CH 11

It has been a week since the incident with Kaede’s father, and I have been living with Kaede again. Every day was almost the same, but one thing has changed.

Now Kaede smiled from the bottom of her heart in front of me.

It was a genuine smile. Although I felt a little embarrassed by this, I felt no aversion towards Kaede at all.

Lately I’ve always wondered why I don’t feel any aversion towards Kaede.

“Then, Hayasaka-kun, please come to school properly and don’t be late, okay?”

“I know.”

“Then, I’m off.”

And Kaede’s smiling face, which blew away such thoughts, was picturesque.

I saw her off to school with her hair swinging in the air, and I was still moping around in the living room as usual.

But this is fine, the usual was the best for now, both for me and for Kaede.

“I’m off,” I muttered to the empty house, and I headed off to school as well.

“You’re just barely late again today.”

“Takuto, it doesn’t matter, okay? It’s not like I’m late.”

“Yes, but if you keep going on like that, you’re going to be late someday, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah”

And I turned away, pouting, thinking that I was still unbeatable in the battle against being almost late.

Like a grade-schooler trying to be stubborn.

“Come to think of it, I just heard Shimokita is organizing a Halloween Party.”

“Hmm, are you going?”

“I’m going. I can make out with Chinatsu.”

“Annoying Bacouple”

(T/N: Bacouple:- overly flirty couple)

When I said that, Takuto chopped me on the head. Takuto said that bacouple was fine, but not annoying.

Isn’t it better? I thought, but Takuto didn’t like it, so I reflected on it and from now on, I will only use “bacouple”.

“So what about you, Ren?”

“What? I don’t know if I want to go.”

“Well, I thought you’d say that, but you’re forced to participate, aren’t you?”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing!” I was surprised.

“Whatever, I heard the angel say you’re coming, huh?

“Why is the angel…?”

“I don’t know about that.”

And he was giving the impression that he had nothing to do with the Angel.

But secretly, I was thinking strongly in my mind, “I will definitely ask her about it when I get home.”

I don’t know why she wanted me to attend this party, but I thought I could find out if I asked her, but I didn’t know if she would be honest with me.

“Hey, your girlfriend’s in class 2, right? Isn’t this a class get together?”

“I don’t know, but it seems like it’s OK to have as many girls as you want.”

“What?”

Shimokita loves women.

But even looking at Shimokita, he’s not a bad guy, but there were several reasons why that guy was unpopular.

He’s easy to get carried away and was a bit of a flirt. I thought I would be able to list more but I could only think of two.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ 

“Hey, Kaede.”

I came home and asked Kaede to sit down with me, saying I had some questions I wanted to ask her before we ate dinner.

I was ready and eager to ask Kaede questions.

Then Kaede seemed to have an idea and started trembling.

“W-What is it?

“You know what it is, don’t you? Why did you tell them I’d be at the Halloween party on your own?”

Kaede’s white cheeks flushed slightly as she fidgeted, her big eyes were darting around, seemingly upset, and couldn’t easily look me in the eye.

She was running her fingers through her long blonde hair, trying to think of an excuse.

“What will you do about dinner? I may not be able to prepare it, you know?”

“No, I’ll eat a convenience store lunch or something then, and people don’t die just because they don’t eat for a day like that.”

“B-But… I’m worried.”

“How little trust do you have in me?”

I was a little shocked, but when Kaede saw my reaction, “I trust you!”, she corrected her words.

After mumbling something I didn’t understand, as if she was confused, her cheeks turned very red and she looked at me.

“In other words,…”

“In other words?”

“I wanted to go with you….”

Finally, she told me honestly, which cleared my troubled mind. However, when I said, “I won’t go” Kaede’s spirits went down.

I’m afraid that if she gets like this everytime, I won’t be able to say no.

“Fine, I’ll go with you. So don’t look at me like that.”

“Really!? Fufu, Yay!”

She smiled at me; hugging the stuffed toy I had given to her.

But why can’t I just say NO? … I want resistance, a special kind of resistance called Kaede resistance.

Earlier, her spirits were low, but now they were too high, and even her ears were red.

(I’m going crazy…)

Thinking so, I took a bite of the mackerel cooked in miso that Kaede made.

“Yes, it’s delicious today too.”

I told Kaede the usual words, and another day ended.