Chapter 285: Chapter 284.

Chapter 284. An Insidious Trap. (1/8)

Rosa, Alicia, and I spent our free time over the weekend studying the driver’s handbook in the living room together. But when Sunday came around, Rosa made a sudden suggestion late afternoon, “Hey, we’ve been studying all week already, why don’t we take a break and treat ourselves a bit?”

“Treat... ourselves?” I couldn’t help but cautiously question her when I heard that term.

“Yeah. Yeah. Alicia, remember the restaurant we went to before with Ran? It’s been quite a while since we last ate there. Why don’t we go grab some food from there together, just the three of us? We can study while eating and bring some food back for Chris and Irene.”

“That sounds great. Let’s go. Let’s go! The food was so good too.” Alicia was dead set on going.

“Alright, it’s decided then, let’s catch the next bus.”

“Hold on. I never agreed to go. You two can go alone. I’m not that hungry.”

“Not hungry? We got so caught up in studying that I forgot to make anything for you. I haven’t seen you eat for the day either. Oh, I know what it is. You’re afraid of what happened last time happening again, aren’t you?”

“Ugh. No. That’s… definitely not the reason.” If I was alone I personally wouldn’t mind getting food from there, but with these two I was terrified of what the bill would come out to.

“If it’s money you’re worried about, I’ll pay for everyone this time. Your birthday is only two days away, consider it an early birthday meal from your girlfriend.”

“I’ll pay my share too. It’s only fair for me to make up for the last time I leached off that free meal when you two were on your date together.”

“There’s no need to worry about it Alicia, I’ll pay..”

“No, I insist. I’m also working now, I don’t have any excuse not to pay.”

What the hell is with this? Why are they fighting over who pays?

“Alicia, did you forget?” Rosa suddenly asked something weird.

“Forget… ah. Right, I did… sorry. The pres-” she stopped herself partway through and glanced at me.

Pres? Present? Did she get something for my birthday?

“What are you looking at me for?” Since she was trying to keep it a secret, I pretended I hadn’t caught on.

“It’s nothing. Anyway, let’s go, Ran. You definitely won’t need to pay anything this time.” Alicia made a similar promise.

“Rosa… you’re really paying for everything?”

“Yeah.”

“Alicia, is Rosa really paying for everything?”

“Why are you suddenly posing that question to Alicia when you just asked me? Of course I’m paying.”

“I want Alicia to answer the question.”

“Are you doubting me? Do you think I’m plotting to dump the bill on you? You’re terrible! Why would I lie about paying?”

“Huh? Uh…”

“You can’t even trust me when all I want to do is to simply treat you for once?”

“Wait. That’s not-”

Rosa covered her eyes with the back of her wrist and turned away from me. A trail of transparent fluid flowed down the side of her cheeks.

What the hell!

Screw that! I don’t buy it. Those have to be eye drops!

How’d it suddenly turn into a shitty drama? I’m being scammed and made out to be the bad guy to guilt-trip me into accepting her proposal, no questions asked. There’s no chance in hell she’s crying for real right now.

I’ve been framed.

“Ran. You made Rosa cry… She just wanted to treat you to an early birthday meal...” Alicia’s worried look made everything look far too convincing. 

Alicia, was she actually not in on this farce? They were definitely the crocodile tears of a trained assassin. I didn’t believe Rosa was so soft she’d cry so easily.

Maybe Alicia was in on this, but she hadn’t been told Rosa would fake tears. She might now be convinced that Rosa had really gotten emotional here though. I’d also made use of Alicia’s overly honest nature in such a manner in the past to make my lies more convincing.

Ahhhh! This is bull!

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“I get it! I get it! I just need to go to the restaurant with you two, right?”

“You’ll… really go?” Rosa asked in a pitiful manner while pursing her lips together.

“Yeah. I’ll go.”

“You promise?”

“Yeah, I promise.”

“You won’t go back on your word?”

“Haaaaah. Yeah, yeah. I won’t go back on my word. Really though, pretending to cry is just playing dirty.” I couldn’t help but complain about how unfair the tactic was.

“Pretending? There’s no way Rosa’s pre… tending… huh? Uh… Rosa?”

“What is it?”

“You seem to be… smiling right now.”

“Heheh. Sorry.” Rosa stuck out her tongue teasingly and lowered her arm down to neck level. The remnant of the fluid on her cheeks originated not from the corner of her eyes as the source, rather, a bit below her eyes. She rotated the back of her wrist to face us and two spots appeared a bit moist. It was pretty obvious what she’d done to fake those tears. 

“Haha… I was really convinced you were crying...” Alicia, who’d completely fallen for her act, scratched her cheek embarrassedly when she connected the dots.

“As they say, all’s fair in love and war. A girl’s tears are quite effective against most guys. But our boyfriend seems to be a jerk who immediately assumes a girl’s tears are fake.”

“That’s not true. Don’t slander me, I don’t immediately assume that.”

“What? Then how’d you see through me?”

“You turned your head away with your arm obstructing my view at the perfect angle for me to not see your tears coming directly out of your eyes. Would someone who’s genuinely crying be so meticulous that there wouldn’t be a single gap or opening for me to see them from the side?”

“Jeez, stop analyzing everything all the time. It’s no fun, can’t you just turn off your brain for once? What would you do if I was really crying?”

“Hmmmm… that’s a good question… what would I do?” I tilted my head to one side as I pondered over it seriously.

“Whatever, let’s hurry up and get going, the next bus will be here soon. You can’t go back on your word after you already promised.”

“Haaaaah. Yeah, yeah.”

The three of us got dressed and caught the next bus headed to the university. When we arrived at the restaurant, I stopped at one of the tables to take a seat but Rosa grabbed my arm and stopped me, “Hey, this place has some karaoke rooms upstairs. Why don’t we eat in one of them?”

“Huh? We’re here to eat, not sing.”

“Come on, don’t you think the extra privacy would be nice?” She winked at me.

“Not at all. Rather, it sounds like a bad time in the making.”

“Alicia, what do you think?” Rosa sought Alicia’s input.

“I think it sounds great!” Alicia sounded way too enthusiastic about it.

“Alright, that settles it. We’re getting a room.”

“What about my input?”

“Majority rules. You’re outnumbered~”

Rosa grabbed my right arm and Alicia followed suit with my left. They spoke to the restaurant worker and we were led up the stairs into one of the available rooms. My best efforts to resist were all in vain and I was dragged inside the room with two scary high school girls against my will.

What’s with this? I came to eat, not sing karaoke. People don’t seriously do this sort of thing in real life, do they? Why have I never heard of it being a thing outside of fiction before? Oh, right, I had no friends. Of course I’ve never heard of it before.

I was pinned down between the two of them on a U-shaped couch with a table at the center of the room. The room was pretty small and we were stuck pretty close together. It was pretty obvious they wouldn’t permit me to escape.

The two of them wasted no time and keyed in an order for food through the terminal embedded in the table at the center. Their order for food was sent directly to the kitchen.

Once settled on food, the two of them selected a few songs to sing to while we waited. About ten minutes after we arrived, there was a knock on the door.

Was the food already ready? That was my initial thought… before something strange happened. Alicia who’d been in the middle of a song locked eyes with Rosa for a moment before she gave a serious nod. Rosa scooted closer to me and hugged my arm as Alicia rose to her feet and opened the door.

As the door cracked open, my eyes shrank. What the hell...

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