Ryunosuke ordered a serving of omurice, then looked across the table at Chiaki.
"What do you want? I'll pay."
Chiaki didn't hold back and ordered the special chashu. She had already handed her closest friend over to this man, so she might as well consider it an introduction fee.
They sat together and ate. The area around them was busy with people passing through, including a fair number of their classmates. Naturally, there were people who noticed Ryunosuke sitting across from Chiaki at a restaurant. To any outside observer, it looked exactly like a date. A man and a woman eating together, of course people were going to read into it.
Predictably, new rumors began to travel through the school. That was a problem for later. Ryunosuke had no time to worry about it now. The matter with the quintuplets was unresolved, and if he didn't handle it properly, that connection would close for good.
He asked, "Is there any way to actually recover my memories?"
That was his priority. It wasn't only about the quintuplets. There was also the image of a blonde-haired girl that kept drifting through his thoughts, refusing to leave. He needed to know who she was. It wasn't possible that he would have such trouble forgetting a small, chubby-cheeked child in a purple princess dress with violet eyes and beautiful golden hair, not unless she meant something to him.
What Ryunosuke completely failed to realize was that the reason he couldn't stop thinking about that blonde figure had nothing to do with sentiment and everything to do with the fact that Nakiri Erina's cooking had been unlike anything he had ever tasted, and the memory of food that extraordinary simply would not release him.
Consider how he had lived. There were times he had eaten grass to survive. A meal at the level Erina had made for him was not something a person in his circumstances would ever forget, amnesia or not. The impression had been burned in too deep.
Chiaki set down her chopsticks, reached for a napkin to wipe her mouth, and said plainly:
"To treat your amnesia, we first need to understand what caused it. You said it came from a head injury."
"There may be damage to your cerebral cortex. You should get an X-ray done, because there could be a blood clot pressing on something. After that, take the results to one of the top five hospitals in Japan. It should be manageable from there."
The moment he heard "top five hospitals in Japan," Ryunosuke already knew the bill was going to be extraordinary.
He exhaled. "Understood."
Chiaki nodded, satisfied. "If there's nothing else, I'll be heading off."
She picked up her small bag and started to say goodbye.
Ryunosuke called after her quickly. "What about after-sales service? What about Karuizawa Kei? You're not seriously going to make me handle this on my own, are you?"
Chiaki hesitated, then decided to come along, just not exactly with him.
She hid herself around the corner of a wall, close enough to listen.
Meanwhile, Ryunosuke was already standing in front of Kei.
Kei had dressed with particular care for today: ordinary clothes with a brown Hermès bag at her hip and natural-toned stockings. She was nervous. This was a rare thing, gathering the courage to confess to someone who already had a girlfriend.
She wasn't ready to give up. She wanted to try, even if the odds were slim. She squeezed the hem of her skirt. She had realized too slowly. At the beginning, she hadn't paid her feelings toward Ryunosuke much attention; he wasn't her type and he certainly wasn't conventionally striking. But the moment she heard he was already taken, she understood what she felt, and by then it was too late.
She had only found out last week that his girlfriend was Sakayanagi Arisu from Class B. Even so, she didn't think she had no chance. Ryunosuke was exceptional, and he was on his way to becoming Student Council President.
(With someone like that, he'd protect me, wouldn't he? He wouldn't let anyone come after me.)
She drew a slow breath and admitted to herself that her reasons weren't entirely pure. There was something of the parasite in her, she knew that, someone seeking shelter by attaching herself to someone strong. That was the kind of person she was. But she still wanted to try, even so.
She wasn't entirely sure what she felt at her deepest level, but one thing was clear: she wanted to be his girlfriend. That much she didn't doubt. She slapped both her own cheeks lightly to steady herself.
"What are you afraid of? They're not married, they're just dating. That can end."
She clenched her fist and found a reason to justify reaching for something that belonged to someone else.
Ryunosuke was now standing in front of her, both hands in his pockets, no particular expression on his face. His impression of Kei was still fairly shallow. The first time they had met was when he had stepped in to help her. After that they had rarely crossed paths.
She had once asked him whether he had a girlfriend. He had already understood what she meant by it, but he hadn't had the energy to follow up on it then. Now the two of them stood looking at each other in silence for a long moment.
Kei was the one to break it. With a touch of shyness she said, "It's really cold out. Won't you treat me to something warm to drink?"
It had slipped Ryunosuke's notice, but the weather had indeed turned. He took off his jacket without hesitation and draped it over her shoulders.
"Wear this for now. It should help at least a little."
Kei put it on without any pretense of reluctance, then asked, "What about you? You're not cold? You just gave me your jacket."
Ryunosuke said he was fine, then naturally took her hand and started walking toward the café in the distance.
From behind the corner where she had been hiding in the cold, Chiaki let out a long, disbelieving click of her tongue. "You're this smooth on your own. Why did you even need me?"
She grumbled under her breath. "You're clearly brilliant at this, so why am I standing outside freezing?"
Complaining aside, she didn't feel right leaving Kei unwatched. This was her closest friend, after all. She followed them both toward the café, grateful for the warmth.
Once inside, Chiaki exhaled with relief. She removed her jacket and scarf, since the air conditioning made the room warmer than she expected and she was already starting to feel it.
Across the room, Kei slipped off Ryunosuke's jacket and held it out to him. "Here, take it back. If you don't mind, I could take it and wash it for you first."
Her face was faintly pink. She was testing whether he had any feelings for her. If he did, things would be much simpler from here.
As it turned out, he didn't mind at all. He took the jacket and put it back on, saying easily, "I don't have any objection to wearing something Karuizawa-san has worn, you know."
"Oh, is that so? Well then, thank you." Kei answered with deliberate nonchalance, even as her cheeks grew a little warm and her fingers found a strand of hair near her ear to fidget with.
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