"Excuse me, miss. Could you tell me how to get to the STARRY Live House?"
Nijika was slightly taken aback.
He's asking for our family's live house? Is he a customer? The customer is king!
Nijika worked part-time as a waitress at her sister's club, so greeting customers was part of her job.
Normally, the energetic Nijika would have immediately flashed an enthusiastic smile and personally shown him the way.
But, at this particular moment... She was anxious and restless, her mind completely filled with that clear yet seemingly unreachable figure... she just wasn't in the mood.
So, with uncharacteristic listlessness, she pointed towards the entrance to the underground passage. "It's just down those stairs. Please be careful not to slip... huh?"
Even in her distracted state, the kind-hearted little Nijika didn't forget to warn the stranger to be careful.
But halfway through her warning, she suddenly noticed something strange.
This stranger's voice... It didn't seem so... unfamiliar?
Whoosh. The girl whipped her head around.
As she saw the smiling face of the person asking for directions standing beside her, the dejection on Nijika's face, the loneliness in her watery eyes, vanished in an instant. Her pure, youthful, and beautiful little face brightened up at once, radiating the glow a little angel ought to have.
"Eh, eh, eh, eh?? It's you? How are you..."
Her beautiful, wide-open eyes were filled with surprise.
The girl shot to her feet with a swoosh. But in her excessive surprise, she stood up too quickly. As she rose, her vision blurred, and her head spun for a moment. Her legs gave way, she lost her balance, and the phone in her hand clattered to the ground...
Thump... She seemed to have bumped into something.
"So enthusiastic?" a teasing voice, tinged with laughter, came from above her head. "The real-life Miss Ijichi is surprisingly bold."
"Huh?" As the dizziness faded, the girl came to her senses and realized she was leaning against Fumiya Jin's chest.
"Ah?! N-no, that's not it!"
Nijika was certainly not that sort of person.
She hurriedly pulled away from his embrace and stepped back. But she had only taken half a step back when the backs of her knees hit the front edge of the chair's seat...
"Ouch!"
She fell back onto the chair, her bottom landing hard on the wooden seat. Thud-thud!
"Hiss—ow, ow, ow, ow, ow..."
"Pfft..."
Fumiya Jin couldn't quite hold it in. He chuckled and said, "Little lady, why are you so flustered?"
Nijika's cheeks were a complete mess of red. She subconsciously raised a hand to her sore bottom, wanting to rub it to ease the pain, but was too embarrassed to do so in front of Fumiya Jin. For a moment, she was so mortified she wished she could find a hole to crawl into.
"I... I was just a little surprised... I didn't expect you to suddenly show up here," she said, scratching her burning cheek.
"Is that so," Fumiya Jin nodded. "But I happened to overhear you on the phone just now. It sounded like... you were looking for me, weren't you?"
This was, of course, the truth.
But now, Nijika recalled the content of her conversation with Ryo, and the thought that Fumiya Jin might have overheard it made her sense of shame explode. For a moment, she was too embarrassed to admit it.
Even angels can be stubborn sometimes.
"Who said... it was definitely you?"
"Age, skin, height—everything you mentioned fits me, doesn't it?" Fumiya Jin said frankly.
"Lots of people fit that description," Nijika puffed out her cheeks.
"You also said he's a very handsome boy with good-looking features," Fumiya Jin smiled.
Nijika stiffened slightly as if struck by an arrow, her cheeks turning an even deeper shade of red—He! Really! Did! Hear! It!
How rude! How could he eavesdrop on someone's phone call!!!
Nijika bit her lip and said, "There are plenty of handsome guys; you could find several just on this street... Besides, thinking that about yourself is a bit shameless, don't you think!"
"But I think I also heard you mention... the surname Fumiya," Fumiya Jin tilted his head. "Are there many of those too?"
"Th-that's... just the same surname. Couldn't it be Fumiya Spring, Fumiya Summer, Fumiya Autumn, or Fumiya Winter?" Nijika pouted, looking as if she was speaking with great conviction. "That surname isn't exactly rare, you know!"
"Is that so?"
Fumiya Jin smiled faintly and didn't expose her lie, just watched her with an amused grin.
One second...
Two seconds...
Three seconds...
The girl's defenses crumbled. She lowered her head like a deflated ball.
"Alright, I admit it, I was looking for you..." The girl's blush spread all the way to the tips of her ears. "I just wanted... to thank you properly."
Then, she bit her lip, looked up with a mix of shame and annoyance, and shot Fumiya Jin a glare. "But you, when exactly did you get here! I mentioned the surname Fumiya... I think that was right at the beginning of the call!"
Fumiya Jin thought for a moment and said, "Probably right when you started the call. I had just arrived and noticed you, but I wasn't sure it was you, so I came over quietly to confirm."
"Then why didn't you just call out to me after you were sure? You just stood there eavesdropping?" Nijika glared at him. "Do you have any manners?"
"It's precisely because I have manners that I didn't call out to you," Fumiya Jin spread his hands, a look of innocence on his face. "I wasn't sure what you were talking about. What if it was something important? It would be rude of me to interrupt your call. So I waited quietly on the side, and only came over to talk once I was certain you were looking for me. That's perfectly reasonable, right?"
"Huh?" Nijika looked at Fumiya Jin, annoyed. "You heard me looking for someone with the surname Fumiya right from the start, wasn't that enough to be sure? You had to keep listening?"
"There are so many people with the surname Fumiya, it wasn't necessarily me you were looking for. I definitely needed some other details to be sure," Fumiya Jin shrugged. "You said so yourself."
"You..."
Nijika was instantly at a loss for words.
Speechless.
Several seconds passed.
Then, like a pufferfish, she huffily puffed out her cheeks and said, "Well, thank you so much! How considerate of you!"
"You're welcome."
Fumiya Jin smiled, bent down, and picked up Nijika's phone from the ground. After checking that it wasn't cracked or broken, he handed it to her.
Then, he straightened up and extended a hand to her.
"Come on, get up. This isn't the place to talk."
"Uh..."
Nijika Ijichi stared at the fair-skinned hand, slightly dazed. She then looked up at the figure before her.
At that moment, she was feeling many emotions. Many of them were negative, like shame, annoyance, and embarrassment... But one negative emotion, and one alone, had completely vanished—loneliness.
It was the same street, the same bustling crowd... but now, it suddenly seemed much more lively.
Nijika suddenly took a deep breath. She reached out and took his hand. Slowly, she stood up. Only then did she let go and scratch her cheek.
"Um... have you eaten?" Nijika asked in a small voice.
"No," Fumiya Jin shook his head.
"Let's go. I'll treat you to some ramen."
_____
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