The next morning, the alarm rang on time.
Suto opened his eyes and sat up from the bed.
He suddenly noticed something.
His eyes had none of that usual soreness after waking up today.
“Could it be because I did those eye exercises last night?
Then I’ll try not doing them tonight and see what happens.”
Suto changed clothes, brushed his teeth, washed his face, and went out to warm up.
Today was Thursday, his fifth day since arriving in this world.
He had already started getting used to this new life.
When he ran to the convenience store, he happened to see Fujiwara Takumi’s AE86 driving away.
After thinking for a moment, Suto walked into the store and bought two blocks of fresh tofu.
He had eaten fried fish for two days in a row.
Tonight, he would try making stewed tofu instead.
After finishing his run, he returned home.
Suto searched “Beika Library” on his phone and did not see any news reports.
A little while later, Kotonoha sent him a message.
[Katsura Kotonoha: Good morning!
Suo-kun!]
Looking at the message on the screen, Suto somehow felt like he was seeing one of his roommates from his previous life, who would send good morning and good night messages to the girl he liked every day without fail.
[Suto: Morning, Katsura-san.]
[Suto: I’m going to take a shower.]
Shower?
Sitting on her bed, Kotonoha froze for a moment.
Suo-kun takes showers in the morning too?
Oh, right.
She suddenly remembered.
When Suto had protected her on the subway, the two of them had been very close.
She had indeed smelled the fresh scent of shampoo and body wash from him, making her feel comfortable even inside the closed train carriage.
Suo-kun really likes being clean.
Kotonoha thought about it in a daze for a while, then suddenly lowered her head and sniffed the pajamas she was wearing.
There was no smell of sweat.
Only a faint girlish fragrance.
Kotonoha silently got out of bed and walked out of the room.
A few minutes later, Kokoro, who had just woken up, stood outside the bathroom and called inside in confusion, “Onee-chan, why are you taking a shower so early in the morning?”
“Hurry up and brush your teeth!”
“Okay.”
Kokoro pouted, feeling that her sister had been different from usual these past few days.
…
After showering and eating breakfast, Suto went out to take the subway.
Once he got on, he took out Love Metronome and leaned against the spot by the window, lowering his head to read.
The morning light was pretty good.
Unlike reading in the evening, it did not make his eyes uncomfortable.
When the subway arrived at the next station, Suto and Kotonoha once again “coincidentally” met like yesterday.
“Katsura-san.”
After greeting him, Kotonoha walked straight toward him.
Suto naturally reached out and braced himself, shielding her in front of him.
Hm?
She smells nice.
Did she take a shower too?
Kotonoha lowered her head and curiously looked at the book in his hand.
“What is that?”
“A light novel… Katsura-san, do you like reading?”
“I do.”
Kotonoha immediately replied.
Unlike calligraphy, ballet, swordsmanship, and all those other lessons, reading was the only course that allowed her to feel relaxed both physically and mentally.
When she went home after school, if the train was not too crowded, she would sit down and take out a book to read.
Suto smiled.
“As expected.
Just like I guessed, people who like calligraphy usually like reading too.”
Kotonoha felt a little embarrassed listening to him.
Because in truth, she did not really like calligraphy.
But she felt that she could truly learn to like it in the future.
Because Suto had to brace his hands to protect her, he could not continue reading.
He simply handed the book to her.
“Although it was written by a new author and its sales don’t seem very good, I actually like this book’s style and content quite a bit.
You can give it a try.”
“Mm.”
Kotonoha accepted the book and opened it.
This was her first time experiencing reading while being protected in a crowded train carriage.
But it felt very nice and reassuring.
At first, Kotonoha was only enjoying the sense of safety from being protected.
As for the book, she was only casually looking through it.
But after reading a few pages, she gradually became absorbed.
A school romance light novel was clearly very attractive to a young girl, especially one whose heart had just begun to awaken.
Suto lowered his head and looked at her, silently thinking to himself.
It attracted Kotonoha this quickly.
The quality of this light novel really is good.
Right now, it only lacks recommendations.
Soon, the subway was about to arrive at the station.
Seeing that Kotonoha seemed to have completely failed to notice, Suto reminded her, “Katsura-san, you need to get off.”
“Ah?
Ah!”
Kotonoha came back to herself, her face slightly red as she softly said, “Sorry, I just…”
Suto smiled and said, “It’s fine.
Seeing you like a book I enjoy makes me happy.”
Kotonoha raised a hand and tucked the hair by her ear behind it.
This seemed to be one of her habitual movements.
She softly said, “This book really is very interesting. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
After school this afternoon, I’ll go to a bookstore and support the author too.”
Looking at her, Suto said, “You don’t need to go through that trouble.”
Kotonoha froze.
“Eh?”
Suto said mysteriously, “I’ll show you a magic trick.”
“Magic?”
Kotonoha couldn’t help thinking of the piece of chewing gum Suto had given her when they first met.
Although it was just ordinary gum, it had tasted very sweet.
Suto lightly waved his hand, and a book suddenly appeared in it.
It was a brand-new copy of Love Metronome, still wrapped in plastic.
Suto had bought two copies from the bookstore yesterday, and this was the other one.
Kotonoha’s eyes widened.
“Eh!”
It really was magic!
Amazing!
She couldn’t tell where Suo-kun had made it appear from at all!
Suto said to her, “Since you like it, I’ll give you this new copy, Katsura-san.”
Kotonoha instinctively shook her head.
“T-That wouldn’t be right…”
Looking at her, Suto said seriously, “Katsura-san, we’re friends, right?”
Meeting those eyes of his, which somehow seemed especially bright today, Kotonoha became slightly dazed.
Then she lowered her head with a blush and softly said, “Of course.
We’re friends.”
Suto smiled and said, “Since we’re friends, there’s no need to fuss over such a small thing.
Next time, you can give me a book you like in return.”
After thinking about it, Kotonoha felt that what he said made sense.
She reached out and carefully accepted the book, her tone unusually serious.
“Mm… I’ll treasure this book.
Next time, I’ll give Suo-kun something in return.”
[Ding—]
Suto glanced at his system wallet.
[0 gold coins, 1 silver coin, 16 copper coins]
Today’s friend fee from Katsura-san had been received.
He nodded with a smile.
“Good.
I’ll look forward to it.”
The subway arrived at the station, and the doors opened.
Suto saw her off the train and said goodbye.
Through the window, he saw Kotonoha standing on the platform the entire time, silently watching in his direction.
…
…
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