I watched Shiina from a distance, trying to remain neutral, as if not wanting to get involved. However, Aoyama's reaction at the cash register made me turn my attention to her.
She seemed to freeze for a moment, her smile slowly fading like dew swept away by a hot wind, I glanced at her briefly before looking back at Shiina.
"Shiina-san?" She said, her voice slightly surprised. I don't know what made her so surprised, but I think there was a deviation in the story plot, there seemed to be a bit of tension between the two.
Although I'm not sure Shiina understood the conflict between the two, but that's just my speculation.
However, Shiina seemed unfazed. She remained silent, almost as if she did not notice the suddenly changed atmosphere in the convenience store.
When Aoyama called out to her, Shiina slowly raised her face. Her gaze seemed calm, almost blank, but slightly different from the blank gaze I received from Origami earlier, there was no sense of happiness inside me when I saw her.
Wait! If Shiina is here, then where is Sorata who is supposed to be her companion? Isn't he in charge of looking after Shiina while in Japan?
I wonder where that man is, even when I glanced outside the convenience store, I saw no sign of Sorata.
Shiina only looked at Aoyama for a moment before nodding briefly as she suddenly walked towards me, I tried to respond with a smile.
"Can I help you?" I asked kindly, trying to show a professional demeanour.
But Shiina only looked at me for a moment before turning her attention towards the packet of potato chips I was holding.
Shiina didn't answer, just tilted her head slightly, as if considering something. Then suddenly she slowly reached out her hand towards the shelf next to me, picking up a packet of potato chips similar to the one in my hand.
However, what happened next was completely beyond my expectations. With a casual gesture, Shiina suddenly tore open the packet of potato chips without even the slightest hesitation.
"Eh?"
I froze in place when I saw Shiina unwrap the potato chips without even caring. Even the usually calm Aoyama seemed surprised at Shiina's actions.
I glanced at Aoyama who was at the cashier, as if asking for help from Aoyama.
"Shiina-san, what are you doing?!" Aoyama called her name again, her voice louder this time.
"Hm? Aoyama?" Shiina turned around as Aoyama again called her louder.
I could see that she was just standing there silently with an open snack wrapper in her hand, staring at the contents curiously, like a child seeing the outside world for the first time.
Even looking as if there was nothing wrong at all, Shiina popped the potato chips into her mouth, eating them before gulping them down like a food critic.
I sighed softly when I saw her.
"Customer, you should pay for that first before opening it," I said, trying to sound friendly despite being a little awkward.
Shiina turned to me, her expression remaining neutral. She tilted her head slightly to the left, then looked at the snack again, as if not understanding what the problem was. Slowly, she extended her hand to give the snack to me.
"Can't I?" She said calmly, as if confused by my words.
As if the act of opening snacks in a convenience store was a normal thing for her, and we were the weird ones for making a big deal out of it.
I don't know why I've been meeting so many strange people lately, I wonder if my luck is really bad or good.
Aoyama who was standing at the cash register finally approached, taking charge of the situation.
"Shiina-san, you know this isn't your dormitory, right? Here you have to pay first before eating anything." She said it softly.
Shiina stared at Aoyama for a moment, then said in a flat voice, "I wonder what it tastes like."
Shiina's dormitory, isn't that sakurasou? I wonder if that place is like the one pictured in the anime, even though the guy in the dream I saw didn't actually finish watching the whole anime.
But that doesn't mean I don't know anything about this girl named Shiina. After all, in the anime Shiina was known as a slightly eccentric girl, but seeing her in person gave a different feel. Somehow I felt like I was seeing her as someone from another world, especially since her way of thinking was quite simple.
I could see Aoyama seemed to let out a long sigh before she gave me an apologetic look, I just nodded in return.
"Even if you want to know the taste, you should still pay, also where is Kanda-kun? Isn't he supposed to take care of you?" Aoyama asked Shiina, as she began to look outside the convenience store for any trace of Sorata.
"Sorata? Chihiro said Sorata doesn't need to look after me anymore because Rita will be coming to Japan soon to keep me company" Shiina said innocently.
Ah, so that's the reason I don't see Sorata anywhere?
