"Are you alright?"
When the girl heard this voice, she was surprised and quickly turned her head. She saw a familiar person who surprised her.
"Are you crying?" Haru asked.
"I'm not crying!" The girl said and quickly wiped her tears.
"....." Haru looked at the girl for a while and asked, "If you can't sleep, how about you accompany me for a while? Let's buy a drink at a nearby vending machine."
"Drink?" The girl looked at Haru for a while and showed hesitation.
"Well, you can treat me, so I won't tell you that you're crying here," Haru said, then left the girl calmly.
"I'm not crying!" The girl's face flushed, but watching his back. She quickly chased after him since she was afraid that he was going to blabber his mouth. "Wait for me!"
---
In front of the vending machine, Haru put a coin and chose his favorite drink. The sound of the can drink falling from the machine was heard, then he took his drink, then opened the can, drank in a gulp. He noticed the girl followed him with some nervousness and curiosity in her eyes. "What do you want to drink? I'll treat you?"
"Huh?" The girl was dumbfounded.
"I can't let a crying girl treat me, right?" Haru said with a smile.
"Wh - Who is crying!" The girl was furious at this moment, but then she looked at the vending machine curiously as if it was her first time seeing it.
"This isn't your first time, right?" Haru asked.
"Of - Of course not! I have a lot of experience with vending machines!" The girl quickly refuted.
'What the hell is this girl saying?' Haru was lost for words, thinking that this haughty girl was a bit stupid. He looked at the girl who looked at a variety of drinks and wasn't sure what to choose, but he didn't feel that surprised, considering she seemed to be coming from a rich family, the beverage from the vending machine was quite unhealthy after all, and there weren't any vending machines on his school too, so he thought that there wasn't one on the Third High School too. "Let me choose it for you." He put his money and chose the best drink on the vending machine before he gave it to the girl. "Here you go."
"Thank you," the girl said and looked curiously at the drink before she sipped it with some doubt, but then she was surprised at the taste of the drink. "It's delicious!" But she realized something and saw him smiling at her. She blushed and coughed several times, then said, "We - Well, it isn't that bad."
Haru sat on the nearby bench and asked, "If I'm not wrong, your name should be Isshiki Airi, right?"
"Yes, that's my name." Airi nodded and didn't feel surprised when Haru knew her name, considering how famous she was. "You're Rokkaku Haruka, right?" She had heard that his face was quite average, and it was hard to notice him through the crowd, but if this guy was average, then there was no handsome guy in this world, right?
If it was someone from a normal family, then Airi might not follow Haru, but Haru was coming from the 18 Assistant Houses and, their status was similar to each other. Her parents' education told her not to communicate with anyone who wasn't coming from a Numbers family since her parents were afraid that she might be fooled or being used. It was also the reason why she didn't mind following Haru, considering his origin was.
"Yes. You can call me Haru." Haru nodded and patted the empty space on the bench. "You should sit first. It is bad manners to drink while standing."
Airi raised her eyebrow, but she sat next to him for some distance. The bench was quite long so she sat on the edge of the bench, trying to sit far away from him. "So what do you want?"
"Nothing, I just want to talk. You seem to be quite free anyway," Haru said.
"I'm not free! I have an event that I have to do tomorrow!" Airi said haughtily.
"That's true, you'll have one of the girls that I have taken care of on the Crowd Ball tomorrow," Haru said.
"The girl that you have taken care of?" Airi raised her eyebrow.
"I'm an engineer," Haru said.
"I know." Airi nodded since she knew that Haru was the one who managed Shizuku's CAD, the girl, who had defeated her only friend. "So you want me to hold back against this girl?" She raised her eyebrow and asked in disdain.
"Of course not. You don't need to hold back, use all of your power since you might lose if you don't do so," Haru said with a confident smile.
Airi raised her eyebrows and showed a smile. "Are you really confident in your athlete?"
"Of course." Haru nodded and said, "So if you're fighting with your friend, you should make up as soon as possible."
"Wh - Who is fighting with my friend?!" Airi's face quickly turned red and looked away, but then she glanced at him and asked, "Ho - How did you know?" She was wondering if Haru had the ability to read her mind, if so, then she needed to be careful.
"No, I don't have the ability to read someone's mind. Your emotion is shown on your face, so I can guess you easily," Haru said.
"......" Airi.
"Well, do you want to know a way to make up with your friend?" Haru asked.
"Who - Who wants to hear it?!" Airi blushed again, felt very embarrassed, twirling the end of her hair. She glanced at him from time to time, but then she said, "Well, even though I don't need it, it won't hurt to hear it."
"......." Haru looked at Airi, whose blonde hair was being tied in half-twin-tail, and understood perfectly that this girl was tsundere, but he had to admit that this girl was very cute. "Well, it is very simple."
"Simple?" Airi looked at Haru curiously.
"Yes." Haru nodded and said, "You just need to be truthful."
"Truthful?" Airi tilted her head, making her even cuter.
"You just need to tell her truthfully that you don't care about whether she's worthy of standing by your side or not and tell her that you just want her to stay by your side, be your friend, and have fun like before. That way, I'm sure that your relationship will return to how it used to be," Haru said with a gentle smile.
"......." Airi looked at Haru in a daze since it was the first time for someone to say something like this to her.
Haru patted Airi's back and said, "Go to your friend now. If your friend locks the door of her room, just destroy the room. You're from the 18 Assistant House, right? I'm sure that you can even reimburse the destroyed door easily."
"......" Airi.
Haru then stood up and said, "I'll go back now." He then looked at Airi again for the last time and said, "Just don't forget to cry when you're talking with her later."
"Wh - Who is going to cry?!" Airi's face was so red at that moment.
"Well, see you, Isshiki-san." Haru then left and waved his hand, leaving Airi behind.
Airi wanted to stop him, but in the end, she stopped and her feeling was very complex at that moment. She wanted him to accompany her, but she then made up her mind to follow his words since it was the first time she had made a connection with someone and she didn't want to lose it so easily.
---
Haru, who had helped a beautiful girl, also walked back to his room since he knew that his girlfriend's conversation should be over. He opened the door and saw Maya, Sumire, and Suzune talking to each other with a smile.
"So are you three going to stay here tonight?" Haru asked with a smile since he had a lot of expectations of what the four of them would be doing tonight, right?