Volume 3 - CH 4

Volume 3, Chapter 4: Bringing Home a Runaway Girl

Teach her

→ Say it's a bother

"Um...p-please wake up."

In the middle of my slumber, I heard a faint voice.

That voice, which didn't like it had any real intention of waking me up, had a gentleness to it that I remembered hearing from somewhere.

"I-if you don't wake up soon, you won't have time for breakfast, you know?"

Breakfast was tempting, but that was a weak attempt.

The desire for sleep was much stronger than the desire for food. The devil whispered to me to keep on sleeping at all cost.

"W-wake up..."

My body was being shaken. However, the swaying felt comfortable instead.

If she were to do a heel-drop, I would wake up immediately, but she wouldn't do that.

She couldn't wake me up. I felt sorry, but I was going to sleep for a bit longer.

"Geez...wake up already!"

―― Smack.

"Guh?! Eh...?"

A sharp pain ran across my cheek, and the command to awaken was immediately sent to my brain.

The drowsiness I was feeling a while ago had completely disappeared, and now I felt refreshed and fully awake, but my cheeks ached with a tingling sensation.

This girl, did she just slap me? Did she usually wake people up like that? What a surprise.

"You're finally up! Good morning!"

"Ah, yeah. Good morning."

There, was Hareyama Hanae, dressed in her school uniform and an apron, looking very much like a girlfriend.

How cute...but first things first.

"...Hey, Hareyama. Did you slap me?"

"I-I didn't? More importantly, you have to eat, so you should hurry up."

Following Hareyama who left the room as if escaping, I also got up and followed, holding down my stinging cheek.

I never expected Hareyama to slap me, and a rather strong one at that.

Ever since yesterday, Hareyama had never ceased to amaze me. So much so that I couldn't even call her an airhead anymore.

"―― Thanks for the food, it was delicious."

"Really? I'm glad ―― then, I'll do the dishes so Jimichi-kun can start freshening up."

This wonderful breakfast was also prepared by Hareyama.

It looked and tasted perfect. It was hard to believe that it was the same person who cried just because they got red marks.

After that, I returned to my room after washing my face and prepared to head to school.

As I changed into my uniform, I thought back to yesterday.

At the time, I never would have imagined this would happen ――

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Sunday. Mutsuki-senpai, Shigure, and I were in out in the city to do some purchases for the sports festival.

The shopping ended without any problems, and we had a relaxed lunch.

Although there were some interesting things that happened, such as who would sit next to me, or which one would want to feed me or something like that, but those were stories for another time.

After that, they invited me to hang out with them, but I politely declined as I was planning to head to the dojo.

Then, they said they wanted to go to, too. They promised they wouldn't cause any disturbances, so I had no choice but to reluctantly bring them with me.

When Grandpa saw them, he went a bit out of control, but that was also a story for another time.

Anyway, I dropped them off at the nearest station afterwards.

It was still relatively early, but the day after was Monday, so we split off without doing anything else after that.

And it was when I was walking home from the station after seeing them off.

In the corner, I spotted Hareyama Hanae with a sunken look.

Hareyama looked at a loss as to what to do with her bag, as it was too big to go and bring it with her. She hadn't passed through the ticket gate, so it didn't seem like she was waiting for the train.

When I saw Hareyama in her plain clothes, I had a thought. Big...no wait, why did she have that pained look on her face?

As expected, I couldn't just leave her alone. I slowly approached and called out to her.

"Yo, Hareyama. What's up?"

"Hmm...? Ah, Jimichi-kun. Hello."

Hareyama raised her face, some color returning to her expression. She also began to smile awkwardly, perhaps trying not to worry me.

"What happened? If you had that look on your face, people are going to notice, you know?"

"Ah, ahaha, that would be the case, wouldn’t it..."

Hareyama didn't let out a feeling that she was waiting for someone, just an aura of despair.

No one stopped to care, but I did notice some of them shooting glances at her.

They looked like they wanted to call out with hidden intentions in their eyes, and I could imagine what they wanted with her.

"You look like some kind of a runaway."

"Uu..."

"Wait...really?"

"Not a runaway, but something like that..."

It was just a joke, but I had no idea that was the case.

Did she have a fight with her parents? Well, she might have, but it shouldn't be at the level where it would cause her to run away.

In any case, I couldn't just leave her alone now.

Hareyama didn't seem like she was suspicious of people, and if she was approached, she might readily go with them, thinking that person was just being nice.

"Why does it feel like you're thinking of something rude?"

"No, I just thought that you would get carelessly picked up."

She tilted her head as if she didn't understand, so I explained it her in a way that she could.

Then, obviously, she got angry and started pouting. It wasn't scary at all though, just cute.

"―― So, what do you have planned?"

"I can't go home, so I'll have to waste time somewhere..."

"Where's 'somewhere'? A friend's house?"

""It's annoying, so don't bother me anymore," he said. That's why I thought of going to a manga cafe or a karaoke bar..."

Did he have to go that far? I didn't know what happened, but it was still too harsh as expected.

However, even if he did scold her to go home, Hareyama was adamant that she couldn't.

It seemed that her destination was out of the question, but why wasn't she able to go home in the first place?

What happened with your parents... It might be a bad idea to pry too much into other people's situation. I wouldn't want others doing the same thing to me, too.

"You know that's dangerous. You're a cute girl, so you should be a bit more aware of that."

"...There's nothing cute about me."

No, you're cute. Why do you look like a sulking kid? If anything, it just made want to take her with me even more.

Hmm...? Oh yeah, I could just take her home.

"My parents aren't home today."

"Huh?"

"So come with me."

"Wha...w-w-what are you saying?!"

I managed to persuade the flustered Hareyama to come home with me.

Of course, everything was out of good will, and I had no intentions of laying a hand on her at all.

Well, even if I did say that, it still wouldn't be so easy to believe.

I showed her the photos I took the other day, and if she wanted to, I could call my sister, and somehow, she agreed.

"Then, let's go? But I have to buy dinner first."

"...Hey, why are going through all this trouble?"

"I can't leave you alone. Because Hareyama is an airhead."

"I-I'm not an airhead!"

No, you definitely are...or so I thought, but just a few hours later, I was forced to change my mindset.

No way this girl was Aipon.

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"I'm going to do it, Hareyama."

"Y-you will?! S-such a thing?! Don't!"

"It's fine, just spread it open."

"Spread?! A-at least start from the top..."

"...What the hell have you been saying since a while ago? Hurry up and open your textbook."

"Ah...ahahaha...so that's what you meant..."

No, she definitely still was an airhead.