"Both of you, I'm sorry for making you worry..."

After school. Yuito bowed his head at the table in the family restaurant.

Facing each other are Hakari and Kirika.

"I understand that Yuito had his reasons. Please don't worry about it."

"That's right, it's not Yuito-kun's fault!"

"...Hakari-san... Kirika-san... Thank you."

Yuito bows his head again. This time, it's not an apology.

He was filled with gratitude.

"Just... if you have any worries, please consult me in the future..."

"Ugh... yeah, that's right. We're friends, after all..."

"Yes."

When she uttered the word "friend," Hakari smiled gently.

She's his first friend in life. Yuito's heart races with excitement.

Today might be the best day of his life.

"Hey, hey, if we're friends, isn't calling each other with 'san' a bit formal? Why don't you try calling me 'Kirika' without any honorifics?"

"C-calling by the name without any honorifics all of a sudden!?"

For introverts, being called by his name without honorifics is a high hurdle.

He's filled with anxiety, wondering, "Am I being rude?" or "Do they dislike me?"

If the other person is a girl, the hurdle becomes even higher.

(But, we're friends, right? Calling each other by our names should be normal...!!)

Yuito steeled himself and spoke.

"K-Kirika..."

Doon!!

At that moment, Kirika's face turned bright red.

Kirika hides her smirking mouth and moves her body in a twisting manner like a dancing flower toy.

"Hey, maybe we should stop using first names so casually!! It's more powerful than I thought... Anyway, this is bad!!"

"...Yuito-san. Please try calling me without honorifics too!"

"Huh? Hakari?"

"Ugh... indeed, this is dangerous..."

Even Hakari seemed to be shot through, as she pressed her chest and looked down. Her ears were bright red.

Kirika danced with a smirk, while Hakari looked down with a pained expression.

―What is this?

Yuito could only tilt his head in confusion.

"Um, so it's okay to call you 'Kirika-san' and 'Hakari-san,' right?"

"Let's go with that until we get used to it."

"Yes. I've realized that being called by my name suddenly is bad for my heart."

"R-really...?"

He doesn't really understand, but it seems like it's okay to call them by their name without honorifics after all.

After that, Yuito and the others had a meal at a family restaurant before heading home.

They ended up chatting so much that the three of them didn't go outside until after seven.

It had completely gotten dark.

"Are you both okay? Do you want me to give you a ride?"

"Hmm... I wonder which one Yuito-kun, who is all alone, will walk me home?"

Kirika grins mischievously with a smirk.

He couldn't help but feel his heart race at that enchanting smile.

However, what she's saying makes sense.

"Oh, that's true... The directions to your two houses are opposite, right?"

"That's right, right? Which one will Yuito-kun choose?"

"Kirika-san, that's only going to hurt yourself."

"Wow, Hakari-chan's confidence is amazing... but I shouldn't be losing either...!!"

"Oh, right."

Yuito clapped his hands.

"Wouldn't it be fine to go back and forth between the two of you for about a minute each?"

"...Are you serious? Our houses are about a kilometer apart, you know?"

"If it were me, I could run it in less than a second."

"Are you a space shuttle? Planning to fly into space or something?"

"If it's Yuito-san, he might actually do it... traveling through space in the flesh."

"That side!? Shouldn't you apologize to Gagarin!?"

"Oh, you're the person from 'The Earth was Blue,' right? I was mesmerized the first time I jumped into space too..."

"Ahaha... Yuito-kun's jokes are so funny... It must have been my imagination that 'jump' sounded like 'fly'..."

While talking with Kirika and the others, Yuito put his hand in his pocket.

He looks for his phone to check the current time.

"Oh... I might have forgotten my phone at the family restaurant."

"Are you okay? Should we go back and get it?"

"You two go ahead, I'll run and get it."

After saying that, Yuito vanished in an instant.

"Fast...!? Is this really a speed that can take us to space!?"

"He might be exceeding the first cosmic velocity."

Kirika and the others walk forward while exchanging light banter.

At that speed, he'll be back at the family restaurant in no time, look for his phone, and come back.

Even considering the time it takes to find his smartphone, it shouldn't take more than thirty seconds.

"...So? Were we waiting for Yuito-kun to leave?"

"Shut up."

As soon as Yuito was gone, people began to emerge one after another from the shadows.

It's a group with hair dyed in colorful colors. Right in the middle of it is Arai.

"Even though you're so afraid of Yuito-san, do you still plan to keep harassing him?"

"This isn't harassment... it's revenge."

"...It's so trivial."

"Isn't it ridiculous!! Because of that loner, my school life is a complete mess!! They even uploaded a video of it on SNS!?"

It seems that a student was secretly filming the altercation with Yuito from outside the classroom.

Although it was through a mosaic, Arai's disgraceful behavior was being spread across the internet.

"Do you know what the people at school call me on SNS?!"

"Oh, I saw it. 'Conceited Jerk,' right?"

"I'll kill you, you bitch!!"

He asks the question himself, then gets angry when he gets an answer. What an unreasonable man.

"Hey, Arai. Don't get so excited."

"Senpai, I'm sorry."

The large man standing next to Arai, who was screaming loudly, restrained him.

He is holding a metal bat in his hand.

He recognizes the brand name written on that bat.

It's a company that sells weapons for explorers. That bat is probably a "bat-like blunt weapon."

"So, these two women... is it okay to take them home?"

"Of course. As long as I can use it to intimidate the introverts, feel free to do whatever you want."

"I'm not interested in your revenge, but since women are indeed valuable, I'll let it slide."

"Ugh... the worst..."

Apparently, Arai plans to use "friends" to kidnap Kirika and the others and take them hostage to threaten Yuito.

He's the lowest scumbag.

"Say whatever you want. Well then, senpai. Thank you in advance.."

"..."

"...Senpai?"

The bat clattered to the ground. Arai's senpai collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"Se, senpai...!?"

"I told you."

"Tsu!?"

Before he knew it, there was a figure behind senpai.

A familiar, unforgettable face for Arai as well.

"If you lay a hand on my friend, I'll never forgive you."

Yuito was standing.

Chapter 13: I Told You