Izumi Yuu rested for a while, and once he felt okay, he stood up. "Saiki-kun, Shikimori-san, what do you want to eat? My treat."
"Is that okay?"
Izumi patted his chest. "Of course, order whatever you want, go ahead."
[Well, since you put it that way, I won't hold back.]
Saiki walked up to the counter and looked at the strawberry crepe, vanilla crepe, banana crepe… and still decided on this 1000-yen one.
[Hm, I'll take this strawberry-flavored crepe.]
Izumi looked at Saiki, who was practically drooling. "Saiki-kun, do you really like crepes that much?"
[They're alright. As long as it's sweets, I like them. And since this crepe shop is so popular, how could I not try it?]
"Saiki-kun likes sweets…" Shikimori took out a small notebook and started writing while muttering to herself.
Izumi glanced at Shikimori, who was doing who-knows-what. "So, Shikimori-san, which one do you want?"
Shikimori closed her notebook, carefully put it away, and started looking around.
"Hm, sure. This dessert looks so cute."
Shikimori pointed at the walnut and custard with caramel flavor right in front of her.
Izumi: "Wow~ It really is, so cute!"
(Do desserts need to look cute? Just focus on the taste.)
Saiki took one look.
[This price is pretty cute too.]
"Hm?"
"This one's 1800 yen, so expensive!"
Shikimori hadn't paid much attention earlier and only looked at the appearance, not expecting this dessert to be so pricey.
Izumi put his hands on his hips, puffed out his chest, and proudly declared: "No problem at all, leave it to me. For going out to hang out together today, I've been preparing for a long time and saved up a lot of pocket money."
[Phew, right now you look especially dazzling, Izumi.]
"Really? And I even have a discount coupon…"
Izumi reached into his pocket.
(´°Δ°`) "Eh?"
Shikimori saw Izumi's strange expression and asked: "What's wrong?"
"The discount coupon is gone… whatever, as long as I still have my wallet, I don't really need the discount that much. Let me check… wait a second."
Shikimori asked nervously: "What's wrong, Izumi-kun? Don't tell me you lost your wallet too."
Izumi's expression changed dramatically w(°o°)w
[No need to ask, his face says it all.]
Izumi dropped to his knees and punched the ground with his fist.
"Ouch!"
Saiki: ...
"How could this happen? This morning, to make sure I didn't lose my wallet, I even tied it with a string."
Izumi pulled up his pants leg. At the spot where the string was tied, the string had broken.
[Yare yare, looks like things aren't looking good.]
Izumi Yuu lowered his head in dejection: "I'm sorry…"
(A wallet tied with a string? Come to think of it, I didn't see it this morning when he left the house.)
(Clairvoyance)
Saiki used clairvoyance again—not crossed eyes, but clairvoyance—and saw Izumi Yuu's wallet right at his front door.
(So it broke off as soon as he stepped out? No wonder.)
"Excuse me, what would you like to order?"
The staff member asked.
Izumi Yuu: "Um…"
[Then two strawberry crepes and one walnut with custard.]
...20 minutes later.
Izumi Yuu took a bite of the crepe and looked at Saiki with an apologetic gaze: "I'm sorry, Saiki-kun, Shikimori-san. Today was supposed to be my treat, but I never expected something like this to happen. In the end, it turned into you treating me, Saiki."
He had been so excited earlier, inviting them out and promising to treat them, only to end up having them treat him instead. Who could understand that feeling?
[Don't worry about it.]
Shikimori comforted him: "It's fine, Izumi-kun. Once you find your wallet, you can just treat us next time. Maybe it just fell at your front door, right?"
"If it really fell at my front door, that would be great, but that's probably impossible."
(Who knows!)
Shikimori took a bite of the walnut and custard: "Saiki, thank you."
[No problem.]
Izumi Yuu: "But this really is delicious."
"Huh? Yuu, what are you doing here?"
A plainly dressed middle-aged man with a small mustache, some white in his hair, a bit chubby, and a very kind and approachable look walked over.
Beside him was a mature woman in her thirties with an elegant charm, who bore some resemblance to Izumi Yuu. You could tell at a glance that she had been a beauty when she was younger.
Izumi Yuu: "Huh? Dad, Mom, why are you guys here?"
The woman Izumi called Mom frowned, touched her face, and sighed: "We came to buy some things. And Yuu, you dropped your wallet at the front door."
"Ah… oh, sorry."
Izumi reached out and took the wallet.
"So it really did fall at the front door."
Shikimori quietly asked Izumi: "Izumi-kun, who are these two?"
"Oh!"
Izumi Yuu snapped back and introduced them: "Saiki-kun, Shikimori-san, these are my mom and dad."
"Dad, Mom, this is Saiki-kun and Shikimori-san. They often look after me."
Shikimori bowed in greeting: "Hello! Izumi-kun's father and mother."
[Hello, Uncle and Auntie.]
Izumi's mom held her cheek happily and said: "So you're the Saiki-kun and Shikimori-san that our Yuu always talks about."
"Thanks so much for taking care of our Yuu usually. Sorry about that, this kid is always so careless."
Izumi Yuu's dad: "Mm, now that we see you two in person, you're exactly like what Yuu described. It's really reassuring."
Shikimori replied: "Not at all. Izumi-kun is really nice to people and especially gentle. The classmates around him like him a lot too. Helping each other among classmates is totally normal."
"Hearing you say that puts us at ease. By the way, do you have any plans after this?"
After Izumi put his wallet away,
"No, originally I was going to treat Saiki-kun and Shikimori-san to dessert, but then my wallet went missing, and in the end Saiki-kun ended up treating me…"
Izumi Yuu's dad: "I see. Then Yuu, why don't you invite your classmates over to the house? We just bought some ingredients anyway."
Izumi Yuu's mom agreed: "That's a great idea. I'll make a nice meal and treat your classmates."
Izumi Yuu looked nervously at Saiki and Shikimori: "Is that okay?"
"I'm fine with it." Shikimori smiled and said no problem.
Izumi Yuu's dad: "Haha, is that so? Great."
"So what about you, Saiki-kun?"
[Hm, no problem for me either.]
Originally Saiki had planned to go home and rest early after the movie, but mooching a meal wasn't a big deal. Anyway, once he got home he'd have to cook for himself, and his cooking wasn't great, so he'd probably just end up eating instant noodles again.
Izumi Yuu clenched his fist: "Awesome!!!"
...Evening arrived.
Saiki sat in the Izumi family's living room, looking at the spread of home-cooked dishes laid out like a feast train.
Shikimori: "They look really delicious, Saiki-kun."
[Yeah! They look tasty.]
(Home cooking can be really good too.)