"Sorry."
Hayato naturally patted Pochi's head, and Pochi, still shaken and drinking her beverage, allowed him to do so.
After two sips of cola, Pochi slowly came back to her senses. She looked at the drink in her hand, then at the drink in Hayato's hand, and paused.
Then she said.
"No, it's fine…" Halfway through, she thought again, as if recalling the thrill of just now.
She looked up at Hayato and gave a fleeting smile.
"It was a bit interesting."
Hayato was slightly startled, looking at Pochi who had suddenly mustered courage. Although her face still carried a hint of gloom, her smile was happy.
Under the warm late spring sun near noon, her excessively pale face was touched with a layer of light.
He then smiled.
"It seems Pochi also has the potential to become a Pervert."
His words made Pochi freeze.
Afterwards, the two, now more familiar, pushed their bicycles and walked along the road towards the bicycle rental shop.
Hayato pushed the bicycle with one hand, took out his phone, glanced at it, and said to Pochi.
"It's getting late, Pochi, what are you doing now?"
Pochi looked at her cloth bag; she had only brought her bag when she left, not her Guitar… She would have to go back to get her Guitar for practice at STARRY in the afternoon.
While she was thinking, Hayato, who had waited for a while, asked her again.
"Where is Pochi's home?"
Pochi looked at him in confusion, then said without much hesitation.
"In Kanazawa, Yokohama…"
Amidst the ticking sound of the bicycle axle turning, Hayato thought for a moment, considering the distance.
"Then let's return the bicycle, grab some lunch, and then go to Pochi's house to get her Guitar?"
Pochi, suddenly feeling like her inner thoughts had been seen through, was so startled that her cowlick stood straight up. She asked in a panic.
"Ishikawa-kun… can he read minds…?"
Hayato looked at her with a teasing smile.
"Pochi isn't hiding her inner thoughts at all."
Pochi panicked for a moment, then shyly covered her face, not caring at all that they were on a public street.
Hayato went along with her, simply reaching out and pulling her sleeve to prevent her from straying.
But he still teased her.
"Pochi, are you thinking something bad like this? Let me see."
"No, no… you can't!"
Pochi still covered her face, and when she cried out, her body trembled from the effort.
Moreover, her ears were now completely red.
It seemed that even if she hadn't been thinking anything just now, she certainly was now.
Hayato found her very amusing, but he didn't dare to tease her any further; Pochi was very easy to break.
He returned to the main topic.
"What does Pochi want to eat?"
Even though he had returned to the main topic, Pochi still covered her face, seemingly intending to wait until the blush on her face faded before taking her hands away.
Hayato, seeing her excessively long thinking time, immediately guessed her thoughts.
He raised the corner of his mouth and said flippantly.
"I know, let's go eat fast food."
"Eh!"
This time, Pochi was so startled that her whole body stiffened, and she hugged her head, shaking it repeatedly.
Hayato also stopped, smiling mischievously, and said.
"And Pochi is thinking right now, 'You still say you can't read minds.'"
Pochi cried out, almost in tears.
"Don't… don't read my mind anymore!"
Hayato still gave her some face; otherwise, he could have guessed that sentence too, and even said it faster than her.
As they spoke, the two paid no attention to the fact that they were on a public street, and played around amidst the surprised glances of passersby.
Well, Pochi was the one being played with… At the bicycle rental shop, the owner still had a cigarette dangling from his mouth, but his distracted gaze rested on the wall with traces of bike oil.
"Boss, I'm here to return the bike."
"Oh."
Hearing a customer return, he responded casually, then stood up and looked towards the entrance.
The two people who had rented his special bicycle that morning had returned.
Only, the young man was all smiles, while the young woman's face showed a hint of dejection.
He felt that compared to the morning, their expressions seemed unchanged, yet also completely different.
The young man pushed the bicycle in and said admiringly.
"Boss, this is truly a fantastic bike."
The boss nodded, a look of genuine pride on his face.
"Of course, this is the 'Love's Embrace Special' that has witnessed the birth of dozens of couples."
It was at this moment that the young man's expression stiffened, and he looked at the bicycle in a panic.
The girl's cowlick on the side of her head perked up, then quickly stirred the air.
The owner felt a bad premonition; he looked at the car, scrutinized it, and his anxious heart kept rising.
And then... "What in the world did you do!!!"
A roar of fury echoed through the shop...
Walking to the fast-food restaurant, Hayato looked pitifully at his wallet, and the wallet responded with an expression of 'I only have this last drop left'.
"Ah, my money..."
Although he had recently, for the first time in a while, asked his family for pocket money and received a considerable amount, it couldn't withstand Hayato's spending habits.
However, his manuscript fees were about to be paid, so he just needed to hold on a little longer.
At this moment, Bocchi, who was beside him, took out her wallet from her cloth bag and started to take out money.
"Then... Ishikawa-kun, I'll pay for what we just spent, it's all because of me..."
Hayato wasn't too surprised by Bocchi's reaction, but he also hadn't expected Bocchi to pay for everything.
He patted Bocchi's shoulder.
"Bocchi, you'll be taken advantage of in the future."
...They arrived at the fast-food restaurant.
They had already decided that Bocchi wouldn't bear the car rental fee; she would just pay for lunch.
Hayato's first experience of being supported by a woman was with Bocchi.
Bocchi walked to the counter and just glanced at the menu, her gaze involuntarily darting to a combo meal, then she immediately moved it away in a panic.
At the same time, she strongly repudiated herself for even thinking about that combo meal.
'Don't get carried away! Even with the biggest discount, this isn't a combo an introverted person can choose; it'll bring back the pain of the few times I tried to order a couple's discount combo!'
'Stop immediately, you'll self-destruct!'
But then, a completely pink Bocchi suddenly appeared in her mind and said to her.
'If it's just the two of us, Ishikawa-kun and me, then we can confidently order this combo, and we can also...'
Pink Bocchi hadn't finished speaking when Bocchi pressed her down, but Pink Bocchi's words still seemed to reach her ears.
Bocchi's lips curved into a smile, and her eyes glazed over, expanding.
But at the same time, Bocchi felt a bad premonition; she looked to the side.
Hayato's lips were stretched into a grin, and he was smiling at her.
Balloon Bocchi instantly deflated, slumping onto the counter like a sheet of paper...
After ordering and sitting down, Bocchi mustered her courage, gripped the corner of the table, and solemnly knelt with her head bowed to the tabletop.
The table vibrated slightly.
She said mournfully.
"Ishikawa-kun, I beg you, please don't read my mind anymore."
"Alright, but there's a condition."
Although Hayato said this, he knew very well that if he was familiar enough, he wouldn't need to guess what Bocchi was thinking; he could just see it.
It wasn't a question of whether or not to read her mind, but rather that the answer was clearly written, so there was no way to not see it.
He was just agreeing not to use it to tease Bocchi anymore.
Bocchi looked up, her soft, sky-blue eyes looking at Hayato in confusion.
Curious about his condition.
"Bocchi still calls me Ishikawa-kun, it feels very distant, how about changing the address?"
Hayato said to her.
Bocchi hesitated, feeling like her mind had been read again.
She had been thinking about it for a long time but hadn't dared to change the address, constantly agonizing over it.
For a moment, she inexplicably felt that it didn't matter even if her mind was read.
She lowered her gaze and softly called out to the person in front of her.
"Um, Hayato..."