Hey, Best Friend. How About A Kiss Today Too? - Chapter 83: "Cute!"

“Cute!”

The restless waiting time passed quickly, and Sagiri and I boarded the bus.

Perhaps because it was a commuter route, despite being the first holiday of summer vacation, the bus was nearly empty, almost like a private ride.

“Wow, Yuzuru-kun, Hasegawa-kun, it must be nice to enjoy this scenery every day.”

“Don’t you have enough to worry about on your commute?”

“Boo.”

Sagiri was absorbed in gazing out the window at the passing scenery, and any awkwardness from the failed kiss seemed to disappear somewhere.

I couldn’t help but puff my cheeks in dissatisfaction, even though I was just relaying the voices of the two bus commuters. Life is unfair, but she’s cute, so I guess it’s okay.

“Ugh, it’s so hot…”

“…You’re adding to it.”

After being rocked by the bus for a few tens of minutes, we arrived at the bustling station front of the city’s largest shopping mall, a massive complex.

This place was a go-to spot for everyone, from adults to children, offering access to anything you wanted to buy, eat, or do. Bustling with people walking along the multi-level pedestrian walkways, undeterred by the summer heat, each headed toward their respective destinations.

“Come on, Sagiri.”

“Oh, yeah…”

I tightly grasped Sagiri’s hand so she wouldn’t get lost. Even Sagiri, it seemed, wouldn’t deploy her strange theories in this crowd, and she quietly squeezed my hand back.

***

“Cute!”

Just when I thought she’d quieted down, her first words upon entering the store were exactly that.

This was a stuffed animal specialty store inside the shopping mall.

“Hehehe, welcome…”

Various sizes of stuffed animals lined the store, and in the back, a kindly-looking old man had been smiling at us the whole time.

He was like something out of a picture book.

“Renji! They’re so cute! Look, Renji! This one too, and this one!”

“I get it, I get it! Just lower your voice a bit; you’re bothering other people!”

Sagiri was excitedly bouncing around.

Her parents had given her many stuffed animals over the years to keep her company when she was sickly. The many stuffed animals still on her bed were a remnant of that, and Sagiri absolutely loved stuffed animals.

“Hehehe, don’t worry about it…”

The old man in the back of the store murmured with a smile.

His voice wasn’t particularly loud, but it had a strangely clear tone to it.

“Oh, this one’s cute! Hey, Renji, Renji! How about this one? What do you think?”

“Hmm…”

One… no, one entity, or one person?

How do you count stuffed animals, anyway?

For now, let’s go with “one” since it’s an animal. Sagiri picked up one stuffed animal from the many in the store and showed it to me.

It was a wolf stuffed animal, gray and bipedal, with a face covered in scars and a rather unfriendly expression.

Even by generous standards, it wasn’t cute.

Even to the untrained eye, there were many other stuffed animals that looked cuter. This wolf stuffed animal seemed to be in a different category from the others in Sagiri’s room.

“Is it cute, this one…?”

“Huh? It’s cute! It looks just like you, Renji!”

“Hey, hold on a second.”

Do I really have scars like that?

Is that wolf your image of me?

“Alright, from today, your name is Renji.”

“Don’t go naming things before you buy them.”

“What’s wrong, Renji? Jealous of Renji isn’t good, Renji. Right, Renji?”

This is getting complicated.

“…I’m not jealous or anything.”

“Hmm? Really?”

“Yeah, I mean, I… have you…”

“Oh… um…”

I said it myself and started feeling embarrassed halfway through.

Did my embarrassment spread to Sagiri too, making her face turn red?

“…………”

“…………”

Awkwardness returns.

“Um, could you say something…?”

“Oh, uh, yeah, well… uh…”

“Hehehe…”

Not you, old man.