Chapter 14: Chapter:14 Misunderstanding
A week passed by her in the blink of an eye. And...
Renko found herself in a difficult situation. It had been a week since she had unexpectedly barged in on her classmates' love life. Initially, she thought that Hori might distance herself but on the contrary, she began to most of her time at school with her.
Always trying to keep Renko pleased, giving her lunch, sharing notes, helping her out with her assignments, and even going so far as to buy her soda once every day.
She couldn't help but feel a bit guilty about the entire situation. Hori's behavior was... based on the assumption that Renko was going to rat her love life out to the rest of the class.
While in truth, Renko wasn't even bothered by her choice of a spouse. In fact, she was quite happy for her, pretty bummed that a girl as pretty as Hori was going out with a gloomy guy, but still happy about her friend.
Despite Renko's attempts to act normal, Hori assured her that everything was normal and that she was happy to do all those chores.
'Well, she might be happy but Renko was getting disgusted glares from her classmates and Yuki was starting to hate her!'
One day, during lunch break, Hori approached Renko with a bento box in hand. She smiled nervously, trying to break the ice.
"Hey, Renko! I made lunch for you today. I hope you like it."
Renko looked at the bento box and couldn't help but appreciate Hori's efforts. The food looked delicious, and the gesture was genuinely sweet.
"Thanks, Hori. I appreciate it."
As they sat down to eat, Hori tried to strike up a conversation.
"Is there anything else you need? Maybe a soda, or a cream bread?"
'Ok, now you are making it look as though I am making you run errands.'
And another day...
As Renko was about to answer, Hori interrupted her.
"Oh, and by the way, let me give you my notes for your assignments."
As Renko was getting used to having Hori help her out with assignments, this gesture felt unnecessary.
"Umm... you don't have to."
Renko felt that Hori was overcompensating here. She wondered if she was trying to buy her silence or something.
In any case, Hori ignored her comments.
"It's okay. I like doing that kind of thing."
Now, Renko was feeling like a jerk for not telling Hori that she didn't mind her love life.
On a completely unrelated note, she found a pretty secluded spot in the mountains to practice her curse techniques. It was near a stream, right next to a mountain path.
Truth be told, she didn't really try her techniques again. Not because of fear of exposure or anything, just cause she was too damned lazy to wait half an hour for a single shot to load.
Today was... Saturday, morning, and what went through her mind was,
'I should talk to Hori and clear the air. I don't want her going out of her way to please me when there's no need for it.'
That morning, instead of going to the mountains to practice, she went to a dessert shop and bought a couple of boxes of Daifuku Mochi for a visiting gift and as she was heading towards Hori's house, she couldn't help but use her curse technique to create ammo.
Yep, she could store ammo in her inventory, that way she only had to manually load the weapons for continuous firing.
[Inventory]
[1*Inferior Cursed Flintlock Pistol(8/10) - Semi-Fourth Grade]
[1*Flesh-Cleaver(14/15) - Grade Four Cursed Tool]
[1*Inferior Cursed Flintlock Musket(9/10): Semi-Fourth Grade Cursed Tool]
[1*Inferior Cursed Bayonet(5/5): Semi-Fourth Grade Cursed Tool]
[100*Paper Cartridges: 120 Grains or 7 Grams]
[100*Cloth Patch]
[80* Lead Ball Rounds]
[10*Minie Rounds]
[10*Nessler Rounds]
[20*Snicker Bars]
Renko arrived at Hori's house, the boxes of Daifuku Mochi in her hands. She took a deep breath, steeling herself for the conversation she was about to have. As she rang the doorbell, her mind raced with thoughts on how to approach the topic without making things awkward.
The door swung open, and Hori greeted her with a dull glare full of horror before it turned into a bright smile.
"Renko! What a pleasant surprise. Come on in!"
'I saw that!'
Renko's eyes twitched as she stepped inside, there was a subtle aroma of spices as whatever Hori had put on the stove was being cooked.
The house was... cozy to say the least, at least the living room had a cozy atmosphere, and Renko noticed a kid sitting on the couch along with a... punk?
The 'punk', as she dubbed him, was Miyamura, although he had shed his glasses and pulled back his hair along with the tons of piercings he was wearing...
