It was a new day.
Like usual, Seiji went out for a morning job, and returned home after working up a sweat.
After was.h.i.+ng up, he prepared to make his own breakfast. In truth, he was a bit disappointed that there would be no more breakfast provided for him every morning by a beauty.
Just as he was thinking so, there was a knock on his door.
"Miss Uehara?"
The twintailed beauty pouted at hearing this.
"……Mika?"
She finally showed a smile of satisfaction.
"For you!" She handed him a lunchbox that was in her hand.
"Oh, but this……"
"She…… she already got used to making them, so she made extra out of habit…… that's what mom said this morning!" Mika looked away from him with a hint of shyness, "so, there's breakfast for you today as well, and in the future…… well, we'll probably make yours from time to time."
"Thank you so much, but won't this be too much trouble……"
"It's no trouble at all, it's just food for one extra person. In…… in exchange, if there's some work that requires physical strength around our house, you need to come help out!" She looked back directly into his eyes.
Seiji was surprised for an instant, then he showed a gentle smile.
"Thanks…… I will."
His smile was breaking the rules with how dazzling it was, ahh! - Mika felt like her face was burning up again.
After talking to her mom last night, and confirming her feelings, she felt like she was no longer able to look at Seiji normally anymore, she felt so nervous inside, and her heartbeat seems to have increased several times!
Just hearing his voice, and seeing his smile would make her cheeks heat up.
Ahhhhh - she can't take this anymore.
"I…… I'm going to school!" She turned around, and scurried off, leaving Seiji with the memory of her back with those twintails swaying in the air.
"Be careful!" Seiji was a bit worried that she would trip.
Then, when he returned inside his room, he was about to enjoy his breakfast.
When he opened the lunchbox, Seiji stopped his movements, he noticed that the food inside was clearly different from before, every dish seemed like it was made by someone inexperienced.
He realized instantly that the previous breakfasts must have been made by the landlord, and this one must have been cooked personally by Mika Uehara!
He could just about imagine, that twintailed girl waking up super early, and clumsily cooking under the instruction of her mother.
The eggs were slightly burnt, the squid was twisted into a strange shape, and this cuc.u.mber…… just how did she cut it into something that looked like it was an ingredient for dark magic?
Seiji sighed.
He doesn't have the ability to calmly eat this type of breakfast.
Mika Uehara was walking down the sunny street.
"He's probably eating his breakfast now, I wonder what he's thinking." Her heart kept pounding as she thought so.
"Ahh - Mom, she forced me to cook for him personally, but this will be exposed instantly, it's so embarra.s.sing -" She touched her own cheek, and found that it was burning.
"I…… I admit, I do like him a little, but, this is so direct…… urk, it's all mom's fault!"
Nozomi Uehara sneezed as she washed dishes at home.
No matter how embarra.s.sed Mika was, she already made the breakfast, so there was nothing she could do.
"I hope that he'll like it……"
This was the first time in her life that she made food for a boy, humph……
Just as she was thinking so, a figure suddenly darted out from a nearby alley.
Filthy clothes, messy dyed-blonde hair, and bloodshot eyes.
"All because of you, you f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h -" Blondie was viciously glaring at the girl in front of him, he felt like he had fallen down to h.e.l.l because of his family going bankrupt, and he had lost all sense of reason.
All because of this **** in front of him, he lost everything!
He's going to take revenge!
He's going to f.u.c.k this b.i.t.c.h up!
He's going to kill her!
Mika Uehara was terrified by the huge amount of malevolence being emitted by blondie, and her thoughts almost stopped working, but before long, she unconsciously turned around, and shouted for help.
"Help - someone - save me -"
"Don't run, you f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h-"
While ranting, blondie brought out a s.h.i.+ny dagger, and chased after her.
He was very fast, and quickly caught up to her.
Mika Uehara despaired at feeling the malice behind her catching up, when a familiar figure appeared in front of her.
"Haruta-kun…… Seiji!"
Seiji who was crossing the street opened his eyes wide in astonishment at this scene, then he immediately rushed over.
"Mika!"
He must get there in time!
But, it was too late.
Just by a few steps, blondie reached Mika before Seiji did, and he viciously stabbed his dagger into her back.
Splurt…… the red color of blood gushed out.
Mika's expression froze solid at this instant, while Seiji felt a tremendous subzero feeling inside him, followed by absolute rage.
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d-" He roared, and kicked at blondie.
Smack!
Blondie was kicked to the ground, and he dropped his dagger.
But, it was too late.
Seiji caught Mika who was collapsing, and saw her blood spreading quickly on her back.
In his arms, she blinked, and looked at his face.
Ahh - her body felt so cold.
Mika Uehara felt like she saw many things, and then nothing at all, and the last thing she saw, was the anxious, worried face of a young man.
He went to all that trouble to become handsome, why was his expression so negative?
She wanted to smile at him, but she wasn't able to, and something wet dripped out of the corners of her eyes.
The boy's face was twisted, all his features were distorted, filled with endless self-regret and pain.
It's not your fault…… don't have such an expression, Haruta-kun…… no, Seiji.
Thank you, for coming to save me.
She opened then closed her mouth, and tried her best to say the words she wanted to express the most.
