A short distance away, Chitose and Mahiru were nodding to each other. “They’re really close friends, huh?” “They sure are.” Amane made the fiercest face he could as he continued his weak attack against Itsuki. Amane usually ate lunch with Mahiru and the others, but on that day, at Ayaka’s invitation, he was having his meal with her and Souji. Ayaka hadn’t said as much, but it seemed like she was setting up an opportunity for him to become better friends with Souji since they’d be working at the same café. From Amane’s position, even though Souji was his friend’s boyfriend, he hardly ever talked with him. Since things would probably go smoother if they got to know each other before they started working together, he had decided to accept the invitation. Following Ayaka, Amane arrived on the roof, where he saw Souji had already spread out a picnic sheet and was waiting for them. Souji must have known Amane was coming because he didn’t look particularly surprised to see him. “So like I said, Fujimiya here will be working with you from now on, babe!” Looking at Amane, who had picked a corner of the picnic sheet and taken a seat, Ayaka put on a bright and friendly smile. Souji did not look impressed with Ayaka’s smile. In fact, he turned a somewhat sympathetic eye on Amane. “Ah…so Ayaka dragged you into this, huh?” “D-dragged? How rude! I just guided the right person to the right job, that’s all!” “You’re right. I do think Fujimiya would fit in at the café, but…” “Right? You ought to appreciate me a bit more, Sou, geez!” Ayaka looked a little more childish than usual as she huffed angrily in protest, and Amane found it charming. He figured it was a side of herself she only ever showed Kayano. “Actually, I’m the one who made the request,” Amane said, “so Kido’s helping me out a ton.” “Oh yeah? But you must have been baffled by Fumika, right?” “Well…” He hadn’t known what to expect when he’d met Fumika, and if he was being honest, he found her a bit overwhelming. But she didn’t seem like a bad person, and he thought she was the type he could talk to. He figured it would be all right as long as he didn’t share too much. At the same time, if Ayaka had told him about it beforehand, he could have prepared himself better, so he did have some complaints. When he glanced over at Ayaka, he saw that her body had stiffened with a start as she opened the pouch containing her lunch box. “Listen, I just wasn’t sure how best to explain a person like Aunt Fumika, okay? She’s so intense…” “Well, I mean, I got a job in the end, so it’s all good. She doesn’t seem like a bad person or anything.” “She’s a good person, you know? It’s just, well, once she takes you under her wing, she spoils you, and she’s an airhead sometimes, and she spends her days lost in daydreams, that’s all.” “I guess I’m destined to fuel her fantasies. As long as no one gets hurt.” “…Probably not, yeah. I think, um, probably.” He wasn’t sure whether to poke fun at her apparent lack of confidence, but Ayaka wasn’t to blame, so Amane let it go and unwrapped his lunch, which Mahiru had prepared for him. Amane’s father had made dinner the previous night, and they’d had pasta, so this lunch box consisted of the small dishes Mahiru usually prepared in advance, plus some dishes she’d made using the leftover ingredients from dinner, as well as some things she had made that morning. He felt terrible about her going out of her way to make so many little dishes first thing in the morning, but Mahiru seemed to enjoy it, so he also hadn’t been able to stop her. He usually placed that burden on Mahiru, so Amane had thought about trying to make their lunches himself. However, whenever he tried, Mahiru got dejected and asked, “Haven’t you been satisfied with what I’ve been making…?” so he found it difficult to put that plan into practice. Incidentally, Amane’s parents were supposed to have already left by the time he and Mahiru got home, so they had said their good-byes by telephone that morning. The words had come very easily on both ends, probably because they had plans to come visit Amane’s home again over winter break or spring break at the latest. “Ah, is that something Miss Shiina made?” Ayaka asked with a smile, brimming with curiosity. She had been observing Amane as he opened the lunch box lid and saw with satisfaction that, once again, one of Mahiru’s homemade rolled omelets was inside. “Mahiru made the omelet. The sweet-and-sour meatballs are leftovers from what my dad made when he came to see us.” “So your dad can cook, huh? Same as my dad. My mom can’t really cook, and she’s no good at