Chapter 21: Weekend department store date (4)

I sat quietly, looking back and forth between Shiraizuka senpai, Aya, and Mizuki.

Aya, quietly drinking her iced tea, yet giving off the refined feeling of a tea ceremony.

And Shiraizuka senpai, sitting across, exchanging words with Mizuki.

Me, watching their conversation, sipping on my strawberry yogurt smoothie.

‘…It’s strange.’

Not in my past life, nor after accepting that I was the mob character Kurosawa Rina, did I expect this.

I never thought I’d become so close to ‘high-class young ladies’.

Originally, all three of them were from a different world than me.

Me before I fell asleep, me in the novel, I’m just a mob, born from commoners.

Even now, I vaguely felt the gap between me and them.

But…

Somehow, it’s nice.

Spending time together like this was strangely warm and comfortable.

It’s nice to just chat like ordinary high school girls, drink our favorite drinks, and laugh at light jokes.

Even if I’m not sure if I’m really… a high school girl.

“Then I’ll be going now. I hope you all have a good day.”

When Shiraizuka senpai tried to get up, tired of Mizuki’s sociability, Mizuki looked at her with a meaningful smile.

“Rikatan~ You didn’t come just to buy perfume, did you?”

At that moment, Shiraizuka senpai’s movements stopped.

It was a fleeting moment, but I felt senpai’s cheeks tremble subtly.

“Wh, why… would you think that?”

Senpai tried to maintain a calm smile, but the corners of Mizuki’s lips were playfully raised.

“Hey~ It’s okay to be honest. Maybe the game center again?”

Slightly shaking eyes, an awkward smile.

…As expected, Mizuki knew.

That Shiraizuka senpai, contrary to her appearance, enjoys games.

“…Asakurasan, it’s not good to be too direct.”

“Shiraizukasan, then is that not true?”

Senpai said Mizuki’s family name to create distance, but Mizuki quickly closed that gap.

Mizuki, also armed with a young lady’s tone… it really felt like she was from a prestigious family.

Senpai sighed deeply at Mizuki’s playful behavior, realized she couldn’t do anything about it, and touched her forehead with her fingertips.

“Fufu, Shiraizukasan~ If you don’t mind, shall we go together?”

Mizuki smiled brightly as if she had been waiting for this and proposed in a young lady’s tone.

Shiraizuka senpai hesitated for a moment, but eventually nodded with an elegant smile.

“…Sigh. Well, I guess this isn’t bad sometimes. If you don’t mind, would you like to join us?”

When senpai gave her permission, Mizuki cheered.

“Alright~! Rina, Aya, is that okay?”

“Huh…?”

Aya’s eyes widened at the sudden suggestion.

Is this a sudden development for Aya, who has no interest in games?

I was embarrassed, belatedly realizing that Aya had no connection with games.

‘Ah, that’s right, Aya probably won’t like it…’

But Mizuki had already grabbed our wrists with both hands and led us.

Aya eventually sighed a little and followed Mizuki.

“…Yeah, well… let’s go.”

***

We arrived at the game center on the top floor of the department store.

As soon as the elevator arrived, noisy sounds and colorful neon lights welcomed us.

When I first entered the game center, I felt a familiar sensation, like coming to an arcade in my past life.

And, looking to the side, Aya was looking around with her eyes wide open, as if she was shocked.

“It’s… louder than I thought.”

Aya looked around with her lips tightly closed.

No matter how I looked at it, Aya was half-frozen.

As expected… wasn’t coming to a place like this too much for Aya?

I was worried about Aya.

Meanwhile, Shiraizuka senpai initially pretended to be quietly watching with a haughty face, but soon started playing games, naturally grabbing the stick.

‘She pretends to be cool like that, but I know she’s a fighting game maniac.’

Senpai maintained a haughty atmosphere, but her gaze towards the screen was sharp.

The way she tapped the buttons with a calm expression was like a professional player.

She’s probably a famous player online under the nickname ‘Mysterious S’.

“Oh~ As expected of Rikatan! You’re good. Want to play a round with me?”
“Fufu, Mizuki, do you think I’ll go easy on you?”

Mizuki immediately sat down on the opposite side and jumped into the game.

Watching Mizuki and senpai’s game, my hands itched.

It reminded me of the days when I used to grab the arcade stick and put in flashy combos.

But that thought was fleeting.

Aya, standing next to me now, had her arms tightly folded and was awkwardly looking around.

I looked at the pitiful Aya and asked.

“Aya.”

“Huh? Oh, why?”

Aya looking at me with a slightly embarrassed face.

I smiled and tried to naturally link arms like Mizuki.

…But because of the height difference, it became an awkward posture.

Come to think of it, Mizuki is also 10cm taller than me.

After coolly giving up, I lightly grabbed Aya’s wrist.

“This is your first time at a game center, right, Aya?”

“Um… yeah. It’s my first time in a place like this.”

Aya nodded carefully.

It was the reaction I expected.

