CH 8

…… How did this happen?

“Yes~ Two iced coffees and an iced latte. And orange juice. And …… yes, a strawberry deluxe parfait and a chocolate banana deluxe parfait!

“Thank you!”

“…………”

“…………”

“Speak up, you guys.”

Right now, we are at a certain café.

I am sitting at the same table with Kurase, Asagiri, and Sosuke, who somehow ended up we buying a drink

The air between me and Asagiri is somewhat heavy and neither of us is willing to open our mouths.

I don’t know about Asagiri, but there is a reason why I don’t open my mouth.

Now that I’ve decided to apologize, I’d really like to get on with it. ……

“Huh? Yuuri chan, you’re not eating?”

“Eh, yeah. I’ll have some.”

Kurase urges her to pick up a long spoon so that we can both eat the parfait.

Incidentally, the strawberry one is Kurase san and the banana one is Asagiri. The parfait …… is quite a messy presentation.

“Hnn~I can’t stand it!”

However, Kurase, without worrying about such a thing, tastes the cream on the top and relaxes her cheeks at once.

Can I be honest? It’s cute. The air is purified.

“… Stop looking at Nanami. Pervert.”

As I was looking at Kurase-san, Asagiri, who was holding a spoon in one hand, was looking at me with a stern look.

“I’m not a pervert!”

“Haa? What kind of a mouth is saying that after hugging me?”

“…………”

I’ve gotten used to being talked back to no matter what I say. Sadly.

I don’t mind talking back, but it’s not productive.

If I talk back, she will talk back twice as much. And if the relationship gets sour again, school life will surely become even more troublesome.

That’s not going to get me anywhere.

The truth is that I saved her life, so I really want her to be grateful to me, but as Sosuke had warned me, I came to the conclusion that in the long run, it would be better to apologize to her.

In this case, I couldn’t care less about the other reason why it was difficult to apologize.

I took a deep breath and looked at the other party.

“…… what?”

“I’m sorry.”

“……!”

“I’m sorry about yesterday. As you can see.”

I bowed my head calmly.

Asagiri’s eyes widened in surprise when I apologized.

And then she quickly returned to her original crisp face.

“I have one question.”

“What……?”

“Why did you molest me yesterday?”

“……I’m not. I was trying to save you from an accident.”

“That’s a lie. There was no car going by at the time.”

My body was a little jumpy from the pain. There was no doubt that I had saved her from an accident, but Asagiri was right, there was no car passing by at that time.

I tried to think of an excuse, but I couldn’t think of anything.

Perhaps this only deepened Asagiri’s suspicions, her gaze became even sharper.

“Yesterday, a yellow car was involved in an accident near there.. You said so, didn’t you? You said a yellow car was going to run into me. How did you know there was a yellow car coming?”

“ah, that’s …….”

So it was an accident after all.

Damn it, how could I fool her?

“A yellow car? Well I think I saw a yellow car, too. It was driving around at a very high speed. I think it was running all over the place.”

Then, Sousuke, who had been listening to the conversation, intervened. I took the opportunity to take advantage of Sosuke’s words.

“Y-Yes. I saw it before I met Asagiri. It was running very fast, so when you crossed the intersection, I thought it would be dangerous….”

“…………”

Asagiri stared at me with narrowed eyes. A little bit of tension was in the air.

Is it a little too strained ……?

“Haaa. I’ll leave it at that, then.”

“……!”

I didn’t think I could fool her with this. What’s this ……, Asagiri is a bit too easy to fool?

Well, the result is all right! One step forward. Now I will be able to spend tomorrow in a little peace.

“Let me tell you something.”

…… I haven’t cleared up the misunderstanding

“Then buy me ten more parfaits. Then I’ll call it off for now for hugging me.”

“T-ten …… is too much, isn’t it?”

“Haa? Do you think one apology is enough to be forgiven? Do you think my body is that cheap?”

“Hey. Don’t talk in a way that could be misinterpreted.”

Indeed, we are the only customers in the cafe at the moment.

Well…customers

“Fuhihi”

There is a clerk who has been smiling at us for a while now with an eerie smile on her face.

I say this because this clerk is extremely annoying. This is another reason why I couldn’t apologize earlier.

The person who owns this café is my guardian – Ayako-san.

