Looking at Ringo’s startled little-hamster expression, Takeshi couldn’t help laughing. “Hahaha, did I scare you?”
Ringo nodded stiffly. “A little…” After thinking for a moment, she held up her fingers to indicate a tiny distance. “Just this little.”
She even had to demonstrate it?
That was way too cute.
Trying not to laugh, Takeshi bent over slightly, leaning toward her as he spoke in a serious tone. “Sorry, sorry. I was just joking.”
Ringo shook her head. “It’s okay.”
Just then, another customer called Takeshi over to pay the bill. He reached out and patted Ringo’s head.
“Take your time eating,” he said before going back to work.
Ringo blinked as she watched his retreating figure, then reached up and touched the top of her own head.
She had the strange feeling that Takeshi was very used to patting her on the head.
Like he was petting a puppy.
After the customers at another table paid and left, Ringo became the only customer still eating in the restaurant.
“Would you like anything else?”
“No, this is enough.”
Hearing that, Takeshi didn’t go back inside. Instead, he sat down on the stool beside her.
As Ringo ate her sushi, she secretly glanced at him from the corner of her eye.
The next second, Takeshi turned to look at her.
“Is something wrong?”
She hadn’t expected him to catch her sneaking glances. Caught red-handed, Ringo gave an awkward laugh before simply turning to face him, tilting her head slightly.
“Takeshi… yesterday you promised those kids you’d teach them baseball. Did you go?”
So she remembered that. It seemed she’d actually been thinking about it.
“Of course I went,” Takeshi answered without hesitation. “I promised them, didn’t I? If you make a promise, you have to keep it. Even if they’re little kids, you can’t break your word.”
“That’s true.”
Ringo turned back around, but her mood visibly dimmed.
“But… some people still do.”
“Ringo?”
“Ah, it’s nothing.” She smiled again, looking a little embarrassed. “I accidentally complained a little.”
Takeshi fell into thought.
He remembered that when he’d gone to Yokohama to see her, she’d been stood up by her ex-boyfriend.
That was probably why she’d said that.
Not wanting her to dwell on unpleasant thoughts, he smiled and changed the subject.
“It’s Christmas tomorrow. Any plans?”
“No.” As expected, Ringo’s attention shifted immediately. She shook her head.
“My friend invited me to a party, but everyone there is from her middle school. I don’t know any of them, so I’d just feel uncomfortable and awkward.”
After a pause, she added,
“It’s Satsuki—the one you met in Yokohama. She lives next door to my apartment.”
“I remember her.” Takeshi nodded, rubbing his chin as he recalled. “She had pink hair, right?”
“That’s right.” Ringo looked pleasantly surprised. “You still remember? You only met her once.”
“Well, because—”
Before he could finish, his expression changed slightly, and his gaze shifted toward the entrance.
“We’ve got customers.”
“Huh?”
Ringo turned to look as well, but the door was still closed.
“There aren’t any—”
Before she could finish speaking, the door to the sushi shop slid open.
Three people appeared in the doorway.
“Yamamoto! We’re here to mooch dinner!”
The boy who opened the door made quite a racket, and his voice was anything but quiet.
Since Takeshi had warned her beforehand, Ringo wasn’t startled. Instead, hearing the newcomer call Takeshi by name surprised her.
“Are they people you know, Takeshi?”
The boy who had opened the door also froze when he noticed her.
“Oh? There’s a customer?”
I-Pin reminded Lambo, “Lambo, you opened the door too loudly.”
Tsunayoshi reached over and smacked Lambo lightly on the head.
“It’s business hours. Of course there are customers.”
“They’re my friends,” Takeshi answered Ringo first before greeting the newcomers.
“Come on in. What brings you guys here?”
Scratching his head, Tsunayoshi replied, “My mom went out today, so nobody was home to cook. Lambo said he wanted sushi, so we came here.”
Then he noticed Ringo sitting beside Takeshi.
His whole body went on alert.
Oh no, it’s a girl!
She was just talking with Yamamoto!
They looked pretty close, too!
Did they just interrupt something?
“I see.”
Takeshi motioned for them to find seats before heading behind the counter.
“What would you like?”
