After finishing their meal, they left the restaurant and discovered that it was already dark outside. The rest of the conversation during dinner was peaceful,since Touya, the host, led the discussion for the most part and Yuki, who had strong communication skills, would back him up and keep things moving.Masachika and Alisa were exclusively listeners, so while there were no conflicts,that was all that could be said for them. During that conversation, both Touya and Yuki repeatedly invited Masachika to join the student council, but he refused each time.
"""Thanks for dinner."""
Masachika, Yuki, and Alisa offered Touya their thanks after Touya finished paying for the meal and joined them outside.
"No problem." He nodded, then began to lead the others toward the parking lot while wearing a thoughtful expression. "I know Alisa lives nearby, so she walks home, and Yuki is taking the train back like me, but what about you,Masachika?"
"Oh, I can walk home from here, too."
"All right. Then walk Alisa home on your way. I'll take care of Yuki."
"Okay."
The fact that Masachika promptly agreed like a gentleman, as if it was only natural, made their respect for him grow even more. Yuki, however, suddenly raised a hand.
"Ahem. President? I really appreciate the thought, but I already have a car coming to pick me up."
"You do?"
"Yes.I need to wait here until it arrives, so please don't worry about me."
"...Okay.See you next week, then."
After seeing Touya off as he walked down the road toward the station,Masachika's and Alisa's eyes met.
"Ready to go?"
"You don't need to walk me home."
"Come on, don't be like that. Let's go.Later,Yuki."
"Have a safe trip home."
"See you later, Yuki."
"See you,Alya."
Masachika and Alisa began walking in the opposite direction Touya left in,and Yuki gave a small bow in farewell.
"How far's your place?"
"It's about a twenty-minute walk." "Oh. That's kinda far."
"What about you?"
"Me? Around fifteen minutes, give or take a few. It probably isn't too much farther than your place depending on how fast you walk."
"Oh."
Then there was a hush. They walked in awkward silence until the door to a local chicken-skewer joint a little way up ahead opened and a group of men in suits came busting out.
"Tsk. The guys in development have absooo-lutely nooo respect for us in sales!"
"I think you've had a little too much to drink, Boss."
"Mr. Isoyama, we should probably keep our voices down."
A middle-aged man with glassy eyes and a bright-red face babbled drunkenly and loudly as his subordinates tried to calm him down. Masachika moved Alisa to the inner edge of the sidewalk to let the obviously intoxicated individuals pass by. Although he made sure not to make eye contact, the man they had called Boss suddenly caught sight of them while he was passing by. He immediately grimaced with disgust as if something about them bothered him and raised his voice:
"What the hell? What are these kids doing out this late? Banging? Ya gonna go hit that? All kids wanna do these days is fool around! Ya should be back home studyin'!"
"Mr.Isoyama! Shhh!"
"That's enough, Boss. Let's go home."
"Shaddap! Look... The hell is that?"
The man crossed into their personal space, ignoring his men's pleas, and stared hard at Alisa before letting out a snort.
"What are ya, a little gray rat? What kind of dirty hippy parents let their daughter dye their hair like this? What a disgrace!" shouted the middle-aged man, making sure everyone could hear. Alisa immediately stopped in her tracks.
"Alya,hey..."
Recognizing Alisa's fury, Masachika urged her to ignore the drunk so they could avoid any trouble, but she shot the man a cold, piercing gaze.
"Embarrassing for a man your age to act like this," barked Alisa with unrivaled contempt. Though her voice was small, it rang out clearly among the boss's and his men's shouting. Every businessman there froze in mute amazement, but their boss's expression quickly twisted into rage. He pushed his men away and stomped over to Alisa. She turned to face him as well and stood strong, showing no signs of retreating, but before he could get in Alisa's face,Masachika swiftly slipped in front of her, smiling so sweetly that it was hard to believe a clearly enraged man was approaching them.
"Long time no see, Mr. Isoyama. I haven't seen you since my brother's wedding."
"O-oh,uh...Yes?"
The man was caught off guard by the sudden polite greeting and stopped in place. Bewilderment clouded his face while he stared at Masachika as if the unexpected turn of events had sobered him up a little.
"I'm glad to see you're doing well. My brother told me what incredible business partners you all have been, so it left a really strong impression on me."
"O-oh,yes. Of course." The man nodded, even though his expression made it clear he had no idea who Masachika was. Nevertheless, the words business partners were enough to make him start to panic. As the other businessmen and Alisa watched in confusion, Masachika continued, still with a gentle smile:
"Now that I think about it, you drank a lot during my brother's wedding as well. You really love to drink, huh?"
"Oh yeah. I live for drinking on the weekends like this. Ha-ha-ha!"
"I bet.Oh. By the way, this is my fiancée," boasted Masachika with a laugh as he placed a hand on Alisa's shoulder. She stared wide-eyed at Masachika,mystified by the unimaginable turn of events. "She is an incredibly smart woman. I'm just lucky to have her."
"Oh... Yeah... She does seem like a very smart young lady."