Yeah, he looked like a punk, though, his info said otherwise
[Lv.1 Izumi Miyamura, High-School Student]
"Miyamura!?"
Her shout startled the boy and he, like a deer under the headlight, turned away his head,
"Who, I am... ah... Yea! I am Aruma Hori!"
'Seriously, Aruma?'
Renko couldn't help but chuckle at Miyamura's attempt to come up with a fake name.
"Aruma Hori, huh? That's creative. You could have picked something less obvious, though."
Miyamura scratched his head awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable with the unexpected visit and the sudden exposure,
"Uh, yeah. It's just a random name that popped into my head."
Renko turned her attention to Hori, who seemed to be torn between the idea of coming clean or killing her and hiding the evidence.
"Hey, Renko! What brings you here? Not that I mind, of course."
'Then stop making those shooing gestures!'
Renko took a deep breath, deciding to get straight to the point.
"I wanted to talk to you, Hori. About the whole situation at your place and how you've been treating me."
Hori's smile faltered for a moment as she glanced at Miyamura. Renko noted the tension in the air but pressed on. Suddenly, Hori burst out crying... or at least pretending to.
"Please, Please, Please don't tell others that..."
But Renko interrupted her confession,
"Don't worry! I won't tell anyone that you and Miyamura are married and live together and have a kid!"
.
.
.
"Huh?"
There was confusion written across both Miyamura's and Hori's faces as they stared at her, even their kid was staring at Renko in confusion.
Renko continued, ignoring the confused looks and acting utterly baffled as to what the fuss was about.
"Oh come on, don't pretend like I don't know. I saw everything on Monday when Miyamura brought you eggs from the supermarket. I just wanted to confront you and offer my support. Also, please don't act like someone you are not. Yuki has been glaring daggers at me because she thought I was making you run errands."
Hori continued to stare at Renko, shocked out of her mind. She opened her mouth to speak... only to stop short as she tried to process what Renko just said. She looked at Miyamura, only to find him also staring at her in confusion.
The shock and confusion lingered in the room as Hori and Miyamura processed Renko's confession. The awkward silence stretched on.
After a moment, Hori composed herself, struggling to hold back her laughter,
"W-What are you talking about, Renko? Miyamura and I are not married. We're just friends, and this is my little brother, Souta."
Hori gestured towards the kid on the couch, who was now looking at Renko with wide and curious eyes.
Renko blinked in confusion, genuinely taken aback by Hori's denial.
"What? But I saw you two... with the eggs, and the living together... and the punk disguise!"
Miyamura finally spoke up, his voice carrying a mix of embarrassment and frustration.
"We're not married, and I'm not a punk. This is just how I look outside of school. And the eggs? Well, Hori asked me to run an errand since she was busy with the student council meeting. And this is Souta, her brother, not our child."
Renko's eyes widened in realization,
"Oh... Oh, my bad. I totally misunderstood the situation. I thought... Never mind. I'm so sorry."
Hori and Miyamura exchanged a glance, a mixture of confusion and amusement in their eyes. Souta, on the other hand, seemed to find the whole situation even more confusing than Renko.
Hori chuckled awkwardly, trying to diffuse the tension.
"It's alright, Renko. I guess things got a bit mixed up. But seriously, you thought Miyamura and I were married with a kid?"
Renko scratched the back of her head, feeling utterly embarrassed.
"Yeah, I kind of jumped to conclusions there. I saw the eggs and, well, you know..."
Miyamura sighed, a small smile playing on his lips.
"Anyway, I also wanted to talk about how you've been treating me, Hori. You don't have to go out of your way to do things for me. I don't mind your love life, and I don't want you to feel like you need to buy my silence or anything."
Hori looked genuinely relieved at Renko's words.
"Oh, thank goodness. I was worried you were going to expose how I look at home and all that stuff... I uh, well... I was kinda bummed."
Renko chuckled awkwardly, realizing how her initial assumptions had caused this whole mess.
"No worries, Hori. And sorry again for the confusion. I'll make it up to you."
Suddenly, her smile vanished as she brought her hands together in a begging gesture,
"Also, can you please tell Yuki that I wasn't forcing you or anything? She's been glaring daggers at me and worse of all... she won't even let me pet her!"
' 'Yeah... No! That last part is probably for genuine reasons.' '
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone