The time came to Friday, the last school day of the week.
Perhaps because the weekend was approaching, the sunlight outside the window felt a bit warmer.
The bell for the end of the school day rang right on time, as always.
Kaedehara Tōru did not join any groups heading home.
He packed his things, left the school building alone, and arrived at a cafe on the second floor of Keyaki Mall.
Pushing open the glass door of the cafe, the rich aroma of coffee greeted him.
He chose a corner seat by the window; the lighting was good, and he could see the pedestrians passing by outside.
He pulled a mystery novel from his bag, ordered an iced Americano, and immersed himself in the book.
Time ticked away, and people came and went in the cafe.
The sky outside shifted from light blue to a gradual orange hue.
Just then, the wind chime at the entrance gave a crisp “ding-a-ling” sound.
Kaedehara Tōru did not pause in turning the page, but the corner of his eye had already caught that figure constantly approaching him.
Ichinose Honami.
She seemed to want to pretend she was just passing by casually, attracted by the atmosphere of the shop.
But her gaze had long been fixed on the figure quietly reading in the corner.
She took a step and walked in the direction of Kaedehara Tōru.
The footsteps stopped by Kaedehara Tōru’s table, and the shadow of her body fell onto his book pages.
Only then did Kaedehara Tōru seem as if he had been disturbed, slowly raising his head from the book.
He squinted slightly, looking at the girl with the bright smile in front of him, but his face showed confusion, as if trying hard to recognize a stranger.
“Hello, excuse me…
is something the matter?
If you need a seat, no one is sitting next to me.”
The smile on Ichinose Honami’s face stiffened for a moment.
She blinked her bright, large eyes, looking at Kaedehara Tōru in disbelief.
“Eh?
Um…
classmate, don’t you remember me?”
She pointed to her own face, her tone tinged with uncertainty.
Finally, he shook his head, showing an apologetic expression on his face.
“I am very sorry; my memory might not be very good.
Have we…
met before?
You are very cute; if we had met, I should have had an impression.”
His words were polite but carried a sense of distance; at the same time, that phrase “you are very cute” was like a sugar-coated bullet, making it impossible to get angry.
Ichinose was completely stunned.
These past few days, she would often think of the boy she had bumped into on the first day of school—the one whose words and actions were a bit frivolous yet interesting.
She was even thinking about when she should fulfill that promise of “compensation.”
As a result, the other party had actually forgotten her completely?
After a brief moment of shock, Ichinose’s cheeks puffed up slightly, like an angry little hamster.
She put her hands on her hips, leaned her body forward slightly, got close to Kaedehara Tōru, and said in a tone that was both annoyed and amused, “Kaedehara-san!
You are too much!
On the first day of school, at the school gate, you were bumped into by a ‘dangerous’ girl, said something about almost having ‘internal bleeding,’ forced me to give you my contact information, and proposed that I treat you to coffee as a condition to settle the ‘accident’…
Have you forgotten all of this?!”
She almost repeated Kaedehara Tōru’s exact words from that day.
Although she was too embarrassed to say that teasing phrase “chest weapon,” the emphasized word “dangerous” already implied it clearly enough.
Looking at her angry, cute appearance, the “confused” expression on Kaedehara Tōru’s face finally couldn’t hold up, and he let out a “pfft” laugh.
“Ah, I remember now, so it’s that ‘chest weapon’ classmate.
Sorry, sorry, I’ve had a lot on my plate recently, and I didn’t react in time.”
He put down his book and leaned back in his chair, a playful smile on his face, his gaze once again unabashedly sweeping over her ample chest.
“However, it’s been a few days, and Honami-san’s ‘danger’ level seems to have increased again.”
“You, you guy…
you clearly remembered!”
Ichinose’s face turned bright red in an instant, spreading from her cheeks all the way to her slender neck.
She subconsciously straightened her body, crossing her arms over her chest, as if protesting his unreserved gaze.
This guy, he was still the same as when they first met, speaking so directly and inappropriately!
“Alright, alright, don’t be angry.
I was just joking.” Kaedehara Tōru smiled and pointed to the seat opposite him.
“Since we ran into each other so coincidentally, don’t just stand there.
Just in time, I, the ‘victim,’ should properly ‘settle’ the compensation issue with the ‘perpetrator.'”
These words successfully made Ichinose forget her shyness. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
She still went with the flow and sat down in the seat opposite Kaedehara Tōru.
“I didn’t forget!
It’s you, Kaedehara-san, who said you wanted to settle the compensation, but you still haven’t come to find me until now.” She muttered softly.
“It seems you really are obsessed with our first meeting.”
There was a hint of a smile in his voice, and he deliberately emphasized the words “first meeting.” “Since you are reminding me so enthusiastically, if I don’t show some response, wouldn’t that make me seem too insensitive?”
“I, I am not obsessed!”
Ichinose retorted almost subconsciously, but as soon as the words left her mouth, even she felt they lacked conviction.
“Yes, yes, yes, you aren’t.”
Kaedehara Tōru said, going along with her words.
He tilted his chin toward the bar.
“Then, shouldn’t you fulfill the promise you made back then?
I’ve been waiting for this compensation from you and haven’t even dared to order the shop’s specialty drink.”
This shameless remark left Ichinose completely helpless.
She had no choice but to sigh helplessly and stand up from her seat.
“Alright, alright!
You just wait; I’ll go buy it for you!”
“I want the most expensive specialty drink,”
Kaedehara Tōru leaned back in his chair and ordered like an old man, “After all, my ‘internal injuries’ are quite serious.”
“You guy…”
Ichinose turned back and glared at him, but there was no lethality in that look; instead, it was more like a young girl acting spoiled.
She walked to the bar and studied the menu seriously; the way she looked troubled about what to order made Kaedehara Tōru’s smile deepen as he watched.
Soon, Ichinose walked back carrying two drinks.
One was the caramel macchiato she had ordered for Kaedehara Tōru, steaming hot, with a beautiful heart shape made of milk foam on top.
The other one was a strawberry smoothie she had ordered for herself.
She placed the caramel macchiato with a “bang” in front of Kaedehara Tōru, slightly emotional, and the heart shape on the milk foam wobbled along with it.
“Here, Kaedehara-san, your most expensive specialty drink!
After you finish drinking it, our ‘accident’ is considered settled!”
Kaedehara Tōru picked up the cup, looked at the exquisite latte art, and then looked at Ichinose opposite him, who was eating her smoothie in small spoonfuls while glancing over at him from time to time.