housework, either, so my dad does it all.” “I feel like Kaori is a little extra special in that regard, though.” Kaori was probably Ayaka’s mother’s name, Amane reasoned. “…Uh, um, let me explain so you don’t misunderstand. My mother works really hard at her job, okay? She just kiiinda can’t do housework! The other day, she blew up our microwave, but she can handle things like laundry!” “That’s her fault for not checking what she put in the microwave first. And doing laundry just means putting detergent in the machine and flipping the switch…” “Do you think that’s helping, Sou?” “Well, you’re the one who brought it up…” Souji insisted he wasn’t trying to criticize Kaori specifically, and Ayaka seemed to realize she had run her mouth all on her own as her cheek began to twitch visibly. For the time being, Amane pretended he hadn’t heard anything and averted his eyes, feigning ignorance. “A-anyway, that’s why my parents wanted me to grow up learning to do housework, I figure,” she said. “And I learned how to do it, right? Though my dad still seems to have some complaints.” “You were raised to be a girly girl, and it’d be fine that you grew up to be that way. But since you developed your obsession with bodybuilding, you’ve given me nothing but grief. You’re always chasing after naked men, Ayaka.” “Don’t say it like that!!” Ayaka shrieked her wide-eyed objection to Souji’s remark. Anyone unfamiliar with the situation could certainly have taken it the wrong way. However, Amane noticed she didn’t deny the accusation. He had one thought about it. Well, if she loves muscles, I suppose she would want to see them in the flesh. As far as Ayaka was concerned, it was probably a matter of pure aesthetic appreciation. But from her father’s perspective, her obsession was probably a source of concern. “You’re the one who perverted me, Sou. And I’m not out chasing anyone. You’re the only one for me, and it’s your fault anyway!” “Don’t blame other people for your actions.” “I said, it’s aaaaalllll your fault, Sou!” As Souji pinched one of Ayaka’s cheeks between his fingers and Ayaka whined at him childishly, Amane let a little laugh slip out. Of course, there was also the fact they were dating, but he thought this must be due to them being very good childhood friends. It was a different closeness than that of a couple like Itsuki and Chitose, and seeing it was a novel experience. “…Wh-why are you laughing?” “Oh, I was just thinking you two get along so well.” “I don’t want to hear that from you, Fujimiya. Not when you’re always flirting with Miss Shiina.” “We’re not that bad!” “Oh no, you flirt all right. Enough that it embarrasses us.” “Don’t point your finger at people,” Souji said to Ayaka, who had sternly pointed her index finger at Amane. He grabbed her finger and made her lower it. While thinking they always seemed in tune with one another, Amane sighed quietly. “…It’s not like we do it on purpose.” “So, in other words, you always get along like that, and you’re lovey-dovey every day? Pretty amazing.” “Shut up.” “But still, that’s why you were determined to get a job for Miss Shiina’s sake. I think it’s great you’re so motivated and that you already started thinking about the future!” “Ah, so you suddenly decided to get a part-time job for Miss Shiina’s sake, huh? Privately, I thought you seemed like the type that wouldn’t want to deal with customers, Fujimiya, so I was curious about it, but I guess that makes sense.” It wasn’t that Amane hadn’t explained himself. He had told Ayaka he didn’t want her spreading it around too much. It seemed like even Souji had not known about it. So when Souji nodded in understanding, he could see Ayaka make an awkward expression. She had probably thought she would be breaking her promise if she’d said he was going to work for Mahiru’s sake. But at any rate, since he would be working in the same place as Souji, and since he was bound to get asked about it at some point, there was no point in hiding his reason. As long as Souji didn’t tell Mahiru, there was no issue in him knowing. “Keep it a secret from Mahiru, okay? I want to surprise her.” “That’s exactly right. Don’t you say a word, babe!” “You’re the one who let it slip, Ayaka.” “Ouch!” Ayaka held her forehead with tears in her eyes after Souji flicked her. Souji looked at her like she was a hopeless case, then smiled awkwardly at Amane, who was taken aback by their exchange. “Well, now that I know what this is about, if there’s anything I can do, I’ll help in whatever way I can.” “…Thank you.” “Right back at you. Thank you for becoming friends with Ayaka despite