"With whom?" Yukino Fuyumi's voice was not loud, but her tone was already very stiff.
"Akane… that is, Nanao. Miss Yukino, you probably don't know her," Hayato said.
It was clearly a girl's name, and… "Akane"? How intimate!… He used to call me "Fuyumi," but now the new replaces the old, and I've become "Miss Yukino"!?
Al-Although I requested it myself, couldn't you have been a bit more persistent? I… I wouldn't dislike you for it.
A cold glint flickered in Yukino Fuyumi's eyes, then she scoffed, "Oh, is that so? Then I'll 'just to let you know' too, I'm also going on a long trip this summer!"
"With whom?" Hayato asked.
"I… Heh, I won't tell you!" Yukino Fuyumi wrinkled her nose.
Saying "alone" would sound a bit too lame.
I'll just leave you some room for imagination~~~ Hmph~~~ Be jealous! Be jealous!
But Hayato just calmly nodded, "Oh, then be careful on your way."
Hayato thought that Yukino Fuyumi truly had no commoners in her circle, and no learned scholars in her conversations; her social network was almost zero. Who could she go out with?
This, in turn, infuriated Yukino Fuyumi herself.
The good mood she had from walking side-by-side was shattered. She turned to leave, but then turned back again, her high heels clacking as she approached Hayato.
"Something wrong?" Hayato asked.
Yukino Fuyumi didn't answer. She expressionlessly opened her small cross-body bag, then pulled out seven or eight 10,000-yen bills from a seemingly exquisite but, on closer inspection, rather cheap-looking wallet, followed by some loose bills. She stuffed them all into the boy's hand:
"I got paid. Here's what I can pay you back for now… You, you spend it carefully. Don't just splurge it all when you go out to play… Never mind."
Mid-sentence, Yukino Fuyumi stopped, thinking, *I don't care if you die!*
Although it was the money the boy had lent her before, thinking about him using her repaid money to go out with other girls made her feel a tightness in her chest and shortness of breath.
Hayato glanced at Yukino Fuyumi's wallet.
"W-What! I, I have to keep some living expenses for myself, right!?"
Yukino Fuyumi said aggrievedly. She had indeed kept a little money, but she also had to go out, so she needed to keep some for travel expenses…
Hayato counted, then handed back three 10,000-yen bills.
"Spend it carefully. Don't just splurge it all when you go out to play."
Then, without waiting for Yukino Fuyumi to take it, Hayato stuffed the money back into her cross-body bag.
Then he back-stepped into his room and closed the door with a "thud."
"Good night. You have to work tomorrow, so go to bed early. Work hard and try to settle the account as soon as possible," Hayato said.
The slight feeling of gratitude that Yukino Fuyumi had just developed was shattered again by the boy's words.
"Bastard."
She cursed, then lifted her foot, intending to kick forcefully… but in the end, she only lightly kicked the doorframe.
...
"Is it alright to be out at this hour?" Miyajima Tsubaki asked.
She was strolling with her daughter on the streets of Shibuya.
"It's fine."
Some people treat final exams like a formidable enemy, while others simply treat them as ordinary days, no different from regular tests.
Miyajima Sakura was undoubtedly the latter.
She finished her review at eight o'clock, and hearing that her mother wanted to go out for a stroll, she followed along.
Shibuya was still quite lively near nine o'clock, and the summer evening breeze was warm, giving a somewhat damp feeling.
"We haven't been out strolling together in a long time, have we?" Miyajima Tsubaki said with a smile.
"Yes," Sakura smiled too.
The mother and daughter walked side by side in tacit understanding.
Speaking of "a long time," she hadn't gone shopping with Kobayashi in a long time either… Rather than "a long time," it seemed their only time together alone was that one time they caught dolls. Miyajima Tsubaki couldn't help but sigh.
Speaking of "a long time," she hadn't gone out to play with Kobayashi in a long time either… Rather than "a long time," it seemed their only time together alone was that one time they bought a sword. Miyajima Sakura looked up at the night sky.
Both sighed at the same time.
I really want to go out and play with Kobayashi (Kun) again.
The sighs simultaneously entered the ears of both mother and daughter.
"Mom? What's wrong?" Miyajima Sakura quickly asked.
"No, it's nothing…" Miyajima Tsubaki shook her head, her cheeks flushed… Such a thing could absolutely not be spoken aloud. Feeling a bit embarrassed, she put on a stern face to lecture: "Rather, Sakura, you, at such a young age, don't always sigh. Good luck will run away, you know?"
"Yes," Miyajima Sakura quickly nodded obediently.
However, just as the word "good luck" was mentioned, Miyajima Sakura noticed something not far away.
"Ah… Mom, that store we went to before is having a lottery event, look."
She pointed to the sign placed outside: "Don't we have quite a few points? Do you want to try it?"
Upon hearing this, Miyajima Tsubaki walked over to take a look.
The worst prize was indeed toilet paper.
As for the grand prize, it was a voucher for Amagi Onsen Ryokan.
…However,
"Where is this Amagi Onsen Ryokan?" Miyajima Tsubaki asked.
Miyajima Sakura shook her head. She had never heard of this place either; it didn't seem very famous.
Miyajima Tsubaki then looked at the prizes in the middle.
"…Oh, that air fryer looks good. With that, we can have fried chicken whenever we want. Sakura, let's aim for that~~"
"Okay!" Miyajima Sakura nodded, as if facing a formidable enemy.
The two walked into the store together.
Then, the mother and daughter felt that perhaps they should have sighed a few more times before coming in.
…
…
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