No.

It was a swift refusal. Miura Komoe didnt even need to think twice before giving that answer to my suggestion.

She then raised her upper body and leaned forward, just enough for her to probably see my face clearly. Onoda-san. Why do you have to offer yourself? Like you said, this is just a job for you. If youre only doing this as a pittance to my idiotic decision, please dont. Thats not going to comfort me.

Pittance, huh? Lets say theres a little bit of it but the more proper reason I asked if I can be your friend is to protect you.

Youre really obnoxious. Cant you at least lie and say I genuinely want to be your friend.? Anyway, protect me from what? Its gonna be fine, I can just enroll again next year or transfer to another school once I finish acting out my stupidity. Theres no point in me going back there where I will have to spend my days getting talked about.

Theres my answer. I want to be your friend to protect you from becoming an outcast. You can transfer or enroll next year but wont you suffer the same there? Although its only two months in this school year, circles are already formed. Youll find yourself popular for a day before becoming an odd one out if you transfer. And its worse if you wait for another year, youll be a year older than your classmates. They will want to know what happened to you.

That's how it was For high schoolers, social connections most often start in the first few days of classes. After that, it will be hard for someone to get inside a circle and more often than not, the student will become an outcast or will look for another circle outside the room.

Obviously, thats not a golden rule. Its still possible to fit in. But given that I was trying to convince this girl, I highlighted the negatives.

And sure enough, it successfully affected her.

The girl lowered her head and silently muttered, A sound argument.

Right? Although I wont be able to guarantee that Ill always be there for you, only a wall separates our classroom. Come and look for me.

Let me think about it Will you come again tomorrow?

Well, Ill come again and again until I convince you to return. However, I wont be able to guarantee that Ill be here everyday. You see, I also have a life.

Even if I wanted to finish this job as soon as possible, theres no way Ill sacrifice my time with my girls. Anyway, if she asked that then Im already a step closer to my goal.

Asking to become her friend was obviously something I would probably not be able to uphold for long. But if thats what it takes for her to return, then I wont mistreat her. Uh Thats a wrong word but I mean that Ill take care of her like how I take care of my friend

which is Misaki.

Wait. Am I digging another hole for myself?

Youre really obnoxious, arent you? But thats fair. Im not so selfish to ask you to give up everything in order to convince me. The girl stopped leaning and returned to her previous position; lying down on the bed. But this time, shes closer to the edge and the smile on her lips was apparent.

Since she wouldnt say yes yet and our conversation already reached the end, I put on a playful smile and tried to enliven the mood in this dark room.

Mhm. Im glad reason has managed to reach your head, Miura-san. What about it? Wanna let me brush your hair?

How did you return to that?!

And with this, the five minutes became fifteen. Until her older sister knocked on her door to check on us and call us for dinner, I spent the rest of the time sitting by the side of the bed, gently brushing the girls head with my fingers.

Yep. She still accepted it even after acting repulsed by it.

Obviously, thats all I did. This situation was almost the same as how I got closer to my target before, after all. Theres no need to rush everything.

However, considering I wanted to finish this job as soon as possible, I would probably have to take it up a notch the next time Im here.

The dinner with the Miura family went rather smoothly. I couldve refused but to maintain the good impression they have of me, I naturally accepted albeit, I intentionally ate less. I still want to eat my dinner with Akane, after all.

Miura-senpai sent me off and put in some words of praise. She once again invited me to their club but the same as before, I said I had no time.

In any case, since I might return tomorrow, that didnt diminish her enthusiasm. Although its clear to see the fondness in her eyes, the girl knew how to maintain an appropriate distance. Also, apart from whispering close to my ears earlier, she never did or said anything suggestive. That means, shes still loyal to her relationship with the President of the Game Club.

Not that I wanted her to cheat on him. Besides, the fondness shes showing wasnt even romantic. Its like a doting elder sister to her younger brother. Or at least, thats how I see it. And thats the same for their mother, in fact, she mentioned during dinner how she wanted to have a son but after giving birth to two girls, they already stopped trying. And thats why she tried highlighting her daughters good points as though shes selling them to me. Instead of getting a son, shes probably seeing a son-in-law in me.

And yes, even Miura-senpai. They probably didnt know that she was already in a relationship.

As for their father who apparently returned home from work while I was talking to Komoe, he stared at me as though looking at a lamb to slaughter. Fortunately, he remained silent throughout the dinner. That saved me from being interrogated by him.

Anyway, thats it. Although my visit was prolonged for a few minutes, having made progress with my job, I got the time to relax on the train as I waited for it to reach my destination

Onoda-kun, youre finally home

Upon reaching home and opening the front door, a somewhat unbelievable sight welcomed me.

Instead of Akane waiting there for me, Fuyu, with an apron on, was the one standing before me. Judging from the black lines under her eyes, I instantly understood. She hadnt rested yet.

And most likely, its because of the silly girl

Yuuki-san Uhm Im sorry for the trouble. I instantly bowed in apology.

Where have you been? Its been an hour since were home. Akane wanted to go out and look for you so I put her to sleep.

You put her to sleep? How?

Wait. Thats not important at the moment. I really troubled her, huh? And compared to earlier this morning, discounting this line of questioning thats laced with suspicion, shes not afraid of me anymore.

Besides, whats with the apron? Did she make our dinner as well?

What a great girl.