SWNOVELXO Chapter 15 - Mitsuhara Runs Away
“Ah, so this girl is Haruya’s sister.”
Ryoma, sitting in a chair provided by a staff member, said this as he watched Hikari.
Meanwhile, Hikari was seated nonchalantly at Ryoma’s table, happily sipping on Haruya’s matcha Frappuccino as if she had no choice but to sit there.
Haruya was used to having his delicious drinks taken away by his sister, so it was nothing new to him.
“I’m Ryoma, nice to meet you.”
“Yeah! Hi—oh, I need to swallow first!”
“Hikari, talk after you swallow~”
Ignoring her brother’s gentle admonishment, Hikari finished about half of her matcha Frappuccino.
“Guess I won’t get a donut after all…”
Just as Haruya had this thought, Hikari, having finished her drink, began to speak.
“Brother, you’re a boy.”
“What brought this on all of a sudden?”
“Ryoma is a boy, too. Akiha is a girl. Ran is a girl…”
One by one, she looked at each person seriously and called out their names.
The three other than Haruya were excitedly wondering what she would say next, while Haruya was worried about what inappropriate thing she might say.
After a few seconds of silence, Hikari clapped her hands as if she had finally understood something.
“I get it! Brother, you’re not cheating!”
“Ah, I’m glad we could clear up that misunderstanding.”
“So this is a “double date”!”
With an expression as if she was a great detective, Hikari confidently declared this.
Upon hearing this, the four all opened their mouths in unison.
“Double!”
“Date…?”
“What?”
“…Huh!?”
After a few more seconds of silence, Ran was the first one who couldn’t hold back her laughter.
“Ahahaha! Hikari, you’re the best! So funny, I love it!”
“So a double date is not it?”
“Well, it’s a bit different. You hang out with friends after school too, right Hikari? Is that a date?”
“No, it’s not.”
“We’re just hanging out with friends. But, well… If we were to go to the beach alone, that might be a date.”
“Oh my…”
“Oops…”
Haruya and Akiha choke on their drinks, the unexpected joke hitting them out of the blue. Ran always sneaks these jokes in the middle of conversations, so you always have to be on guard.
“Ran, have you ever had a date at the beach?”
“Ahaha… I usually go to the beach alone…”
“How about you, Ryoma?”
“I’m so low that I can’t even get a date in a rental…”
“If Akiha and Ran aren’t his girlfriends, then it means brother never dated…?”
“Hikari~?”
“Since Akiha feels like a high-class lady, she probably hasn’t either!”
“I’m not that high-class…! I mean, I’ve never been on a proper date…”
“I knew it! Instead of a ‘double date’, we’re all ‘romance beginners’!”
“Cough…!”
“Ugh…!”
“Uh…”
“Ugh…”
Without a trace of malice, the words of the second-grade elementary schooler left the university students in despair, their heads bowed down on the table.
Then, a gentle and soft voice rang out.
“Hikari~”
The voice belonged to the mother of the Nakagawa siblings, who was calling out to Hikari from the register with merchandise in her hand.
“We’re leaving soon~”
“Okay! Bye-bye, brother! See you later, Akiha, Ran, and Ryoma!”
“Well, see you later…”
“Bye-bye…”
“See you…”
“Hikari, see you later…”
Led by her mother, Hikari, who had stormed in like a tempest and stirred up the place, left.
“I… I’m sorry, everyone.”
“It’s okay.”
Haruya said apologetically, to which Akiha replied with a smile.
“Ah, Hikari was so funny.”
“Well, she did tear into our hearts though.”
Even though they joked about it, they all understood that there was no ill will in Hikari’s words.
So they just enjoyed the pure entertainment.
“Ah, I just got a message.”
To lighten the mood, Ryoma changed the topic and pulled out his smartphone.
Haruya also opened his smartphone and saw a message in his university email.
It was the theme of the group work that the four of them would be doing, sent from their teacher.
“Oh yeah, they said they’d send it to everyone at the same time.”
“So what’s the theme, Ryoma?”
“It’s, ‘The Moment When The World Greatly Changed’.”
“‘The Moment When The World Greatly Changed’…”
Haruya repeated the theme that Ryoma read aloud.
In the detailed instructions that followed, it said to research and prepare a report on a moment, from any era and place, when the world greatly changed.
“Hmm, it’s a bit vague, isn’t it?”
Ran also stared at her own smartphone and muttered in confusion.
While sipping on his nearly finished Frappuccino, Haruya pondered.
There were many moments when the world changed, such as when something was invented or when a war or disaster occurred. The theme could be interpreted in both good and bad ways.
“If we’re going to do it, I’d like a brighter and more personal theme.”
“Yeah, I wonder if there’s anything like that.”