Chapter 29: Do You Like Tailing? 6

Akaishi left the surveillance of Sakurai to Hachiya and was exploring the back alley.

The moment he turned the corner—

“Huh?”

“……”

He ran straight into five large, thuggish-looking men.

“What?”

“What’s with this guy?”

Akaishi instantly understood that he had gotten entangled with people he absolutely should not mess with. He found it puzzling why he kept getting dragged into these rom-com-like situations. Ever since he got involved with Hachiya, he had started encountering strangely rom-com-esque developments in the weirdest places.

Akaishi immediately flicked a small pebble from behind his back toward Hachiya, who was far behind him.

“Ouch…… what was that?”

When Hachiya turned around, she saw Akaishi being harassed by five delinquents at the corner. Akaishi had his finger raised behind his back — the signal for “stay quiet and don’t make a sound.”

Hachiya, terrified and worried about Akaishi, quickly hid behind some garbage bags and an outdoor AC unit.

Several seconds passed after he gave the signal with his raised finger.

“At least apologize properly.”

The biggest and most impatient of the men threatened him with a low, menacing voice.

The moment Akaishi looked at the man’s face, he immediately—

“…I’m sorry.”

He apologized.

“I wasn’t watching where I was going. I’m very sorry.”

Akaishi simply bowed his head repeatedly and apologized.

“Got any money?”

The delinquents, pleased by his constant apologies, started demanding cash.

“……”

Without a word, Akaishi took out a shabby, worn-out wallet from his backpack.

“……”

With trembling hands, he quietly pulled out the bills.

Akaishi emptied the entire contents of his wallet onto his palm.

Total: 1,532 yen.

“That’s all?”

“……”

Akaishi nodded silently. He kept his head down and remained completely submissive.

“……”

“Whatever.”

The man roughly snatched the money from Akaishi’s hand.

“……”

Akaishi bowed his head again.

“……”

“……”

The men silently walked past Akaishi.

“Move.”

“……”

Akaishi stepped aside to let them through.

“What a lame-ass guy.”

“He was shaking, man.”

“Cracked me up.”

The delinquents laughed loudly enough for Akaishi to hear.

Akaishi watched the direction in which the delinquents left. Their voices gradually faded into the distance until they could no longer be heard.

“……………………”

Akaishi silently picked up the receipts that had fallen from his wallet.

“A………… Akaishi……”

Worried about him, Hachiya came out from her hiding spot and approached.

“Akaishi………… I’m sorry…… it’s my fault……”

Hachiya was extremely flustered. Although she was worried seeing Akaishi constantly apologizing, she didn’t think he was pathetic.

“It’s because of me that they took your money………… I’m sorry…… I’m so sorry…… your money, Akaishi, because of me……”

Akaishi brushed the dirt off his clothes.

“That was scary, huh.”

“…………Eh?”

His tone had completely returned to normal. Hachiya had thought that under extreme stress, Akaishi had revealed his true weak nature — that when threatened by stronger people, he would lower himself and keep apologizing. She believed that was his real personality.

But she was wrong.

In his usual tone, Akaishi put the collected receipts back into his plain wallet.

“If it were Sakurai, he would’ve beaten those five delinquents in one go and solved everything……”

Akaishi muttered to himself.

In truth, it was unclear whether Sakurai could actually defeat five delinquents. But as a rom-com protagonist, he would probably maneuver skillfully and pull it off. Akaishi was strangely convinced of that.

He was envious.

He envied Sakurai, who could save a girl being harassed by delinquents.

He envied Sakurai, who didn’t need to suck up to anyone.

He envied Sakurai, who could earn a girl’s adoration by protecting her.

He wished he had that kind of power — the power to suppress others with strength. He didn’t want to have to flatter, apologize, and paste on a shallow smile just to get through the situation.

But Akaishi was not Sakurai.

A normal high school boy with average physical abilities had zero confidence that he could defeat five delinquents who had likely strengthened their bodies through fights. His utterly ordinary body wouldn’t stand a chance even against five average people.

He was just a normal guy.

Hachiya approached Akaishi, who was radiating a sense of loneliness.

“A………… Akaishi…… are you okay?”

She looked deeply worried, thinking he might have lost his spirit as a human being after being threatened.

“I’m…… fine.”

Akaishi looked at his now-empty wallet.

