Harem of Side Characters [Rewrite]

Nishi Haruka - Phone Call

I'm wandering around Keyaki Mall again. I don't really have any goal, I just didn't want to spend the rest of the day cooped up in my room. Who knows, maybe something interesting will happen.

It doesn't take long for that to come true. My phone suddenly starts ringing, and as I quickly answer it.

"...Hello?"

"Phone call!" Exclaims a voice from the other end.

"...Excuse me?"

"Good afternoon! This is Ayako, correct?" If her overly enthusiastic voice didn't give away who it was, her nickname for me definitely did.

"As much as I would love to say no because that is not my name, yes this is Ayako. Shouldn't my name be written on your contacts list? Why do you need to confirm that it's me?"

"I do not save names as contacts, Ayako. The only thing I use are emojis in order to describe the person."

"...But why?"

"It saves more space and takes less time to read. Rather than a whole name, I can just look at one or two emojis and immediately know who that person is."

"...Okay... But wouldn't that pose some problems? I imagine describing a person using an emoji would be pretty difficult. For example, what emoji did you use to represent me?"

"The expressionless emoji." ...Damn it, that does represent me perfectly.

"Do you say 'Phone call' as a greeting every time you call someo-"

"What are you doing right now?" She cuts me off.

"Me? Nothing, really. I was just wandering around Keyaki Ma-"

"Let us go on what the humans call, a date." Woah, that was quick. I expected at least to have a few more meetings first.

"Are you sure about that? I thought you would want to talk a bit more befor-"

"We shall rendezvous at the convenience store." I can't even finish a sentence. I feel like that may get pretty annoying if we started talking more. However that probably won't stop me from conversing with her.

"...Wait, you want a date at the convenience store? Surely there must be some othe-"

"Will you be coming?"

"...I guess so. I'm already close by, give me a few minutes."

"Fantastic! I will see you there, Ayako. Phone call!" Aaand she's gone.

"...Phone call." I mutter to myself as I change directions and walk towards the convenience store. A few minutes later, and here I am, in one of the isles of the store.

"You came!" Nishi gives me an excited wave, as her other arm holds a bag full of groceries.

"Of course. It would be rude to say that I'll come and then not show up."

"Yes! That would be a very bad thing! But you are here, so the date can begin!"

"...Right. Would you mind explaining to me why you asked me to come here of all places, instead of a restaurant or something?" I'm no expert at dating, but I do have internet-sensei. I am quite sure convenience store isn't high up on the list for the best dating spots.

"Because we are here to pick up my groceries. Is that not what a 'date' is?" ...Why did I even get my hopes up.

"No... A 'date' is what you call it when two people who like each other go out somewhere together."

"Oooooh..." She seems to contemplate for a moment.

"Like!?" She exclaims as her face went red and her arms flew up to cover her bright red cheeks. Unfortunately that means the grocery bag she was carrying tumbled to the ground.