And the cafe is located in a spacious space on the ground floor of the house where I live.

…… I haven’t heard of it. I didn’t know that students come to this café too.

I’m sure this is something she’ll ask me about later. Ayako san’s face is full of the expression that she saw something interesting.

By the way, Sosuke and the others don’t know about it. I didn’t have a chance to tell them.

“A-Anyway, I’m buying that parfait, so I guess we’re even.”

“I didn’t say it’s square.”

“Then give me back the parfait.”

“No. It’s mine now. Or what? Do you want to eat something I touched? You’re a pervert.”

“Bastard”

“You know, I could ask you to buy me a drink 20 times, right?”

“I’m glad you guys made up.”

“Yeah !”

“”…………””

Kurase and Sosuke’s words brought us back to ourselves.

Make up? Don’t be silly. That’s a word used for people who are originally on good terms with each other.

“Nanami. Stop it. That’s a term used for people who are on good terms with each other.”

Tsk.

I was thinking about it, and I clicked my tongue in my mind.

Although the misunderstanding has been somewhat resolved, it still seems that Asagiri and I are not compatible.

“Hmph, Anyway. You are a small man. You won’t be popular if you’re like that.”

“Hey, Sosuke, he’s talking to you. Say something back to her.”

“It wasn’t me, was it?!”

Then, Sosuke and others talked for a while and left the café.

They were very surprised to learn that this was where I was staying.

Apparently, this café is frequently visited by students. The reason is that there are not many cafes in the countryside, and one of the other reasons is that the manager has a good character. …… Really?

Incidentally, several people were visiting the store while we were talking.

At any rate, I felt that tomorrow would be a somewhat better day for me.

◆

“Hmm~~, let’s go home!”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Oh?! You guys want me to give you a ride home?!”

“Yeah, no thanks!”

“Guhaah!”

As soon as we left the café. I and Nanami left the drooping Sasaoka behind and started walking toward the house.

Haaa….. it’s getting harder and harder to come here. Even though I liked it.

I think about that with the cafe I just left in the background.

The reason is simple. If I go to that café, I’m more likely to run into that guy. It’s not that I’m getting along with him, but my first impression of him was terrible, so I’m not very good with him.

Still, there’s no other café, and I don’t know what to do about …….

“Ah, you guys, wait a minute!”

As I was thinking this, a voice called out to me from behind.

I turned around and there was the manager of the café I had just visited.

I was surprised to find out that the manager was also his guardian.

“What’s the matter? Ah, maybe we forgot something?!”

Nanami asks the store manager on behalf of the others.

“No, you didn’t. I came to thank you.”

“Thank you?”

“Yes, thank you. Thank you for today. For being friends with that kid who just transferred to your school. I didn’t expect him to bring a friend home with him on his first day.”

“That’s …….”

I am at a loss for words.

I don’t know about Sasaoka, but it’s not that Nanami and I became friends with him.

We just didn’t know that this was where he was staying.

“As you may have heard, he has a complicated family situation. I’ve only been taking care of him for a few days, but he seems mature for his age and has a twisted side to him.”

Everyone knew that there was something going on when we heard that he was going to stay at the residence. But no one dared to talk about it.

And he didn’t want to talk about it either.

“If you want, please be a good friend to him. I’ll serve you again when you come here.”

Sasaoka was the first to respond.

“Yes! I’ll take care of it! I have a feeling I’m gonna get along with that guy! Or maybe I already am. And I also want to get along with onee san—“

“Yes, I’d like to get along with Ito-kun, too!”

“…… Nanami!?”

Nanami interrupts Sasaoka’s words and replies.

I was surprised. I didn’t think Nanami would be so positive about getting along with him.

“Right, Yuuri-chan?”

And she smiled and waited for my reply.

I’m not too keen on it, but …….

“…… me too, if just for a little …….”

Not really, I just matched Nanami. And …… if the manager told me this, I would have no choice but to come back again.

This is because the manager told me to. Yeah, that’s right

“Oh, by the way, are you sure you want to keep the store open? You’re the only manager, right?”

“Ah, no, it’s fine. He’s in charge of it now.”

“Has he been helping you a lot since you came here?”

“No, I’m letting him do it for the first time.”

“””…………”””

“I’m going to smoke a little more and then come back slowly.”

It was a moment when I felt a little pity for that guy.