Chapter 40

: This lengthy letter, the first half of which consists of Amamiya's threats and inducements, encompasses Buffy, cats, money, and himself.

The second half consists of Naoko's increasingly chaotic name.

Writing so much must have taken a lot of effort, this lunatic.

When Naoko applied to this school in Tokyo, she told no one, fearing it would leak out.

However, she couldn't keep it a secret any longer when she started school, so she had to tell her mother.

Amamiya-kun must have asked her mother for her current address.

After all, he was her childhood sweetheart, even if he was now a lost cause.

Naoko replied with a brief letter, subtly advising him to live his own life. Whether he would listen was not her concern.

In short, she was about to begin a brand new life, one without Amamiya Tomie.

Unfortunately, before her fantasy could be realized, it was shattered by a gigolo, a chuunibyou nobleman.

Naoko had no choice but to warm up his pig's trotter from last night before serving it to him.

His face darkened. "These are last night's leftovers."

"Eat them or not." She personally held the pig's trotter to his lips and tried to pry his mouth open.

His hand was like Schrödinger's puzzle. It had been fine when he'd sprayed her with the water bottle, but now it was so badly injured that it needed to be fed.

Seeing his reluctance, Naoko simply dropped her burden and walked out. "I have a part-time job this afternoon, so I don't need to eat." She was paying for this. No matter how good-looking a man like this, he was always so picky. When he gets better, I'll kick him out. 

She thought, gnashing her teeth. 

On her way out, she ran into Asano Yuuki. 

"Kawase...-san," he managed, blushing. 

It was normal for teenagers to be so concerned about their appearance. Naoko replied calmly, "Good afternoon, Yuuki-kun." 

She had intended it as a simple greeting for Mrs. Asano's sake, but even after she'd walked a long way, Asano Yuuki was still following closely behind her. 

Glancing back, he immediately blushed like a boiled shrimp, turned his face aside, and scratched his head in a pretentious manner. 

Maybe it was just on the way. 

Thinking so, she continued walking forward, but as soon as she stepped into the cafe, Yuuki followed. 

The wind chimes tinkled for a while, and he chose a seat in the corner, carefully shielding his face with the menu. 

Every afternoon and evening, Naoko worked part-time at this cafe. The manager here was a gentle sister and was very tolerant of her. 

It was a pity that the chocolate parfait here was not very good. 

After changing into work clothes, Naoko hurried over: "Excuse me, sir, what would you like to drink? ...Yuuki-kun? What a coincidence, are you here for coffee too?" 

"...Yes." He nodded, never daring to look up at her. 

"No. Yuuki-kun is still studying, right? Drinking too much coffee is not good. How about some tea milk? We have a sign." 

He almost buried his face under the table and nodded lightly twice. 

What a shy child. 

By the time she brought the cup of tea milk from the kitchen, Yuuki was already surrounded by young girls. He sat in the middle of them, his expression strangely cold. 

But a glimpse of Naoko in the corner of his eye caused him to lower his head again, his ears reddening. 

"Sir, your tea milk." She quickly stepped away, still sighing inwardly, "Youth is so good." 

For the next few days, Naoko would see him every afternoon in the same corner of the cafe. 

After seeing off the last customer, she locked the door, but just as she turned around, she saw Yuuki Asano standing under the streetlight. 

He lowered his eyes slightly, looking in her direction, as if looking at her. 

Was he worried that she would be in danger alone? What a kind child. 

She stepped forward and handed him a box of small cakes: "Are you waiting for me? I'll give it to you." 

Yuuki pursed his lower lip, nodded, and forced out two difficult words: "Thank you." 

Although they said they were going home together, he always lagged behind her by five or six steps, following her at a distance. It was more like following her than walking side by side. 

He seems very shy. 

They were both silent the whole way. When they reached the door, Naoko took the initiative to say goodbye: "See you tomorrow, Yuuki-kun." 

He didn't even turn his head, nodded hurriedly, and left quickly. 

When she opened the door, the room was pitch black. 

"Naraku?" she called out. 

Could he be starving? 

As soon as she changed her shoes and turned on the ceiling light at the corner, her eyes met those eyes in the darkness, which scared her. 

"What are you doing hiding here without turning on the light?" 

He didn't answer, but leaned over and sniffed her neck: "You smell really bad." 

After class, she had to go to work, and after work, she had to come back to take care of this rude, gigolo. She convinced herself, "When God wants to give a man a great responsibility, he must first make him work hard." 

"Here, eat some first." She pushed the cake in the shoe cabinet in his direction. 

