I woke up and the sun blinded my eyes. I looked at Erii and she's still asleep. I kissed her forehead and left to find breakfast for both of us. I went to the bread store and bought so many types of bread that are just out of the oven. Then I bought coffee for both of us. When I came back, Erii just woke up and she looked at me with her barely opened eyes. I say,
"I bought some bread and coffee, let's eat."
Erii wiped her face and sat in front of me. She asks,
"When did you wake up?"
I reply,
"Around 15 minutes ago. Here's your coffee."
I gave her the coffee and chocolate bread. She munched the bread and her puffy cheek made me want to kiss her. I approached her and sat beside her then I kissed her cheek. She smiled and pulled me again then kissed my lips.
We ate our breakfast and she went back to her room to take a bath. I also took a bath after she left. When I'm done, I checked my phone and Ryo gave me yesterday's income. I replied to his message and he read the message but he didn't reply to my message. Then Erii came and she's ready to go. We left the hotel and go to the famous places in Kyoto.
I looked at my phone to see if Ryo replied to my message, but he still hasn't replied. Erii looked at me and then she asks,
"What's wrong?"
I reply,
"Hmm, Ryo hasn't replied to my message. He read it but he didn't reply to my message. I think he's busy."
Erii grabbed her phone and she showed her messages to Ryo. She says,
"He replied to my messages though. He asked me what were we doing and if I had fun here."
Erii is looking at me and she asks,
"Did you guys fought?"
I shake my head and reply,
"No, I don't think so. He didn't message me until this morning."
I looked at Erii's conversation with Ryo and he has been messaging with Erii since yesterday. I sat on the bench and I thought that he has been acting differently towards me since I dated Erii. I really didn't want to admit it but that must be the reason why. Erii asks,
"What is it?"
I reply,
"Ah, it's nothing. Let's continue our trip."
She nods and we hold hands while we are enjoying the views.
It's evening already and our flight is at 8 P.M. so we hurriedly went back to the hotel and prepared our belongings. After we checked out from the hotel, we took our time to buy a souvenir for Ryo and Erii's family. We both bought a different item for him. I bought something that seems perfect for him.
We left Kyoto and we finally arrived back at our houses. After I said goodbye to her, I went inside my house and cleaned the house then went to sleep.
It's Monday, it's time to go back to my daily routine as a student.
I left my house and Erii waited for me in front of my house. We went to school together. When we entered the classroom, Ryo looked at us and waved at me like there was nothing happened between us. Erii gave him a red gate key chain and he loved it. Ryo looked at me and I ignored him. I sat on my seat and put my headset on. Erii looked at me with disbelief but then she remembered about the messages I asked her yesterday. She then went to her seat and greeted her friends. Ryo went to his seat and looked at me awkwardly. I'm sure he noticed what it was all about.
At the lunch break, Erii approached me with Ryo. Erii asks,
"What should we eat?"
Ryo replies,
"I really want some croquette and katsu..."
Erii is looking at me and asks,
"What about you?"
I reply,
"I'm skipping lunch, you guys can go without me."
I left the class and put my headset on. I went to the back of the school and lit my cigarette.
I'm not angry at him, but I'm not the kind of person who confronts someone for what they did. I'm more that kind of person who treated them like they treated me.
The lunch break is over. I skipped classes and stayed here. Ren messaged me that he wanted to explain everything to Erii and Ryo. Not from just his perspective, but also Kuro and Aiko's perspectives as well. I replied that we could meet up tomorrow after school.
I'm sitting and leaning toward the wall and under the tree while smoking. I hear footsteps and I turn around. Erii is walking towards me with worries. She then sits beside me and asks,
"What's wrong with you today?"
I reply,
"Well, you know the reason, Erii."
Erii says,
"If it's because Ryo ignored your message, you should ask him about it."
I reply,
"I would rather not. I have more important things to think about."
I don't think Erii noticed that Ryo ignored me because he was jealous. I'm pretty sure she also didn't realize that he's in love with her.
I stood up and stretched my arms. I told her that we will be meeting Ren and his siblings tomorrow after school. Erii nodded and said that she will tell Ryo about it. After that, she forced me to go back to class, and so we went back to our class.
The last class ended. Ryo awkwardly approached me and tried to have a conversation with me. That was the first time I saw him acting like that. There was no reason for him to be awkward towards me unless he felt guilty about something.
I went home and then opened the restaurant. Erii helped me today. Erii said that Ryo won't be able to help us today because he had something else to do.
It's midnight and I'm about to close the restaurant. Erii dragged me into the kitchen and we had alone time before we went home.
The next day after school.
Erii told Ryo that we are going to meet the Hasegawa. We all went to the cafe that Ren messaged me. When we arrived, the waitress told us to go to the third floor. With that, we all went upstairs. Ren, Kuro, and Aiko already there and waited for us. We sat in front of them and then Ren says,
"Inoue-Kun, the reason why we asked you to come here is that we will tell you an important matter."
Ren stands up and he continues,
"We are the Hasegawa family. We are the 10th generation of the Hasegawa clan. The government called us one of the Yakuza's families."
Ryo surprised and he unconsciously leaned backward. Ren then continues,
"The reason why we tell you this is because of the incident with the deaths of Norl-Kun parents. The truth is that his parents are murdered by the other clan, The Sakurai family. I'm pretty sure you have no idea who they are. To put it simply, the current prime minister and some of his cabinets are working under the Sakurai family. So you can imagine how strong they are."
Ryo is terrified and so are we because this is the first time we heard about the Sakurai family power. Then Ryo nervously asks,
"Then what? Why did you tell us this? I mean, I know it has something to do with Aze, but why you told Erii and me about this?"
Ren replies,
"It's because of this..."
Ren showed the photos of him, Erii, and me that were taken by the Sakurai underling. Ryo gulped and took the photos. He then asks,
"O-okay... I can see the big picture now... Then now what?"
Kuro says,
"We will offer you some protection from them. But in return, you have to avoid making any contact with Norl-Kun."
Ryo looked at me and he says,
"Of course I don't want to get involved with all these, but do I really have to avoid him?"
Ren replies,
"If you want to have the same fate as Norl-Kun, then you can ignore our offer."
Ryo looked at Erii and he says,
"What about Erii-chan?"
Erii replies,
"I'm staying with Aze."
Ryo looked at Erii with disbelief and he says,
"What?! What were you thinking? This isn't a joke, Erii-chan!"
Erii replies,
"I want to help Aze. If something happens and I couldn't handle it, I'll take their offer."
Ryo asks,
"So you want to risk your life for Aze?"
Aiko have been quiet since the beginning and only observe the conversation finally lock her gaze towards me.
She smiled and closed her eyes. I didn't know what was that for but I could tell that she did that on purpose. Erii sighed and replies,
"It's not like I will risk my life for anything. I just want to help Aze or at least just to be there for him."
Ryo sighed and then he says,
"I get it... fine, I'll also going to decline your offer for now."
Aiko smirked and looked the other way to hide her expression. I saw it... I want to know what she was thinking these whole time.
Ryo sat back and then says,
"Alright... that's all what we wanted to say."
Ryo stood up and says,
"I'm leaving now. I'll see you guys tomorrow."
Ryo left while the rest of us watched him left the cafe.