Chapter 112 – An Unsolicited Embrace

“I even suspected that you were installing surveillance cameras on me, and every time something happens to me, you’re always right on time.” Natsuki Aoi picks at the doorframe and then lets herself go, she’s here and there’s no getting rid of her.

Hearing that, Sakurajima Apricot’s playful elf pleases on her cheeks, while also carrying in the plastic bag with things in her right hand, coming to a distance of less than ten centimeters between her and Aoi Natsuki, with the index finger of her left hand pointing to the location of his heart, “I’m afraid it’s just here then, oh.”

As soon as Natsuki Aoi grabbed her left wrist, her eyes fell on the clear plastic bag she had brought with her.

“Is this cantaloupe?”

“BINGO, it’s cantaloupe.” The next moment Sakurajima Apricot felt Natsuki let go of her hand, she cupped her hands and displayed the cantaloupe, which weighed about seven or eight pounds, in front of him.

“Why do you like to eat some anti-seasonal fruits too? Is this the luxury among the rich?”

The price of fruit in Japan is surprisingly high, and often a family will not choose to buy fruit whole, but will ask the salesman to cut it in half or in quarters, especially in a core city like Tokyo, where the price of all sorts of things is quite a bit higher than in other areas, and a lot of housewives will inadvertently linger in the fruit section of a large supermarket when they are shopping, and will end up buying strawberries even on a per-person basis, by the piece.

And in front of such a large cantaloupe, or anti-seasonal fruit, that price is steadily over ten thousand yen or more, which can certainly be called luxury.

“The parlor seems to be buzzing.”

Sakurajima Apricot noticed that the glass window of the balcony was covered by a layer of white hot air, and it was obvious that there was someone else in the house.

“Well, today is the first day my parents came back from their business trip and we’re having lunch.” Aoi Natsuki explained the situation truthfully, while Sakurajima Apricot’s expression was shocked when she heard that his parents were at home, but the look brought Aoi a bad feeling.

“So it’s aunt and uncle who have returned, all the more reason for me to pay a visit.” Sakurajima Apricot’s originally sluggish movements became agile in an instant, and with a single dodge she drilled through the gap between the lower part of Aoi Natsuki’s right hand, heading straight for the entrance hallway.

Aoi Natsuki’s heart sank as she hurriedly turned to follow, but she was ultimately a step too slow.

The two men arrived at the door of the dining room just ahead and behind each other.

Sakurajima Apricot’s eyes swept over everyone at the dinner table, the appearance of Ryuusakura, Hayakawa, and Ayano didn’t surprise her, after all, Aoi’s peach blossoms were so strong right now, it was especially normal to have more than two or three girls by his side, and the middle-aged man and woman who were sitting in the main seat should be Aoi’s mom and dad, right?

Huh? Aoi looks a lot like his dad.

“Yo guys, I seem to be late.” Sakurajima Apricot narrowed her eyes and smiled.

Behind her, Aoi Natsuki looked at the crowd in front of her with slight embarrassment, and then looked at her dad and mom, and her complexion followed suit.

Ha ……

“Mom and Dad, this is my alumni too.”

“My name is Sakurajima Apricot, aunt and uncle can directly call me Apricot.” Sakurajima Apricot’s voice was sweet at this time, the whole person looked particularly well-behaved, coupled with that extreme appearance, Aoi Ryuuya’s movement of lifting the chopsticks stopped in its entirety.

If he met such a beautiful high school student on the daily street, around the fact that he is forty years old this year, he would also sigh without thinking, “Beauty na ……”

As a woman, Aoi Ikuko would likewise have envious feelings towards girls with extremely outstanding looks, though the reaction would not be as exaggerated as that of the child’s father; her eyes slowly moved downward, eventually seeing the other party’s feet, clad in black cotton socks, stepping on the wooden planks of the corridor.

“Natsuki, find your friend a pair of slippers first.”

Aoi Natsuki heard, finally opened the box, nodded repeatedly, pulled Sakurajima’s arm and walked back, but it was this action, in the eyes of others nothing, but in the eyes of Aoi Ryuuya, this action is too ambiguous, and what is the relationship between these two people?

Seeing too many beautiful girls in one day, Aoi Ryuuya’s entire brain was getting dizzy.

There was the sound of bustling, close conversation in the hallway, and then Apricot Sakurajima walked back into the dining room and handed Ryuya Arai the cantaloupe that had been prepared.

“Are you Uncle? I had heard Aoi say before that you and Auntie were coming back, so I’ve specially prepared a little token of appreciation today, so please accept it.”

Lean!

Lying again!

But in this situation, where could Aoi Natsuki possibly point that out, and could only look at Sakurajima Apricot with an odd look.

Aoi Long was also surprised to the point that his mouth was slightly open, turning his head to glance at his wife, then he took the heavy cantaloupe, naturally in his heart he knew the value of this thing, where did a high school girl get so much money?