“Let Lambo order first.” Tsunayoshi pointed at him. “He spent the whole way here complaining that he was starving.”
Noticing Ringo’s curious gaze, Tsunayoshi turned toward her and offered a gentle, polite smile.
“Hello.”
Ringo had been a little nervous around strangers, but seeing how friendly he was helped her relax.
“Hello,” she replied politely.
Lambo leaned over Tsunayoshi’s shoulder to look at Ringo before asking loudly,
“Yamamoto, who is she?”
I-Pin also looked over curiously.
“The little sister next door,” Takeshi answered.
Lambo’s eyes lit up instantly.
“Oh! So she’s the—”
“Lambo,” Takeshi interrupted with a smile, “what would you like to eat?”
“Uh… let me think…”
Lambo rattled off a long list.
As Takeshi listened, he simply nodded along.
Ringo couldn’t help wondering whether he could really remember all of that.
“You sure want a lot,” Takeshi teased. “I’ll make it for you, but you’ll have to wait a while.”
Lambo nodded eagerly.
“Okay, okay.”
After taking Lambo’s order, Takeshi turned to I-Pin.
But she shook her head.
“Please make Lambo’s first, Mr. Yamamoto. I’m not very hungry. I can order later.”
“Hahaha, sure.”
Ringo quietly ate while watching Takeshi make sushi.
Tsunayoshi noticed and quietly called out,
“Yamamoto…”
When Takeshi looked over, Tsunayoshi pointed discreetly at Ringo.
“No need to worry about her,” Takeshi said with a smile. “She’s more comfortable if you just let her eat by herself.”
“Right, Ringo?”
“Mm!”
Ringo nodded vigorously.
“You don’t have to worry about me!”
“Ringo?”
Tsunayoshi smiled warmly.
“That’s such a cute name.”
Ringo’s cheeks immediately turned red.
“Th-thank you.”
Lambo had agreed to wait at first, but before long he grew impatient.
“Isn’t it ready yet? I’m starving!”
“Just a moment.”
Takeshi placed several freshly made pieces of sushi in front of him.
“Here.”
Lambo devoured them in two or three bites.
Unfortunately, that only made him hungrier.
Then he noticed the several plates of sushi in front of Ringo and stared at them without blinking.
Tsunayoshi couldn’t help complaining,
“Lambo, have some self-control! You’re practically drooling!”
“But I’m hungry!” Lambo declared righteously.
Ringo looked at Lambo, then at the sushi in front of her.
Finally, she said cautiously,
“If you don’t mind… you can have mine first…”
“I’m coming!”
Lambo didn’t stand on ceremony at all. He was just about to move over when a large hand pressed firmly onto his head.
Turning his head with difficulty, he looked at Takeshi.
“Why are you holding me down?”
For some reason, even though Takeshi was smiling at him, Lambo felt a chill run down his spine.
Everyone in the Vongola knew that although the Rain Guardian always wore a smile, not every smile meant the same thing.
The oppressive pressure coming from him was impossible to ignore.
“Here.”
Still smiling brightly, Takeshi placed a bowl of rice and a plate of sashimi in front of Lambo.
Lambo looked utterly confused.
“What’s this?”
“What sushi looks like before it becomes sushi,” Takeshi said matter-of-factly. “It all ends up in your stomach anyway. Go ahead.”
Tsunayoshi’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
Yamamoto… listen to yourself!
You’re the son of a sushi restaurant owner!
How can you say something so bizarre?
That’s chaotic evil!
Lambo was equally dumbfounded.
“How is that the same? Sushi is sushi! Rice and sashimi are rice and sashimi!”
“It all ends up the same.”
“I refuse to accept that!”
Tsunayoshi covered his forehead.
“Lambo looks like his entire worldview has just been shattered.”
“It’s okay.”
Ringo looked at Takeshi.
“I’m about seventy percent full already. If he’s really hungry, let him eat first.”
“And I eat very slowly. Takeshi can just make more for me.”
“If that’s what you want.”
Only then did Takeshi release Lambo.
Delighted, Lambo immediately switched seats, settling himself between Tsunayoshi and Ringo.
I-Pin moved over to Lambo’s previous seat beside Tsunayoshi.
Ringo pushed the untouched plates of sushi toward Lambo.
