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August 24: Midnight Snack

Sleeping on the way home earlier made me restless and even when midnight had already passed, I still couldn’t sleep a wink. The sports festival would start in the morning, and missing it because I  couldn’t sleep was not an option. I promised Torahiko that I would watch his game. That moment when he told me he had the jitters worried me, his face before much more so. But tumbling here and there on my bed wouldn’t help me sleep and thus, I got up and thought of reviewing and updating my diary.

With pen in hand, I flipped through the pages finding my latest entry. Browsing my entries, I saw that nearly everything that had happened so far just before the Bon Festival was recorded, although some were crudely filled in as I was rushing back then. Recalling as much as I could, I wrote everything down on paper, even the part where Tora and I became a couple. Some parts would have to be edited out for the one my teacher will receive once classes start again, but in any case what I wrote stayed.

That said, there were some entries in the diary which had gaps that needed filling in, specifically those times where I went to the old elementary school at night. What happened between entering and leaving, my mind drew a blank. Strangely enough all of them involved the old barren cherry blossom tree. For the time being, I kept those missing details blank until whatever those were came back to me.

But even after filling in my diary, I still felt restless. The thought of calling Torahiko crossed my mind, but he needed all the sleep he could get for the night so that was a no go. Feeling parched, I went to the kitchen to make myself something warm to drink. In the house’s silence, the kitchen’s light buzzed; a rather comforting bit of white noise. Searching the fridge, I found a liter bottle of milk which was still half-full. The milk belonged to Grandpa, but I was sure he wouldn’t mind as he got a new stock every morning from the local milk guy.

In the cupboards I found a jar of roasted hojicha leaves and out stock of sweet biscuits. I said I only went there to drink something warm, but the allure of the biscuits was hard to resist and I took a pack with me. With a saucepan on top of a medium-heat stove, I heated some water to a rolling boil, adding the leaves once so, letting it turn from clear to dark brown. The tea’s scent wafted with the steam, and it was already making me feel a little drowsy. Switching to a low heat, I added the milk in which turned the tea a lighter shade. After straining the milk tea into a cup, my midnight snack was ready.

Although I forgot to add sugar to the tea, the biscuits were enough to provide a subtle sweetness to complement it. Making it myself was better than shelling out a ridiculous amount of cash for the same thing at a cafe chain. It was primarily the reason I bothered learning how to make it. My first attempts were piss-poor though, the milk tea bring too watery. I hoped that before leaving Minasato, I could have Torahiko taste it and give his thoughts. Looking at it, I should also have Shin-kun taste it.

Dunking my last biscuit in the remaining tea, I put it in my mouth in one go, enjoying the mixed flavors and slightly softer texture. Only had it in the drink for less than a second because the last thing I wanted was a biscuit that dissolved into the tea. By the time I was putting my used dishes in the sink, I was already feeling sleepy. Leaving the dishes there wasn’t an option though, so I had to bear the slowly-increasing urge to sleep while washing, Despite dozing off in the middle, I didn’t break any of the dishes which was an achievement.

With cleanup done, I headed back to my room feeling a little calmer than before. Though the summer night still felt hot, it wasn’t too sultry and I managed to fall asleep the moment my head landed on my pillow. Guess the warm drink did the trick. But it may have worked a little too well.