Come to think of it, Aya had never been to a place like this in the novel either.

Maybe it was the amusement park event during the spring picnic? I remember Aya being frozen there too.

“Then, let’s go play some quiet games first. It’s noisy here.”

I lightly grabbed Aya’s wrist and led her to the crane game corner.

Aya flinched for a moment, but soon followed obediently.

Whether she was relying on me, the subtle tension remaining in Aya’s fingertips gradually eased.

“Yeah, let’s go wherever Rina wants to go.”

The crane game machines were separated from the area with arcade games by a partition.

Unlike the place that was full of noisy sounds until a little while ago, this place had cute and soft music playing quietly.

Aya seemed to like that atmosphere too, as her tense shoulders seemed to relax.

I naturally took out a bill from my wallet and put it in the coin exchange machine.

Click, I heard the sound of coins falling, and I divided the coins that came out in half and gave them to Aya.

Aya’s fingertips lightly brushed my fingers.

“You put the coins in like this and move the joystick. Crane game! You know it, right?”

“Um… yeah.”

Aya seemed to not know, but the crane game is the easiest game that you can understand just by looking at it once.

So I chose to show her rather than explain, and I sat in front of the crane game machine and inserted the coins.

“First, push it forward a little… stop here…”

I carefully manipulated the joystick and pressed the drop button above the doll.

But as expected, the doll easily slipped away.

“Hehe, it’s not easy, as expected. Aya, do you want to try?”

“Yeah…!”

Aya carefully nodded and sat in the seat I was in.

Aya’s hand holding the joystick was awkward.

I smiled lightly and put my hand on top of Aya’s hand to adjust the direction.

At that moment, Aya’s warm body temperature was transmitted to my fingertips.

‘Um… this is just to help. No count…’

I tried to act naturally, but when I looked up, Aya’s face was slightly flushed, and I flinched.

Aya’s blue eyes, carefully looking up at me, were strangely shaking.

My heart was pounding, so I looked away.

“Rina, if I do it like this… will it work?”

“Ye, yeah! Good! You’re doing well.”

Aya carefully pressed the button.

Then the machine arm slowly descended towards the doll.

“Oh, it looks like it’ll grab it well?”

We quietly watched the screen with tension.

Then, unbelievably, the machine arm accurately grabbed the doll’s ear and lifted it.

Beep— With the sound, the doll slowly rose into the air and fell into the bin with a thud—.

“Wow… I caught it.”

Aya admired in a quiet voice.

Her slightly widened eyes and the faint rise of the corners of her mouth were quite different from the usual calm Aya.

Somehow… I thought it was strangely cute.

Come to think of it, the protagonist would show off his cool side whenever Aya was in trouble, and he would see this expression of Aya’s.

I don’t have anything I’m better at than Aya, so I won’t be able to see this expression often.

Somehow, I felt like I understood why the protagonist liked Aya.

The expression Aya is showing now is not the ‘tsun’ mode of Aya, but the ‘dere’ mode of Aya.

Wai… t a minute.

But I’m a girl.

No way, no way, ahaha…

While I was scratching the back of my neck, Aya shyly took out the doll and looked at me.

She carefully stroked the soft fur of the doll with her fingertips and smiled slightly.

“This… Rina, you take it.”

“…What? Me, me?”

I was embarrassed, my eyes wide open.

It was awkward to suddenly receive a doll, and I wondered if it was okay for me to accept it since it was Aya’s first win.

“Yeah, I think it’ll suit Rina.”

Aya smiled softly and handed me the doll.

That expression was so natural that I couldn’t refuse.

I lowered my head slightly and accepted the doll with both hands.

“Uh… tha, thank you. I’ll treasure it.”

As I hugged the doll, I shouted internally.

‘Aya gave me a present? This kind of development wasn’t in the novel?!’

A feeling of joy, mixed with a subtle, unidentifiable emotion, tickled my heart.

Around the time I received the doll, Mizuki ran over with a bright face and clapped her hands.

“Oh~ Aya, did you get a doll too? You even gave it to Rina as a gift~ The atmosphere is good~?”

“Mi, Mizuki!”

Aya waved her hands in a fluster that didn’t suit her.

Mizuki shifted her gaze from Aya to me.

With that characteristic playful expression of hers

“Hmm~ I thought it would really suit Rina~”

Mizuki mimicked Aya and muttered playfully.

I felt my face turn hot at Mizuki’s words.

Aya must have felt the same way, because she couldn’t hold back and slapped Mizuki’s back.

“Hehe, Aya~ It’s cute when you’re embarrassed~?”

“Mizuki!”

“Ah, ahahaha! Sorry. Shall we go back now? I’m hungry, and it seems like Shiraizuka senpai plans to stay here longer.”

Like that, the eventful day at the department store came to an end.

Looking at the doll in my hand, I felt a strange tickling sensation in my heart.

‘This is… what friends give each other as gifts… right?’

As we left the department store, the afternoon sun felt warm.