After they packed their things, Ken Shimizu walked with Amamiya Iori toward the shoe lockers. Once they passed the school gate, the number of people around them slowly dropped.
On the way to the shopping street, Iori held Ken's arm without a second thought. There were no students from their school nearby, but the street was still full of people. Even so, she did not let go. She sometimes looked up at him, and whenever their eyes met, she gave a happy smile.
She looked like an eight-year-old girl on Christmas Day who had finally received the gift she had wished for. Because of that, Ken could not bring himself to ask her to stop.
Before long, they reached the shopping street. They went to the red-brick street nearest to Ken's house, a place with a warm, old style. Iori's home was in the other direction, but she seemed to know the area well. Inside the store, she placed food into the basket one by one in front of Ken.
"Potatoes... carrots. These should be enough. Ah... and meat..."
Ken watched her choose the items so smoothly, and many thoughts ran through his mind. You could not learn how to pick and check things so fast in one day.
"Shopping like this together feels a bit like we are a married couple..." Iori said with a shy voice. Her side profile looked very pretty.
Ken stared at her for a moment, then came back to himself, and they were already waiting at the counter. He pulled out a ten-thousand-yen note from his wallet. It felt a bit hard to live without phone payments here. If he had not come to this world, he would have almost forgotten the last time he had used paper money.
As time passed, the sky became darker. Ken did not want to let a girl walk alone at night, so after shopping, he walked Iori home first.
They soon reached her house. Right across the street was Kondo Yuuichi's home. The two childhood friends lived very close to each other.
"Thank you for today," he said.
"It's nothing. I wanted to go too. Spending this much time with you made the trip worth it. But... I still don't want to leave you, Shimizu-kun."
"..."
Under the streetlight, Iori raised her face to look at Ken. Seeing her so sweet made a simple, strong wish rise inside him to hold her.
But in the end, he only touched her head gently. Her lips pushed out in a cute pout. She rose on her toes and moved her face close to his.
Their lips were about to touch when a voice cut into the small world they had made.
The voice was so sudden that Iori quickly stepped back.
"Amamiya-neesan?!"
They turned toward the sound. It was a face they both knew well.
"It's you, Aoi," Iori said softly. Her full name was Kondo Aoi. As her family name showed, she was Kondo Yuuichi's younger sister.
She was a little younger than Ken, with short black hair and a loose school uniform. She was small, and her chest could fit under one hand.
"What are you doing in front of our house?" Aoi asked. Her eyes left Iori and moved to Ken, cold as ice.
She loved her big brother a lot, and he loved her too. Their bond was very strong. Because of that, Ken never enjoyed meeting her. Her eyes made it clear she did not like him at all.
He had seen her a few times when he visited Yuuichi's house, but she had disliked him from the very first time for no clear reason.
"Iori just came with me to buy food," Ken said shortly. Aoi looked at him as if he was trash.
If he stayed, the air around them would turn worse. That would only make Iori feel bad. So Ken took the bags from Iori and tried to walk past Aoi. At that moment, she spoke loud enough for both of them to hear.
"Amamiya-neesan, what bad luck. He must have forced you to help. He looks like a real jerk. It's better to stay far away from him."
Because her words sounded so true, Ken did not argue. He only held the plastic bags and left.
* * *
"I'm home," Ken said as he stepped inside his house. It was already dark.
"Welcome back, Ken," a warm voice answered. As he took off his shoes, someone pulled him into a hug. When he saw it was his mother, he relaxed. Warmth filled his chest.
His mother was almost forty but looked very young, young enough to pass for someone in her twenties. Her name was Hoshino Akiko. She had light brown hair and wore earrings. For a mother with a son his age, she looked very stylish. It was not strange, since Hoshino Akiko had once been a famous gal in the area.
There was no father in this home. Akiko had raised Ken alone and cooked for him every day.
His father was not gone because of a common affair, a divorce, or a car accident. His father had once been the leader of a theft group.
Akiko rarely talked about the past. Ken only knew that long ago, without knowing who he was, she had taken his father in while he was running from the police. As if led by fate, they fell in love.
But after Ken was born, the father left them. Two months later, the news said the father had helped his men escape, and then his body was found in the sea, full of bullet holes.
Ken could not fully understand how it felt to be left by the one you loved. But Akiko had stood back up. She kept loving her son, and Ken thought she was truly amazing. In his first life, his mother had died when he was very young, so he treasured her even more now.
"Go take a bath first. Dinner will be ready after that," she said.
"Okay."
In the bathroom, Ken looked at himself in the mirror after washing. He was not very big, but he had clear muscle lines from kendo club training. Three years ago, he had left the club because of an accident and became a go-home club member.
His eyes slowly moved down. He placed a hand on the right side of his stomach. On his lower right waist was a long scar, about ten centimeters, like a cut from a sharp blade that ran from his navel to his side.
Anyone who saw it would know it was not normal. It was clear that he had been close to death once.
When he saw the scar for the first time in this world, he had been shocked. It was clearly not a birthmark.
But he had no idea where it came from. He had no memory of anything that dangerous. The worst thing he remembered was being punched in the face by a group of boys after he stole the school bully's girlfriend.
Other than that, his life had been rather smooth.
After his bath, Ken put on his robe, returned to his room, and locked the door.
Notes:
• Amamiya Iori - JK heroine; targeted; her mother is the hostage. Long-haired and busty.
• Kondo Yuuichi - Original main protagonist; timid; Iori’s childhood friend; freezes despite push.
• Kondo Aoi - Yuuichi’s younger sister; short black hair, loose uniform; fiercely protective of her brother; openly hostile toward Ken.
• Hoshino Akiko - Ken’s mother; late 30s but youthful; ex‑gal style; warm and supportive; single parent after criminal father’s death.