“Then I’ll ask you once more. Please don’t ever come near me or my family again. As things are right now, your ideals are too dangerous. Please. Don’t get me, or the people I love, involved.”
Miledi ran up in front of Oscar. She turned to face him and continued walking backward, hands behind her back.
“My ideals aren’t the real danger here. It’s this world. Please, O-kun, don’t avert your eyes from the truth. Even without me telling you, you already knew how twisted and unfair this world was, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, but that’s no reason to bring its wrath crashing down on my head. At the very least, we’re living in peace right now. As long as I live quietly and don’t stand out, there won’t be any problems.”
“You really are a loser, O-kun.”
“No I’m not. I’m just realistic. Anyway, will you please—”
“Absolutely not!”
“Want me to turn you over to the inquisitors?” Oscar’s eyebrow twitched dangerously, but Miledi just smiled and let out a scream.
“Nooo! Don’t abandon me, O-kun! I’ll do anything for you!”
“Damn you, Miledi! You purposely screamed that in a street full of people!” Oscar finally lost his calm as Miledi clung to him and started begging.
Many of the onlooking housewives shook their heads sadly. “Oh my, I can’t believe Oscar-kun would make a girl cry. What a brute,” one of them said. The other pedestrians, too, were hanging on to every word.
The street’s attention was focused on Oscar and Miledi. At this rate, the inquisitors would come for him first.
“Fuck,” Oscar muttered, as he dragged Miledi away.
“How long are you planning on following me?”
“Until you agree to join me, I guess?”
“Then you’ll be following me for the rest of your life... Anyway, I need to deliver these orders to my customers. Can you at least promise you won’t say anything misleading to them? Or rather, can you promise you won’t say anything at all? If not, I really will turn you over to the inquisitors.”
“Okaaaaaay! Hehe...”
Despite Oscar’s cold attitude, Miledi seemed happy. He glared at her suspiciously.
“Is it really that fun watching my reactions?”
“Not really? I was just thinking that even though you keep saying I’m dangerous and that you don’t want to be seen near me, you’re not actually reporting me to the inquisitors.”
“Don’t mistake it for goodwill. I just don’t want to have to deal with the trouble that will come with reporting you. I still wish you’d go away.”
“Hmm...” Miledi smiled, her expression making it clear she didn’t believe Oscar. Oscar shook his head and tried his best to ignore her.
That lasted all of a second.
“Hey, O-kun. Last night, when I was leaving, were you thinking of saying something to me?”
“Wh-What?” Oscar was taken aback. He hadn’t expected her to see through even that. But even though this was a perfect opportunity for her to tease him further, her expression was serious.
Because of her usual frivolity, the moments she was serious stood out even more. Oscar found himself being drawn into her piercing, bottomless gaze.
“I won’t leave until you tell me what it was you were going to say.”
“There wasn’t anything. Maybe I might have said ‘Hurry up and get out of my sight’ or something, but that’s all.”
He pulled himself away from those eyes with some difficulty, then gave a scathing reply.
“I see,” was all she said in return. After that, she returned to her usual, cheerful persona.
“Hey, hey, O-kun. What kind of things are you delivering?”
“We’re almost to my first customer. The owner of that restaurant over there ordered dishes.”
Miledi nodded and peeked curiously into the boxes inside Oscar’s cart. Oscar once again reminded Miledi not to say anything misleading before knocking on the restaurant’s backdoor.
A well-built woman answered the door.
“Oh my, if it isn’t Oscar. Welcome! If you’re knocking at the back entrance, then it must mean you have a delivery.”
“Yep. Here you go, Daisy-san. I brought the butcher’s knives and frying pan you asked for. Are the goods to your satisfaction?”
Oscar handed over the box filled with cookware to Daisy. She looked inside the box and nodded in approval.
“As always, you work fast. I asked for these the day before yesterday and you’re already finished. Thank you so... hm? Who’s this?”
Daisy looked at Miledi, who was poking out from behind Oscar, curiously.
Oscar cursed inwardly. He put on his best fake smile and quickly came up with a good cover story. Before he could say anything, though, Miledi opened her mouth.
“Hello! I’m O-kun’s friend, Miledi! I’m here today to see what his work’s like.” Oscar let out a sigh of relief when he heard Miledi give a proper introduction. He tried to signal Miledi to leave, but Daisy’s interest was piqued now.
“Oh my, I never knew Oscar had such cute friends. How long have you two known each other?”
“Since yesterday! When I first met O-kun, I felt, like, a spark. You know what I mean, Miss?”
“Oh, but of course! When I first met my husband, I felt like I’d been struck by lightning! I see now, so that’s how it is. Good for you, Oscar. We were all worried about you. You’re handsome and great at your job, but you’ve never even flirted with a girl before. Me and the other housewives were starting to think I should try and set you up with my daughter if you didn’t find anyone soon!” Oscar knew girls got friendly with each other easily, but he hadn’t expected Daisy and Miledi to hit it off so well so quickly. They kept on talking, mostly saying embarrassing things about Oscar.
It got more and more awkward for him by the minute. He wished he could crawl in a hole somewhere and die.
The housewives’ rumor mill was something to be feared. He didn’t have time to spare thinking about their secret meetings where they discussed finding him a wife though, as he had to do something about Miledi not-so-subtly hinting that she was trying to marry him herself.
The only saving grace to this situation was that Daisy was unlikely to guess the truth. Namely that Miledi had meant “I thought this guy would be perfect for my anarchist society” when she’d said she’d felt a spark upon meeting him.
“Daisy-san! Sorry for interrupting, but can I explain what my goods do yet?”
“Huh? Oh, yes. Sorry, Oscar. I got a little carried away there. She’s a really nice girl, though. You treat her well, you hear?”
Oscar replied with his usual smile. He could see Miledi grinning out of the corner of his eye, but he ignored her.
“Umm, so these butcher’s knives have serrated edges. That’ll help keep them from getting stuck when you’re cutting through particularly tough meat. Though I haven’t really tested them too much myself, so could you tell me how they’re holding up after a month or so?”
Both Daisy and Miledi examined the knives appreciatively.
Oscar continued, explaining how things wouldn’t stick to the frying pan even if Daisy didn’t use oil. One of the main reasons Oscar was so popular among the common folk was because he put extra touches like these on his goods.
“You always pay attention to the little details like this. Alright, I’ll let my husband know too. And whenever I get a chance, I’ll drop by to let you know how it feels to use. By the way, did you carve some weird name on this one too?”
Daisy examined the knives and the frying pan suspiciously.
Miledi tilted her head in confusion as Oscar sighed.