Koi shopped meticulously across the section, carefully touching the vegetables as if measuring their quality in between picking them up. Koi turned to Airi, who was following behind him closely, and asked in a serious voice,
"Miss Mikan, what kind of food do you enjoy.... spicy? Or mild?"
'Why so serious?' Airi thought as she answered,
"I usually eat spicy insta….. Ramen so spicy!!"
"Spicy it is," Koi said as he picked up chicken meat from the meat section. Next, he looked so adept at shopping, like a mother doing her usual grocery shopping. Airi took notice of this and thought,
'I wonder what he's going to cook…' Airi was used to eating instant food as a staple. Her anticipation while seeing Koi Shop soared through the skies as she stared at his back.
'It's suddenly cold….' Koi felt a chill go down his spine; he wasn't aware that he was increasing the hurdle unknowingly.
After finishing shopping at the vegetable and meat section, Koi turned back to Airi, who was following him. Airi got startled at the sudden turn and stumbled a bit back.
'To close!!' Airi thought as she quickly took a step back, as she hadn't realized she was unknowingly walking too close behind Koi, and the sudden turn filled her mind with uncalled-for thoughts as her cheeks reddened as she spoke.
"What's wrong, Mr. Yamamoto?" Airi asked Koi, trying to seem confident despite the internal shock. Koi sensed that she was startled and replied,
"I'm sorry for the sudden turn, Miss Mikan… I'm done with vegetables and meat; we just need to buy spice and dairy."
"There is no need to always apologize!" Airi sighed, and suddenly she acted as if she had gotten a call.
"Ahh, I need to take this call." Airi excused herself, pretending that her phone vibrated in her pocket.
'I can't let him know I don't know my way around the supermarket!!' Airi thought as she went to the side to call Mrs. Fumiko; meanwhile, Koi, who was left behind, looked in Airi's direction while he thought.
'I really was too rude with cleaning things... She had so much work and responsibility that she got a call every hour…. Of course, she can't be bothered!!"
Koi looked down at the shopping bags in his hands and then at Airi, who stood a bit away, on call with a serious expression and a hurried look.
'She must be helping someone even now…' Koi thought, while Airi, who was calling Mrs. Fumiko, spoke on the phone.
"Thank you, Mrs. Fumiko! I didn't know the mall was this complex."
"It's just that you always visit the snack section; even these two are spoiled by your snack gifting." Airi could sense Mrs. Fumiko's troubled, disappointed expression over the call, as Airi had always spoiled her kids with snacks.
"Seriously Airi… You should stop eating instant food." As Mrs. Fumiko continued, Airi spoke, suddenly sensing an impending lecture she had already had multiple times.
"Mrs. Fukumoto, Koi seemed lost!! I'll call you again soon." Airi said on a call, with a deeply serious expression as she thought,
'No scolding today! Mrs. Fumiko really is all mama!!'
After she was done cutting the call and barely escaping scolding, she moved back to where Koi was now, armed with the instructions to reach both the dairy section and the spices section. Koi, who saw such Airi speak,
"I'll do my best to cook something you'll like, Miss Ito!!" His face looked sincere and full of goodwill.
"It's Mikan!!" Airi emphasized while Koi thought
'This is the least I can do to make it easy for her; running an NGO seems to take a toll on her,' Koi nodded to himself. Airi, who he was following in the mall, felt a chill run down her spine as she had unknowingly raised herself on a pedestal.
'it's cold' Airi wonders: after an hour of shopping was done, under the moonlit sky, both took a walk towards Airi's resident building.
"Mr. Yamamoto, shall we take a ride back home?" Airi asked out of courtesy, as she was already intent on taking a cab, but Koi replied swiftly.
"No, I'm fine walking, Miss Mikan; this much is nothing," Koi said with a timid smile taking Airi's words literally as he thought,
'She must be walking regularly and offered a cab ride, being considerate of me, who's new here'
'What is he saying!?' Airi exclaimed in her head, as she couldn't understand his prowess of still wanting to walk, as they were on a walk practically the whole day, but she couldn't have her pride hurt as she was the one who asked her, and he opted for walking back, yet she gave it another try.
"Miss Yamamoto It is fine; the cabs here don't charge much."
"No, no, it's fine." A good walk before eating makes food tastier." Koi insisted, and Airi smiled the same smile back in the hospital, a sweet smile as she grumbled in her head.
'This guy doesn't cut a slack'
With this, they began walking home. Koi naturally took the shopping bag from Airi as they walked; the building was far from the crowded streets of the town, and soon the walk became pretty quiet. Koi suddenly spoke to ease the awkward atmosphere.
"Miss Mikan, since when are you running this NGO?"
"As soon as I turned 18," Airi replied.
"Are you living on your own even before 18?" Koi got curious because he couldn't imagine someone living alone for so long to live as messily as Airi did, but Airi replied with an awkward smile.
"No, I used to live with Miss Fumiko until then."
"Ahh, that pretty lady from before," Koi blurted out, and Airi replied with a side glance.
"You really are uncouth, Mr. Yamamoto; again, she's married with kids, just reminding you," Airi emphasized the kids part.
"I was just stating the facts…. I didn't mean it more than…that.." Koi stuttered as he replied timidly, and Airi thought,
'He can't be learning stuff from Kawaguchi senior!! It was the right call' Airi nodded to Koi, feeling internally proud of herself. Soon, her legs were giving out of exhaustion as the building was beginning to come into sight when Koi spoke the dreaded.
'I wonder why she didn't live with her parents....' Koi thought, but as someone with a complicated family, he knew better than to question these things about someone's life without any reason.
"I couldn't imagine, though, Miss. Mikan prefers walking this much, as that day you find me at the shrine you visited by car, even though it's close to the building. I mean, I imagined city people all using cabs for such distances."
'.… he…. He… how many cues!!' Airi stopped walking, and Koi looked back, confused, as he wondered why she stopped and spoke.
"Miss Mikan, something wrong?"
[Snap] Airi felt it snap as she spoke in a low voice.
"You… You!!....."
- to be continued.