Chapter 14


TL: Akabane


***


Having already secured a place for the study session starting next week, I decided to go home.


When I checked my cell phone, I received a message from my sister.


[Where are you again?  As punishment, buy me 6 slices of bread and hurry home!]


I wasn't scheduled to be late this week, so she thought that I was taking a detour.


But, she's not really mad at me, she must also know that I have something to do, and she'll probably just tell me to get on with my homework.


She's a very reliable sister.


"We're going to take a detour. Is that okay?"


"Yes, which way?"


"The bakery in the shopping center on the way home."


When my parents used to cook for us on weekdays, we used to buy all the ingredients in bulk at the supermarket, but ever since my sister and I started cooking for ourselves, we've become picky about what we want to buy.


The bakery specialized in baked goods, and after realizing how delicious it was, I always bought the bread separately.


I parked my bike in the bicycle-only parking lot near the shopping center and entered the place.


"Even though it's a weekday, there are a lot of people here."


"Maybe it's because it's late at night and also today is Friday."


Whether good or bad, it's a typical shopping area with a friendly atmosphere, but there are also drunk old men at the bar at this hour.


.....When I saw such careless adults, I thought it would be better not to bring Rin-chan here.


"I haven't been here lately, but this place has changed a lot, I was under the impression that there were only traditional shops here, but now there are cafes too."


As Rin-chan said, there were coffee shops frequented by students, some old and some new.


Rarely have I come across such a harmonious shopping center.


The glass walls allowed us to see what was inside, and we could see that there were several couples.


I wonder if Haruki and Yukito also came here with their girlfriends?


For me, it was a place I could only go with my friends.


".......It seems good to come to a place like this once in a while to study."


 "You're right."


I couldn't come here often due to my financial situation, but it might be nice to come here occasionally to study.


After passing by the coffee shop, I arrived at the bakery I was aiming for.


When I entered, I was surrounded by a wonderful scent.


"Oh, Touma-kun!  Just got back from school?"


"Ah, yes.  My sister had run out of bread, so I was told to buy some on the way home."


"As usual, well, you're really a good brother who loves his younger sibling."


I really got along with the bakery owner.


"........Is that girl with you your girlfriend? She's so cute!"


"Hello."


"N-No, she is not!"


If I explained that she was my sister's friend or something, then strange rumors would spread about me, so I intended to deny it.


I put a bag of bread on the tray.


Then, I picked up one of the apple pies that had just been laid out.


"This is all for today."


"You like shopping, huh! If you don't mind, I'll serve that lady over there too, okay?"


"It's about dinner time, so there's no need."


"Then, I'll give you this apple pie.  You two are very close, aren't you?"


"Okay.  Thank you very much."


She handed me a bag of bread and a piece of apple pie in a paper bag.


"Hmm?"


I then split the apple pie in half and handed it to Rin-chan.


"This is...for me?"


"You did your best in the exam.  Taking you shopping might not sound good, but I thought I should give you something nice!"


"I don't want to go shopping, after all, I can't afford it either..."


"Don't worry about the details!  It's fun to eat sweets like this on the way home from school, you know!"



"Haap....."


She looked unconvinced, but took a small bite of her apple pie anyway.


"It's really good!"


"It is, isn't it?"


We walked through the busy shopping center while munching on apple pie.


"We couldn't do this in middle school because of the strict school rules."


"Right.  If you get caught, you will be called by the counseling teacher immediately."


"It was considered a bad thing in middle school, but it wasn't something that upset me."


"I feel like I'm doing something wrong.  It makes my heart flutter."


"It seems like I might have taught you some bad things."


I thought it would be good for her, who was always serious in middle school, to know a little about these things.


If she didn't experience this kind of thing at least once, she might be in a daze when her friends asked her to hang out later.


After we both finished eating our apple pies, we continued our walk through the shopping center.


"I didn't know they sold this kind of stuff...."


It had been a long time since we had walked on the streets, but she looked like a child as she stared at each shop.


Since we always spent most of our time together at home or at school, it was nice to see her innocent reaction, and it made me smile.


We ended up spending a lot of time walking around together, and when we got home, my sister was mad at me, but I thought it was fun to spend time like this.



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