I think the deviation to the story plot is really very far, even I wouldn't be surprised by the possibility if this world is an Alternate Universe of many different anime stories.
To be honest it wouldn't be too surprising, after all what's more surprising than the fact that I'm just an NPC in a harem novel.
Damn, if I hadn't had that weird dream, I think I would have just remained a harem protagonist's friend like Shido and continued living out my bad fantasies with two-dimensional girls.
Wait a minute! I think it's a bit wrong to call it two-dimensional when I'm a two-dimensional character myself.
"What? Kanda-kun doesn't take care of you anymore?" Aoyama asked Shiina as she seemed to shake Shiina's body as if she seemed too excited.
If Sorata doesn't look after Shiina anymore, the possibility of Aoyama getting close to Sorata increases quite high, but I think that will only happen if this girl takes the initiative for herself.
Meanwhile, when I saw Shiina who looked uncomfortable, I stopped Aoyama.
"Aoyama-san, stop that, you're hurting her" I said as I separated the two.
"Eh? Ah! I'm sorry, Shiina-san!" she said as she backed away slowly before bowing in apology.
"Hm... It's fine" Shiina replied briefly.
"I was too excited earlier" Aoyama said with a foolish laugh.
This girl could not even hide her happiness. It was fine if there was only Shiina here, because even this girl would not understand the concept of love, but there was me here and Aoyama did not even care.
But leaving that aside, when I looked back at her I carefully grabbed the potato chips from Shiina's hand, which was only looked at with a puzzled look by Shiina.
"Aoyama-san, take these potato chips to the cashier and let me pay for them for her. But next time, make sure you wait until you pay, okay?" I said as I handed the potato chips to Aoyama.
While Shiina did not answer, she only gave a small nod as if to confirm. However, her gaze did not leave the potato chips in Aoyama's hand. It was as if she saw the treasure she had found being taken away by someone else.
Somehow it looked funny.
"Eh? Tonomachi-kun, are you sure? Let me pay for it, Shiina is my friend after all." said Aoyama, clearly rejecting my proposal.
"That's fine, just think of it as my gift since it's my first day of work" I said briefly, after all even if I didn't have much money, it didn't mean I couldn't buy a girl a packet of potato chips at the convenience store.
Aoyama looked at me doubtfully before she nodded. "Fine, but I'll change this later" she said before she turned and walked away.
A few moments later Aoyama returned, he looked at us with a complicated look but he didn't say anything. He handed the potato chips back to Shiina, who immediately accepted them with both hands, like a child who just got candy from an adult.
"Thank you," Shiina said quietly.
I think this girl really has very bad communication and social problems, not even knowing general rules like this.
I smiled slightly. "No problem. It's just that you need to be a little careful in public places like this and not take something and eat it without paying, okay" I said as if to make sure Shiina did not do the same.
Shiina did not reply. She just stared at the potato chips for a moment before starting to eat them slowly.
Seeing her like that, I couldn't help but smile a little. There was something strange but adorable in the way she ate, as if she was a little creature who was trying a snack for the first time.
Can I keep this girl in my house? I think I'll keep her in my room.
Ehem! Damn, my bad habit has returned.
When Shiina ate quietly, Aoyama took her outside to return.
I think the reason Sakurasou is a place where geniuses reside is simply because ordinary people are unable to keep up with them, though they will eventually seem strange from a normal person's point of view.
....
It was a night sky with a crescent moon hanging in the night sky, walking leisurely I saw the lights of the neighbouring houses that had gone out.
I think closing at 21: 30 was enough to make me go home late, though I wouldn't mind this too much since I would still get paid.
After all, I only have to work three times a week.
The quiet atmosphere of the night is clearly imprinted at this moment, as if the darkness of the world has swallowed the world, even the park that I'm currently passing by is not spared from it, the chaotic atmosphere that I saw in the afternoon when passing by this place has completely disappeared.
The park benches looked empty, but something caught my attention.
She had a short figure but with long blue hair, she was wearing something that looked like a green coat while in her hand was a stuffed rabbit.
