"I'm sorry…" Mai said to Kei as she looked downcast.
"It's okay. It's my fault for having you wait for me like this."
Even though she apologized to him, Kei saw himself as the cause for this happening in the first place. He made her wait for her unintentionally by staying behind after the match and even having a chat with Chihaya. That said…
"By the way… why are you waiting for me in the first place? I thought I told you not to wait for me today?"
"Erm… that's…" Mai suddenly looked very anxious when he asked her.
"Well, whatever. In any case, text me next time you want to wait for me like this. At least I would manage my time better."
Mai had thought that Kei would be upset or even angry that she didn't listen to him. Such was the perspective of the people towards the aura that Kei's attitude exuded. When he said that, Mai's face lit up as if she was a little girl being praised by her parents.
"Yes!"
As the two were walking home together, Mai suddenly asked Kei a question as if she just remembered something.
"By the way, who did you call earlier?"
"Hmm? Ah, that was the captain of that guy's basketball team."
"Why did you have his number though?"
"Ah…"
Kei wondered if he should tell her the full story on the matter. Since he was insistent on keeping the fact that he was on the basketball team a secret from everyone, let alone that he was the captain, he wondered whether it was fine. But since that Seki had pretty much revealed his involvement in the basketball team, he thought it was probably fine to let her know.
"I don't know if you know this but, I was part of the basketball team in my middle school."
"Well, I didn't know about your middle school, but I did pretty much figure out that you were part of this school's team from the exchange earlier."
"Well, his current captain was my captain back in middle school. He was strict and everyone on the team basically listened to his every command."
"That scary huh?"
Back in middle school, Tasuke was apparently the captain of the basketball team when Kei joined the team during his first year. They didn't win during his first year but Kei respected his senpai greatly back then and took time after their team practices for one-on-one lessons. When Tasuke left, he made the decision to appoint Kei as the next captain even though he was a second-year student.
"Mmm… well, I was supposed to go to their high school. But things happened and well… Now I'm here…"
***
After all the things that happened, the both of them decided it was best that they eat outside today. Well, it was mostly Mai's idea as Kei wanted to cook. Mai had already guessed that Kei was probably exhausted from his game earlier and brought up the suggestion. The two stopped by at a family restaurant nearby their apartment.
When they reached the restaurant, the two of them saw a banner outside the restaurant displaying an offer.
'Couples Hour Set Dinner! : 6.30 p.m. – 7.30 p.m.
Please Let The Waiter Know!'
As the two of them looked at the banner, Mai took a peek at her wristwatch to see that it was 7.10 p.m. Just as they were looking at the banner, a waitress appeared out of the shop and looked at them. Smiling to greet her customers, she walked up to them.
"Ah welcome! We are having a couples special at the moment; would you like to participate in the offer?"
"Erm… sorry but we aren't—"
"Yes! We will gladly take the offer!"
Just as Kei was about to refuse and claim that they aren't a couple, Mai suddenly spoke out to try and claim the offer. When she said that, she latched onto Kei's arm and giving a smile to the waitress.
"Ara, what a lovely couple, please let me take you to your seats."
As Kei thought, 'I'm going to give her an earful later', he felt that she was actually trembling while latching onto his arm. He then thought, 'if you are embarrassed by these sorts of things, then why the hell are you doing it, idiot?'
The waitress then guided the two of them to a window seat for two people. Kei tried to remain expressionless as usual but he was finding it slightly hard as his face was twitching slightly whilst Mai was blushing the entire way as she continued to latch onto his arm. The restaurant was filled with people from small families eating dinner to some high school groups eating together. Naturally, as Kei walked past all these groups, he was receiving death stares from the high school groups of guys as there was an extremely beautiful girl latching onto him.
"Tsk, I wish I had a girlfriend that cute"
"Ugh… enough with the PDA. We get it, you're a couple."
"Just explode already."
After the two were guided to their table, Mai sat beside Kei whilst still latching onto his arm. The table they were guided to was a medium sized round table fitting for two people with small rectangular chairs on each side of the table with cushions on it.
"Umm… Shouldn't you let go now?"
"Hmm? Ah, I'm sorry!"
"Also… it's a one-seater chair…"
"Mouu…"
As Mai said that, she moved to the other chair in front of Kei. It seemed she was in a slightly pouty mood now after Kei asked her to move to the other side. As Mai stared at Kei's almost expressionless face, she noticed he was glancing around the family restaurant with a curious face as if a puppy that had just entered its new home.
'Could it be?' Mai wondered.
"Hmm… so this is what a family restaurant looks like…"
"Wait… have you never been to a family restaurant before?"
"Hmm… I guess I never needed to."
For Kei, he had always had a balanced schedule. As he lived alone, he had learned to take care of himself which includes housework. He would shop for groceries instead of eating outside.
"Cooking at home saves me money instead of eating out."
"But don't you want to at least try some new things?"
"I don't get why I need to try things I don't need to try. Besides…"
Kei suddenly took a look at a happy family of four eating at the table nearby.
"It's not like… never mind…"
Mai noticed that Kei's expressionless face turned even colder than usual as he looked at the family eating happily nearby. This led her to wonder, 'Could he not be close with his family?'. As she noticed his sudden change in expression, she quickly attempted to change the subject.
"A-anyways… you never did mention how you got into the school during our first day, how did you apply for this school?" Mai asked, attempting to shift Kei's attention away from whatever was troubling him.
"Oh that? I never applied for this school…"