“Please.”
“Thank you, big sister!”
Once Ringo shared her sushi with Lambo, Takeshi had a lot more time to spare.
After eating a little more herself, Ringo finally put down her chopsticks.
“Takeshi, I’m full.”
“Really?” Takeshi smiled. “Don’t forget to leave a good review.”
“Okay.”
Ringo smiled too.
“Then I’m heading home.”
More customers had started coming in one after another, so she should leave.
“I’ll walk you home,” Takeshi offered. “I’ll call my dad out.”
“No, no!”
Ringo hurriedly waved her hands.
“It’s only a three-minute walk, and it’s not even dark yet. I can go by myself.”
“Then I’m leaving! Bye, Takeshi.”
After saying that, she waved at Tsunayoshi and the others.
“Goodbye.”
After Ringo left, Tsunayoshi asked,
“Has she always lived next door to you?”
“Yeah.” Takeshi nodded. “We’ve known each other since we were kids.”
“Wow… that’s surprising.”
Tsunayoshi looked amazed.
“I’ve never heard you mention her before.”
“Hmm…”
After thinking for a moment, Takeshi explained,
“When we were little, she always came looking for me to play with her. Then I started middle school, and suddenly she stopped coming.”
“After that, we were hardly ever in Japan anyway. Even though we lived next door to each other, I never saw her again.”
“It wasn’t until I went to Yokohama in October that her mom told me she was attending college there.”
Tsunayoshi sighed.
“That sounds like such a strange childhood friends relationship.”
“Right?”
Takeshi folded his arms.
“We hadn’t seen each other for so long that, in my mind, she was still a little kid.”
“So even when I met her again not long ago, I still thought of her as one.”
Tsunayoshi couldn’t help laughing.
“So that’s why you protected her when Lambo wanted her sushi?”
“Not really.”
Takeshi shook his head.
“She’s really shy, and she doesn’t know how to refuse people.”
“I just didn’t want her giving Lambo her sushi if she didn’t actually want to.”
“When we were kids, other people would take her toys, and she wouldn’t even tell anyone.”
“I was the one who noticed and got them back for her.”
“Oh?”
Tsunayoshi rested his chin on one hand.
“That still sounds like protecting her to me.”
“When you grabbed Lambo by the head just now, I honestly thought you might accidentally pull it off.”
Takeshi laughed helplessly.
“It wasn’t that bad.”
Lambo, however, nodded frantically.
“It really was! I was terrified! I thought you were going to slice me into sashimi! QAQ”
I-Pin blinked.
“Mr. Yamamoto doesn’t seem to have a clear understanding of how intimidating his aura is.”
“Hahaha, sorry about that, Lambo.”
“Make me lots more sushi, and Lord Lambo will forgive you!”
“No problem.”
Takeshi agreed without hesitation, his hands never slowing as he shaped the sushi.
At the same time, he wondered to himself,
Was I really that scary when I held Lambo down?
I didn’t scare Ringo too, did I?
By the time Ringo’s parents returned from their company’s year-end party, it was already past eleven at night.
Ringo, who had already fallen asleep, heard the noise and sleepily rubbed her eyes as she walked out of her room.
In one hand she still carried the stuffed toy she always hugged while sleeping.
“Mom, Dad, you’re back?”
“Did we wake you up?” her mother asked guiltily.
Ringo stared blankly for a few seconds before shaking her head.
“No. I wasn’t sleeping very deeply anyway.”
After a pause, she added,
“I’m a little hungry.”
Her father held up the bag he was carrying.
“Perfect timing. One of my coworkers gave us some pastries. Come have some.”
“Okay.”
Ringo sat down on the sofa, picked up a pastry, and ate it in small bites.
When her mother asked what plans she had for tomorrow, Ringo tilted her head and thought for a while before shaking it.
“No plans. I want to stay home.”
“How can you stay home on Christmas?” her mother said disapprovingly. “Your father and I won’t be home tomorrow either. Are you really going to stay home by yourself?”
Ringo blinked.
“I could.”
“Oh, you…”
Her mother looked at her with obvious disapproval.
“Since you don’t have any plans, Mommy will make some for you.”
“How about going on a blind date tomorrow?”