Chapter 18: Hospitality
When Red entered his flat, he found that the woman was already inside. Quietly sitting like a piece of wood.
Red shook his head. "Lady, you are injured, you can sleep on my bed."
The lady looked at him warily, but remembered that he was just a school kid and then relaxed. "Alright."
"You don't seem to like Japanese food? I'll cook some pasta and a steak. Is that fine?" Red asked.
The woman nodded and unceremoniously went into the bedroom and fell asleep. Red ignored her and began cooking, while checking the news.
The entirety of Tokyo was on alert. The Imperial Palace was infiltrated, this was a huge security threat. The woman's face was even shown as a wanted suspect.
After cooking the food, he brought the pasta, steak and mashed potatoes and a few boiled vegetables on a plate and entered his bedroom. The woman was asleep, but the moment Red entered she woke up. Her reflexes were sharp.
"Here, have your dinner." Red said, handing her the food. "You are famous." He then said, showing her the wanted poster.
"Damn it!" The woman grit her teeth. Her identity had been betrayed by the contractor!
"Stop worrying about those things and just lay low at home until you heal up. I've bought some toiletries and a few clothes for you to wear." Red brought in a few bags of stuff and placed them in the room.
The woman saw that and was in a daze. She herself hadn't realized that she would need these things. She suddenly realized that the young man was being thoughtful.
"What is your name?" She asked him when she realized that she didn't even know his name.
"Red." He replied. "Have dinner and have these painkillers before sleeping."
Then he left the room to have his own dinner outside. He slowly shook his head as he wondered why he even helped her. "Well, being self indulgent is also a part of being a thief." He thought to himself.
Inside, the woman began eating and her eyes blossomed. After the intense and gruelling day, she finally had edible food! She hated the soy dipped foods in the japanese konbinis and she couldn't cook herself.
She downed the food quickly. When she was done, Red popped in. "Do you want more?" She was embarrassed, but the food was too delicious. Eventually, after hesitating, she nodded.
Red didn't react. He simply took her plate, refilled it and returned it to her. Then he sat in a chair in the bedroom, waiting to finish as he browsed the phone.
When she was done, he took the plate and left. After cleaning everything up, he sat down in the drawing room and began to meditate calmly. The entire night was spent like that, employing the second layer to absorb the mystical energy of the world, no matter how little it was.
The next morning, when Red opened his eyes, he quickly freshened up, prepared breakfast and lunch for the woman and ran to school.
When the woman woke up, she discovered that the boy had disappeared. She immediately became nervous, but when she went to the kitchen she found that he had prepared breakfast and lunch for her already.
"He must have gone to school." She reasoned. "But why was he so calm and helpful, despite knowing that I was a suspicious person?"
She looked at her wounds, which had been perfectly stitched together. "This isn't the work of an amateur." She analyzed carefully. "He doesn't seem hostile to me." She eventually lowered her distrust of the boy.
At school, Red barely made it on time, having to cook both breakfast and lunch. He rushed into class at the last minute, to find some changes. He raised an eye, for a second confused if he mistook his seat, however, he eventually walked up to his seat and greeted his desk mate, who had changed from Rin to Yui.
In front of Red's seat, where Yui was supposed to sit was another girl sitting. She had a short bob cut and Red hadn't interacted much with her, but now he realized that she too had a big temperament like Yui. Then he saw that Rin was sitting beside Aito and the two were giggling.
He had been busy yesterday and didn't check his messages and didn't realize what was going on. He looked at Yui in surprise. "What happened? Rin changed her seat?"
"Un, we exchanged a few seats." Yui said. "Rin eventually decided what she wanted."
Red nodded. "A bit too quick." He commented as he saw Rin. At the same time, Rin saw Red looking at her and suddenly turned sad, looking away.
Red was confused. "I just wanted an excuse to visit the museum? How did it end up like this? Why's this girl avoiding me now?" He thought to himself.
Red looked at Yui with a bitter smile. "She seems to be avoiding my gaze..?"
Yui turned to look at Rin and found that that was indeed the case. Rin was avoiding Red. She didn't even greet him today, when she always did that each day before. She didn't know what to say.
Red looked at the girl in front of him. "Excuse me miss, its been several days and I don't seem to recall ever talking to you. I'm Red."
"Nina." The girl bowed respectfully, then turned forward and continued ignoring Red, which made him feel even more weird.
He turned to Yui. "How did you end up beside me?"
"Nina did not want to sit beside a boy. So I offered to exchange with her." Yui said nonchalantly.
"Alright miss Yui, we are now desk mates. Cheers to a new step in our friendship." Red joked as he put out his hand. Yui hesitated then her hand met his and they shaked it.
Red took out a book he had bought a few days ago, a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro and began reading it, since the first two lectures had been turned into self study.
"I didn't think you read such serious books." Yui said.
"Well, I haven't read this author before. I'm giving it a go."
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