sorry for not updating for so long!!
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Masuyo raised an eyebrow in amusement, walking over to his side. "What happened?"
"...It seems like Kimiko's sweetheart is our future neighbor." Haru slowly said.
Masuyo gave Haru another one of her signature, gentle smiles. "If you want, there are many ways I can get him to move somewhere else."
Haru instantly refused that idea. "There's absolutely no way I'm going to let you use another one of your sketchy solutions on someone," he said. "Besides, what if he's some type of important, dangerous person and we're getting into more trouble by offending him?"
Masuyo paused, appearing to be thinking about something.
"I don't think that's a very common occurrence."
Just because it was uncommon, didn't mean it was entirely impossible. After all, the neighborhood they lived in was fairly on the richer side.
Masuyo sighed, "Although you may risk offending him, he is still a part of Kimiko's close inner circle. Right now, you and Sato Kimiko are not on good terms. The risk of him endangering you by being your neighbor is higher than the risk from offending him," she said.
Her eyelashes lowered. "They say keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer... But in this situation, I believe the opposite."
Haru knew that his friend was right, but he couldn't help but feel a little curious about their new neighbor.
"I refuse," he told Masuyo.
She frowned. "If that's what you want, then I will agree to it. But if anything happens, you have to take responsibility."
After Haru refused Masuyo's advice, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty, but he couldn't step on his pride like that and come crawling back to Masuyo and ask for her help again.
Suddenly, his cellphone rang. Haru glanced at the screen to see that it was Ayame who was calling.
When he picked the call up, Ayame's voice rang through, "Let's talk about Kimiko. Are you in a private place?"
Masuyo had already gone back to her room to work on essays for her classes, so there was no one around him. Haru responded, "Yeah."
"That's good," Ayame said. "Kimiko hasn't said anything about the drama relating to her, but my entire family knows that she's definitely angered. Her 'lover' is arriving back in Japan tomorrow and she was supposed to be greeting him at the airport, but I've heard she's locked herself in her room and refused to go."
Haru was confused. "And what does that have to do with me?"
"I've just gotten news that her 'lover' is moving into the house beside yours... I thought it would be useful to tell you, incase he's upset that she refused to go meet him," Ayame responded.
Haru snorted in disbelief. If Kimiko and her 'childhood sweetheart' were actually in a serious relationship, then something would've happened in his past life when she got together with Shigeru. Instead, nothing happened at all. This 'lover' had never appeared.
"It'll be fine, I can deal with it," He said.
Ayame hummed in response. "Alright. I'll call you tomorrow if anything happens~" and then hung up.
He sighed, setting his phone down. There was no reason to act hostile tomorrow, so Haru plainly decided that he would welcome Kimiko's "sweetheart" with a polite attitude.
When morning approached and Haru was woken up by his alarm, he could hear Masuyo talking with another person outside of the house. He lazily brushed his teeth and threw on some clothes, and then stepped into the living room, where he saw Masuyo talking with a man at the front door.
She had one hand on the frame of the door and the other blocking the man from entering. As Haru approached closer, he could see the person she was talking to.
"Oh? So you've just came back to Japan from London?" He heard his roommate ask the other.
A deeper voice responded, "Yes. I hope we can get along well. I haven't lived in Japan since I was young, so I may seem a little clueless."
"...Oh," She blandly responded. Suddenly, Masuyo turned around and saw Haru walk up to her from behind.
"You're awake this early? Our neighbor has just arrived." She gestured towards the taller male behind her.
"Hello, Haru." The man nodded towards him. His manner was respectful and polite, but when looking at him, his dark eyes swirled with a strange emotion that Haru could not describe. However, when Haru scrutinized him, there was no sinister intent beneath those eyes.
Haru couldn't help but feel a little nervous. The man was extraordinarily handsome, but as someone who was good-looking himself (and had plenty of encounters with idols like Kimiko and Shigeru in his past life) he didn't think anything of it. If this was not the reason for his nervousness, than what was? There was something pressuring him when he talked to the other.
As if realizing this, the unknown man gave him a glance, and the pressure on his shoulders lifted.
"Hi." He responded curtly. The man didn't seem offended by it, even offering a warm smile.
Masuyo gave them both a strange look.
Then, looking back at their new neighbor in front of the doorway. "We've been talking for a bit already, but you still haven't introduced yourself." She said.
"I'm sorry, that was my fault for forgetting. My name is Yoshimoto Seiji, I'm 27." Although he still smiled at Masuyo, it did not reach his eyes. It reminded Haru of how Masuyo had smiled at Shigeru after spilling coffee on him the first time they met.
Masuyo laughed, "You don't seem too sorry, Yoshimoto Seiji."
"...I apologize. I should have specified that I'm not apologizing to you specifically, Masuyo."
Haru watched blankly as Masuyo and Seiji conversed. The two talked like they were familiar-yet-not-familiar, then hostile-but-not-hostile. Beneath their words were sharp daggers that pierced each other, but on the outside it was all politeness and kind words.
Is this how old people talk?
When the two had finally finished talking, Seiji turned towards Haru and gave him a slip of paper with a line of numbers on it. "This is my phone number. As neighbors, we should get to know each other."
He leaned in to whisper into his ear, "Don't give anyone else this number."
Haru was confused, but he didn't get a chance to ask before Seiji turned around and left. He shoved the paper into his pocket, then glanced at Masuyo who was locking the door.