“This …… is too expensive ……”

“It’s okay, I often have a part-time job to earn money during the weekdays, today this gift is something that I have thought about for a long time and picked out, so I hope that aunts and uncles won’t excuse themselves.” Sakurajima Apricot’s sweet voice directly captured Aoi Ryuuya’s heart, even though they only met for less than five minutes, she must be a good girl!

Aoi Natsuki have no eyes to see, this lying will not blush, should be said to be really worthy of her well.

“I don’t think you’ve had your lunch yet, Apricot Jam? Why don’t you sit down and eat with us?”

“Uh-huh! Yes, Uncle!”

Sakurajima Apricot put on the image of a good girl and then sat down in one of the furthest seats, looking completely at ease with the world.

It wasn’t hard for Aoi Natsuki to imagine that if she could see her dad’s favoritism towards other girls, then I’m afraid that all of them would have exceeded 40 by now.

The next few people continued to eat, the so-called food does not speak, the Aoi couple does not seem to have the habit of gossiping at the dinner table, which always circumvents the occurrence of some events that are even more embarrassing.

“Ah.” Ayano, who was sitting next to Aoi, suddenly dazedly gripped her chopsticks.

It had just begun to feel like there was something she’d been forgetting in her head, but she just couldn’t remember it, and it wasn’t until now, as she stuffed the fried shrimp in front of her into her mouth, that everything snapped back to her.

Ah ……

Sister ……

I almost forgot that I came over today to give Natsuki my manuscript, a draft, which manga artists roughly draw once before drawing a manga, laying out subplots, setting up **points**, reasonably limiting the number of pages, and so on.

But I didn’t expect to meet Natsuki’s mom and dad on the way here, and for a moment I put the matter of having to go back for dinner behind me.

“Yah ……” Ayano’s brow furrowed into a kawaii as she slowly lowered her head under the desktop and pulled out her cell phone, and sure enough, there were four unread texts.

This is going to be agonizing now ……

In particular, my sister’s last entry of nearly twenty question marks was a good indication of how she was feeling at the time.

Why haven’t you come back? Why did you stay so long? What were you talking to Aoi again?

All sorts of meanings are contained in this long list of question marks.

A chill ran down Ayano’s back.

Two fingers stayed in the phone screen void reply more than ten seconds later, she instantly typed “soon back”, sent, long press the off button to turn off the phone.

She knew that once she struck up a conversation with her sister, it would be a barrage of verbal bombardment, so it would be easiest to just quickly turn off her phone after a brief reply.

Relieved, she waited until after the meal before she opened her cell phone with trepidation, and her unread messages had turned into twenty-four, with five missed calls.

Ha ……

Ayano looked at the text message and fell into a long silence.

Natsuki Aoi enters the kitchen to wash the dishes, Hayakawa had thought to help along but didn’t want to be preempted by Ryuzakura.

Aoi Ryu also said he was a little sleepy and needed to go take a nap.

“Yuuko, why don’t you go get some rest too? It didn’t look like you slept very well on the plane.”

“No, I have something else to do this afternoon, I’m going to take Rina shopping for some clothes, so go ahead and get some sleep.” Aoi Ikuko’s words drew the attention of several girls.

“Alright, don’t tire yourself, I’m going to take a nap first.” Aoi Ryuuya felt very stiff all over his body, and after eating his fill he became sleepy and yawned as he walked out of the dining room.

Aoi Ikuko let out a breath and waved towards Rina, who obediently ran over and took her hand.

Turning his gaze to Hayakawa, “Hayakawa, why don’t you come with us?”

This sudden invitation not only made Hayakawa very shocked, but the rest of the few people also all threw their eyes.

Out with Natsuki’s mom ……

In her heart, Hayakawa Keiko was naturally a million times more willing, this time she had to be brave to do so, holding onto the table and standing up, “Yes, yes!”

“Why don’t I give you guys a ride, after all, it’ll be easier if I have a car.” Dragon Sakura in the kitchen said as she walked out.

It was at this time that Aoi Yuuko remembered that Long Sakura still had a car, and it was indeed more convenient to have a car when it was so cold outside and with Lina in tow.

A hesitant look crossed her face.

Hayakawa Keiko saw this and all of a sudden her heart tensed up, no, wasn’t it already chosen to be me?

Aoi Natsuki stopped washing the dishes and looked back out of the kitchen, what’s the situation, just now it was hot and bustling, suddenly all of them were quiet.

Inside the living room, Sakurajima Apricot, who was sitting on the arm of the sofa, put her left hand on Ayano’s shoulder and kept her eyes on the dining room, but looking at the situation, Hayakawa seemed to be losing, huh? Nervous hands are clenched tightly.

Her mouth smiled lightly, and she stood up immediately after to break the current deadlock, “It’s true that taking the car would be more convenient, but Hayakawa has a good eye for choosing clothes, so why don’t you bring them all together, shopping at the mall is no big deal for us girls anyway.”