The cafe always had some small cakes that couldn't be sold every day, and to prevent them from being wasted, Naoko would take them home. 

But because the lights were off in the room, she lost her balance and nearly pushed the cake box to the ground, so she had to rush to catch it. 

Naraku, who was usually good at playing dead, happened to reach out to catch it, and their heads collided with a loud bang. 

Her body tilted, and the lame Naraku fell to the ground in a mess. 

Naoko supported herself on him, her hair tangled with his silky long hair, which was itchy. 

A small black mole gradually emerged under his left eye, hidden in the dim light in the shadows, looming. 

Since entering college, she had not taken care of her hair, and it had grown a lot in recent times, sweeping softly across his face. 

He glanced down and fell on Naoko's palm that was supporting his chest. 

But in Naoko's eyes, this was obviously another good opportunity for revenge. 

She hurriedly tried to get up, pretending to kick Naraku's injured leg several times inadvertently. She didn't know if he was not aware enough, but he didn't react at all. 

After she almost vented her anger, she stood up and stretched out her hand to him hypocritically: "Oh, how did you accidentally fall? Get up quickly." 

Naraku slapped her hand away, stood up with the help of the shoe cabinet, and happened to light up her mobile phone on the shoe cabinet. 

The screen lit up, revealing the face of Amamiya on the lock screen. 

Of course, this was changed by Amamiya Tomie herself, and she threatened her not to change it because it was too troublesome to change it, so she ignored it. 

But now it was presented in front of Naraku, and it had to be said that it was a bit embarrassing. 

He grinned and said sarcastically: "You humans are always chasing after useless things like love."

"No," she explained under his probing gaze. "...just an ex-boyfriend. We broke up a long time ago."

- if he could be considered an ex-boyfriend.

His laugh echoed in the darkness.

"No one would care about such things."

"You don't have any friends or family, do you? You sound so cynical."

Naraku, however, seemed superior. "Of course not. Only weak humans like you need things like 'bonds.'"

So he's an orphan?

Naoko looked at him with pity.

"It's more than that. My family and friends are the reason I'm who I am today. They're what make me strong."

He didn't say anything. When she turned to look, she saw that he had been staring at her for some time.

"That legendary Amemiya, too?"

She had thought he wouldn't notice the signature on the letter.

But then again, he had already opened and read that letter privately, so it was understandable that he noticed Amemiya's name.

"Of course. Amamiya-kun... he's a very good person, but... maybe he's been under too much pressure lately."

Naraku held up his phone, studying Amamiya's face. "Do you like him?"

Of course not.

Naoko had never felt, then or now, that she felt love for Amamiya-kun.

"No... Amamiya-kun is my family."

He sneered. "You can just keep things like that to yourself. I don't want to know." He glanced toward the entrance. "Your lover sent you another letter today, seemingly asking, 'Why does this letter smell like another mad dog?'"

There was a certain schadenfreude in his words.

Amamiya-kun again.

Naoko knew that once he went crazy, it would never end, so she pretended she hadn't received the letter and simply threw it in the trash.

"Is it time to change the dressing on your leg?" She turned around, only to find Naraku's cold gaze following her, like a shadow. "Why are you always staring at me?"

He looked away, not answering.

"Isn't it time to change your dressing today? I went to the hospital and bought you new medicine, but it's incredibly expensive. If this keeps up, we won't even be able to rent this house."

While her mother would have paid if she'd asked, she secretly didn't want to burden her with her naivete about picking up men.

This gigolo clearly didn't understand her intentions. Instead, he sarcastically said, "Perhaps you should reflect on your own incompetence. Why are you stuck with this shabby house?"

"Isn't this all because of you, Naraku?" Naoko couldn't help but give him a soft rebuke. "Come on, sit down first."

After a moment's stare, Naraku stumbled over and draped his injured leg over a small chair nearby.

Due to limited medical equipment, she had to use two clothes hangers to temporarily stabilize his leg.

Over time, the mottled, hideous wound had improved considerably, now lightly covering the pale skin.

Naoko had been applying the dressing these days, so she was familiar with the process. Sometimes, when she came to remove the wound from the gauze, she would bend down and blow gently on him.

But this time, just as he lowered his head a little, he was held down by a cold hand. He gritted his teeth and said, "Don't do such unnecessary things. Only weak people would... uh huh."

Before he could finish his arrogant words, Naoko deliberately poked his wound, blocking his unspoken words.

"You really deserve a beating when you say such words."

Naraku gasped in pain and growled in a low voice: "... Kawase Naoko!"

He must kill her!