NOVEL NEXT Chapter 6 - Beginning
“Phew…”
Akiha buried her face in the sofa in the living room, letting out a defeated sigh.
The time had passed half past eight in the evening.
After finishing a date with Haruya and returning home, Akiha took a bath and then lay sprawled out on the sofa.
Having eaten her fill of sweets, she had no desire to have dinner.
She was just leisurely reminiscing about the day’s events.
“Haruya… I can start calling him Haruya from now on, right? Hehe…”
Akiha, laying face down, moved her long legs up and down.
The sofa’s cushion made puffing noises.
Hidden by the cushion, a relaxed smile, probably never seen by anyone at university, graced her face.
And that smile wouldn’t tighten even if the front door suddenly opened and someone came in.
“What are you doing…? Practicing your flutter kick?”
The woman who entered the living room—Kanon Fuyutsuki, seeing her sister fluttering about on the sofa, made a displeased face.
Unlike her sister, she had brightly dyed brown long hair and bold makeup.
She was the very person who had forced the rental boyfriend date onto Akiha.
“Ah, welcome back sis.”
“I’m back… wait, ew. What’s with that relaxed face?”
Even though she would never show such a face at university, she didn’t hide it from her family, especially not in front of her sister.
Fortunately, these sisters get along well without any strange discord.
“Hehe~. It’s not…nothing, but it’s nothing~”
“Just say it clearly.”
Kanon put down her belongings and stretched out, sitting on the sofa.
Akiha also stopped sprawling and sat next to Kanon.
“Thanks for taking over the rental boyfriend for me.”
“No problem. Don’t worry about it.”
“Here, your part-time job payment.”
Kanon swiftly handed out two 10,000 yen bills.
After staring at them for a while and blinking repeatedly, Akiha accepted them with both hands.
“I’ll accept it, big sis.”
“Mhm.”
“But I didn’t think I’d get any payment for this. I still owed you for eating your pudding.”
“Surely a date with a stranger for four hours isn’t worth just one pudding. By the way, was everything okay? I guess nothing strange happened since it’s a proper service.”
“Far from just okay… actually…”
Seeing her sister stuttering with a pleased look, Kanon sensed that something had happened.
However, at the same time, a question came to mind.
“So the guy who came as the rental boyfriend was super your type. Is that a hit?”
“Mm, a hit.”
“I thought so… Didn’t you say there was a nice guy at university, Akiha?”
“No, not at all! He’s not nice or anything!”
Akiha vigorously shook her hands from side to side in denial.
However, her sister didn’t miss the fact that her cheeks were gradually turning red.
“What was it again? He saved you from a pick-up artist?”
“Y-yes. It happened right before entering university, but it seems he hasn’t realized it at all.”
Although Haruya had no awareness of it, the truth was that Akiha and Haruya had met before entering university.
Haruya had saved Akiha when she was being hit on by a scary-looking man in town.
When they met again at university, Akiha recognized Haruya right away, but he seemed to have no recollection, so she couldn’t speak up. Before she knew it, a month and a half had passed.
“You should just say, ‘I’m the university girl you helped that time.'”
“It’s not like I’m a crane repaying a favor. And isn’t it weird to say it now, after so much time?”
“That’s why you should’ve said it early on. Oh my, why is my sister so bad at romance? She’s so passive, even though she gets confessed to like an idiot.”
“Don’t say ‘like an idiot.'”
“Wait, is it really that guy? The one who saved you from being hit on?”
“I clearly remember his face, so there’s no way I mistook him. He’s even worn the same clothes as that time on a few occasions. Besides, Haruya is really kind. Even today…”
Akiha began to tell her sister about what happened at the shopping mall.
The time when a lost little girl clung to him.
How Haruya kindly dealt with it and reassured the girl.
How he gave her a ticket to a dessert buffet, and she ate to her heart’s content.
After hearing everything, Kanon hugged her sister’s shoulder and said,
“Hmm? Weren’t you supposed to go on a date with a rental boyfriend as a substitute for me? Why were you dating your beloved hero?”
“Well, that’s because! The rental boyfriend that you booked turned out to be Haruya…”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh right, his name was something like that. Wait, didn’t you always call him ‘Natsu-something-kun’? Since when did you start calling him Haruya?”
“That’s… because, I’m trying hard in my own clumsy way at romance.”
It wasn’t just because Haruya saved her from a pick-up artist that Akiha started paying attention to him.
Of course, the dramatic development of reuniting with the boy who saved her from the pick-up artist at university played a part, but as she started paying attention to Haruya because of that, she was drawn to his kindness.
His bashful nods when their eyes occasionally met also made Akiha’s heart race.
“You know, sis…”
Despite what Kanon said, Akiha, who’s usually passive when it comes to romance, was different today.
Being able to date someone she was interested in boosted her spirits, giving her a push from behind.
And she had 20,000 yen from her sister. She had the war chest.
With her shoulder still embraced by Kanon, Akiha said with a smile,
“Could you tell me the website where Haruya is registered as a rental boyfriend?”