"Who might you be?"
"I´m Ayame-san´s friend. While I was passing by, I couldn´t stay quiet after hearing the last part of your conversation."
(Bullshit!)
"Did I say something weird?"
"Aren´t you even aware? How can you say that you would cherish her while being this irresponsible?"
"Irresponsible!? I´m trying to make all the girls who like me happy. I know I lack many things, but I´ll do my best to make them happy."
"Then why did you accept meeting Ayame-san?"
"It´s because Edomae baa-san and jii-san asked me."
"Interesting to hear that when you´re already pondering if you should accept or not to date other girls."
"That´s... okay, I admit, I really should become more decisive. But knowing that they would become sad if I reject them, I just can´t! Instead, I´m thinking how to make them happy. But how about you? You claim to be Edomae-san´s friend, but do you even care about her?"
"What do you mean?"
"Your friend is a beautiful girl who works hard for her family. And if by chance you don´t know, she comes from the most wealthy family in this country, but even so, she remains humble. It´s only a brief moment, but I can tell how kind she is. But despite that, it seems no one tells her this, including you!"
"No, you´re wrong, he´s actually—" - Ayame-san tried to say something, but I interrupted without noticing.
"Then, if you know about all this, why didn´t you choose her?"
"What!? Didn´t you hear me already? That´s because I don´t want—"
"You don´t want what? Make them sad? I wonder how those girls would feel if they knew that at the first opportunity you had to know another girl, you just jumped right in."
"That´s not—"
"I´m still talking. How can you say so easily that you will cherish her when you can´t even be loyal to her? Or what? Will you try to tell me that a woman can only date one man while we, guys, can have more than one girl?"
"..."
"Now, tell me, am I wrong? I´m all ears."
Everyone was in silence for a moment.
"... In the end, what is your deal? What do you want from me?"
"Just to make things clear." - So I pointed to him. - "It´s YOU who´s gonna regret not choosing her."
"Sigh~ You know what? I´m going now, it seems I really shouldn´t have accepted the invitation."
This guy can´t be serious, I will tell him one or two—
"Thank you for your time." - Ayame-san bowed her head.
And so the guy left the room and headed to the entrance of the ryokan.
I kind of feel ashamed for being worked up because of that guy. Unlike me, Ayame-san is way more mature than me.
But anyway, now it´s time to bail out.
"Tomoki-kun."
"...gulp..." - I looked back at her.
"Why did you intervene?"
I hope she´s not angry.
"I couldn´t stay quiet when he said that you would be the one to regret."
"Why?"
"Well, because he was being rude to you saying that."
"Not this, Tomoki-kun. Why would you care if he was being rude or not?" - She raised her voice a bit.
"Of course I would care. Besides, I didn´t like him at all."
"Is that because... you see me as your friend?"
No, Ayame-san, I see you as more than a friend. But I´m too afraid to know how you would react next.
"Yes, my dearest friend."
"I see... thanks for standing up for me."
"But anyway, Ayame-san, how do you feel about him?"
"Hee~ do you want to know? Why?"
"That´s because you kind of were enjoying talking to him... did I mess up?"
"Fufu~ No you didn´t, but... how did you know that?"
Crap! I talked too much.
"I mean... well... you know... deduction?"
"What happened? You´re red as a tomato, Tomoki-kun." - I could see she was teasing me.
"Hey! Is that how you treat someone who defended you?"
"Ahahaha! You need to hide it better~"
While Ayame-san was teasing me non stop, I was wondering how Miyuna-chan´s doing.
♦♦♦
(Well, that´s what happens when you have a big mouth.)
(It´s been a while since I saw her laughing like that.) - said the grandpa.
(Oww, she´s so cute. I hope those two stay together forever.) - said the grandma.
. . .
(Whoa! When did you come here?)
(When we noticed that boy appeared out of nowhere, we rushed toward this room.) - said the grandpa.
(So miss? You´re his sister, right? Tell us, does he like her?) - asked the grandma.
(I think so?)
(Young miss, please, tell us all the details!) - asked the grandpa eagerly.
(If you share all the information, we´ll offer the most expensive sweet we have.)
(Why are you so desperate for him? It´s not like he´s special or something.)
Then the old couple pointed with their index fingers to where Tomoki and Ayame were.
"Ayame-san, I must be bad at lying, but I can hide things pretty well!"
"Yeah~? Then I´ll see through you even if it takes my whole life to do that."
"Where´s my privacy?"
(So young miss, can´t you see how determined our granddaughter is for him?) - said the grandpa.
(When we told her that we arranged a meeting, she said nothing would change her mind. Now I can see why.) - said the grandma.
(So Edomae-san really likes him!?)
(You better not tell anyone.) - warned the grandpa.
(If you become a good girl, we´ll offer you a good reward... Fu... fu~)
(Sorry, but I´m not so shameless as to sell my brother!)
♦♦♦
"Miyuna, where did you get all these sweets? They´re so well made!" - asked Natsumi.
"An old couple gave them to me when I helped them a little."
"By the way, where´s Tomoki? Isn´t he with you?"
Then the person in question arrived.
"Hey everyone, did you see Miyuna-chan? I was looking— Oh! there you are."
"Tomoki-nii, how did it go?"
"Everything´s fine. But where did you get all these sweets? Can I have one?"
"Uhmm... well you kind of deserve it. You can choose two of them."
"Seriously!? Then I´ll get the bigger one."
"Sure."
While Tomoki and Miyuna were eating the sweets, Natsumi-chan was looking surprised at Miyuna, and she couldn´t miss the opportunity to ask.
"Miyuna, you didn´t drink sake from our father, right?"
"Why are you asking me that? You can have one too."
After that, Hiyori appeared too.
"Hey! I want one too."
"You can have only one."
"Why can only Tomoki eat two?"
"That´s because he deserves it."
"Miyuna... are you okay?"
"Better than ever."
And that´s how everyone enjoyed the sweets made by the ryokan owner.