03 – Maybe, you’re my childhood friend whom I promised to marry?

“Aaaaahhhh… So embarrassing, I want to disappear.”

“Well, I was planning to ask your name right after that, so it’s not like you were completely wrong, you know?”

“Even so, it’s still embarrassing.”

To make matters worse, what she actually wanted to point out was…

“We’re going the wrong way…”

I couldn’t bring myself to look up, overwhelmed by the embarrassment.

I had completely forgotten that I have a terrible sense of direction while trying to lead us to the family restaurant.

At that moment, the mood had been good, and I thought it would be cool if I could guess what she was thinking. But I got carried away.

As I wallowed in my embarrassment, she started laughing softly, a gentle and teasing sound.

“Fufu, you’re the most fun person I’ve ever been with.”

“This… is a compliment, right?”

Given the situation, it feels like she’s just amused by how much of a klutz I am, but I hope she means it in a good way.

“I am complimenting you. At the very least, I’m not bored when I’m with you.”

“Wait, that definitely sounds like you’re just having fun at my expense!”

“Fufu, I won’t deny that.”

“Come on, at least try to deny it!”

As we bantered back and forth, we somehow arrived in front of the family restaurant without me even noticing.

We climbed the stairs, and when I opened the door, the warm light of the restaurant washed over us. The place wasn’t crowded, but I spotted a few other students wearing the same uniform as us scattered around.

“Table for two? Right this way, please,” the server said, guiding us to a two-seater by the window.

For some reason, I felt like the server’s gaze was unusually warm… but maybe it was just my imagination.

“Well, what should we do? Should we order something?”

“Hmm, let’s see… Uh, you usually eat lunch at home, right?”

“No, I think I’ll just eat here. It’s too much trouble to prepare something at home.”

“In that case, I’ll go with the cod roe pasta and the drink bar.”

“Then I’ll have the regular pasta.”

I looked around for the button to call the server but couldn’t find it.

Oh, right.

“Nowadays, you just scan the QR code to order.”

I took out my phone and scanned the QR code. That’s when I noticed the silver-haired girl’s eyes lighting up with excitement.

“Uh… do you want to try it?”

“Yes!”

She eagerly pulled out her light blue phone and tried to scan the code with her camera app. But…

“Huh? That’s strange… It won’t read.”

She was holding her phone way too close to the code. This girl might be a bit of a klutz herself.

“You need to hold it a bit farther away to scan it properly.”

“Like… this?”

She slid her whole body back. Did she forget that humans can bend their arms?

“Oh, it worked!”

She showed me her phone screen, clearly pleased.

“Alright, now just enter the table number and the item codes.”

“Done…!”

Despite her boldness, like breaking up with her boyfriend in front of the school gate, she seemed to have a natural clumsiness about her. 

But I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something deeper behind her behavior—maybe a dark past she was hiding.

“Hey, why did you agree to my awkward attempt at hitting on you?”

“…? I thought I already explained that.”

She tilted her head in confusion.

“No, I’m not asking why you broke up with him. I’m asking why you accepted my attempt.”

As I thought about it, I realized she never actually gave me an answer. Our time together had been fun, but this could be the end of it. 

Still, whatever our relationship might become—acquaintances, friends, or something more—I needed to know the truth.

“…You seem to be quite perceptive at times.”

I thought I heard her mutter something.

“You’re asking why I accepted your attempt at flirting, right? Initially, I was fully prepared to reject you.”

She had looked at me with an extremely cold gaze at first, and her response was curt. 

So why, all of a sudden, did she agree to my attempt? Even if she was unhappy with her current boyfriend, it didn’t make sense.

On top of that, she was now with me at this family restaurant. There had to be a reason behind it.

“But what if you found out that the person making the attempt was someone you knew?”

“Huh?”

I was taken aback when she suddenly called me by name. Wait, wait, wait—there’s no way I know a beautiful girl like her.

Could this be one of those romance manga or drama scenarios where we’re actually long-lost childhood friends who made a marriage promise or something?!

“Could it be that we’ve met before? Maybe we were childhood friends and made a promise to get married—”

“No, we haven’t.”

Once again, it seemed I had jumped to conclusions.

(TL: bro, he like me fr, in the sense of assumptions okay…)