Chapter 7: Relationship with Rina heats up

……

Natsuki Arai rode his bike back to his house, pulled out his key to open the door, and then carted it into the yard.

Through the balcony window, he saw that the light was on inside, so it looked like Rina hadn’t left.

Today was a completely unproductive day, he pursed his lips and exhaled from the tip of his nose.

He entered through the entrance door of the foyer, but when he had just closed the door, he heard a rush of footsteps inside, from near to far.

He changed his shoes and stepped out into the hallway, a faint fruity scent still permeating the dining room as he pushed open the door.

Just two steps away, he saw a smashed bottle of plum jam on the floor in front of the refrigerator, shards of glass as well as jam splattered all over the floor.

And behind the shelf of potted plants two meters away from each other, Leena was catatonic with a look of having done something wrong.

From between the branches of the greenery, a small pair of eyes would look over every now and then to observe his reaction.

Aoi Natsuki crouched down and was silent for a moment, then he raised his head and said softly, “Don’t come near here for the time being, I’ll come back when I’ve cleaned up.”

With that he went to the balcony door and opened it to get a small shovel as well as a mop from the outside deck.

There was still a bit of jam left on the little spatula.

It’s hard not to ……

He looked up at Lina.

Lina was holding up a writing pad with “I’m sorry” written on it in front of him.

A good boy who recognizes his mistakes.

He then cleaned up the jam as well as the broken glass, and the floor was restored to like-new condition.

Lina, who was watching from the side, also had her eyes glowing.

“Favorability +2”

After Natsuki Aoi put her tools away, she came back to Rina and crouched down.

Leena looked overwhelmed.

After a day or so together, Lina’s favorability towards him had come to -15.

At this value both parties can still communicate normally face to face without physical contact.

Natsuki Aoi stared at her and said, “I saw jam on the spatula cluck.”

“……”

Seeing that she didn’t say anything, Aoi Natsuki directly spread out her hand and reached out to her, slightly serious, “Let me see your hand.”

“……” Lina reluctantly kept her hands behind her back, and the two of them were at a standstill for a few moments before she finally reached out.

This may have been the first physical contact between the two of them.

Lena crossed that mental hurdle as well.

“Favorability +5”

Each action seems to affect the range of 1-5 points of goodwill, and basically adding 5 points to any of them is one of the best options.

Lina’s hands curled slightly in his.

Natsuki Aoi carefully checked, and sure enough, he had broken a gash in his right knuckle.

“In the future, you have to tell me if you get hurt okay? Wounds are likely to get inflamed if you don’t treat them.” He shifted his squatting body next to what happened to be a small cabinet and pulled a box of home medical kits with zippered band-aids out of it.

It is best for some scratches as it fits on both sides of the wound and snaps shut, which prevents scarring of the wound.

“Okay, great job, then …… I’ll go make dinner.”

Natsuki Aoi returned the smile.

This time, however, the smile looked less disgusting to Rina.

She even felt that her face was a little hot, and picked up the writing pad on the floor that still had “I’m sorry” written on it to cover her face.

Aoi Natsuki still thought it was quite cute when she saw it, as well as if Rina really was going to stay at his house, shouldn’t she have new clothes on her as well.

This will eventually be a problem.

On that note, it would be better to ask Lina’s opinion over dinner.

“Awwwwwww.”

“That’s okay oh, you can sit in the living room and watch some TV for a while and I’ll call you later for dinner.”

“Awwwwwww!”

……

The other side.

A single family home.

Mito Takahashi came home half an hour later than usual.

Just as I entered the door, preparing to put my removed shoes in the nearby shoebox, another female voice came from the kitchen not far away.

“Sister? Is it Sister who’s back?”

“Uh-huh.” Takahashi Midu answered, then changed into her indoor shoes and quickly ran up to the second floor.

“Why are you back so late tonight? Sister? Sister!”

However there was no response to the questioning voice, Takahashi Midu had long since run into her room and locked the door behind her back.

Inside the house, Mito Takahashi chose to finish her homework first, sent a message to her mom about having some leftovers for herself to eat later, and then took a moment to apply a mask to her face, remove her contacts, and put on her high-count myopia glasses.

After completing the homework, it was time for two hours of online catch-up time, with some more browsing of entertainment sites along the way.

It’s like that day after day.

She was a feared presence at school and was equally avoided at home.

When you see some interesting short videos to have fun, you don’t realize how quickly the time will pass.

She hadn’t thought about what she wanted to do in the future, and currently there wasn’t anything she wanted to change anyway.

Casually coiling her soft purple hair, she took off her socks and rested her two bare feet on the table.

Swipe your phone while playing on the computer.

I thought the day would just go by again, when suddenly the figure of the strange male student from tonight flashed through her head.

At the same time, that familiar feeling of disgust came back.

It directly ruined her good mood at the moment.

Takahashi Mito began to think about it, and eventually, unable to resist her curiosity, sat up and opened their school’s forum in her computer.

Entered the keyword: Aoi Natsuki.

A carriage return goes down.

A series of discussion posts popped up.

It scared her too, and when she looked at the post count, 107, oh my god! Is it really that scary?

She began to scroll up amongst them, the posts were one hundred percent sarcastic and mocking of the boy named Natsuki Arai, and quite a few had taken recent pictures of him, with some equally obnoxious embellishments added by Ertron.

It never occurred to me that the human heart could be so dark.

Takahashi Mito remembered the words he had said at the end of the school day, and that’s when it dawned on her slightly.

Or maybe he’s actually right.

He might actually be similar to him in terms of being a pain in the ass, and the guy was too miserable by comparison, right?

But with that look on his face, it seems like it’s a normal thing to get yelled at, right?

Takahashi Mito couldn’t say what was wrong with him, but when she thought of him or saw his face, she couldn’t help but get angry and feel disgusted from the bottom of her heart.

“Sister? It’s time to eat, if you don’t eat the food will get cold.” The young woman’s voice sounded again outside the door.

Ayano Takahashi, the twin sister of Mito Takahashi, was born a mere six minutes after her, and is, in a word, a very unconscious little troublemaker.

“I know, I’ll go down and eat later.”

Midu Takahashi responded.

Opening a door is impossible to open unless the other person can walk through walls.

“Sis, why are you back so late today? It can’t be~ it’s to go on a date~”

The voice at the door smirked.

Takahashi Midu frowned again, “Don’t guess if you shouldn’t, it’s just that you came back a little late.”

“No, I didn’t! It’s obviously been more than half an hour, and your usual sister would have gone home long ago, so tell me the truth! Did you see a boy? Is he handsome? How tall is he? Is he from the same school?”

Ayano Takahashi’s deadly four-quartet of questions.

But Midu Takahashi clearly didn’t want to answer any questions.

One last look at the recent photo of Natsuki Aoi in the post and a nasty chill surged through his body.

She shivered.

What an uncomfortable guy to watch.

This kind of guy should never be able to get a girlfriend in his life, right?

And what girl would be blind enough to fall for him, that’s just unbelievable ……