On the table were laid out many ‘rings’, and the boy threw them one after another into his mouth.
“Nku, hamu, amu, mogu, ahh, I knew it, when it comes to the 4 o’clock snack, nothing beats donuts.”
“After eating that many crepes, you can still eat that much? What a shocker. Also, snack time is 3:00. It’s 4:00 right now, but anything’s fine, I guess. Sigh…”
Despite that she still couldn’t help herself but throw a jab at him.
“But crepes and donuts go to different stomachs, don’t they?” Shinichi said.
“You can treat that as common sense as much as you want, but you’re not getting me to take that excuse! Sigh, seriously, you’re such a glutton. Eating so much and so happily like that… You’re an enemy of women in that regard too, huh,” Myuhi said.
Myuhi stared enviously at the mountain of donuts. If only she too, alas…
Shinichi had already offered her some, but she refused.
Although there was also the arch-nemesis of all women, the weight scale, Myuhi’s issue was, in her own words, “You can’t buy me, and I won’t accept bribes!”
Despite the casual air between the two, theirs was a relationship meant to clash.
One side was a combatant from the terrorist support group, Nameless, while the other was the Mask that has already destroyed several terrorist groups.
in fact, she herself has once been thoroughly beaten by
Though they both operated illegally, they were definitely enemies.
“Hamu hamu, the differing texture of the exterior and the interior, the slight sweetness of the soybean flour… Ahh, I’m in heaven.”
Yet one side was happily eating doughnuts.
He’d revealed his own identity and threatened her, yet his attitude and behavior remained the same.
“…I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask, but seeing your face like that makes everything feel so pointless.”
That’s why Myuhi said that with resignation and sighed.
Suddenly, it felt so stupid to be so worried, though that in itself made her head hurt.
“Yeah, it’s important that people know to give up.”
All the more so when words like those were thrown at her like that.
Somehow, the fox ears on her seemed to droop even lower.
Shinichi had taken her everywhere as though they were really on a date, and in the end, she was brought to this donuts store that they talked about last.
The store was full of women and couples, so they fit right in, but the smiling mask Myuhi loved to wear had long since peeled off.
“In the first place, how are you able to switch gears so quickly? You were so worried about Ari-chan before I approached you.”
It was that sort of situation when she approached, so the change in his attitude really took her by surprise.
Unfortunately for her, the answer she got led her to fall prostrate on the table because of the item diagonally beneath her.
“You got it all wrong. I’m not good at switching gears, I’m good at putting things off for later!”
“…That’s really not something you should be saying with a smug look.”
How could he make such a confident face, while saying that he was just running from his problems?
He’s been like this the whole time. They’ve only been walking around town for about half an hour, but Myuhi was already exhausted. Of course, the tension from their identities being revealed to each other played a part in that too.
“Ahh, enough! I can’t take it anymore! Waiter! I want what he’s having, and just as many! Bill it separately please!”
Because of that she gave in to despair and ordered for herself.
The first to arrive was the Ice Milk drink that he too had. She used that to moisten her throat.
As donuts were brought in one after another, Myuhi’s eyes sparkled, and she dug right in.
She ate with such zeal that from a third party’s perspective, it looked as though the boy and the fox-eared girl were having a donut eating competition.
In the end, however, Myuhi too was a girl, and she gradually found her cheeks loosening before the power of sweets.
“Fu fu.”
“W-What?”
She knew he was staring at her because of that, so she panicked and hastily made a serious face.
Unfortunately for her, the white beard left by the milk diminished any pressure she might’ve been able to give off.
Not to mention those once listless ears were now going ‘blip blop, blip blop’ as they restlessly expressed their happiness.
“Nah, I was just thinking about how you’re enjoying them so much… Should I wipe it for you?”
Shinichi said matter-of-factly as he pointed to his own mouth to show her what he meant.
“It’s fine,” Myuhi curtly said as she hastily wiped her mouth. That in itself was plenty interesting to the boy, however, and he looked at her with an amused smile.
“Uu… It’s precisely that attitude of yours, teasing girls even though you have no intention of going out with them, that Ari-chan became a problem for you, y-you enemy of women!”
Though she’d said that partly to cover up her embarrassment, she was mostly being honest when she pointed out to him that the situation with Aristel was purely his own doing.
If he didn’t want anything to start between them, then he shouldn’t have made a pass at her. Myuhi glared at him, but he too had his own opinions, and so he made a glum face.
“That’s rude. When you put it that way, it sounds like I’m an enemy to all women. Let’s make this clear, okay? I’m not proud of it, but I’m not an enemy to all women, I’m an enemy to the women I like.”
Shinichi declared with that same confident face from before, causing Myuhi to come down with vertigo.
Her head didn’t actually hurt, but somehow it seemed to hurt. Words were terrifying indeed. They could even induce migraines.
The pair of fox ears on her also stood in shock, they were as honest as ever.
“Uwaah, that’s really not something to be proud of… And you just changed the topic, didn’t you? Honestly, if we weren’t in public, I would have hit you already!”
“Yep, girls really are best when they’re honest… Ah, don’t worry, being a girl has nothing to do with age.”
Myuhi balled her hands into a fist out of irritation, but Shinichi’s smile didn’t even so much as budge, though the last words he said were laced with spite.
“…I did think I’ve been found out already, but since when did you notice?”
Myuhi no longer had the strength left to panic from something on this level, but she still chose to probe him.
But while she might’ve spoken in that simple manner, she did so with a sour look.
“Since the first time we met at the academy. I could more or less tell when I saw you. You’re around the same generation as Frire, right?”
For a moment, when the boy pointed out her age, a lifeless eye without color pierced through her.
“Ha ha, bingo. I’m the youngest from our org, so having someone play student in this school was really reaching… But enough of that, why did you say you’re not proud of it?”
Compared to that time when he made those headache-inducing remarks with a face brimming with confidence despite saying it wasn’t something to be proud of, Myuhi’s reaction to his amazing eyes that could see even through her was lacking.
“Because it’s not my power or personality or disposition or hobby.”
“Oh, I see, so teasing and playing with girls is your power, disposition, personality, and hobby? You’re the worst!”
Though she spoke as though she were merely playing along with his joke, the smile on her was more than enough to gouge out a person’s heart.
She was the kind of girl that everyone found cute, so mixing thorns into her words was more than enough to turn them into knives.
Save for those with special hobbies, most men would likely shutdown before such words.
“Fu fu, I’m glad you understand me so well, Hina.”
Unfortunately, there was an exception here.
For the sake of his honor, let it be known that Shinichi is not one of those with ‘special’ hobbies.
He was just glad that there was someone who could understand the ‘true’ meaning behind his words.
But of course, to Myuhi, who’d intended those words to be a counterattack, being laughed at by him like that troubled her to no end.
“The way you talk as if you’re superior to everything else is so annoying!”
“Huh? …Even if you tell me that… I mean, I really am… superior.”
The boy laughed as he took two donuts from his plate, then he passed his finger through the holes and spun them.
“After all, isn’t the very fate of the world in my hands right now?”
───See? So high and mighty.
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