“But they took my money.”

He muttered with a lonely expression.

“I’m sorry………… I’m sorry, Akaishi. Because of me……”

Hachiya kept apologizing over and over.

Akaishi took out another wallet (・・) from his bag.

“……………………Eh?”

Hachiya was stunned into silence at the appearance of the second wallet.

“A…… Akaishi, why do you have two wallets?”

Unable to understand the abnormal situation, she questioned him. Akaishi took a large number of coins out of the second wallet and transferred them into the plain one.

“Insurance.”

“Insurance……?”

“Yeah, delinquent insurance. Since I can’t win with force, if they demand money I have no choice but to give some, right? If I take out my wallet, they’ll assume that’s all I have. So I wanted to minimize the amount as much as possible.”

“Huh?”

Hachiya couldn’t fully grasp what he was saying. Akaishi put coins into the first wallet and returned the second one to his bag.

“…Wait, so you always carry two wallets?”

“Can’t be helped. I can’t win in a fight. It’s called risk hedging.”

“Then how much was the money you gave them earlier?”

“A little over a thousand yen. Better to buy safety with a thousand yen than get beaten half to death and sent to the hospital.”

“Then how much is in your real wallet?”

“A little over twenty thousand yen, I think.”

“Haaaaaaaah!?”

Hachiya, who had thought all of Akaishi’s money had been stolen, exploded with anger.

“I was so worried about you……”

“But they still took over a thousand yen. That’s a decent amount of money for a normal high school student, you know!?”

“Kh……”

She had no comeback to Akaishi’s argument.

“Then…… then what was all that desperate apologizing about!? It was all an act!?”

“Everyone lives their life acting to some degree.”

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!?”

She was utterly stunned, feeling like her worry had been wasted.

“You’ve got talent as an actor.”

“This is just my way of surviving as a human.”

Hachiya found Akaishi’s response somewhat eerie.

But she also thought that by doing so, he had bought safety not only for himself but for her as well. Perhaps he hadn’t run away earlier because he thought she might become a target.

She didn’t know exactly what Akaishi was thinking when he offered the money. It might have been pure self-preservation.

Still, Hachiya chose to see it in a positive light.

“That was a terrifying experience……”

“Yeah.”

Akaishi spoke as if it were someone else’s problem.

She thought that Akaishi’s ability to respond to crises and his willingness to act submissively and apologize profusely might be wrong on a personal level, but it was the correct response in that situation.

At the same time, she wondered if Sousuke wouldn’t have needed to apologize like that. She thought about the boy she admired.

What was right and what was wrong?

Was Sakurai, who wouldn’t back down even against delinquents, correct? Or was humbly begging for mercy the right choice?

Hachiya, who had only ever looked at Sakurai, was gradually losing her own sense of direction as she came to know a person who was the complete opposite of him.

“What a weird guy……”

Hachiya muttered in a muffled voice so no one could hear.

Mizushiro had been asked by Sakurai to help him choose a birthday present for his little sister and had gone out with him.

Sakurai had said with a refreshing smile that it would be rude to make her come just to choose a present, so he would treat her to everything — the movie and all the food.

Mizushiro desperately tried to refuse being treated, but Sakurai insisted it was thanks for helping with the present and wouldn’t take no for an answer.

On the way, Sakurai gave her the hairpin as a present. Her heart fluttered at receiving a daily-use item from the person she admired. She had felt a thrill at how seriously Sakurai considered which hairpin would suit her, and the gap between that seriousness and his usual playful attitude made her heart race.

On the way back, Mizushiro and Sakurai arrived at a park.

The park at night, with the sun already set and the area dark, felt completely different from the daytime. It seemed like they were the only two people there.

The night park was well-known as a gathering spot for couples, and Mizushiro was also affected by the romantic atmosphere.

Sakurai looked up at the sky with a boyish smile.

“Whoa, look at that, Mizushiro! The sky is full of stars!”

“Y…… yeah, it is, Sakurai-kun!”

Mizushiro was overwhelmed by the romantic mood and had lost herself.

Now is the time.

Mizushiro made up her mind.

“Sakurai-kun……”

“Hm? What’s up, Mizushiro?”

“Please…… please go out with me!”

Mizushiro conveyed her love to Sakurai in a trembling voice.

Chapter 29_ Do You Like Tailing