Chapter 41: Pursuit Contest, One-Day Camping (Part 1)

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At the beginning of December, the “Congeniality” club that me, Touko, Karen, and Kamokura belong to has a “Farewell Party for Third Year Students”.

As the year comes to a close, third-year university students have to start their job-hunting activities in earnest.

For this reason, the “Farewell Party” is held in early December.

This circle is now an “all-everything event circle,” but since it was originally an “outdoor camping circle,” the only Oki-Kon is an outdoor camping event.

Recently, however, this camping has become weaker and weaker, and we end up having a one-day camping trip with a barbecue.

“This day is our last chance to boost the popularity of the girls.”

Touko-senpai looked at me and said so.

I nodded silently.

“So far, Isshiki-kun’s reputation among women is quite high.
Especially the four of us who met at the girls’ party the other day.”

“The four we met at the all-you-can-eat cake place?”

I once tried to get into a conversation with the main girls of the circle by pretending to be a coincidence to raise the women’s opinion of me.

Incidentally, it was all Touko-senpai who came up with this idea and set it up.

At that time, I got to know four people: Mina and Ayaka, who are in their second year of economics, Manami, who is in her second year of literature, and Yuri, who is in her first year of commerce.

“Yes.
They are the main people in the circle and have a lot of influence on the other girls.
Being liked by them is a big advantage for you.
But you need one more thing to appeal to the other girls.”

“That’s what I thought, and that’s why I ran for the cooking position at the chasing camp.”

I was also thinking about what Touko senpai said about “appealing to other girls”.

This is what I came up with as a result.

At the camp, each boy who likes to cook is supposed to present a dish.

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I was one of them.

I don’t know how much this will appeal to girls, but I can’t help it because the only things I can do better than others are programming and cooking.

Also, I’ve been going camping with my family since I was a kid, so I have some knowledge about camping.

“Yes, I do.
You’re a pretty good cook, aren’t you? Do you know what you want to cook for camping?”

“Yes, I’m thinking of doing roast chicken in a Dodge oven, since barbecue is so common.”

This is my father’s specialty.

This is my father’s specialty, a bold dish that uses a whole chicken, but by soaking it in a vat of smoked meat beforehand, the meat takes on the perfect flavor.

The inside can be stuffed with chestnuts, turnips, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, and other vegetables to create a gorgeous dish.

“I like that.
You can also prepare some dessert.
Girls love desserts, and barbecues tend to be heavy affairs.”

“How about a yogurt dessert with canned fruit? It doesn’t take much effort to make and it’s very refreshing.”

“I think that’s fine.”

Touko-senpai looks satisfied.

“Is there anything else I should be aware of?”

I really don’t understand how girls feel.

There have been many times when I’ve tried to do something for the best, but it had the opposite effect.

That’s why I have no choice but to refer to Touko-senpai’s opinion here.

It’s a shame that I’m always relying on Touko-senpai, but ……

“The first thing to do is to talk to a wide variety of girls in moderation.
You can’t talk to just one person too much.
It’s a good idea to have a conversation with them.
In particular, try to help a girl who is in trouble.
That way, the conversation will come naturally.”

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I see, that’s what I was saying before about being fair to all the girls.

“The rest of the time, you can just act normal.
Is there anyone you don’t like or dislike among the boys?”

The name Kamokura Tetsuya popped into my head first, but I didn’t say anything about it for now.

“There is no one in particular.”

“I’m fine then.
I’m sure you’ll have fun playing with the boys as usual.
Girls like to hang out with a group of guys they get along with.”

Then it’s not a problem, because it’s a normal thing.

“And for once, don’t get too attached to Karen.
Focus on getting as many points as you can from the other girls.”

“I understand.”

“Of course, I don’t want you to become completely sulky.
Just make her a little jealous.”

It was the second Saturday in December.

We took part in the circle’s “Oi-Kon 1-Day Camping”.

It was held at an auto campground in the vicinity of Mount Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture.
It is a spacious campground with a great view, and our circle usually uses this campground or a campground in Izu every year.

As one of the cooks, I took out my own minivan.

I picked up Ishida, who was going in the same direction.

Unfortunately, Touko-senpai is in Kamokura’s car.

At this point, it’s still “Touko-senpai is Kamokura’s girlfriend,” so this can’t be helped.

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Kamokura had also brought his family’s car (a BMW sedan) for this day.

The train group will meet at Shinjuku station.

Then we all got into our cars.

Because we left early in the morning, we were able to arrive at our destination campsite by 10:30 am.

“Alright then, let’s get the cooking crew ready.
Let’s start with making a fire.

I assembled a tripod fire pit, placed the charcoal on it, and lit the igniters.

I’ve been camping with my family several times since I was a kid, so I’m familiar with this procedure.

A girl from another university came near me.

“Wow, you’re really good at this, aren’t you, Isshiki?

“Well, yeah.
I used to go camping with my family.”

“I don’t know why, but we can’t seem to get a fire going in our place.”

“Really? Shall I take a look?”

“I’d appreciate it if you would!”

I followed the girls to the fire pit where they were in charge.

The cause of the fire was immediately apparent.

First of all, the charcoal we had brought was binchotan.

Binchotan is a high-grade charcoal that lasts a long time, but it is also very difficult to light.

And all the charcoal itself was large.

On the other hand, the igniters were the chocolate-shaped ones sold at the hundred-yen stores.

It would be difficult to get a fire going with this.

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Where did you get this charcoal from?

“It’s charcoal we had at home.
It was left over from the last time my family went to the cottage.”

“This charcoal is high-grade binchotan, and it burns for a long time, but it’s difficult to light.”

“Really? I didn’t know that.
I thought any kind of charcoal would do.”

“I’ll share some of the charcoal I brought with you.
and if you burn this binchotan on top of it, I think we’ ll be okay.”

I’ll share some of the charcoal I brought with me.
I’ll share some of the charcoal I brought with me, and I’m sure you’ll be fine if you burn this binchotan on top of it.

I brought some crushed charcoal and igniters from my place.

I used them to start the fire.

When the charcoal had burned to a certain extent, I put the binchotan that she had brought on top of it so that air could pass through.

Soon the binchotan began to burn red.

“It’s okay now.
You can remove or add more charcoal as you see fit.”

“Thank you, Isshiki-kun! Thanks a lot!”

“If you have any more problems, don’t hesitate to call me.”

I said that and left the place.

Then, a little further away, Touko-senpai and Kazumi were standing side by side, looking at me.

Kazumi gave me a small thumbs up.

I guess it means “good job.

I grinned at her and gave her a thumbs up.