the way she acts.” “…Oh, that’s strange, and here I thought I was helping you make a new friend, babe… I mean, I’m not so terrible that I have you worrying about me, am I?” “Whenever you talk, you just make it worse.” “Wow, okay!” Ayaka stuck her lip out in an angry pout at the way Souji responded and slapped him on his chest, which was (according to Ayaka) quite muscular under his shirt. Amane watched them with a fuzzy feeling in his chest. “Ah, speaking of the job, my aunt asked if you could wait a little bit before starting. She wants to have you on standby for a week or two so she can ask you about shifts and get your uniform,” Ayaka mumbled as if she had just remembered it. The two of them had settled down after their couple’s comedy act and started to eat lunch again. Amane hadn’t yet returned the signed contract forms to Fumika, so she didn’t know his phone number or how to contact him. Apparently, she’d had no choice but to entrust her message to Ayaka. It was just like Ayaka to decide sharing his contact information without his permission wouldn’t be good, and so even now that his job was secured, she seemed to have decided to play the role of the messenger for him. “Sure, I didn’t think I would be starting immediately anyway. By the way, what do you mean by uniform?” “Yeah, not like the ones you saw from my café the other day, something simpler. They really make you look like a waiter. The outfits for the female employees are also simpler than ours. They’re not all frilly so that you can relax.” “You can imagine my confusion about wearing a flashy costume in that coffeehouse.” Since Fumika had asked Amane to meet her on the day the café had been closed, he hadn’t known there were uniforms. But Amane was relieved to hear they didn’t sound like something he had to worry about. The outfit he had worn at the culture festival was comparatively tame but still a little extravagant. It would have been hard to wear something like that all the time, even if it was just for a part-time job. More importantly, if his friends saw him dressed like that at his job, it was sure to cause Amane all kinds of trouble. They’d had a field day with it at the culture festival, and he had only had to wear that outfit for two days, tops. He did not want to have to wear the costume all the time. Amane was relieved to hear he’d be wearing regular waiter clothes. “Ah, oh yeah.” Ayaka spoke again as if she had remembered something else. “Uh, I told her your sizes, Fujimiya. I hope that’s all right?” “It’s fine, but how did you know?” “I saw them when we were getting ready for the culture festival, and I can tell by looking at you.” Ayaka laughed and said she could tell a boy’s body size even under his clothing. It was probably a technique honed by her love for muscles. Souji, who had been listening off to the side, didn’t even try to hide his exasperated expression and spoke to his girlfriend just a little bit rudely. “I guess we can be honest now and call you a pervert, huh?” “So mean!” Ayaka said with raised eyebrows. “You’re unbelievable… Ah, of course, I can only tell generally. When it comes to the quality and density of your muscles, I can’t tell without touching them or seeing them directly, so… O-of course, I’m not going to sexually harass you, okay?! I would just inspect you, with your consent.” “I…see… Uh, well, I’m glad you saved me the effort of telling your aunt my sizes…I guess.” “Ayaka, you’re scaring him. Look, Fujimiya, you don’t have to force yourself to play along with this thing. It’s okay.” “It’s not nice to call a person ‘this thing.’” Ayaka looked cute, huffing in anger, but her face deflated into a frown when she met Amane’s eyes. “I’m really sorry, okay? For showing you my weird side.” “Ah, no, it’s kind of too late for that.” “Urk, he got me! But I can’t say anything… I’ve been showing you this side of me all the time, ever since the culture festival, huh…” “Oh, well, yeah. I’m very well aware you have a peculiar interest, Kido. And I don’t really think one way or another about it… I mean, as long as no one’s getting hurt, people all have different interests and preferences. I’m not going to call you creepy or slander you.” Amane might feel differently if he became the object of her interests and it caused him problems, but as long as that didn’t happen, he didn’t have the inclination or the right to criticize her. Every person had their own tastes. So as long as it wasn’t hurting him, he figured he had to respect hers. And anyway, he didn’t remember being raised to think he should exclude someone just because they were