Although still creasing his brow in confusion, the middle-aged man was now praising Alisa. Masachika, who was still smiling gently with a cold light in his eyes, lowered his tone and added:
"Right? She has her mother's hair, too. Her mother is not from Japan, by the way.What do you think? It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Y-yeah..."
After taking a closer look at Alisa, the man probably realized Masachika must have been telling the truth when he noticed her "non-Japanese" features.Awkwardly, he then faced Alisa and slightly lowered his head as if he had suddenly sobered up even more.
"I, uh... I apologize for my rude behavior. Being intoxicated is not an excuse."
Masachika dropped the piercing glare and calmly replied: "We accept your apology.Right?"
He glanced back at Alisa over his shoulder, but her eyes were silently still locked on the man. Nevertheless, Masachika nodded as if things were settled,wrapped an arm around Alisa to hide her expression, and encouraged Alisa to walk away with him.
"Well,we should be going."
And just like that, he led Alisa away. After they walked in silence for the next few minutes until the businessmen could no longer be seen, Masachika took his hand off her shoulder and sighed.
"Seriously,Alya? What you did was dangerous. He was drunk. You knew you were going to piss him off, didn't you?"
"...I don't care if he was drunk or not. I couldn't let him insult my parents like that."
"What you did was still reckless, though. What if he punched you?"
"I may not look like it, but I'm trained in self-defense. I can handle a drunk," replied Alisa in a flat voice as if she was forcing her overflowing anger back down her throat. Masachika understood where she was coming from,which was why he had no idea how he should handle this.
"At any rate, he admitted he was wrong. Let's just let it go."
"...Fine."
After Alisa let out a deep sigh, her expression returned to normal, and she regained her composure.
"By the way, you two knew each other?"
"No? I have no idea who he was."
"...What?"
Her jaw dropped. Masachika's lips curled into a half smile as he added:
"I surprised myself, really. I wasn't confident that I could lie to his face and get away with it."
"W-wait! What?! So, like, you seriously had never met him before today?!What about your brother's wedding?!"
"I don't even have a brother."
"Wh-what the...?"
"I get that he was drunk, but I still can't believe it went that well. My heart was racing the entire time. Ha-ha-ha! Ah, thank goodness that worked."Masachika laughed, acting innocent. Alisa, on the other hand, looked like she had a headache."...What was the point of all that?"
"Hmm? Uh... He was intoxicated, for starters. Plus, with all that blood rushing to his head, I figured I'd bring up work to try to calm him down. And..."
"And what?"
Masachika shrugged after glancing at Alisa and seeing her suspicious glare.
"...What he said really pissed me off, so I thought I'd threaten him a little.And hey, it worked. Nobody got into a fight, and he even ended up apologizing.Can't imagine a better outcome than that."
"Sigh... I'm impressed that you can tell one lie after the other like that on the spot. I think you have the potential to be a con artist."
"Rude.I am insulted you would say such a thing about a pure and innocent little boy like me."
"Uh-huh..."
"Oh, come on. Don't look at me with dead eyes like that. This is way worse than being insulted."
Alisa snorted out a laugh at the pathetic look on Masachika's face. She then promptly started walking ahead, but Masachika quickly caught up until he was by her side.
"Thanks," she muttered faintly while still looking ahead.
"No problem," he replied while still looking forward as well. They didn't say another word to each other after that. They continued on in silence until Alisa eventually stopped in front of her apartment complex.
"This your place?"
"Yes. Thank you for walking me home."
"No problem."
As they faced each other at the entrance, Masachika nervously scratched his head before giving her one last reminder.
"Hey,I know it's pretty unlikely something like this will everhappen again,but if it does and you're alone, ignore it. It's not worth the risk."
"What,are you worried about me?" Alisa smirked teasingly.
"Yeah,I'm worried about you. You can be socially inept at times," replied Masachika, looking her straight in the eye. She blinked a few times at the serious response, then softly muttered:
"Oh."
Alisa turned around and faced the entrance.
"...I guess I'll start being a little more careful, then."
"I appreciate it."
She walked a few steps forward before stopping in front of the automatic door.
"Hey,Kuze,"she said without looking back.
"Yeah?"
"Are you really not interested in joining the student council?"
"Wait.Seriously? You too?"
"Just answer the question."
There was no way he would be able to joke his way out of answering that firm tone.His smirk faded.
"I'm not interested in joining the student council," he replied in a tone just as firm as hers to make it clear there was no hope of him ever joining.
"If..."
But she didn't back down. There was even a sense of urgency in her voice as she continued:
"If I..."
But it ended there, and a few seconds of silence followed.
"Forget it. Good night."
"Good night."
After making sure Alisa got inside her apartment complex safely,Masachika turned on his heel, looked up at the night sky, and muttered to himself:
"What do they expect from me? Both Alya and Yuki."
He had a rough idea what Alisa had wanted to say, and that was exactly why he pretended not to know.
"I can't do anything," he added in a self-deprecating manner before he set out for his own home, smothered in a faintly blue cloud of loneliness.