When Naruse bluntly said, “You don’t have any friends, do you?”, he sensed a distinct ripple of emotion from the girl across from him.
It wasn’t intense, but it still meant that Ai Morishita had been struck by something.
“…”
Ai Morishita stared at Hikaru Naruse’s face, and then she made a completely unexpected move.
The girl suddenly stuck out her chopsticks and, in a remarkably crisp motion, snatched up a large helping of vegetables straight from the dish in front of Hikaru Naruse.
Her movement was quick, almost as if she were doing it out of spite.
Before Naruse could even open his mouth, he watched the expression on the girl’s face transform violently the moment she forcefully swallowed the food.
It was also Ai Morishita’s first time tasting the mountain-vegetable set meal, and her face twisted up on the spot.
“Hahaha.”
Watching her in that state, Naruse finally couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.
“Morishita, you really are an interesting person.”
Across from him, Ai Morishita barely managed to swallow the vegetables in her mouth, then grabbed the orange juice on the table and gulped down a big mouthful.
Seeing her like this, something stirred in Hikaru Naruse’s heart, and he couldn’t help but say:
“How about this, Morishita — let’s become friends?”
“…”
Ai Morishita lifted her head, a clear flash of astonishment in her eyes.
Her lips parted slightly, as if she meant to say something right away, yet she didn’t know what to say.
“Hikaru Naruse, do you even know what you’re saying?”
“Of course I do.”
Such a candid answer left the girl across from him silent for several seconds.
Her gaze swept back and forth across Naruse’s handsome face, as though she were judging whether the words were just a whim of a joke.
“If you don’t want to, then forget it.
But if you think I’m alright, then let’s become friends?”
Naruse added one more line, a bright and easy smile on his face.
To be honest, throwing a straight ball had always been one of his techniques — because the people of this island nation had such wishy-washy personalities, doing it this way often had a surprisingly good effect.
The instant the words left his mouth, Naruse felt an extremely fierce surge of emotion come rushing at him from the girl across the table.
There was shock.
And surprise.
And also a…
an unbelievable kind of joy?
“…”
This girl — was she actually this delighted about the idea of making a friend?
Hikaru Naruse was secretly astonished.
He had always assumed that Ai Morishita was someone who couldn’t care less about relationships.
After all, given her way of speaking and her behavioral logic, it was hard for her to get along with anyone, and it would be perfectly normal for no one to want to be her friend.
But through the emotions radiating from her, Naruse now officially confirmed one thing: Ai Morishita craved friendship.
So that’s how it was…
Hikaru Naruse lowered his eyelids slightly, and the smile at the corner of his mouth grew even gentler.
He didn’t say anything more to hurry her along; he simply waited quietly for Ai Morishita’s response.
And after a round of brainstorming, the Ai Morishita across from him finally couldn’t help but draw in a deep breath, then looked at Hikaru Naruse and said, one word at a time:
“You should know…
that friends have to eat together every day, right?”
“?”
Hikaru Naruse froze for a moment, and then almost couldn’t stop himself from laughing out loud.
Friends have to eat together every day?
What kind of theory was that?
Naruse figured this line definitely wasn’t something Ai Morishita had concluded on her own, but rather something she’d picked up from the internet or somewhere.
For someone who had never once had a friend, her understanding of the very concept of “friends” probably came entirely from the internet or from works of fiction.
“Mm, I know.”
Naruse nodded toward Ai Morishita.
“So does that mean you’ve already agreed to this condition?”
“Yeah.”
Naruse shrugged and said in an easygoing tone:
“It’s just eating together every day.
That’s hardly a big deal.”
“Um…”
And it was right then that Ai Morishita once again did something that caught Naruse a little off guard.
The girl reached straight out and grabbed hold of Hikaru Naruse’s left hand — the one resting on the table, the one not holding chopsticks.
“Hm?”
Naruse glanced at the small hand on top of his and couldn’t help but chuckle.
“You…
you’re not planning to have me sign a written pledge by hand, are you?”
A faint blush suddenly spread across the girl’s face, yet her expression was more serious than ever before.
“I agree.
I agree to let you be my friend.”
“Sure.”
Hikaru Naruse raised his other hand and gently patted the back of her little hand, the motion tender, as though signaling her not to be nervous.
“Three years is still a long time.
Since we’re in the same class, we’ll have plenty of time to spend together from now on.
Don’t be so tense, Morishita.”
“Okay!”
Ai Morishita took a deep breath and forcibly pressed the joy surging in her chest back down into her heart.
The next moment, she finally let go of Hikaru Naruse’s hand completely, then pulled her phone out of her school uniform pocket.
“Since we’re already friends now…”
The girl’s voice returned to its usual cold tone, but if you listened carefully, you could detect a hint of softness in it that had never been there before.
“Then let’s exchange contact info.
Naruse, give me your phone number.”
As she spoke, Ai Morishita opened her contacts, her thumb sliding swiftly across the screen as she prepared to type.
She had switched to a different way of addressing him again.
Naruse.
Not “Hikaru Naruse,” but simply Naruse.
She had dropped the given name, keeping only the surname, and without attaching the honorific.
In Japanese social culture, this way of addressing someone represented a subtle sense of closeness.
It was like how people who were fairly familiar with each other would call you by your surname, but there was still a way to go before reaching the most intimate stage of calling someone by their given name directly.
For two people who had only just become “friends,” the sense of proportion in this form of address was struck perfectly.
Ai Morishita had made this decision only after careful thought.
Hikaru Naruse noticed this change, and something stirred faintly in his heart.
It seemed her reactions were pretty quick after all.
Still, since things had already come this far, he decided to tease her a little first.
The boy showed no particular reaction; instead, he deliberately put on a puzzled expression and tilted his head slightly.
“Give my phone number to you?
Then what am I supposed to use?”
The instant these words came out, Ai Morishita’s expression froze on the spot.
She was stunned for a full three seconds or so, as if she were seriously pondering the logic of Hikaru Naruse’s remark.
But very quickly, she understood exactly what Hikaru Naruse was getting at.
The girl’s eyebrows immediately knit together, her cherry-colored lips pressed into a slight pout, and an angry “what kind of nonsense are you spouting” expression appeared on her face.
“Friends can joke around with each other, but…
next time I’ll get my revenge too!”
Ai Morishita pressed down on Hikaru Naruse’s left hand once more and said, one word at a time:
“Be good, and hurry up and give me your phone number!”
“…”