different. Besides, he couldn’t shake the feeling Mahiru was also quietly starting to appreciate his developing muscles, so he couldn’t quite pretend like it had nothing to do with him. He could have complained to Ayaka about her spreading influence, but Mahiru seemed to enjoy it herself, and if it added to the things she liked about Amane, that had to be good…probably. He didn’t mean to reject Ayaka for her particular taste in big muscles. But making her squirm a little was amusing. Muttering he didn’t have the right to complain about other people’s tastes in the first place, he gripped a piece of Mahiru’s homemade rolled omelet in his chopsticks. Ayaka’s body shook as if she was overcome with emotion, and with a full-faced smile, she drummed happily on Amane’s shoulders. “You were raised well, Fujimiya,” she said. “I mean, you’re a good person! I understand why Miss Shiina fell for you!” “…Ayaka.” “What is it, Sou? Jealous? It’s okay, I’m totally devoted to you…” “No, that’s fine, that’s not it. But Fujimiya looks crushed…” The attack on Amane’s shoulders had caused the omelet to fall out of his chopsticks and right into the sauce for the sweet-and-sour meatballs they’d made with the leftover ones from the previous day’s meatball pasta. It was lucky it hadn’t fallen onto the picnic sheet or his clothes. But to Amane, who loved the delicate taste of the omelet, the change in flavor was quite a surprise, and he’d frozen in place. Souji had interpreted that as being stricken with grief. Ayaka panicked in response to Amane gazing down at the piece of omelet, now covered in sweet-and-sour sauce. “I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean for that to happen!” “N-no, it’s all right, I can still eat it. It’s not like it fell on the ground or anything. It’ll be good like this, too…” “You look really down! I’m sorry! I’ll go kneel in front of Miss Shiina later and beg her to make you another one!” “N-no, it’s fine…” He hadn’t meant to look so seriously depressed, but Ayaka had started profusely apologizing, so Amane smiled lightheartedly. For some reason, she apologized again with an incredibly regretful look. “Amane, you really do love my omelets, don’t you?” Ayaka had apparently explained the situation to Mahiru, and Mahiru smiled as she and Amane left school together, remembering the earlier conversation. Neither of them had plans to go anywhere that day, so they were leaving school side by side as usual. While deciding what to have for dinner, Mahiru seemed to remember the incident, adding, “That makes me really happy.” She giggled. Apparently, she thought what she had heard about Amane’s behavior from Ayaka was quite funny. She was laughing elegantly, so the people around them started glancing at them. Amane squeezed Mahiru’s hand to tell her not to laugh over nothing, but she didn’t seem like she was going to settle down. He wanted to pinch her cheek, but one of his hands was holding Mahiru’s bag, and his other hand was holding her hand, so he couldn’t. “I’ve been putting them in your lunches regularly, haven’t I? I made extra this morning, and sometimes I even make them for dinner, you know?” “That’s one thing, this is another. I wanted to eat that one for lunch.” “Well. I’ll let you know that thanks to you, I got a very earnest apology from Kido and a sincere request.” Amane hadn’t intended to blame Ayaka in the least. He had been the one feeling down about such a small thing, and it wasn’t like the omelet had fallen on the ground. The flavor had just changed a little bit. He had never expected Ayaka to really apologize, and now that he’d been informed she had gone to apologize while he hadn’t been around, it made him feel guilty instead. “Man, now I feel like I did something bad to Kido. I was feeling down on my own, that’s all.” “It sounds like you made a really somber expression, Amane.” “Well, I mean, yeah… It was one of your rolled omelets.” “I make them for you all the time!” “…Even for dinner?” “You want to change the menu? And when we just decided it, too! You are just hopeless!” Even though the words Mahiru was using said she was fed up, her voice sounded cheerful and amused, so Amane knew she wasn’t actually upset. Her gentle smile made him feel uneasy, as if he were being treated like a child, and Amane pressed his lips together, trying to keep himself from becoming sour. “All right, I’ll make you a rolled omelet for tonight’s dinner. In exchange, can I get you to spoil me a bit?” “Come on, I’ll do that if that’s what you want. I’ll do it without you even asking.” If Mahiru was actively asking to be pampered for