Seaside Cravings: Channeling Chiharu from ‘My Sister’ with Peyoung

I Want to Go to the Seaside (from Ban Obara)

It seems it was typical of me to be the first to mention wanting to go to the sea. Completely forgetting that, as the day to go to the sea approached, I complained incessantly about how far it was. Typical of me indeed.

We took the train to the sea. I received five consecutive emails about mistakes I made at work. I’m making too many mistakes, so my heart was pounding. I couldn’t really get in the mood for the sea, but as I hurriedly apologized via email, time flew by and we arrived at our destination. I quickly met up with Miran-chan and rapidly spoke about how much I had been messing up and how I wasn’t in the mood for the sea. I met a younger girl and immediately started complaining (“We came all the way to the sea!”). Typical of me, after all. Soon after, I also met up with Nanako-chan. It seems like we all took the same train.

Nanako-chan is a photographer, and she officially joined this series starting from this time. I’m really happy about that. From now on, the three of us will go out somewhere almost every month, Miran-chan and I will write essays, and Nanako-chan will capture those moments on camera. Since Nanako-chan is the one taking the pictures, only Miran-chan and I will be in the photos, but this series will be a record of the memories of the three of us.

While chatting, the three of us were on a bus heading towards the sea. By this time, I had completely reversed my initial thoughts and was saying to myself, “Going on a trip is so nice,” “The sea is so nice,” “It’s so much fun.”

We reached our destination bus stop and went shopping at the local supermarket SUZUKIYA. SUZUKIYA’s famous dish, the fried horse mackerel, was only a hundred yen each—cheap! It looked delicious! We were definitely going to eat it! We all bought our portions in excitement.

And as planned from the start, we also bought Peyoung. We poured hot water and walked to the sea.

All three of us liked a scene from Episode 8 of our favorite drama “My Sister,” where Chiharu enjoys cup noodles by the seaside on her day off. When it comes to the sea, there are many scenes that come to mind, but that particular scene was my favorite. So, that’s why we came to the sea. We even researched the filming location properly to come here. It’s luxurious. Considering I had been complaining about how far it was, I really shouldn’t have said anything at all.

Why is it that the road leading to the sea makes you want to run so badly? I couldn’t resist and started running.

The sea sparkles and shines, dazzlingly bright. It captivates us—our eyes, our hearts, everything. All of us are smiling faintly. When people are completely captivated, they tend to smile faintly, don’t they? Ah, we’ve come to the sea.

We lay a mat on the sandy beach, sit down, pour sauce into the Peyoung, mix it well, and eat heartily. Before us is the sparkling sea, the water-colored sky. Bathed in the dazzling sunlight, it feels like it could vanish any moment.

“Let’s have the fried horse mackerel soon,” Miran suggests as she takes out the pack of fried horse mackerel. “I want a photo that gives the feeling of the fried horse mackerel swimming in the sea,” Miran says. It’s such a cute idea, I smile warmly as I watch. Miran raises the fried horse mackerel up towards the sky. Just as Nanao is about to take the photo, suddenly a hawk swoops in from behind at great speed and snatches the fried horse mackerel from Miran’s hand. “Gyaahhh!” we all scream, scrambling away in a panic.

“Keep taking them away! They’re taking everything!” The seagulls, now a collective force, circle above us incessantly. We try to continue shooting, but the seagulls keep coming back, so we give up and move away from the sea, shoulders slumped, slurping our Peyoung noodles. Everyone looks slightly tired.

I wonder why this is happening, but it is fun to go out.

At the Open Sea (from Miran)

The JR Shonan-Shinjuku Line train bound for Zushi features box seats. Sitting by the window, the sun shines in, and I quickly become sleepy, closing my eyes.

In a dreamy state, passing through Yokohama and Kamakura, we arrive at Zushi. As I sling my bag over my shoulder and stand up, I lock eyes with Ban-chan sitting a few meters ahead.

At first, Ban-chan’s mouth mixes “Ah” and “Oh”, then turns into “Eee” as she starts talking, “We were in the same car!” We exit through the same door.

“How have you been?” skips, “Your hair matches!” skips, and we quickly vent recent work stress. “Even so, we’ve come quite far, haven’t we?” we say to each other, hyping ourselves up as we plan to go to the beach now, joining photographer Nanao-chan and happily leaving the ticket gate together.

We take a bus and get off near the coastline. We buy soap bubbles at the pharmacy, ajifry at the supermarket, and cup noodles at Mini Stop. No hesitation, no second thoughts, just pure enjoyment. I think it wouldn’t be the same if I were alone.

Ajifry in my right hand, cup noodles in my left. Or maybe hold both ajifry and cup noodles together in both hands. Ah, the delightful hassle of happiness.

The afternoon temperature was at its peak. Just as we were starting to sweat, a path leading to the sea appeared.

Wow! I exclaimed. It was exactly the same road I had seen in “My Sister” one day. When I looked at Evening-chan, her eyes sparkled. I was so happy. I’m so happy. It was the first road I knew.

As we continued our walk, white sand began to appear on the concrete path. I narrowed my stride and walked carefully and deliberately so as not to scatter the sand as much as possible.

I had my face lit up by the light streaming through the leaves of the trees, and had my picture taken.

The ocean finally opened up in front of me, and my heart was so open at that moment that I was overjoyed. If my hands hadn’t been full, I would have high-fived Supper and run out to the edge of the surf. I wanted to shout out and the words that came out were,

“What the heck! I should have come here!”

I found a suitable spot and put on the cute rug Late-chan had brought for me. He was so well prepared!　I applaud.

The cup yakisoba had been out of hot water for some time, so the noodles were a bit hardened, and the sauce and condiments didn’t mix well. But what the heck, it’s already great fun.

While we were having fun, I was holding a fried horse mackerel with my bare hands, holding it up to the sky and taking pictures, when suddenly there was a “bashin” sound. We screamed. The horse mackerel fry I was holding disappeared, and a dragonfly flew into the sky.

I was reminded for a moment of a YouTube movie I saw one day called “Turtle Bread Stolen by a Tombi,” but I was too scared to think about that.

I looked at the cute rug that had been left behind in the distance, and I watched the crows picking at the tartar sauce on the fried horse mackerels, but I slurped the noodles anyway. I had to finish it before I could feel any relief.

After that, we would switch gears, blowing soap bubbles and running around with water guns. Shoulder to shoulder, we frolicked. The corners of my mouth kept rising and I could tell I was getting tired.

I returned to my leisure sheet and lay down to listen to the sound of the waves.

My breathing and the rhythm of the waves were not in sync with each other, so my chest felt ticklish and uneasy. When I imitated the way Yon-chan was placing her hand on the sand next to me, it felt warm and smooth, and the tickling subsided.

On the way home, Evening-chan murmurs, “It’s good that we can go home tired. That made me happy. When we get home, I’m going to sleep like a mud.