Ayanokouji Kiyotaka POV
"You, again?"
Horikita said this very exasperatedly, as if she was tired of bumping into Sumire so often. Trust me Horikita, I feel the same way towards you.
"Well, I was just protecting him from getting corrupted by you."
"What?! What are you talking about?"
"You are essentially telling a person who has social anxiety that there's no merit in talking to people or making friends? And that too after he made such an outstanding effort to introduce himself! How can this be anything but discouraging to him?"
Horikita turned to me, perplexed.
"You have social anxiety?"
Uhh... what should I tell her?
"You are again putting him on the spot. You always try to scare him. But I'll tell you what, don't even try because I'll be here to protect him."
I didn't have the heart to tell her that I didn't need any protecting.
Actually, scratch that. Maybe from Horikita, I did.
"You-u!!"
Sumire once again was victorious against Horikita. I don't know how she does that, but she just does.
Horikita stormed to a different aisle.
"Are you okay, Kiyo-chan?"
Sumire was looking at me with concern.
"I'm okay now. Thank you."
"It's fine, but Kiyo-chan, don't believe her on whatever she said just now. You did awesome on your introduction, and I'm sure that many people would want to be your friend, at least I know I want to."
She was looking at me with a warm smile.
"Thank you, Sumire."
Her smile got just a tad bit warmer at that.
"By the way, why did you come here alone?"
What? Is she mocking me that I haven't managed to make any friends? Why is she asking me that? Just now she was defending me.
At my continued silence, she asked me again.
"I'm asking why didn't you wait for me?"
Oh.
"I thought you didn't want to talk to me, so I didn't want to bother you."
She looked at with me with so much concern, it hurt.
"It's not like that at all, Kiyo-chan. Actually, Kikyo-chan and her friends asked me to hang out but I told them that I wanted to spend some time with you. Because really Kiyo-chan, I know that we are best friends, but we don't know each other at all."
Oh, so that's what she was talking about.
Oh.
I haven't felt glad to be wrong before.
It means that she does want to be my friend. It was just a misunderstanding that has now been resolved.
"Oh. I get it now. I am sorry I misunderstood."
"Not at all, Kiyo-chan. I am sorry for not asking you to wait for me and not telling you about it beforehand."
She looked actually apologetic and it didn't seem like it was an empty apology.
"Ok then, Kiyo-chan, I also have to shop for some things. Let's shop together and get to know each other."
We walked together and talked about mundane things.
"So Kiyo-chan, what's your favourite color?"
"Black."
"Mine is pink. What's your favourite food?"
"I want to try ice cream."
"Hmm? What do you mean you want to try it? You haven't eaten ice cream before?"
"No."
"What?! You know what, let's go to eat some ice cream after doing the shopping. By the way, how haven't you tried ice cream before?"
"My father is very strict. He is very particular about my diet."
"Does that mean you haven't eaten any junk food before? Not even cup noodles?"
"No."
"Haaah??! Okay, that's it. We are buying some cup noodles and adding some flavour to your diet."
She pulled my arm and dragged me to an aisle that was filled with cup noodles of different flavours and sizes.
"Wow~ They even have all the different kinds of cup noodles, this school's really convenient~"
In front of the instant food section, two boys were being noisy. After throwing a bunch of cup noodles into their basket, the two of them went to the register. They also had lots of snacks and drinks that filled up the whole basket. Since there are a lot of points that may be left over, it's ony natural that they try to spend it somehow.
"There are so many options to choose from", I said to Sumire.
"There really are, so much more than a normal store. By the way, Kiyo-chan, feel free to choose snacks other than cup noodles as well, please."
I turned to the cup noodles and picked them up to choose.
Learning about these things was one of my goals in going to the convenience store.
I picked up a cup noodles bowl and looked at the price.
It said it was 156 yen, but I wasn't sure whether that was high or low for a bowl of cup noodles.
Even though the school calls it "points", the prices are all written in yen.
"Hey, what do you think of these prices? Do they look cheap or expensive?"
Sumire turned from picking up some chips and cup noodles.
"Hmm? I guess it is an alright price for cup noodles."
The prices on the goods in the store seemed to be about right.
Also, it really does seem like 1 point is equal to 1 yen.
Given that the average high school student's allowance is about 5,000 yen, our monthly allowance is 20 times bigger.
I took the closest bowl of cup noodles.
"Wow, this is really big. It's a G cup!"
It looks like it stands for "giga cup", but for some reason it makes me feel full just looking at it.
On an unrelated note, Sumire's breasts aren't small, but aren't that large either. They are just the perfect size. They are the size that will fit perfectly in my hands.
"Kiyo-chan, why are you looking at me like that?"
Her expression then suddenly turned devious and she put a hand to her mouth, as if something scandalous had happened.
"Oh! Were you looking at my breasts just now, Kiyo-chan~ I'm so embarrassed. Are you a pervert? Should I steer clear of you? Oh my~"
No! I know that Sumire reprimanded Ike for being a pervert. I don't want to lose her so soon.
"No..I-"
"Hahahahaha. Oh Kiyo-chan, no need to be so flustered. I know that you are not like that. I was just teasing you."
Phew~
"Obviously you aren't a pervert. Right Kiyo-chan?"
When she asked me that, I felt that her expression was a little unnerving.
"No."
Her expression turned back to normal.
"I knew it!"
But then, she smiled again.
"But when you do think something perverted, be sure to tell me, okay~ HAHAHAHAHA."
She couldn't control her expression and started laughing again.
I looked at her and tilted my head to one side.
Sumire suddenly squealed.
"Eek! You're so cute! Just like a puppy."
Eh?
"Kiyo-chaaan~ Let's go get some ice cream alreadyyy."
I was also really excited to try out the ice cream so I quickly put the cup noodles into my basket.
As we were walking towards the register, in the corner of the convenience store, I saw individual portions of food and supplies.
At first glance, they looked the same as everything else, but with one major difference.
"Free...?"
A/N - Happy New Year everyone! I hope that this year is very happy and successfull for everyone.
I'm really sorry guys. I forgot to announce the answer to the little quiz I did in the last to last episode. Well, I'll be announcing the answer now.
So the answer is...
Sawamura Eijun and Takigawa Chris Yuu from Ace of The Diamond!
Thank you guys for reading this story. Please keep supporting it.
Stay safe, everyone.