once, he was happy to oblige. Plus, he was planning to spoil her whether she asked for it or not. He could even say doting on Mahiru had become one of his hobbies. When he readily agreed, Mahiru, the one who had brought the subject up, winced instead. “…Well then, we might have a problem.” “Why?” “I mean, you don’t know the meaning of moderation, do you?” “Moderation? Have I been that hard on you?” “That’s not it… Once you decide to spoil me, you do a very thorough job of it…” “I just do what I set out to do…” Amane, who was the type to see something through once he had made a commitment assuming nothing drastic happened, was of the opinion that if Mahiru came to him with the request, he would spoil her as much as she wanted until she was satisfied. Though he didn’t intend to do it to the extent that Mahiru became uncomfortable, he was sure it would be all right until she slowly melted in his arms. “…I have a hard time if I get spoiled too much… My knees go weak for a while, and I can’t stand up.” Mahiru added that last part quietly, and Amane couldn’t help but smile. Though she spoke of spoiling, what she really meant was touching, kissing, hugging, and things like that. But it sounded like even that was quite intense for Mahiru. When he focused intently on spoiling her, Mahiru became weak and limp. He had seen it plenty of times. But it sounded like Mahiru didn’t want to fall into that state. When he complained he couldn’t help it when she was so cute, he heard her mumble quietly, in a sulky, whining voice, “I can’t take it because you don’t know how to hold back.” She continued, “Anyway, you mustn’t take it too far. Just do it normally, please.” “I don’t know what you mean when you tell me to spoil you normally, though. I’m always doing it normally.” “…This must be the signature technique of the Fujimiya bloodline…” “I’m not as bad as my dad.” Indeed, he didn’t have as much skill as his father did at spoiling and couldn’t do it as naturally. Amane thought his father seemed to be extremely sweet and kind toward his family and someone who loved them deeply. He took care of people. He didn’t spoil them rotten in a poisonous way that destroyed their bodies and souls. More than anybody else Amane knew, he always kept an eye on his family, and when it was necessary, he took a step back and watched over them kindly while still making sure they were taken care of. That was the kind of person he was, the kind who, more than anyone else, offered them deep and generous love. Amane wanted to be a little more reserved than his father, but one of his goals was to become more like him. Yet he didn’t think he had made it to that point yet, and he wasn’t sure he was clever enough to do it. From Amane’s perspective, since Mahiru had a great deal of self-control and was the type to put on a brave front but also really needed someone to take care of her before she broke under the strain, he had been spoiling her in moderation, trying to soften her up. But it seemed as if Mahiru had interpreted that as an excess of affection. “I’d like you to try letting Shihoko hear you say that, Amane. It’s unfortunate she’s not here at the moment.” “Why my mom? …Well, I guess they did go home already.” His parents had already left. It was only natural since they had to go to work the next day. The culture festival and the vacation days following it had been lively, so Mahiru seemed a little bewildered by the difference now that his parents weren’t with them anymore. “It’s going to be lonely around here.” “You seemed to enjoy yourself while my parents were here, Mahiru.” “That’s because they’re fun! And because I got to hear old stories about you.” “…I think I’ll make sure to spoil you extra.” “Ah, th-that’s a little…” Mahiru became flustered at Amane, who had decided to spoil her thoroughly that night to get her to reveal what his parents had talked about. But it was her fault for that slip of the tongue. Before he’d learned that particular detail, he had planned to be a little more reserved. But apparently, that would not do at all. Amane’s lips curled into a smile as he wondered how he should play it, and with a somewhat stiff expression, Mahiru kept her head pressed against Amane’s upper arm until they reached the supermarket. “…Ah, um, listen, I think you need to go easy on me, Amane.” After dinner, Amane proceeded with his plan to spoil Mahiru more than usual. Mahiru looked up at Amane with a bright red face. He was petting her while they were sitting on the sofa together, but she had gotten extremely embarrassed. Since he wasn’t touching her in a particularly