"Was breakfast…… good?"
Then, she saw nothing but darkness.
"Ahhhhhhh d.a.m.n it-"
Seiji hugged the b.l.o.o.d.y girl, and began roaring.
It was only by a few steps, not even five seconds!
This incident should have been over already, but instead it was this terrible ending!
Reality was definitely the worst game ever invented!
However……
Luckily, he still has save files.
Load!!!
The world became dark around him, then lit up again.
Seiji was in his room, sitting on the bed.
It was earlier this morning, when he just woke up.
Just in case, every morning when he woke up, he would save a new file.
This time, he definitely won't allow tragedy to repeat itself!
He didn't go for a morning jog, and waited silently in his room.
At the same time that he remembered, there was a knock on his door.
When he went to open it, he saw a girl with a lunchbox for him.
There was no dagger, no blood, and she was still safe.
"Haruta-kun…… your eyes are a bit red, what's the matter?" Mika Uehara was worried about him.
"Nothing, just some dust in my eye." Seiji smiled and blinked, "what about you, do you have something on your mind?"
On her way to school, Mika couldn't help sneaking glances at the boy beside her.
She wanted to go to school after giving him breakfast, but after receiving it from her, he adamantly insisted on keeping his promise to continue escorting her to school.
She couldn't convince him otherwise, so that's how it ended up.
Insisting on escorting her after receiving breakfast, is this a roundabout way of telling her he doesn't want to be in her debt? Thinking about this, Mika was slightly down.
Suddenly, a figure dashed in front of her.
Filthy clothes, messy dyed-blonde hair, and bloodshot eyes.
"All because of you, you f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h -"
The huge malevolence terrified Mika Uehara and her body froze solid, but instantly, a huge shadow protected her from the front.
It was Seiji Haruta.
He stood firmly in front of her, just like a thick wall.
He was waiting for this b.a.s.t.a.r.d.
"Mika, stand back, and call the police." He whispered to the girl. "Leave this guy to me. I will, protect you."
He remembered back to the sight of her soaked in blood, he will never allow this to repeat itself!
"Get the h.e.l.l out!" Blondie roared as he jumped Seiji, stabbing at Seiji with his dagger.
Seiji fearlessly countered his attack, with both hands grasping onto blondie's wrist that was holding the dagger, as his right foot aimed for blondie's crotch, and kicked with full force!
BAM - as they collided, there was the sound of something breaking.
Blondie's crazed expression had become frozen solid.
Then, he screamed as if he was dying.
I'll never tell you, you won the first time, so I had to load once.
I'll never tell you, in order to defeat you without getting injured, I had to load twice.
I'll never tell you, in order to take advantage of this perfect chance of claiming self-defense, and crippling you for life, leaving you functionless down there forever, I had to load three times.
I came back to this scene a total of six times!
Seiji viciously knocked over blondie as he was shrieking inhuman sounds!
Mika Uehara watched all this with mouth wide agape.
She was unable to comprehend, how this boy who was just a weak otaku not long ago, was able to fearlessly block someone so malicious.
And there was no way for her to understand why it was that his movements were so accurate as he defeated blondie.
The only thing she could see was his thick shadow, as his words kept ringing in her ears.
"Stay back, Mika. I will, protect you."
Something hot flowed out from her heart, burning her chest, scorching her entire body, making her almost want to shout out loud.
She shouldn't be like this, she should be calmly observing the situation, and worrying if he was injured or not.
But she, could only stay where she was right now, and feel the impact of blissful fortune upon her.
Her legs were shaking, and something hot was oozing out of the corner of her eye.
Ahh - She can't deny it any longer.
Mika Uehara, at this moment, this instant, she was more certain than anything, that she, had completely fallen in love with, this boy named Seiji Haruta.
After that, everything progressed as expected.
The streetside surveillance cameras recorded everything, blondie was the one who was intending to harm someone, and Seiji was acting in pure self-defense.
In that sort of situation, for a boy who wasn't knowledgeable in martial arts, accidentally giving the attacker such a permanent injury, was understandable.
In fact, for him to be able to calmly and accurately stop the crime, was incredible already.
And so, Seiji Haruta was judged to have committed no crime, not even his guardian was required for him to leave the police station. Blondie was charged with attempted murder.
And with this, the incident was finally over.
It's a brand new day.
Mika Uehara held a lunchbox, and was about to knock on the door.
But, she hesitated, put the lunchbox down, took out a hand mirror, and checked her appearance again.
If her mother could see her, she would definitely smile wryly and say: "this child, you already checked your appearance several times before going out today."
Okay, perfect.
She touched her chest, and tried to subdue her frantic heartbeat, and was about to knock on the door.
When the door suddenly opened.
"I felt like you might have been standing outside." He smiled at the girl who was now frozen solid.
"A…… argh! Don't scare me like that!"
"Haha, sorry." Seiji took a good look at her face, and felt a sense of relief in his heart, "good morning, Mika."
She had a faint red on her cheeks as she looked at him, and felt as if he was feeling the same way, and a brilliant, alluring smile of matchless beauty gradually appeared on her face.
"Mm…… good morning!"
The girl who was smiling in the early morning sunlight seemed like she could light up the entire world.