Volume 6 - CH 8

It has been a while since Arisa started working part-time…

Around the beginning of October.

“How’s it Arisa?”

“Yes… I was able to withdraw it properly.”

Arisa smiled happily as she held the envelope in her hand.

It was Yuzuru and Arisa’s payday.

“By the way… including your previous paychecks, what are you using it on?　Savings?”

Yuzuru asked Arisa.

Money means nothing if you don’t spend it.

Of course, the option of saving money is also available…

After all, the amount of money a high school student can earn from a part-time job is not much.

Yuzuru thought that considering how much you can earn after you become an adult, it is more beneficial to spend it instead of saving it…

“Eh? Ah… no, for now, nothing particularly…”

Yuzuru’s question was answered by Arisa in a brusque tone.

(…could it be?)

Yuzuru suddenly thought about how Arisa was using the money.

However, if it was true, it would be too boorish to dare to point it out.

“…Wouldn’t it be nice to buy or eat something you like?”

“T-that’s true! I’ll do that.”

Arisa nodded as she replied to Yuzuru’s question …while a somewhat relieved expression appeared on her face.

Yuzuru became more and more convinced by Arisa’s attitude.

About a week later, around mid-October.

That day was Yuzuru’s… birthday.

“Yuzuru-san, you’re free after-school today… right?”

At school dismissal, Arisa asked Yuzuru.

Yuzuru nodded.

“Of course. I have it open.”

Originally, Yuzuru had been told by Arisa that she would like to have a date on his birthday, so if possible, please leave his plans open.

Since there is no one who has more priority than Arisa, Yuzuru did as he was told and cleared his schedule for that day.

“I’m assuming we’re on the same page that Arisa has a date plan, right?”

Yuzuru had no particular idea of what kind of date he was going to have.

He was not old enough to get particularly excited just because it was his birthday, and it was odd to think about how he would have his birthday celebrated in the first place.

So when Arisa asked him for a date, Yuzuru assumed that she was thinking about it.

“Yes, of course. For starters, here…”

Arisa took out a ticket from her pocket.

It was a ticket for a movie that has recently been talked about on the Internet a lot in a lot of meanings.

“I see, starting with a movie.”

It was a classic date plan.

But…

(A shark movie of all things?　Not that I don’t like it…)

As Yuzuru chuckled inwardly, Arisa shook her head.

“Ah, no, that’s not it.”

“…eh?”

“Please go kill some time with that.”

“…yes?”

“Please go to the movie alone. In the meantime, I will get everything ready… Can I borrow your kitchen?”

“I-I see…”

Apparently, the date itself will be held in Yuzuru’s room, where she will cook a meal and bake a cake and entertain him.

“Then I will go to your home ahead of you, Yuzuru-san. Please come back after watching the movie. Also, don’t eat popcorn or anything, okay?”

“A,ah… understood.”

After confirming Yuzuru’s nod, Arisa walked briskly off on her own.

“…do I have to see this?”

Left alone, Yuzuru looked at his ticket… and mumbled to himself.

“Surprisingly, it wasn’t so bad…”

Yuzuru left the movie theater after watching a film about aliens on zombie sharks coming to invade the earth, with this impression in mind.

He could not say that it was interesting, but he was not bored.

It was not something he wanted to see a second time…

“Well, let’s go home. But …what is Arisa getting ready for?”

Yuzuru tilted his head.

If it was just about making food and cakes and welcoming him, then there was no need to go to the trouble of getting cinema tickets to send Yuzuru outside.

(I did foresee to the extent that Arisa started working part-time, probably to buy me a gift…)

Yuzuru had given Arisa various gifts up to now, but they were purchased with money that Yuzuru himself had earned through his own work.

Therefore, it was easy to predict from Arisa’s personality that she would also think that if she didn’t use the money she earned from her own work to buy the gift, it would not be commensurate.

That in itself was a surprise, and Yuzuru was more than happy enough because it was filled with Arisa’s feelings…

What more could there be to the surprise that would add to it?

What would it really be like?

As Yuzuru was pondering these questions and more, he arrived in front of his house.

“Text me before you come in, was what she said, right?”

Yuzuru took out his cell phone and typed a short text, [“I’m at the front door.“].

It was immediately read and replied, [“You may come in“].

“…I’m home.”

Yuzuru slowly opened the door.

Then what met his eyes was…

A beautiful girl with flaxen hair, she was dressed in a black-and-white apron dress.

Pinching the edges of her slightly short skirt, she bowed her head reverently…

“Welcome home. Master.”

Wearing a so-called ‘maid’s uniform’, Arisa addressed Yuzuru.