Chapter 43. A Date? (7/13)

“Father, this is my… uh, well I’m not too sure how to put it. His name is… err… Sean? I think. But I feel like that’s not his name. If I’m correct, I think it’s actually Ran Sozen… probably.”

It seemed she’d somehow figured out my real name without me needing to tell her. When I thought about it, it wasn’t too hard to figure out how she might have gone about it. 

She’d searched through all the first-year classes one student at a time after all. She’d been quite thorough in doing so. If she used the names posted for each class from the midterms as a reference and went around checking on each individual student in each first-year classroom over those four days with Rosa when I skipped school, through the process of elimination, she’d eventually narrow it down to one name. 

Me, student X who she couldn’t find, I’d been the only one that went unaccounted for. She’d very likely come to realize I’d been the one seated beside Rosa on the first day she visited our classroom since she couldn’t find me after that day in school.

It was a tedious tiresome process, but she’d truly put in the work. She knew my full name now, but I still didn’t know her last name. 

“Uh, anyway, I know it sounds like he’s some sort of sketchy guy when I’m not even sure of his name, but he’s not that bad… I think. Probably. Yeah, I don’t think he’s bad.”

“Your father is going to roll in his grave and haunt me if he hears such a sketchy, unconfident introduction.”

“Be quiet, it’s the first time I’ve ever had to introduce someone to my parents. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to say. Especially with how ambiguous things are. You know, I even had to put in a stupid amount of effort just to figure out your name because you never told me what it was. And also, another thing, my last name is Sorayuki, you got that? You better remember it and not say you’re going to forget it the way you did back on the roof. Hmph! You didn’t even know my last name I bet. You probably only learned my first name today when you heard Mari call out to me as well, right?” Well, she wasn’t wrong.

I scratched the side of my head awkwardly and said, “Uh… haha… sorry about that. That’s more or less how it turned out. I ended up just saving your number as ‘Popular Girl’ on my phone because I didn’t know what it was at the time.”

“The worst. Really, the worst. I hope my father does haunt you now and give you nightmares, you jerk.” It was the first time I’d seen her make an annoyed expression like this. She was actually pretty mad.

I clapped my hands together, closed my eyes, and prayed, “Please great father of Alicia, spare my pitiful soul from such a fate.”

“I hope he doesn’t forgive you.”

“Haha. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, okay? It’s my bad. I’m just really not good with remembering names and whatnot. Like I said before, I’m an idiot, remember?”

“Liar. I don’t believe you’re an idiot at all. You’re simply playing the part of an idiot to use it as a convenient excuse.” She puffed her right cheek out a bit and peeked at me with suspicion in her half-opened eyes.

I raised my hands up in surrender.

When she saw that, she giggled a little and told me to take a seat on the couch. She sat down directly beside me and turned on the TV with the remote. Just when she was getting comfortable I opened my mouth and asked her with an air of arrogance, “Is this how you treat your guests, Alicia? Should you not serve your guests something to drink and something small like a snack?”

She looked at me dumbstruck at my sudden change in attitude.

“Sorry, I think your father possessed my body and forced me to say that.”

She blinked a few times then started laughing.

“What the heck? Did you just come here to mooch a free meal off me or something?”

“It’s the least you could do after all the trouble I’m being put through.”

“Alright, alright. I get it. I get it. It honestly slipped my mind because I’m usually the one visiting friends and not having them over that I forgot. Besides, since you consider me your enemy on a subconscious level I thought you wouldn’t accept any with the reason being I might try to poison you.”

“You’re too nice to poison somebody.”

“Am I though? What if it’s all just been a good girl act?”

“Then I might be in trouble, but your eyes don’t lie.”

“I might just be good at deceiving people you know.” She pouted a bit and complained.

“The one who’s good at deception here is me. If you were trying to deceive a master of deception such as I, you wouldn’t stand a chance, little girl.”

“You’re always calling me a little girl and young lady, but you do realize who’s the older of the two of us here, don’t you?”

“Well… that would be me, of course. As a forty-year-old... in spirit, that is.”

“You’re always putting on an act of bravado. Just once I want to see you with a flustered face.”

“That day will never come. I am incapable of being flustered. It is an emotion that I cannot comprehend.”

“I’ll definitely see it one day.”

“Haha, whatever you say. Now chop chop, get to work on those beverages and refreshments.”

“Yeah, yeah. Is tea fine?”

“Sure, that works for me.”

“And how about some cookies?”

“Sure.”

“Alright, just give me a bit. I’ll need to put some in the oven to bake.”

“Bake? You’re making them from scratch?”

“Yeah. Is there a problem with that?”

“No, it’s just a bit surprising you’re going through all that effort.”

“It may take more effort, but it’s cheaper for me to just make them from scratch since I have all the ingredients already and they taste a lot better than the cheap mass-produced kinds that would cost about the same to make from scratch anyway.”

“I see.” She really is too kind of a girl. But for her to bring up how it was the cheaper option first before its taste leads me to believe her family is having financial difficulties. The first concern you list naturally reflects your major worries on a subconscious level. It all makes sense when taking everything into consideration.

Her mother is not home at this late hour on a Sunday implies she works late every day for long hours. She may even have more than one job when you consider how her husband is dead and she has two mouths to feed while paying rent for this place. Though it’s quite run down, it has quite a good amount of space so it’s definitely by no means the cheapest option available on the market for her family. But it certainly is still the cheapest for the sheer amount of space you get for the price. 

Alicia’s mother must really be doing her best to raise her two children. Alicia sees all of her mother’s sacrifices and works her hardest in return.

If she doesn’t have a job herself with their family circumstances, it must mean her mother doesn’t want her to get one. She’s doing everything so her daughter can fully focus on her studies and aim for a better future.

It’s truly a story that would make one want to shed a tear. But… then there’s the younger brother. Just what the hell is that child doing? 

When Alicia left the living room and entered the kitchen, I stood up and headed for the stairs. I was fairly certain her little brother’s room was upstairs. When I reached the top of the stairs I turned toward one of the doors that stood out to me.

I approached the door and knocked on it three times. Nobody answered, but I could easily tell someone was inside thanks to the light shining through from under the door. By process of elimination, since their mother wasn’t home right now, it was only natural to draw the conclusion this room belonged to her brother. 

Alicia hadn’t gone upstairs to turn on her light in her room. It was also highly unlikely a family struggling financially would leave a light on in one of the rooms to waste electricity. With all this information, I was 100% convinced he was the one behind this door.

I knocked three more times, but much more urgently than before. This time I received a response.