Claire, who was prohibited from riding a bike, was wondering if she might want to buy a car with a convertible roof.
Honestly, I didn’t think it was a big problem.
Usually, such cars are foreign brands, and naturally, they are quite expensive. The insurance and part costs when something breaks would add up, so if I thought about it long-term, it wouldn’t be a great choice. I had just won the lottery after all; I wasn’t someone who could earn billions a year.
So when considering outgoing expenses versus incoming income, it would be a problem if I planned to live here for a long time… but hey, weren’t we thinking of going back anyway? Spending some money on a car didn’t seem like that big of a deal.
“How about this one?”
But oddly enough, the car Claire showed was a domestic SUV. Not that it was from some super expensive brand. Something a middle-class family could reasonably consider buying.
“I was thinking of buying a car like this from the start, so it should be fine.”
When I nodded and said that, Claire’s face immediately brightened into a big smile.
“Can I drive?”
“I don’t mind, but are you okay with that?”
Honestly, driving can be quite fun at first, but it tends to get boring the more you do it.
My friends, who bought their first cars in their twenties, were excited to drive their friends around at first, but usually after about a year, they stopped bringing it up. We weren’t riding for free either; even when we went out together, their contribution to the bill was never considered.
Well, I thought Claire might be a little different. Maybe because of her diligent personality, she was the type to stick to what she wanted for a long time. If she had a personality that got bored easily, she wouldn’t have developed a habit of waking up at dawn to tackle requests.
And had that been the case, I might have had it a bit easier.
“Actually, I was considering buying two cars. But if we get this one, we won’t need to.”
It was a car that could easily fit about five women.
“To be honest, I’m a little excited.”
Charlotte, who had been watching us, chuckled and chimed in.
“I’ve spoken for myself before, but it’s my first time thinking of going somewhere with friends like this.”
“Well, Charlotte is a princess. I’m sure whenever she thought about going somewhere, various people were always around her.”
“Exactly.”
“Is it really okay for me just to ride along? Do I really not need to learn how to drive?”
Although Mia had said she wasn’t planning to learn to drive, she seemed a bit anxious now that we had all gotten our licenses, so she asked that.
The three of us patted Mia’s head repeatedly without saying a word.
“Wha—!? Wait, wait!? So is getting a license actually a thing? It is, right!?”
Seeing her flustered like that was adorable.
“By the way, where’s Alice?”
“Huh? Oh, she seemed to be doing something in the broadcasting room earlier. She has something to do on the computer.”
At Claire’s words, I stood up.
I didn’t think Alice would oppose, but it would be best to have everyone’s agreement on the shared car. It wouldn’t be fair to just spring it on her without any warning.
As I headed to the broadcasting room where the computer was, I could hear the sound of a mouse clicking from inside, just as Claire said.
“Alice, what are you doing?”
Upon entering, Alice looked over at me with her chin resting on her hand, deeply focused on the monitor.
“Oh, you’re here? Then could you take a look at this?”
Alice slightly turned her chair to show me the monitor.
The screen displayed a shopping mall website.
And the products on the shopping mall site were—
“A tent?”
Yep. It was a tent.
Not just a tent. There were other browser tabs open as well—one for lanterns and another for sleeping bags.
“Yeah.”
Alice nodded seriously.
“See, all the places we’ve gone so far have been in urban areas. And while I don’t hate that—I’ve really enjoyed it—since we’re buying a car, I thought it might be nice to go a little further, to places not easily accessible by public transport.”
Indeed.
It was a dream of anyone who buys a car.
Camping, as shown in videos, really seems cozy and fun. Even streamers who claim, “This is such a hassle,” end up enjoying camping quite a bit.
To be honest, I had also searched diligently for how to camp after getting a job, but when I thought about setting up a tent alone and preparing everything, then cooking, eating, sleeping, waking up, folding everything again, it felt too overwhelming, and I gave up.
And even those who go camping with family often only do it a few times and don’t go again.
But…
“Wouldn’t that be nice?”
Yes.
My logic here was ‘we’re going back anyway.’
Camping gear? Well, who cares if I buy some and leave it unused after a few uses? We’re going back anyway.
Besides, everyone here was a noble, royalty, or aristocrat. If one can’t enjoy such moments here, they certainly won’t enjoy them back home. What I might enjoy as a normal hobby as I age is likely to become an embarrassing thing over there, especially with work taking up my time.
“Really?”
Alice’s eyes sparkled.
“We were just talking about what car to buy with Claire. Since Claire also wants a big car, there shouldn’t be any space issues.”
Perhaps we could buy a whole bunch of camping gear and enjoy it a bit more widely.
No, wait. Now that we’re at it, a camper van… Nah, that seems a bit much. Let’s just settle for separate camping gear.
“Camping, as in sleeping outside?”
Charlotte said, hand on her chin.
“It’s not just sleeping outside. Of course, cooking is part of it too—things like barbecues that are hard to do indoors.”
“Barbecue!”
Mia instantly reacted to Alice’s explanation.
“Sounds great!”
Claire mumbled, seemingly imagining it at a distance.
“Well, if we’re buying it, let’s prioritize the experience over efficiency. Do they have any wood stoves?”
When I completely went off on a tangent adding that, Alice’s face brightened even more than before.
“Oh, I saw some options. Want to take a look? How about this?”
We then spent quite a while discussing what items to purchase.
*
[How about we turn that into a vlog?]
“Vlog?”
Hmm.
Indeed, since we arrived here, it has been more than two months of continuous real-time streaming.
We have recorded footage. The videos recorded during the broadcasts are all saved.
It’s just that I didn’t bother to edit them because it seemed tiresome.
I could hire an editor, but that also felt overly complicated. It’s like our current state is at a perfect ratio, and I didn’t want to attract people for work and expand my network, for some reason. I still didn’t know how the others felt about that.
“A little simple editing might be doable, but making it a long video wouldn’t be that necessary. We’re going to have fun, not just broadcast.”
[I understand]
[You should take a break!]
[But keeping memories as videos could be nice later. I have backups of videos I made with my family too.]
Ding ding!
The chat was lighting up.
Indeed. Memories.
Smartphones won’t last long even if I bring them back. No matter how much I conserve the battery, it’ll naturally drain, and even if I put it at a maximum, it won’t last more than two years.
But wouldn’t it be nice to share memories, even if not for two years, but one year or just a few months? I could bring a couple of power banks or even a solar charger… though I’m not sure how much I’d be able to bring…
Well, even if I think about charging methods for a bit, sharing memories with those who couldn’t be with us might still be worth it.
“If that’s the case, I’ll think about it seriously. However, I’m not sure if we will actually record the videos.”
The responses in the chat varied, but most showed excitement.
I slyly turned my gaze to the kids gathered in the same room.
They all seemed pretty indifferent.
Hmm.
If that’s the case, how about making a short video of about one to two minutes rather than a full vlog?
…Since that’s the case, should I buy a camera?
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