyway, giddy up!”

“Okay. Oh, and good morning, Rikka.”

“Good morning from me too, Rikka-san. I’m looking forward to this.”

Yuki and I got into the car as she urged us to. It then finally started moving. We were in the back seat, looking at Rikka, who was in the passenger seat.

“According to Akina, it was your villa that we were headed to, right?”

“Yeppers~ It’s in the mountains, and it’s very nice and quiet there. Hope we have lots of fun today!”

“Thank you a lot, Rikka-san. I’ve been really excited for today.”

“Ehehe~ I’ve prepared some veeery delicious meat for today, and I’m looking forward to your reactions, Yukicchi!”

“Oh yeah, you mentioned you’d order it from a famous restaurant.”

“Yup, yup! I wanna see how stoked you’ll be when you have a bite, Yukicchi!”

The two of them chatted away with smiles plastered on both their faces and I was surprised that Rikka started calling Yuki “Yukicchi” so suddenly.

“Yuki, when did you and Rikka become such good friends?”

“We kept in touch frequently, so we were friends before we knew it.”

“You’re so cute with your messages, Yukicchi! My heart went doki-doki¹ every time!”

“You too, Rikka-san. You have so many cute stickers!”

“Ehehe~ I bought a lot because I wanted to flood you with them, Yukicchi! Oh, oh! I found something really cute yesterday. I’m sending it to you now, so check it out!”

“Wow, they’re so cute! I want to use them too.”

“For reals?! I’ve always wanted to match something with you, so maybe I’ll gift you some!”

“P–Please don’t. I got some from you just the other day.”

“It’s fiiine~ It’s fine! Okay, there we go!”

The car was filled with their happy conversation and joyful laughter. Smiling at this, I looked forward to arriving at Rikka’s villa, the site of today’s barbecue.

¹Doki-doki: It’s the onomatopoeia for a heartbeat in Japanese. I find it waaaaay cuter than just boom-boom or any other one in the English language tbh.