sexual way or letting his hand stray to any places it shouldn’t, the reason her face was so flushed was either because he had been stroking her head while looking her in the face or because he had let her lie down in his lap. “I don’t know. Now, when you say go easy on you…maybe you could tell me what you heard about me…” “I—I told you, I didn’t hear any old stories you need to worry about!” “Specifically?” “…There was the story about how when you were little, you got carried away pushing yourself on the swings and went flying and cried, or the story about how you used too much force when you tried to kiss your mother on the cheek and head-butted her instead.” “Well, that’s illegal. Straight to jail.” “Oh, come on…!” When he’d been little, Amane had gotten carried away by his mother’s enthusiasm, so he’d often committed blunders like that. But knowing Mahiru had been told about them was so embarrassing, he wondered if it was some kind of punishment. The story about him kissing his mother’s cheek when he’d been little wasn’t something she should be sharing at the drop of a hat. It was just the kind of thing he didn’t want anyone to learn. Amane certainly felt more embarrassed than Mahiru, who was currently being lavished with affection. He was the one who’d had his past exposed, without his knowledge, right there under his own roof. The kiss for his mother had been an accident, so that one didn’t count. But since there was still a chance Shihoko might press her cheek to his or kiss him, dredging up stories like that from the past threatened to bring on a headache. Instead of scolding her for listening to stories that were none of her business, Amane slipped his fingers along the side of Mahiru’s torso, tracing over her with a soft touch. Mahiru trembled, startled, and looked up at him with her cheek twitching. Of course, that had to be a request for him to stop, but since this was a punishment, he had no intention of stopping. He knew his mother had probably brought the stories up unprompted, but there was no doubt Mahiru had listened with intense interest. He moved his fingertips across her very, very gently as if to say she was just as guilty. Mahiru was very ticklish, so he tried to hold back, but she shrieked at an even higher pitch than usual and clung to Amane. She didn’t try to escape, probably because she would have lost her balance. “Eep! …H-ha, I’m s-sor—” “…What else did you hear about?” To get her to lay everything bare and find out all the unnecessary old stories she’d heard from his mother, Amane traced carefully over her waist, gently with almost a feather touch. Mahiru started writhing as she tried to hold back from laughing. “N-nothing, not this time.” “This time?” “I-it’s just a figure of speech…” “…Even assuming you’ve told me everything, it sounds like you’re expecting to hear more in the future, young lady. Don’t you think it’s unfair only my past is dragged out in the open?” “B-but everything in my past is a problem from before that age…” She added she couldn’t point to any specific incidents, and Amane stopped tickling Mahiru. He knew he had probably made her remember some unpleasant things. Mahiru’s young childhood had been when she had not received protection or love from her parents, so she probably didn’t want him to bring it up. Feeling bad about raising the topic, Amane frowned and looked at Mahiru. She could tell what he was thinking and gave him a small smile. “You don’t have to worry about that, okay? Because it’s not that important to me anymore. Right now, at this moment in time, I’m satisfied, and that’s enough.” “Mahiru…” “Besides, I was well-behaved even when I was a child, so I was never a little rascal like you were, Amane.” “Sorry for being such a little rascal…Well, I can’t imagine you being a tomboy, Mahiru.” Paying her back for her teasing words by tugging on her cheek, he imagined Mahiru when she had been small. Sure enough, he couldn’t even imagine her as a tomboy. Mahiru, who seemed like she had been a good girl who’d had her parents’ approval from a young age, had probably had even better manners than she did now. It was all too easy to imagine her as an obedient child, so he would have liked to get a glimpse of what a tomboy Mahiru might have looked like. …Maybe I’ll get to see it if we have a kid who looks like Mahiru. He couldn’t help but feel any of their children would turn out rather meek no matter which parent they took after, but there was no way of knowing until they were born. Whether they turned out to be well-behaved, tomboys, or even little rascals, no matter what, he was