She was sitting on the park bench alone, while her gaze was focused on the stuffed rabbit in her hand. No, calling her alone I don't think is quite right, after all I saw her talking alone with the stuffed rabbit in her hand.
I don't know why I felt familiar with that girl, but I only saw her from a distance, ignoring her for the time being as I walked back home.
It took me a few minutes to get to my house, a simple two-storey house that was not very luxurious for people living in this city. After all, the income of people living in this city is ranked third highest out of all the cities in Japan.
Honestly, for a middle-class family like mine, having a simple house like this is good enough, after all, I don't want to sleep in a small and cramped apartment with very high rent.
Although it's not the capital or an important city like Tokyo and other cities, Tengu City still has a very high monthly cost of living, so it's really not friendly to lower-class families.
My poor money, it had to evaporate quickly when my parents just sent it.
"Ha~"
Letting out a short sigh, I went inside with a tired face, the dark, gloomy-looking hallway greeted me upon entering. But when I was about to go upstairs where my room was, something caught my attention.
Why is the kitchen light on?
I thought about it in my head, as I walked over to it, I thought I just forgot to switch it off yesterday.
But the moment I entered, something that really puzzled me came into view, the smell of warm food and hot rice wafted into my nose, as I saw a lot of hot food on the dining table making me stunned for a moment.
"Eh?"
Has Mum gone back to Japan?
That was the first thing that came to my mind, after all mum was the only person who could possibly come in and cook food here.
But if mum did go back why didn't she tell me before?
But when many possibilities crossed my mind, a slender and delicate hand hugged me from behind.
The sound of her breathing flashed in my ears as she breathed nearby.
"My husband, are you back?"
A familiar sounding girl's voice flashed, I looked back as I saw only a beautiful girl with a height that was even just a little shorter than mine hugging me from behind.
She had long black hair as she wore a dress with a white apron that looked beautiful, while I could feel the cold around her, the white skin that looked pale rosy plus those beautiful eyes made me look mesmerised.
But one thing that was certain was the fact that I knew the girl in the dress with the white apron.
"Ako? Why are you sneaking around again?" I said, as I turned my head towards her.
Tamaki Ako, was her name, the girl I had known even long before I received that strange dream, even without the influence of the personality of the man in the dream, I somehow managed to make this girl fall in love with me.
No, calling it falling in love I don't think is quite right, after all since the beginning this girl has always regarded me as her husband just because the game avatar I used was married to her.
To be honest before I felt that this girl had no attraction at all, but when I noticed her once again when my obsession with loli girls disappeared, I somehow felt stupid when I ignored beautiful girls like Ako in the past.
"Mu~ My husband, why are you saying that as if I'm a criminal who broke into her own husband's house without permission?" she said moodily as she released her hug and stood in front of me, puffing out her cheeks in a sulking look, honestly this girl has a charm that reflects the attitude of a perfect wife.
This girl is honestly quite cute with her attitude like that.
But aren't you really an intruder? I never even gave her the key to my house anyway.
I wonder how she managed to duplicate my door key.
I just hope that the neighbours don't see him and call the police the next time he breaks in.
"Come on, Ako forgive me, don't sulk, sit beside me first" I said, pulling her to sit beside me.
"Hm" she nodded with a smile on her face, as if her actions of sulking like a little girl before never happened.
To be honest, this girl is harmless, although she likes to sneak into my house but she has never really done anything outrageous like sneaking into my room or sleeping in my room.
Although I'm still a little worried about this girl because she seems to be rarely seen these days.
"My husband, tell me! Why don't you ever see me in the guild anymore?!" she said irritably, as if demanding an explanation from me.
I think I hadn't logged in and played games with her for too long, so I think Ako was a little worried.
After all, this girl had a strange anxiety if I left her for too long.
"I had some problems recently, also I took a part-time job, so I can't enter the guild anymore for a while." I said.
"Eh... My husband, if you're short of money, Ako can give you some" she said with concern.
Okay, I think this girl is rich enough to say that, although I know that the Ako family is not a very rich family, but at least they can be categorised as an upper class family because the Ako family has several toy shops and restaurants under them.
Damn, what's it like being taken care of by a rich girl? I think I understand now why Hachiman wanted this.
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