She pursed her lips, and her upward-gazing eyes were filled with resentment.
How to put it, Hayato agreed with this point.
Mathematics, indeed, was very scary.
"Then, once you're done eating, go to bed early," Hayato said. "You can ask me about any problems you can't solve tomorrow."
"...Okay," Nanao Akane said, then she looked at Hayato with surprise as he got on his bicycle. "Lin-chan, aren't you coming in to sit for a bit?"
"It's too late, it's not really appropriate," Hayato said. "I need to get back quickly, otherwise it's going to rain—"
The words had barely left his mouth.
"Whoosh"—
Rain poured down as if from the sky.
Along with it came booming thunder.
It was a summer night, and even though it was only early summer, the weather changed in an instant.
Hayato: ...
Nanao Akane: ...
"Quick, get inside, Lin-chan, this rain is too heavy, you won't be able to go back..." Nanao Akane only then realized why Hayato had come on a bicycle. The "Comet Burger" shop where he packed the food was located in Shibuya, more than ten kilometers from Asakusa Temple.
But she didn't have time to think too much and had already stepped aside to make way for Hayato.
Hayato was numb.
No matter how fast he rode, he couldn't escape the heavy rain.
He could only push his bicycle towards Nanao Akane's house.
Nanao Akane locked the main gate and tried to catch up, but because there was only a small stone path between the courtyard and the main house, it became slippery after being drenched by the rain.
She was holding the burger bag and trying to hop on one foot, which was too difficult.
Her foot slipped, and she immediately lost her balance.
But luckily, the basic foundation of the swimming club was still there; she leaned back, then leaned forward.
Just as she was about to regain her balance, Nanao Akane suddenly remembered something.
Oh, the reason she quit the swimming club seemed to be because her chest was too big, making it difficult to control her center of gravity.
"Heh..."
Nanao Akane smiled indifferently, as if she had seen through the mortal world, and then she fell directly onto the stone path. However, before that, she still held the burger bag high above her head.
This thing couldn't be damaged—
But, there was no pain as she expected.
She didn't hit the ground with her chest; instead, she felt a sense of weightlessness, with her feet suspended in the air.
When she opened her frightened eyes, she found that she had been picked up in a princess carry... and the person holding her was, of course, Hayato.
"You idiot," Hayato cursed. "When you fall, protect your head first, not some burger."
Then he took three steps in two.
After hooking open the door with his foot, he finally placed Nanao Akane under the eaves of the entrance.
"Are you okay?" Hayato asked.
"Hohohohoho," Nanao Akane sat at the entrance, her hair a little damp, but when she looked up at Hayato, a smile seeped from the corners of her eyes: "I'm perfectly fine, I could even do it again."
Heh, heh heh.
Nanao Akane thought gleefully, Lin-chan looked slender and thin, but she didn't expect him to be able to pick her up in one go.
It should be known that her height was not short; although not quite 1.7 meters, it wasn't far off. Plus, with her curvy figure, her weight had always been stubborn. It wasn't easy to pick her up effortlessly. In fact, after she admitted to herself that she liked Hayato, Nanao Akane had thought she would be forever excluded from a "princess carry" in this lifetime.
She didn't expect it to be achieved so easily.
Nanao Akane's girlish heart began to overflow, not only around her, but even her eyes were sparkling with pink bubbles.
"You're quite heavy."
Hayato's words instantly shattered Nanao Akane's fantasy. Along with it, something shattered with a "kuka" sound... yes, it was Nanao Akane's fragile girlish heart.
"...Eh?" Nanao Akane's pink-bubbled eyes lost their luster.
Hayato found a folding umbrella on the shoe cabinet at the entrance, opened it, and rushed out again.
He felt that the bicycle might still be salvageable.
As for Nanao Akane, she and the bag of "Comet Burger," which had just been a precious treasure, looked at each other. Junk food has misled me!
Today!
Fasting!
When Hayato returned, pushing his bicycle under the umbrella, Nanao Akane was already sitting with her knees hugged.
"Is it okay to leave the bike here?" Hayato asked.
Fortunately, the bicycle was foldable and not too large.
"...It's fine," Nanao Akane glared at Hayato, then still sighed and stood up.
What else could she do? She still had to forgive him.
"I'll go get you a towel," Nanao Akane said. "You come in first..."
The house didn't look big from the outside, and upon entering, it was even more... to put it politely, it was exquisite and mini; to put it bluntly, it was cramped.
It was a notch worse than Yayoi's house.
However, compared to Hayato's utterly impoverished room, it could be considered magnificent.
"Mm."
Hayato looked at the drizzling rain outside the door; the rain wouldn't stop anytime soon.
What else could he do?
Heaven's decision was the ultimate, after all.
So he kicked off his shoes and walked inside.
This two-story house was actually lived in by Nanao Akane alone.
Her parents had unfortunately passed away in an accident when she was in her first year of junior high.
This was information he had learned when he and Nanao Akane were chatting casually before.
Judging by her state at the time, Nanao Akane seemed reluctant... or rather, afraid to let Hayato know about this, as such a background seemed quite tragic. But she still gathered her courage and confessed to Hayato; she didn't want to hide it from him.
Hayato smiled after hearing it, then pointed his thumb at his nose, exuding confidence.
He wasn't bragging.
When it came to background, he truly wasn't afraid of anyone.
He was an orphan before transmigrating, and he still had no parents when he came to this world.
His parents, died twice!
However, the reason he dared to say this was because Hayato had no memory of his parents; even if the original Hayato had them, this memory ultimately didn't belong to him, so he could joke about it freely.
Nanao Akane, on the other hand, was different; she was still full of sorrow when mentioning her deceased parents.
Hayato couldn't offer comfort, only saying, "I won't dislike you because of something like this," to show his support.
During junior high, Grandma Nanaki came to the city to stay with her granddaughter for a while, but ultimately, she didn't like life there. After Nanao Akane entered high school and became independent, she returned to the countryside.
This also somewhat explained why East Gang would target Nanao Akane.
A beautiful girl with such a tragic family background was truly rare.
Nanao Akane still relied on her one-legged hopping technique to retrieve a clean towel from the bathroom.
As she walked out of the washroom, Nanao Akane suddenly realized... wow, Lin-chan had entered her house.
Because the rain started so suddenly, Nanao Akane had only just realized it now!
Lin-chan! Is! Inside! So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, what should she do next?
This was the first time Lin-chan had ever entered her house.
Nanao Akane suddenly felt a bit stiff. She handed the towel to Hayato.
Hayato put the towel over his head, rubbed it vigorously twice, then asked:
"Is your room upstairs...? I just saw the light on upstairs in the house."
"Ye-yes," Nanao Akane nodded vigorously. "Do you... do you want to go up?"
"If possible."
"Of course you can," Nanao Akane nodded vigorously.
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