Chapter 15: Do You Like House Visits?　１

After parting ways with Hachiya and returning home, Akaishi immediately flopped onto his bed and reflected on everything that had happened that day.

“Akaishi, come to my house tomorrow.”

He pondered why Hachiya would say something like that to him, but no clear answer came to mind. He wondered if leaving her and Sakurai alone by getting off at the next station had somehow stimulated one of her complexes, but since he didn’t know Hachiya that well, he stopped thinking about it.

Akaishi rolled around restlessly on his bed, then reached into his bag, took out his smartphone, and turned it on.

“What should I do……”

In her room, Hachiya stared at her phone and groaned to herself. Having already told Akaishi to come to her house, she felt there was no turning back now.

If she contacted him now saying “Never mind, it was nothing,” he might think she had feelings for him. Or he might interpret it as her getting embarrassed after mustering the courage to invite him over. Hachiya concluded that she had to act as if inviting him had been part of her plan from the very beginning — completely natural and expected.

She desperately tried to come up with a legitimate reason to call Akaishi to her house. Various scenarios ran through her mind as she searched for the optimal excuse.

“Nnnn~~~~~~…………”

No matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t find a good reason to invite him over.

They had already exchanged contacts, so there was no real need to meet in person. Yet to create a reason for meeting, she also needed to tie it to some progress in her romance with Sakurai. Having to satisfy both conditions at once made the task extremely difficult.

“What do I do……”

Unable to find an answer, Hachiya muttered to herself, feeling pathetic.

She kept spinning in circles, worried that if she waited too long to contact him, he would think she had invited him over for no reason at all.

“Aaaaaaaaahhhhh— What should I doooooooo!?”

Hachiya rolled from side to side on her bed, covering her head with her hands. She stopped her anxious movements and decided to take a deep breath.

“Suuu— haaaa— suuu— haaaa—”

After breathing deeply, Hachiya’s eyes landed on something in front of her.

“This……”

It was a bento box she had bought about six months ago. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck her.

“This is it!”

Hachiya jumped up energetically and immediately turned on her phone.

“I want to make a bento for Sousuke, but I’m not very good at cooking. Come to my house tomorrow and I’ll have you teach me how to cook!”

She sent the message to Akaishi via the SNS communication app ‘Kaof’ and put her phone down.

“Fuuu~~~~~~”

She felt relieved, thinking this excuse meant her contact wouldn’t seem too late.

Ping!

“Wah!”

Surprised that he replied almost immediately, Hachiya checked her phone.

‘Can’t you just ask someone else? Like your mom or dad.’

As expected, his reply was a refusal. Hachiya’s face twisted into a scowl at how unresponsive he was.

“What the hell is wrong with him!? He really doesn’t react to my cuteness at all, it pisses me off!”

Frustrated, she flicked her phone aggressively and sent another message.

‘My dad can’t cook and my mom is too busy to have time.’

Hachiya glared at her phone, waiting for a reply.

‘Then you should look it up online. You can find anything on the internet these days.’

“Haaaaaaa———————!?”

His completely off-the-mark response made her irritation grow.

“That’s not what I’m asking! Obviously that’s not what I want to hear!”

She typed back furiously.

‘If someone said “I want to get better at sports, teach me,” would you seriously reply “Just look it up online”!? If you could learn everything from the internet, there’d be no need for coaches!’

She felt like the conversation was derailing, but she sent it anyway.

Ping!

‘That makes sense.’

“See!?”

She felt a surge of pride at having logically cornered the rationalist Akaishi. Then another reply came.

‘Well, the topic is still off though. I’m not good at cooking either, so ask a friend. Besides, I’m a guy and you’re a girl.’

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa———————!?”

Hachiya finally exploded. Akaishi knew she didn’t have any close female friends, yet he had once again stabbed at her complex. She was also furious that he was using the “guy and girl” excuse to avoid getting involved with her.

Hachiya couldn’t understand it. She couldn’t comprehend why Akaishi was avoiding her so much.

She felt deeply unpleasant. Extremely unpleasant.

She decided to make him realize just how humiliating it was for him to bring up the “guy and girl” difference simply because she liked Sakurai.

Driven by anger, Hachiya poured out all the swirling resentment and frustration in her heart and sent a massive reply.

‘I already told you I don’t have any female friends! What the hell is wrong with you!? A beautiful girl is telling you to come to her house, so you should be happy and come! You’re seriously not cute at all! What is your problem!? Do you even understand what you’re doing!? You always give me these half-assed, evasive replies and it pisses me off so much!

Do you really not understand what I’m thinking at all!? You’re the one with the problem! That’s exactly why you don’t have any friends! Don’t you think you should be nice to a girl!?

Are you trying to imply that I’m not attractive!? It pisses me off! You should just say “I’ll come” without thinking! Are you stupid!?

What!? What is it!? Do you hate that I like Sousuke that much!? Is that why you keep sending me these annoying, half-hearted replies!?

Can’t you understand other people’s feelings at all!? There’s something seriously wrong with your head! You think everything through cold efficiency and selfishness, that’s why your life never goes well! Has anything ever gone right for you!? Not everything in this world works out if you only think selfishly like you do!

Look, right now you’ve completely earned my displeasure! That’s why you’ll never have any friends! During lunch at school you’re always eating alone somewhere, right!? I bet you eat your lunch alone in the toilet, don’t you!? That’s why you’re hopeless.

Living like a machine that doesn’t consider other people’s feelings will never work out for you, you idiot!!!!!!!!’

Hachiya poured out all her feelings, added plenty of insults and complaints, and sent the message.

“Haa………………”

Having vented everything she felt toward Akaishi, she felt somewhat refreshed.

When she looked back at the message she had written, it was so long she had to scroll multiple times. She was surprised at how emotional she had become.

On ‘Kaof’, she saw that Akaishi had already read the message. She put her phone down, thinking he would reply soon, and let out a sigh.

Five minutes passed.

“He’s late…… Maybe I wrote too much.”

Ten minutes passed.

“Maybe I really did write too much.”

Thirty minutes passed.

“Isn’t this taking way too long!? Just how slow is he at reading!?”

One hour passed.

“He must be writing a long reply too, that’s why it’s taking so long! I took a lot of time too, so it’s only natural! Yeah, natural!”

Even as she muttered to herself, Hachiya was aware that her words and thoughts were growing further apart. She knew full well that the rationalist Akaishi would never send a long emotional reply.

It was already past 7 PM, so Hachiya decided to go eat dinner.

Chapter 15_ Do You Like House Visits