Chapter 20: Chapter 19 – Eating ramen

Shortly after the police did arrive. After answering a few questions, the officers offered to give us a ride home but we declined since we already had plans to get something to eat on the way home.

Come to think of it, they also rode Yua back at the convenience store incident. Maybe police officers in Japan really enjoy giving people rides back to their homes?

"Now with that out of the way, let's go eat somewhere! I know just the right place, it's also just a few minutes from here."

"Umm, what kind of place is it?"

"You'll see when we go there. I'm sure both of you will enjoy it~"

"Haaa, sure, you'll be paying anyways so I have no reason to complain."

"Yes, that's the spirit! Just trust this big sister!"

"No-one said anything about trust..."

"Hiro don't be so mean to her, she almost got robbed and is even buying us a meal now."

"I wasn't being mean though..."

"Yua-chan is so nice to me, haha. But you don't need to worry about me. Anyway, let's not waste any more time, I'm also hungry!"

She really has a cheerful personality... personally I find it hard to deal with these kinds of people.

No, actually I quickly lose my social energy with most people. The only reason I am so at ease is because nobody knows the 'real me'. Sure, some people might recognize 'Hiro Fukuda' but while I am Hiro now, 'Hiro' is not 'me'. Nobody has any expectations of my behavior or personality, I can be whoever I want. Before I always had to pretend to be the same as always. I feared anyone noticing any changes about me. Sure, they might react positively and encourage me, but I feared even that.

I am not sure if other people ever felt the same, but that irrational fear has always been my problem. But I'm fine in this world, because I am a new person, a new me, someone no-one knows about and someone no-one has any expectations of. Maybe it's also because I subconsciously see everyone around me as NPCs and not as 'real humans', maybe it's also because I have a place I can run away to. 

"Hiro."

If people suddenly hated me, I could just run to the fantasy world and live there, a one-of-a-kind fail-safe.

"Hiirooo."

"Huh?"

"We arrived... Just what were you thinking about? You even ignored us the whole way."

"Yeah, why would you ignore not only Yua-chan but also such a beautiful big sister. This is a once in a lifetime chance to talk to me, you know?"

It seems I reverted to some of my bad habits there. No good. I should try and avoid thoughts like that. Was it because I've been in the normal world for too long? No, that shouldn't be, while it indeed was a long day it was just a single day nonetheless.

Cough

"What are you doing ignoring us again? We want to enter and eat already!"

"Sorry..."

Right, we arrived at... a ramen shop? It seems we really are entering here.

"Three people, please."

"Yes, please use table 13."

The server shows us where our table is and returns. There is a display here where we can order our food on. This country is living in the future...

"Ehm, did I miss something? Why a ramen shop?"

"Huh? Because I said I would buy you food."

"At first you wanted to bring us somewhere fancy right?"

"Correct."

"But because there wouldn't be any seats left in a fancy restaurant, we opted out for something more casual, right?"

"Correct."

"Didn't we skip too many levels from fancy to ramen?!"

"What are you saying? Ramen is delicious! Could it be that you don't enjoy ramen?"

"N-no, I do like ramen but still... Whatever I lose..."

It really has been a long day. Normally I am confident in staying calm during a conversation but somehow everyone is hard to deal with today. First Chiaka and now this happy-go-lucky maniac. Actually, even if these two seem very different at first glance, aren't their conversation style pretty similar? C-could it be?! I never learned Chiaka's full name...

"Also, I'm pretty sure Yua-chan over here is loving it."

She says while looking at Yua, who glittering eyes while scrolling through all the selection options.

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"Eh? Ah, yeah, I normally don't get to eat in places like this so I'm really excited!"

It seems I'm the only one who questions the situation. I can only accept my loss.

I quickly select a standard soup with thick ramen and an extra seasoned egg. Ren-san also finished ordering, only Yua, who still is simply looking at the selection, that hasn't ordered yet. There aren't even that many things you can order though? Ah well, it's apparently her first time so I'll just leave her.

"Ren-san want to sit down already? Looks like she will take a while."

"Sure. We can use that time to bond a bit~"

"Say, do you perhaps have a daughter called Chiaka?"

I ask that question that was on my mind for a while. They don't look similar to me, but some styling and makeup can go a long way.

"Kuah! D-does big sister look like a mother to you?!"

Critical hit?

"E-eh no, I was just wondering."

"That was a bit too specific for 'just wondering', no?"

"Well, she is a friend from school, somehow you reminded me of her."

"Hoo, which parts of us are similar?"

"You're both annoyingly good at draining my energy."

"..."

Oh! I feel like a raid boss that just hit her with my 'tank buster'! MMORPG terms, a tank buster is a move that is aimed at dealing a ton of damage to the tanks.

"Oh, looks like Yua is also finally done!"

"Yes, sorry I couldn't decide on what to order."

"It's fine, it's fine."

"Um, say, what happened to Ren-san?"

"Haha, don't worry about her, she is fine."

Oh, looks like she finally revived!

"Yua-chan."

"Yes?"

"You are such a nice and lovely girl, why do you hang out with a bad boy like this? Didn't your mother teach you to not mix with a bad crown?"

"Huh? B-but Hiro is always nice to everyone?"

"Then why isn't he nice to me? He's not nice at all!"

"I, umm, Hiro?"

"Fine, fine, if Yua wants me to treat Ren-san better I can do that. I'm not some unreasonable tyrant after all."

"Why are you treating me so differently?? Is it because of that Chiaka girl??"

"Huh? Chiaka?"

"No, it is fully your own fault. Don't try to blame other people for your own mistakes."

"Hiro? Ren-san? Just what did you two talk about before?"

"Nothing, really, rather let’s focus on the fun things alright?"

"Hmph"

Ren-san was puffing up her cheeks, while Yua had a confused look on her face and I probably looked pretty happy right now.