“Sakurajima ……” Hayakawa’s gratitude was spilling out of those little eyes, and Sakurajima’s apricot remained calm, small scene, small scene.

Aoi Ikuko also felt that it made sense, and then nodded, “Alright, then I’ll trouble you to be the driver again, Ryuusakura, and Hayakawa, you can follow us as well.”

“It’s fine, just a show of hands.” Long Sakura couldn’t see any difference on her complexion, and it seemed that when she had just made this suggestion, she had really felt that it was more convenient to do so before making it, and not for any other reason.

“Uhh!” Hayakawa Keiko’s side pursed her lips so much that she couldn’t find two lips, she was so nervous right now that even her chest was involuntarily rising and falling up and down.

“The situation has been resolved.” Aoi Natsuki sensed that it was Sakurajima Apricot who stepped in to resolve the situation, not realizing that this guy also had a time for helping people, and then he glanced at her through the glass door, but was instantly captured by the other party.

Sakurajima Apricot raised an eyebrow upwards at him.

This person really has some kind of special ability, even if he looks at her, he will be quickly detected.

Natsuki Aoi shook her head, dismissing distractions as she continued to brush the dishes in the sink with the cleaning sponge.

Twenty minutes passed, Aoi Natsuki’s ears heard the slightly hurried footsteps of a few people following their feet, like the scene in an rpg game when they automatically follow after recruiting a partner, and after another two minutes, the room became silent all of a sudden as the basement door was slammed shut.

Aoi Natsuki cleared up the kitchen at this point as well and walked to the dining room, the whole place empty at this point.

Eh?

Why is it all gone?

Natsuki Arai pulled out a tissue from the tabletop and looked around, then right in front of the balcony glass window, she saw Ayano sitting on the wooden porch outside.

Carrying in her hand the Yoshi-san who had met the blossoming Shiba Inu, the Shiba Inu was still very cute after the blossoming, she let it lie freely on her lap, constantly ruffling its black fleshy paws with her right forefinger, her gung-ho eyes staring straight at her, and Ayano, who was also of a gung-ho attribute, returned the same gaze, and she just didn’t know if the brainwaves between the two loads would be able to actually match up because of it.

Aoi Natsuki pulled open the glass door, “Isn’t it cold to sit outside? Be careful of catching a cold.”

Takahashi Ayano twisted her head and grinned, “It’s fine, I’m in great shape, by the way, I haven’t shown you my manuscript yet, do you want to read it now?”

“Well, see, where do you keep it?”

“It’s on the living room table.”

“Okay, I’ll bring it over.” Natsuki Arai turned back to fetch the manuscript, grabbed a yellow folder on the living room coffee table, and turned back to the wooden hallway, “Say, where’s Sakurajima?”

“I just watched Sakurajima talk to the girls and go out together.”

“Well …… that’s quite like her style.” Aoi Natsuki spat, how could she fall behind on such an interesting event, completely following along with the mindset of watching.

Natsuki Aoi let out a breath and opened the folder, pulling out the manuscript inside, then sat down on the edge of the wooden porch next to Ayano along with it; it was stuffy inside and it did feel good to be outside in the cool breeze for three or five minutes.

Ayano moved her butt and leaned her body slightly towards him, “This is a draft after implementing my thoughts from last time, take a look and have any comments?”

Aoi Natsuki carefully scrutinized the whole thing, and was amazed for a moment in his heart, such a big improvement in just a short period of time, just like getting enlightened, this level might really be able to win an award.

“It’ll work! That’s it! I think it’ll work! Ayano, you’re amazing now, you’re growing up so fast, tell me, what’s it all about?”

Takahashi Ayano received a positive answer, her face overflowed with immense surprise, it was not in vain that she had wasted her sleep and time studying each page of the subplot, hoping to achieve the ultimate, presenting the best side.

She couldn’t help but get red in the eyes when she remembered how hard she had worked on the draft design.

“……”

“Huh? It couldn’t be that Hayakawa influenced you, could it? Her manga talent gives you no small amount of crisis, so you’re striving harder too right?” Aoi Natsuki turned her head and elbowed her arm, teasing.

But there’s something wrong with the way she looks.

At this time she should not immediately give a reply, why is she still so silent.

After five or six seconds had passed, Takahashi Ayano suddenly turned around, and just like a hungry tiger pouncing on a tiger, she pounced into Natsuki’s arms and hugged tightly, “Thank you, thank you Natsuki for your encouragement! I will definitely work harder in the future!”

Speaking with a bit of a sob in his voice.

Aoi Natsuki’s expression changed from one of panic to one of composure, and just like coaxing a child, he stroked her head and said in a warm voice, “Well, keep up the good work, I’m looking out for you.”

Ayano Takahashi’s favorability increases again ……