You Never Change
When Yuuki went to the convenience store where Yume would surely be waiting, she was there as always.
“Good morning.”
“Morning, Yuuki-kun. You’re early again today.”
Still looking a little sleepy, Yume greeted him.
“Here, this is for today.”
“Thank you.”
Taking the bento from Yume, Yuuki began walking again, just like yesterday.
“Yume-san.”
“What is it?”
“Would you mind not making a bento every day? I think a few times a week would be more than enough.”
When Yuuki finally said what he hadn’t been able to say yesterday, Yume looked a little sad.
“Was it not very good?”
“No, it’s not that it tasted bad. I just felt bad making you and Master prepare it every day, that’s all.”
“Ah, I’m glad to hear that.”
Looking relieved, she let out a small breath and turned toward Yuuki.
“It’s fine, really. Don’t worry about that. Both my dad and I make them because we want to, you know? Besides, we’re being paid properly, so you don’t have to feel bad.”
“But I still feel bad for relying on Master all the time.”
Remembering everything that had happened yesterday and before, Yuuki couldn’t bring himself to nod honestly to Yume’s words.
“Feeling sorry isn’t a bad thing, but like my dad said yesterday, we think of you as family, Yuuki-kun. Isn’t it only natural to be kind to family?”
That was what Yume said, but for Yuuki, when he thought about what family had meant to him until now, aside from his late father, there was really no one else he could call family.
Being kind to family is only natural.
He couldn’t fully agree with that, because he didn’t really understand what “family” meant.
Still, yesterday, he had truly thought of Kyousuke as a father.
So—
“I understand. I’ll allow myself to rely on Master.”
“Fufu, I think that’s just fine. And of course, you can rely on me too, okay?”
“That’s…”
Since he was already relying on her by having her make his lunch, Yuuki swallowed the words he was about to say and gave a small nod instead.
“Well then, see you. Oh, and sorry about yesterday. I overheard your conversation.”
“It’s fine.”
For a moment, Yuuki wondered what she meant, but he quickly realized she was probably talking about overhearing his conversation with Kyousuke, and replied accordingly.
Since the changing room wasn’t far and the walls weren’t thick, it couldn’t be helped if she had overheard, so Yuuki didn’t feel any reason to be angry.
After parting ways with Yume, he headed straight to school.
Wondering what they might be up to today, Yuuki thought to himself that as long as it wasn’t something troublesome, it would be fine. But when he opened his shoe locker, he found his indoor shoes covered in dirt and sand.
Looking around, he saw them, as expected.
It was that group of so-called “friends,” watching him with blank expressions.
Ayaka was also there, standing still with a somewhat uneasy look on her face, doing nothing.
Without even putting on the soiled shoes, Yuuki turned and walked toward the staff room.
Since Kyousuke had probably already reported yesterday’s incident to the school, Yuuki figured that if he explained, they would at least lend him a pair of guest slippers.
Upon arriving at the staff room, Yuuki spoke to his homeroom teacher.
“Excuse me, my indoor shoes ended up like this, so could I borrow a pair of slippers?”
Showing them to her, Yuuki made his request. The female teacher looked annoyed.
“They’re over there, just wear those.”
“All right.”
“Oh, and Mikage-kun, I’ll need to talk to you later, so can you spare some time?”
“Understood.”
It was probably about the bullying, but since Yuuki didn’t expect anything from this teacher anyway, he simply answered and left the staff room.