CH 12

–I hope you’ll be punctual today, we’re meeting at 18:00, okay?

I noticed a text message from Takuto, and was about to reply when Kaede called out to me.

“Um… would you like to go with me today?”

She blushed and made a suggestion. I thought it would be okay if we pretended to have bumped into each other in the neighborhood this time.

“Yeah”

“Eh!? Really?”

“Yeah, why would I lie?”

“It’s not that, I just thought you would refuse so…”

Kaede smiled and said, “Fufu, I’m looking forward to going to the party now.”

Well, I thought it would be better to go there with two people talking than to go alone, so I could pass the time.

“I mean, where’s the place?”

“Uhm… I heard that Shimokita-san’s acquaintance has agreed to let us use their Restaurant…”

“A friend’s Restaurant, huh….?”

While talking with Kaede, I looked at the clock and saw that we had a lot of time to spare before the meeting time, so I decided to play a video game since I had not played many games recently.

(Then let’s play this one today…..)

So I picked up [Superkart 35], an action racing game popular for its cute characters.

While I was playing the game, Kaede, perhaps interested in the game, was watching me playing from the sofa.

I couldn’t concentrate because I was troubled by her gaze, so I ended up in 7th place, which was not that great of a position.

“Kaede, you want to give it a try?”

“Eh? B-but I’ve never played any games…..”

“Well, I’ll teach you.”

“In that case,” she said, and I handed the controller to Kaede.

I first taught her the basic operations and beginner-friendly courses. It would seem that Kaede was the type of person whose body moved with her when she plays game.

When the character moves to the right, she moves to the right, and when the character moves to the left, she moves to the left, like a metronome1.

I couldn’t help but laugh. Then Kaede puffed up her cheeks and said,

“I’m serious too!”

“I’m sorry, it was too funny.”

“Ugh, you’re making fun of me.”

Seeing Kaede so absorbed in the game, it was worth recommending it to her, as she seemed to be enjoying it.

“Look! First place!”

Kaede, who puffed out her chest and boasted, was very cute. I will keep quiet about the fact that the CPU was the weakest so far.

Seeing her happy like a child, for some unknown reason, I started patting her head.

“Yea~. you did your best~”

“….You are treating me like a c-c-c-child!”

“Eh… yeah”

When I said that, her cheeks puffed up again. However, what was different from before was that her previously beautiful white cheeks were turning redder and redder, like apples.

Not only her cheeks were red, but even her ears were red. And when I tried to talk to her for a while, she turned away and did not listen to me.

After a lively game, we prepared to go to the party.

Remembering that Takuto had sent me a text message, I hurriedly looked at my phone.

At that time, the intercom rang. “Oh, I’ll answer it,” Kaede said, and headed for the front door.

I had a very bad feeling. There was another new message.

“I’m coming to your house with Chinatsu, so make sure you’re prepared.”

“Kaede! I knew it, I’ll ge….t it”

“Ren, are you ready …huh??”

“Huh? Does Angel Know Ren?” Chinatsu asked,

“Shinohara-san.” Kaede said,

Kaede had a bitter smile on her face, but there was no way she could fool them.

Well, I was definitely prepared to be bombarded with questions from about this point on.

“I’d like to ask you a few questions, Ren?” Takuto said,

“I get it…”

“Eh!? What? What’s so surprising?”

Chinatsu didn’t seem to understand. That’s true, as she was in a different class from us, so she probably knew of the the Angel’s existence, but she didn’t have much contact with her.

For now, I invited Takuto and his Girlfriend inside the house and asked them to sit down.

“So why are you, a misogynist, here with the Angel?”

“There’s a big reason for this …”

I felt like I had to tell him, but if Kaede didn’t want me to, I wasn’t going to.

But Kaede said “We have no choice” so she told Takuto and the others honestly.

By the time they finished talking about it, Chinatsu was crying. Takuto and Kaede were comforting her.

“Really… So painful…” Chinatsu said,

“But I’m okay now, there are people who need me.”

Kaede looked at me. Embarrassed, I looked away from Kaede.

“Chinatsu-san, I’m fine… so please stop crying… okay?”

“Un, Un”

“Wait, why are you the one getting consoled?” I asked,

“It can’t be helped! It’s really… sad.”

“Hey, don’t bully Chinatsu too much.”

“That’s right, Hayasaka-kun, she’s a girl.”

(Is there anyone on my side? ….)

“Well, now that the four of us are all here, why don’t we go together?”

“Ah! I agree with that! As expected of Takuto! “

“I’m fine with it”

“If it’s okay with you three.”

“Then it’s decided!” Chinatsu smiled innocently.

Takuto reacted to this and kept flirting with her, saying, “Chinatsu is so cute.”

Looking at them, both Me and Kaede chuckled.