It was not Sayu's fault. And Akuto, who had a gist of Sayu's problem, had no intention of blaming the girl walking beside him silently.
But for some reason, having to see a beautiful girl like her selling herself short made Akuto feel a bit angry. Plus, Sayu's sad look was making Akuto feel more and more guilty for speaking to her in such a tone, though the person herself did not realize that Akuto was being angry at that moment.
"You look hungry. Let's buy a takeout and have it back in the apartment." But first, Akuto knew that he had to ask the girl for dinner, or else she might go hungry this night; after all, restaurants end up shutting down.
"Ahh! Sure." She looked a bit surprised but did not disagree with Akuto's arrangement, like an obedient wife or something. Akuto felt uneasy as he observed the girl, who appeared to be older than him.
"Also, if there is something off. Or something that you don't like, I hope you will say it outright to me, then keep it inside."
Sayu looked at the Akuto expression after hearing that. She was not sure, but hearing Akuto like this, she had a feeling that she was talking with an uncle or something, not someone of her age group.
"Do you have something in mind."
"No! I am okay with anything." ---.
"Hmm! Alright, then."
Akuto had an apartment in a building. It had one room, one hall, a separate bathroom and washroom, along with an open kitchen within the hall for cooking. Hmm! Really luxurious.
Though a tad bit expensive, but not something Akuto could not afford; plus, he had paid for a year, so got quite a discount on it.
Taking into consideration that it was Chihiro Nee who had helped him with this, and truly her exploiting skills, she was able to get Akuto this apartment quite cheaply.
After all, she also did not want to let her family get into that dorm, which was filled with weirdos with her.
"Wow! It is bigger than I thought. You are quite well off." Sayu was surprised by it.
"Hmm, I rented it myself. I am an orphan." Akuto words stunned Sayu for a moment. And soon she realized why Akuto was being angry at that moment.
After all, she is rather good at noticing the subtle change in other party expressions for all this time.
And it was also thanks to Akuto's outburst at that moment that it helped her realize how cheap she was at that moment.
A wisp of admiration rose within Sayu's mind.
"Come in. I live alone, and my guardian has her own residence provided by her office." Taking off his shoes, Akuto dashed to the bathroom to take off his socks.
"Sure!" Sayu muttered while entering.
+++
"Shall we eat."
"Hmm."
All the way to the end. Sayu was being total mute, giving Akuto looks from time to time.
The girl looked quite anxious from Akuto's perspective, but in reality Sayu was thinking about how Akuto, who was a high schooler, was able to afford all of it on his own.
If Akuto had known what Sayu was thinking, he would have been surprised at how Sayu was able to trust all of his words without any doubt.
"You can sleep on my bed. I will sleep on the sofa for tonight. And tomorrow I'll go buy myself a futon and might have to sleep beside your bed."
After opening his room, Akuto continued, at which Sayu did not disagree with his words, given the hall was filled with different furniture, and she also did not want for him to sleep on the ground or to continue sleeping on the sofa.
"We can share bed. Not to say, I was ready to have sex with you that moment." Akuto felt tempted, looking at her figure as she pressed her chest on his shoulder with her lips, closing in slowly toward his.
"Also, stop seducing me. If one day you really fell for me or wished to respond to my wish wholeheartedly. I will gladly accept your opinion, but until then I want to be clear, that I had no intention of doing it with you due to some obligation." Pushing her back, Akuto spoke in really heavy tone as he looked into the girl's eyes with his clear intent.
"I see. Then one day if you fell in love with me. Will you accept it." Sayu asked with clear tone as she looked at the boy in front of her with her crystal clear eyes.
"Sure. But just so you know, I already have someone I like." Akuto commented.
"Then, I will have to share you with her, that's all." But her next comment almost made Akuto stammer, as he looked back at Sayu grinning at him, as she closed the door to the room.
'Damn, that came out of nowhere. But harem, huh! That is really out of fiction, you know.' With that in mind, Akuto rubbed his tired eyes.
As he lay on the sofa, and before he knew it, his mind totally blanked out, due to tiredness.
Not realizing how a shadow walked out of his room.
And Sayu, after a moment, found Akuto sleeping like a log on the sofa. Being able to feel his tiredness, she realized how tired Akuto would have been to be able to doze off this quickly.
'Thank you.' Giving him a peck on his cheek, she went back to her room.
Thinking how she might need to get up early to cook some nice breakfast for him, as a thank. After all, she did not have any intention of leeching off Akuto.
So, she was starting to thinking of making herself useful to him; given from her perspective, she could tell that Akuto was totally different from all the people she had met in her lifetime.
"Hmm. That smells nice."
Akuto muttered. As he opened his eyes early in the morning. He saw a slim figure in high school get-up standing in his kitchen, humming something, with her eyes staring at the window at the side of the kitchen, which was lighting the whole scene with dim light and clarity.
Making Akuto stun, as he continued to stare at that sight, a bit captivated.
"Good morning. Miyamura-kun." Her crystal-clear voice echoed the silent hall.
"Good morning." Akuto also replied back. Scratching his head, thinking how stupid he was to clearly reject her proposal from the night before, given a guy like him can only be lucky if he were to get a chance to sleep with a girl like her.
But who asked him to be that arrogant and all, though at the end of it all, he still did not feel dejected of his decision from the previous night? After all, at the end of it, he knew that it was the right thing to do.
"Breakfast will be done soon."
"You can go and get freshened up." She added.
"Hmm. I will go, and will it be okay if I eat it later, given I had morning workout to do." The building had a gym built on the ground floor. So, it was Akuto's habit to go and work out before having breakfast.
"Is that so. Then I will cook egg later on." Sayu was a clever girl, and with that, she covered the food with the lid and smiled at Akuto.
"No wait. Today we will have PE period, so I think I will skip the morning routine." Clearly seeing it all, Akuto changed his mind. As he realized how stupid he had been before to take her kindness for granted, he changed his mind instantly.
"It's alright! I..." Sayu wanted to reason out.
But Akuto, firm look, shut her up. She found how Akuto can be rather pushy about his own thinking.