Yona coming here wasn't a surprise to me. I had already expected it. That's why I immediately bowed my head sincerely to her.
“Sorry, Yona. I understand your intentions are good, but I can't accept it. From the beginning, I never blamed you.”
Yona fell silent for a moment, then spoke softly.
“I see...”
“Yeah. Even so, I'm still grateful to you beca—”
“So I’m not even worthy of repaying your kindness, huh?”
She cut me off.
Her words only left me confused. When I looked at her face again, she had already averted her eyes from me.
...Did I make a bad choice by refusing her help?
Before she could turn away, I quickly reached out and grabbed her wrist.
“That’s not it. I mean, can you hear me out first?”
I chose my words carefully, softening my tone. I didn’t want to start another fight with Yona.
“What else do I need to hear, Ren?”
“This is just a misunderstanding. It’s not that you’re unworthy of helping, it’s just that... your family is going through a tough time, right?”
“...My family’s problem is trivial compared to your future.”
“I’ve thought about my future carefully. Mom said my part-time savings are enough.”
“...”
Silence. For a moment, I thought I had convinced her. But what she did next... was release my hand.
“Seems like... I’m just wasting your time here, Ren. Excuse me.”
“Wait—”
Without another word, Yona left the classroom, leaving me alone amidst the rising noise. The stares from my classmates, full of a thousand questions, felt overwhelmingly clear.
Thankfully, Kaito immediately saved me from the awkwardness. He pulled me back to my seat and bombarded me with questions.
“R-Ren, did you fight with Yona? Don’t tell me you two broke up!?”
“How many times do I have to say we’re not even dating?”
When will this drama end?
---
Restaurant, late afternoon.
“Ren?”
After Yona met me in class earlier, I couldn’t even go looking for her afterward. Because of that, I ended up not watching the gameplay video of the game Yuri made.
I initially wanted to find her during club practice, but since the manager called and told me to come to the restaurant right away, I didn’t have the time.
“Reeeen? Helloo?”
Why is Yona getting more confusing by the day? Can’t we just sit down nicely, have lunch together, and explain everything peacefully? Or is it really my fault for rejecting her help?
But if Yona’s family is still too busy working in this world, then their situation isn’t any better than mine. They’re still trying to recover from their debt loss.
“Ohayo, Ren-san.”
“Why Japanese?”
Lifting my head, I saw Hina. She was standing in front of me now. The same maid uniform as mine was on her body.
She looked annoyed.
“That’s because you haven’t been listening to me! How many times have I called you?”
“I didn’t hear.”
“Deaf!”
My bad.
Doing a long monologue sometimes makes me ignore my surroundings. I seriously didn’t hear her at all just now.
“What is it?”
“Aren’t we going to wash the oranges first?”
Hina spoke while pointing down. A cardboard box filled with dozens of mandarin oranges lay there.
...Right, the manager told us to take care of this earlier. I shook my head at Hina.
“Looks like we don’t need to. Manager just bought them from the minimarket earlier. We’re just supposed to arrange them into bowls.”
“Okay~ Hina, ready to work!”
She raised her arms energetically and went to get bowls from the kitchen, while I crouched down to start unloading the oranges from the box.
Apparently, the manager’s friend from China is visiting today, so he bought all these oranges and told the two of us to prepare them.
Though I’d say the manager’s decision to serve oranges is kind of weird. If I were the guest visiting from another country, I’d be disappointed to be served oranges—a fruit from my own country.
Seeing Hina return with a stack of bowls, I spoke to her.
“By the way, once we’re done with this, we’re allowed to go straight home. The restaurant’s gonna be used to welcome the manager’s friend.”
“We’re not going to help? Seems like it’d be fun.”
“You can help if you want, but you won’t get paid.”
“I’m going home!”
Didn’t you just say it’d be fun?
I’m going home too, anyway. All I want now is to lie down on my bed and play PSP. The game I bought with Yona yesterday hasn’t even been touched yet.
Suddenly, Hina spoke again:
“Then let’s go home together, Ren!”
“No way.”
“Ehhh? Why not? Our neighborhoods are close, right? I’ve never gone home with you before!”
“That’s because you always go pick up your older sister. Are you not doing that today?”
Hina shook her head quickly. So fast, her long hair almost hit my face.
“If I finish work early, she said it’s okay for me to head straight home.”
Should I accept her offer? It’s not like she’s gonna do anything weird to me, right?
Maybe this is a good chance to use her as a shield on the train. After all, it still gets a bit crowded in the evening. Might as well head home together.
“...Alright. As long as you don’t cause any trouble on the way, I don’t mind.”
“Yay! Post-work date with Ren!”
“Whatever. Let’s finish arranging the oranges for now.”
My hands moved again. Since the restaurant bowls are quite small compared to the oranges, I couldn’t fill each with eight. Five was the ideal, so I placed four in each instead.
...For a moment, something came to mind. Hina said her neighborhood was near mine, right? In that case, does she know Yona? Without hesitation, I looked at her.
“Hina, do you remember that ponytailed girl who hit you when you and your sister tried to flirt with me in that alley?”
“W-Why are you bringing that up now!? My sister and I didn’t lose! We just retreated strategically!”
“I still remember your pathetic face when you ran from her. Two against one and you still lost, embarrassing.”
“Ugh, I can’t deny that... Besides, I don’t like her! Every time my sister and I are about to have fun, she always shows up to ruin everything. Mood killer! Stiff!”
Are you sure you want to mock Yona now? If I told her this, would she beat Hina up again? I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in seeing that again.
But this confirms that Hina knows Yona. Maybe even before I met her.
“Have you seen her around lately?”
“Um, no. She usually jogs past our neighborhood in the morning, but I didn’t see her this morning. Same with yesterday.”
“Yesterday?”
“Yeah. Instead of jogging like usual, I think she’s seriously training for the tournament now. It’s being held this Saturday. Maybe I should ask my sister to help me train tomorrow too.”
Hm? I was a bit confused by what Hina just said.
“Why are you going to train too?”
“For revenge, of course! I might’ve lost to her in a fight, but when it comes to running, I’m number one!”
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