confident they would be adorable. He definitely wanted them to resemble Mahiru more than they resembled him, the one without any charm. Amane privately enjoyed his heartwarming daydream. He knew Itsuki would make fun of him and tell him he was way too impatient if he ever caught wind of it. Mahiru buried her face in Amane’s chest and rubbed her cheek against him. “…You know, I wasn’t very charming when I was little. I just behaved myself because I wanted my parents to praise me. Because it was effective at getting attention, I could do an impressive number of things for my age. But people talked behind my back about how I wasn’t a very likable child.” “Who said that?” “The mothers of the other children I played with at the time, I think… Amane, your face, your face!” “But still…” He couldn’t believe there were people who would speak badly of a child in a place and at a volume the child could hear, so he had frowned very hard without meaning to. Mahiru squished his cheeks to loosen him up. Especially when it was so easy to hurt a child, he really would have liked to have words with the unnamed parents who had been so carelessly cruel toward a child they didn’t know well. But it was in the past, so there was nothing he could do. He was glad to see Mahiru didn’t seem burdened by it and brushed it off easily, but if it had hurt her and stuck with her, he would have been angry enough to think about what he could do for her. “Don’t worry. Miss Koyuki praised me and told me how cute I was.” “Good job, Miss Koyuki.” Giving an internal thumbs-up to the woman who had acted as Mahiru’s surrogate parent, someone he had never met, Amane stroked Mahiru’s head and held her close as she pulled the memories out of the back of a mental drawer. “I was less bothered by it than you think, Amane. The things my own parents said to me were more painful than anything said by a complete stranger, after all.” “…Mahiru.” “How about we leave it at that since I don’t think we want to have a gloomy conversation? The one thing I can say is I went through some painful things at the time, but I met you like this and got involved with you because I had that past behind me. I have no reason to deny my past, so please don’t make those faces. You are a worrier!” Mahiru laughed, and he brought his lips to her forehead and embraced her again. As she squirmed in his arms, Mahiru’s lips curved into a smile, and she kissed Amane back. “…Besides, now I have your love, Amane, so I’m fine.” In response to Mahiru’s pointed smile, Amane mumbled, “You’re adorable,” and decided to spoil her even more that night. Then he kissed her lightly again and patted her head. Mahiru seemed very open to this kind of pampering and obediently accepted what Amane was doing, snuggling into him with heavy-lidded eyes. If he kept going like he was, he would forget himself and keep on spoiling Mahiru endlessly, and it was not unlikely he would also start to melt the way things were going. So Amane applied the restraints of reason again to keep himself in check as he recalled something that, come to think of it, he had forgotten to tell her. “Before I forget, I want to go ahead and tell you this. Once I start my job, I’m definitely going to be getting home late on weekdays, so you can go ahead and eat dinner without me.” Thinking he ought to have said something a little bit earlier, when Amane stopped stroking Mahiru and told her that, in his arms, Mahiru blinked her big round eyes. “We’re still discussing my shifts, but I’ll be there until closing on weekdays, so I think it will probably be about nine o’clock before I get home. Of course, there’s no way I can make you wait until then.” “That’s not too late. I’ll wait.” He intended to have her eat before him because it would be wrong to have her wait with an empty stomach, but Mahiru responded as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She was looking at him with a curious gaze, and all Amane could do was frown awkwardly. “But won’t you get hungry?” “I’d rather my heart be satisfied than my stomach, so I will wait for you, Amane. It’s boring to eat alone, and I don’t mind the time I spend waiting for you.” “It’s going to be late, you know.” “There are plenty of other people who do club activities or have part-time jobs, and compared with some of those folks, I wouldn’t say it’s all that late… Or do you dislike the idea of me waiting for you?” “It’s not necessarily that I dislike it. I just don’t like the idea of making you wait.” Amane would feel guilty about her silently making a meal on her own and waiting for him. It would be comparatively