Chapter 44: Marin Kitagawa Dreams of Breaking Through That Invisible Barrier
The usually quiet and reserved Mashiro had suddenly disappeared from his side.
Shunsuke was worried. Could she have gotten lost?
"There," Koizumi silently tugged at his sleeve, pointing to a distant shelf.
Relieved, Shunsuke quickly pushed the shopping cart over to her, but when he reached Mashiro, he froze in place.
In front of the shelf of baumkuchen cakes, Mashiro was staring at them with such intense focus that she'd caught the attention of other shoppers around her.
Ignoring everyone else, she picked up one of the cakes, ripped off the packaging at lightning speed, and began eating right there.
The other shoppers stared at her as if she were an alien, and even the supermarket staff were taken aback by her natural, unbothered attitude.
Eriri and the others watched from a distance, equally dumbfounded.
"Mashiro, what are you doing...?"
"Eating baumkuchen." Mashiro looked at him with an expression that seemed to say, "Shunsuke, how could you not know this?" Yet her tone carried a rare sense of happiness, much like Koizumi's when she was eating ramen.
"No, I mean, I know you're eating baumkuchen, but do you realize where you are?"
Mashiro looked around. "A supermarket?"
"Then why did you just take it and start eating? This isn't your house!"
Shunsuke grabbed the empty packaging from her hands, then tossed the rest of the baumkuchen cakes from the shelf into the shopping cart. It was the kind of move he would've never had the guts to do in a past life.
"That should be enough for you. Just remember not to do this in a supermarket again. Do they let you do this in England, too?"
Mashiro answered with her usual nonchalant tone, "Rita handles it."
"So Rita never taught you otherwise?"
"When I want something, Rita just hands it to me."
Though her voice was calm and gentle, Shunsuke couldn't shake the feeling that she was disappointed in him for not being as "useful" as Rita.
Yes, it was a bit neglectful to forget your favorite cake, but wasn't I busy drawing your favorite manga? Could Rita do that?
With a wry smile, Shunsuke said, "If you do that again, I'll stop helping you write Nisekoi's storyboard, Mashiro. You wouldn't want to miss out on manga work, right?"
Mashiro's lips drooped, her usual deadpan replaced by a rare look of distress. "Then I won't speak to you, Shunsuke."
"Then behave next time."
As he ruffled her hair, Shunsuke quickly sent a Line message to Utaha with a Star Platinum flair.
[Shunsuke: I've finally found a way to handle that adorable stray kitten I picked up the other day.]
Yes, he'd recently found a twisted satisfaction in chatting with Utaha, enjoying each exchange immensely.
.....
As they left the supermarket and neared home, the weather suddenly changed, and raindrops began to fall.
Shunsuke looked up. "Did anyone bring an umbrella?"
Marin grumbled, "The weather report was totally wrong. It said it would be sunny all day."
Eriri estimated the distance to their destination and suggested, "Let's just hurry up. We're almost there."
Seeing no one else had an umbrella, Koizumi paused in her attempt to take one out of her bag.
Always prepared for a spontaneous ramen trip, she carried a compact ladies' umbrella. But with only one umbrella, she decided it wasn't enough to help everyone and quietly put it back.
As they picked up the pace, the rain grew heavier, quickly turning into a downpour. With everyone now sprinting, they instinctively pushed forward, led by Eriri, who was too focused on reaching the house to consider stopping to wait out the rain.
As for why Eriri was in the lead...
With Shunsuke carrying both groceries in one hand and holding Mashiro in the other, he couldn't keep up.
Mashiro, possibly worried about being left behind, pressed tightly against Shunsuke's head, letting him enjoy the "head pillow" experience.
Eriri was probably steamed with jealousy from watching this... more than a little.
After half a minute of jogging through the rain, they finally arrived at Izumi's door. Shunsuke set Mashiro down and opened the door, letting everyone hurry inside.
Though they'd only been in the rain briefly, the girls' clothes were already damp, with their tights soaked through and water trickling into their shoes.
However, the bigger concern for them seemed to be not the wet clothes but the possibility of their makeup running.
Unlike in other countries, it was common in Japan for girls to wear makeup as early as elementary school. By high school, not wearing makeup was unusual, even rude in many people's eyes. For these girls, appearance was important.
Marin covered her face, not wanting Shunsuke to see her, while Eriri kept turning away from him.
Even Koizumi avoided his gaze, uncharacteristically shy.
The only one unfazed was Mashiro, but she never wore makeup in the first place, and Shunsuke didn't have the skills to help her with it—not that Mashiro would care anyway.
Watching this rare scene, Shunsuke found it amusing and endearing. Whether it was the usually bold Marin or the quiet Koizumi, their embarrassment gave them a charming contrast.
"Oh my, so many guests," Mrs. Izumi said as she entered the living room after hearing the commotion. "You're all soaked! Shun-kun, what kind of host are you? I'll bring towels right away."
"Oh no, the competition's tough..." Marin murmured, peeking through her fingers as she hid her face.
Watching Mrs. Izumi bustle about and Sagiri shyly ducking away from the wall, Marin felt that her unspoken feelings might already be doomed.
"With so many beautiful girls around him but still no girlfriend, Senpai really is like the main character of a harem novel!"
Shunsuke cleared his throat. Kitagawa-san, everyone knows, but saying it out loud like this—breaking that invisible barrier—is a bit much. Are gyaru girls always this bold?
But to save face, he feigned ignorance and said, "Kitagawa-san, what are you talking about? 'So many pretty girls'? I don't see any."
Marin pointed around the room, then quickly pulled her hand back to cover her face. "Just the four of us here, plus Mrs.Izumi and her adorable daughter. Then there's Iwase-senpai and Isshiki at school, and I heard even Yasuraoka-senpai! Just the ones I know about are already in the double digits!"
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