HA2 13.1 – Small World, Again
After picking up Aizawa from Kitaro, Hide spent his Sunday as usual. Cleaning the house together with Aizawa and then went for a lunch in Tohru Ramen. Then, while waiting for their order, Hide opened a conversation.
“Aizawa,” Hide gently said. “I’m sorry. Because of my part-time job, Big Bro had to leave you in Kitaro yesterday.”
“It’s okay,” Aizawa happily said. “Kei and Rei were also very sad because Big Bro Takeo couldn’t read them bed time story, but they didn’t make a fuss.”
“Wait a second…” Hide’s eyes widened as he continued, “How do you know Takeo didn’t read bed time story for Rei and Kei yesterday?”
“Aizawa make a chatting group with Rei and Kei, and they told Aizawa that Big Bro Takeo had to carry some part-time work with Big Bro yesterday.”
‘A chatting group?’ Hide muttered and then curiously asked, “May Big Bro know, who else is in your chatting group?”
Aizawa happily nodded and replied, “Big Sis Hanna, Mrs. Ishida, Kaede Sensei, Kana, Rei, and Kei.”
“I see.”
“Big Sis Hanna was also sad because she couldn’t come along to help Big Bro with your part-time,” Aizawa added.
“Hanna said that in the chatting group?” Hide asked as surprise was visible in his eyes.
“Mhm,” Aizawa replied while giving Hide a small nod.
‘What a loose lips,’ Hide complaining inwardly before asking. “Did Hanna say other things related to Big Bro?”
“No,” Aizawa firmly shook her head. “And last night Big Sis Hanna slept in Kitaro.”
“Huh?” Question mark in an instant appeared in Hide’s forehead. “Hanna slept in Kitaro yesterday.”
“Yeah,” Aizawa eagerly nodded. “Kaede Sensei invited her. We then used one of small auditorium as karaoke cubicle, and sang a lot of songs. It was super fun, and next Saturday Rei, Kei, and their mother will come too.”
“I see.”
Hide could only nod repeatedly as Aizawa told him about her first karaoke experience with a brimming face. At the same time, he was slightly taken back because intentionally or unintentionally, Aizawa had established a social connection with people around him.
He had canceled his intention to limit the interaction between his family and Takeo’s family, so Hide had no problem if Aizawa developed a closer relationship with them. Now, he considered the interaction was a good thing for her.
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‘It seems Aizawa’s social skill is far above mine,’ Hide muttered while a smile bloomed in his lips.
Of course, Hide realized that in return for the interaction between his family and Takeo’s family, he had to double the effort to prevent the exposure of his illegal job with Takeo and Shizuka.
Then, their order finally came. As usual, Aizawa ordered curry rice. The curry paste was not as thick as regular curry, but it was still thicker compared to ramen soup. The curry also had chashu, ramen egg, nori, and some other ramen topping.
At a glance the combination of ramen topping, curry paste, and rice were looked very weird. However, everything went together very well and incredibly delicious. It was also very popular among children who loved curry rice but didn’t fond of carrot and leek.
While Aizawa enjoyed her curry heartily, Hide couldn’t help but widely smiled. He would never get enough seeing Aizawa happily wolfing down her food. Then, after moving his own chashu to Aizawa’s plate, he also started wolfing down his ramen.
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Yesterday, Hide and Aizawa couldn’t run the weekly grocery shopping. Therefore, they carried it today right after the lunch in Tohru Ramen. While holding each other hands, Hide and Aizawa happily walked over to Sakura Shopping District. It was only about hundreds meter from Tohru Ramen so the two arrived in the front entrance in no time.
“Okay, let’s buy some seasoning first.”
Hide calmly said and waited for Aizawa’s reply. However, the reply didn’t immediately come. Aizawa who usually would instantly expressed her agreement while nodding her head, turned her head to Hide and gave him a hesitant look.
“What is it?” Hide gently asked. “Do you want to buy something else first?”
“Ummm…. Big Bro, can we go shopping in convenient store?” Aizawa hesitantly asked.
“We can,” Hide calmly replied while inwardly a question mark filled his mind.
In his previous life, Aizawa did indeed ask Hide a few times to take her along when he went to nearby convenience store, but he always turned down her request. Therefore, in his current life Hide remedied it by taking Aizawa to shop at Sakura Shopping District every Saturday.
And as far as he knew, going for a shopping in shopping district was more fun compared to shop in convenience store. A shopping district had around two thousand shops at least, so it could offer more complex variety of grocery and daily necessity with cheaper price. Shopping district also had merriness that convenience store couldn’t offer.
Most of all, Aizawa always had her face brimming with happiness every time she went to Sakura Shopping District. She also understood that people went to convenience store because they had no intention or time to enjoy their shopping and just wanted to finish it as fast as possible. Therefore, Hide really wanted to know why Aizawa wanted to switch their shopping to convenience store.
And so, he gently asked, “Can you tell Big Bro, why you want to shop in convenience store?”
“In the whole class, it’s only Aizawa who never went to convenient store.”
“Really?”
Aizawa firmly nodded. “Really.”
“In that case,” Hide calmly said. “Let’s go to Blue Sora.”
“Mhm,” Aizawa eagerly nodded while a big smile bloomed in her lips.
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It was not common practice to have weekly grocery shopping in convenience store, considering that the store offered fresh ingredient in very limited varieties. But at least, a lot of kitchen and daily necessity were available in convenience store. Therefore, Hide still could buy more than half of the item in his shopping list. As for the fresh ingredient, he would buy it tomorrow on his way from school.
And so, Hide and Aizawa happily entered Blue Sora, the closest convenience store from their house. While Hide was taking a shopping basket, Aizawa looked to all direction with curious eyes. Without delay Hide exploited Aizawa’s curiosity.
“Aizawa, can you help Big Bro find the item in this list?” Hide said as he tore apart the shopping list into two pieces.
“Mhm,” Aizawa replied while eagerly nodded.
“Thanks,” Hide happily said while handed over one of the shopping list to Aizawa.
The two then separated. However, Hide made sure that Aizawa would be always under his field of view. Fortunately, the store was also rather empty so Hide and Aizawa could carry their shopping leisurely.
Every time she found an item in her shopping list, Aizawa would return to Hide with a brimming face. She would confirm it with Hide that she took the correct item, happily put it into shopping basket in Hide’s hand, and then went to search the next item with big smile in her face.
Overall, it was happy and leisure shopping. Hide also super enjoyed it. But then, without any warning Sayaka suddenly entered the store. She wore creamy shorts that expose her beautiful leg, along with grey T-shirt that showed her snow white neck, firm shoulder, and slim waist. She also tied her long and black jet hair into a low pony tail. In short, Sayaka was beautiful and lovely as usual.
Hide’s old self would definitely be mesmerized by Sayaka’s charming appearance. But now, dark cloud instantly filled his forehead as soon as Sayaka entered his field of view.
‘What a small world,’ Hide muttered as he decided it would be the best to ignore Sayaka’s presence and continued his happy shopping with Aizawa.
*****