better for his mental health if she ate before he got back, but Mahiru did not seem the slightest bit willing to give in. “It’s not like I’ll be waiting here without anything to do, you know. If I’m waiting, there are plenty of things I can do in the meantime. I can bathe, do homework, or review stuff for school. There’s all kinds of skincare and haircare I can do. I have plenty to keep me busy. It’s just that the order of things will change, that’s all.” Mahiru made it sound like it wouldn’t be any trouble when she told him that, then laughed, “You’re such a worrier!” and poked his cheek. “You’re putting in the effort to get something you really want, so there’s no way I wouldn’t cheer you on, is there? Actually, as far as things I can do go, I can have a hot meal and a bath waiting for you when you get home.” “I would be incredibly grateful for both… Though, what would make me happiest is if you would come out to greet me when I got back. That would really cheer me up.” “That all sounds easy enough.” “…You don’t have to overdo it, okay? Promise me you’ll put yourself first?” Since this was Mahiru they were talking about, she seemed likely to prioritize him even if she had other things to do. But Mahiru was laughing it off. Amane had no intention of telling Mahiru what to do, but Mahiru seemed to dislike having dinner without Amane, and she clearly wasn’t planning on changing her mind. Since that showed how much he was loved and how much she considered him in her plans, he was happy, but nevertheless, he didn’t want her to force herself to wait. “I should be the one telling you that—don’t overdo it trying hard at your job, okay? I don’t know what you want to buy, but I worry because you’re the kind of person who always follows through with something once he decides on it.” “I won’t overdo it. I wouldn’t want to worry you, Mahiru.” “I am a little worried about what will happen when you’re on the job, though… Even being generous, I can’t say you’re especially sociable, Amane.” “That’s true, but why does it still sound kind of insulting?” Sure, that was something Amane knew about himself and something other people recognized as well. But he wasn’t sure how to react when it was pointed out to his face. When he grumbled he wasn’t all that unsociable in what didn’t exactly amount to a counterargument, Mahiru let out a soft sigh. “I didn’t mean you have no social skills, just that you don’t normally seek out more social interaction than necessary. I think you could do it if you tried.” “Well, that’s because I’ve never really wanted to be friends with a huge number of people. I’m satisfied with a small social circle.” “…But really, if you tried, you could do it. It’s possible to flip that switch, you know?” she sighed. “Why are you sighing?” “…I’m wondering what I’m going to do if you get too popular, Amane…” Despite himself, he laughed at his incredibly adorable, worried girlfriend, and Mahiru, who heard him laughing, looked up at him with an annoyed expression. “It’ll be fine. I won’t get popular, I promise.” “You have no understanding of your own value, Amane.” “Now, listen. Judging by the prices on the menu and the general atmosphere, the clientele of that café seems to be old uncles and aunties. I won’t get popular, but even if I do, it doesn’t matter.” Rather than a quiet, privately owned café like the one Amane would be working at, young people were more likely to go to a chain restaurant that was a little more boisterous, where they could eat and drink without worrying. Plus, from what he had seen when they had shown him the menus, the prices were a bit too high for high school and college students to casually have a drink there. Conversely, the flavors of all the drinks and food were very good, and the calm space apparently made it popular with the older crowd. Well, the fact that the café’s owner was a young, beautiful woman was also probably a reason the older men went there. According to Souji, there were very few young female customers, so Amane could work there with peace of mind. So even assuming he did become a little bit popular, it would be among folks decades older than him, which really seemed less like popularity and more like people doting on a son or grandson. “I’m telling you, Mahiru, you have nothing to worry about. And the owner sounds like a good person, too.” “…I hope you’re right, but…” Mahiru sounded like she understood. Amane stroked her head to soothe her, and although she looked slightly dissatisfied, she must have been happy because she smiled a little and let Amane do as he pleased.
Chapter 160
34 min read