Why am I the only one who got this number, when Masuyo's Seiji's neighbor too?
The next day, Haru ate breakfast in the kitchen while Masuyo sat beside him, a gloomy expression on her face.
"Why do you seem so down today?" Haru asked. Masuyo stopped the motion of rubbing her temples, which was something she did when frustrated, and decided to place her hand down on the counter instead.
"I... my boss scolded me heavily on the phone today. He was so angry I think I was about to get fired, but luckily he calmed down in time." Her expression was complicated. Masuyo also worked a part time job like Haru did, but Haru wasn't aware of who she worked for or what she worked in. All he knew was that her boss was strict and Masuyo disliked him.
Haru was surprised. "Aren't you a diligent worker? Why would he get so angry that he would consider firing you?"
Masuyo shook her head. "I said something that he disagreed with, that's it."
Suddenly, Haru's phone rang. He flipped it over from its place on the counter and saw that Ryu Masato was calling him.
Haru looked apologetically at Masuyo. "I need to get to work. Let's talk about this later?"
Masuyo sighed. "There's nothing to talk about." and stood up to leave.
Haru was concerned for Masuyo, planning to stop her from leaving, but on second thought, he knew she was unwilling to talk about it. Haru decided to just let the matter go and leave for work.
While he was driving however, he realized that Masuyo didn't seem sad about it. She seemed angered, and that seemed accurate enough. What type of boss considers firing somebody just because they said something that they disagreed with?
Ahh, if Masuyo doesn't want to talk about it, then I'll just have to curb my curiosity.
*
"Haru, you were almost late." Ryu Masato greeted him from the counter as he walked into his workplace. Masato smiled. "Come here."
Haru walked behind the counter where Masato was lazily twirling a pen with a smile on his face.
Masato was silent for a moment, before he suddenly said to Haru, "...Hey, a while ago some guy came up to me and asked for your contact information, but I refused to give it. Did you happen to offend someone so much that they came to seek you out?"
Haru paused. Could it have been Seiji? He acted suspiciously yesterday and Masuyo even warned me to stay away...
"Did you know the name of the person?" He asked.
Masato thought for a moment. "It should be Ayame. He told me his name while trying to beg me for your contact information."
Haru internally sighed. This encounter must've been before he met Ayame when he was walking back home a while ago. "Then it's fine. He's a close friend, but we lost contact with each other after an incident. I've talked to him already."
Haru saw Masato glance at him from the corner of his eye. "Oh, I see," Masato said.
"Ah, now that I've thought of it, he did mention being your friend," Masato slowly spoke, every syllable of his words loud and clear. "But when I asked him about how you two became friends, he couldn't come up with anything."
Haru was stunned hearing this. If Masato's words were true, then perhaps the reason why some things had happened differently from his first life wasn't because he didn't gain the memories of himself from this new timeline, but because someone had deliberately messed things up from the beginning?
No, I can't just believe only Masato's words for something as serious as this. In my first life, he had betrayed me anyway. I can't trust everything he says.
"I.. I'll talk to him about it later." He said.
Masato nodded, "Okay. You can talk to me too if there's anything you want to ask from my conversation with him, but we should really start working now."
Haru nodded, but his mind was full of thoughts.
Could Ayame really be lying to me?
The thought still lingered on his mind even when his shift ended. When he exited the café, the first thing he did was take out his phone to text Ayame.
He texted,
HARU | ayame, do you remember how we became friends?
Usually Ayame would respond in a minute or two, but after waiting for a while, Haru still didn't see a response from him. While waiting for a response, he remembered that he didn't put Seiji's number in his phone. He didn't bother putting in the number the day before because he thought that the other was just trying to mess with him, but now that he had nothing to do, he might as well.
The slip of paper that Seiji handed him was still in his pocket, so he took it out and typed the number in.
HARU | hi, this is haru.
He messaged. Barely a few seconds later he received a response.
Yoshimoto Seiji | Did you just add my number today?
HARU | yes.
Yoshimoto Seiji | You talk so coldly to me, Haru.
After that message, Seiji didn't respond to anything else that Haru sent. Haru was confused, was there anything wrong that he said? While he was thinking, the message from Ayame that he was waiting for came through.
Shimamoto Ayame | Haru, we've been friends for so long, I don't exactly remember how we became friends.
It was quite the disappointing answer. Haru wasn't sure whether Ayame was just making up an excuse to not tell him.
Shimamoto Ayame | Is there a reason you asked?
Haru chuckled. Should I flatter him a little so he won't get suspicious?
HARU | i told you that after that accident I got in I lost some of my memories. i couldn't remember who you were, let alone how we met. i wanted to know because i thought you were a good friend..
Shimamoto Ayame | ahh!!! so that's the reason. how nice of u, haru <333333 ilysm!!!!!
Haru's expression visibly darkened.
HARU | go die in a ditch.
Suddenly, his phone started ringing, and the caller ID was Ayame's. Haru picked up the phone to ask why Ayame suddenly decided to call him, when they had nothing to really talk about.
The moment Haru picked up the call, an unknown voice immediately said, "If someone comes to find you within the next minute or so, don't go with them."
On second thought, it seemed like the call had deliberately distorted the unkown person's voice, because Haru clearly knew who this was. Wasn't this his new neighbor and Sato Kimiko's sweetheart, Yoshimoto Seiji?
You dare to ignore me when I text you, and then call me minutes later and try to order me around? I'll show you who's boss!