As I was leaving the school grounds I was called out from behind.
"Hey, Hiro!"
"Yua?"
Behind me, Yua was also leaving school.
"How come you're only leaving school now?"
"I decided to participate in the sewing club as a guest so I filled out their form and let them know about that."
"Ah, I see. The Sewing Club, huh? You didn't seem like someone who would enjoy sewing though?"
"Well, I wanted to try out all kinds of clubs and I always enjoyed making things. What about you? It's the first day after the vacation shouldn't you be in your club now?"
"I'm in the literature club, we usually also meet during the vacations with most members so we don't really have important club activities on the first day."
"Is that so? Then why are you still here?"
"I still had something I needed to talk to about with my father, that's why I could only come out now. It's really a new coincidence that we got out at the same time, right?"
Right, there was barely anyone here right now, almost everyone is either with their club or already home.
"Yeah, if you're waiting for your car, I can wait with you since I'm not in a hurry."
"Ah, no, today was an exception, normally I just walk to school and back home. Want to walk together?"
"Hmm, I was planning on going to the mall for a bit. since I'm going to be a guest at the Sewing Club, I wanted to prepare at least a little and use my time shopping and looking at design and get some samples. I also wanted to learn a bit about sewing beforehand, if I don't even know the basics my time at the club would be wasted as I couldn't even effectively ask proper questions."
"Haha, you really are diligent. Since I'm free how about I join you?"
"Yes, of course! Going alone would have been boring."
"Great!"
* * *
While entering I noticed that Yua was getting a bit red in her face. Nervous maybe?
"Are you ok?"
"A-ah, yes. Um... I'm just a bit excited you know? I've never been out with friends like this before... especially with only a boy."
She muttered her last words, but with my superhuman stats from the fantasy world hearing that kind of stuff is no problem. I'm not even that overpowered yet. I wonder how protagonists of light novels usually can't hear it...
"Well, you know about my circumstances already, this is my first time too. I'll be in your care today."
"Y-yes, I'll be in your care too. But you really don't seem to be nervous..."
"W-well, I was just so happy I didn't notice until you said it, haha. But somehow, this is a bit like a date, no?"
"D-date?! U-um, yeah..."
I think I've teased her enough for now. Even if I'm addicted to raising my stats, moments like this are really the best.
"Let's go!"
I grab her hand and walk forwards with her. Her face is already beet red now. Maybe I can play around just a little bit more...
* * *
Like that we spend our after-school time happily, just the two of us.
It really helped me to have a girl with good fashion sense with me. It was also a lot of fun being with her. It's just... she really likes shopping...
"Wah- It's already so late?!"
It seems she also noticed the passing of time after we left the mall. It is 'suddenly' dark after all.
"I'm sorry! Because of me, we stayed here for such a long time!"
"No, no, it's all good, why would I complain when I had such a good time with you."
"But still..."
"Rather let me walk you home, I wouldn't want something to happen to you this late."
"No! I already made you stay so late I can't take more of your time than I already did!"
"Nope, I already decided. On the way let’s grab something to eat, okay? I also want to properly thank you for helping me so much."
"But-"
"Let's go before it gets even darker."
"Uuuh... ok. Thank you."
Then, just as she stepped forward.
"THIEF!"
A man comes running from our left towards Yua, because of the shout Yua froze for a second and she would probably be pushed to the ground by the running man.
Well, if I wasn't here that is. I quickly pull Yua into my arms and as the man runs past us, I kick his knee.
CRACK!
The man falls and the bag he was carrying flies off. Catching that might be too much maybe.
"AAARRGHHH! FUCK!"
The man curses as he grabs his knee painfully. Yeah, I bet that hurt, the cracking sound did resound pretty loudly through the street. I made sure to hold back enough to not make his knee fly off though. I'm quite proud of my body control expertise hehe.
"Haaah Haaah"
A young woman who is loudly panting comes running towards us.
"Tha- Haah Thank Hah You!"
She bows and walks towards her bag to pick it back to pick it up. Let's wait until she catches her breath. We can't just leave after what happened right?
"Umm, Hiro...?"
"Yes? Ah, I'm sorry."
I was still hugging Yua, well purposely, I wouldn't just forget that I have someone in my arms. It just felt nice holding her in my arms so didn’t want to stop hugging her yet. I let go of her and she straightens her clothes again.
"Thank you, saved me again."
"I wouldn't call that 'saved' I just pulled you instinctively because I thought you would get hurt."
"Mm, I'm just really glad you thought of protecting me again."
She says while giving me a bright smile.
"I saw how you caught this disgusting thief, that was really amazing. He still can't move at all!"
"Ah, that was nothing much I only kicked him slightly."
"Only kicked him slightly, huh? Well, that is fine."
"What about the police? Shouldn't we call them?"
"Ah, don't worry they are already on the way. Right, let me introduce myself. My name is Sugiyama Ren.
Ren has short light brown hair, big sunglasses on her head, and a black heavy outfit, she looks like she is in her early 20s. She looks very fashionable though, she must know what she is doing huh. Unlike me...
"My name is Ishida Yua."
"I'm Fukuda Hiro."
"Yua-chan and Hiro-kun? I'm sorry, because of me you have to stay here and wait for the police..."
"Don't worry this isn't a problem for us. I didn't have any other plans today either."
"Yeah, we're fine."
"Then let me at least thank you properly, have you eaten already? We can go somewhere fancy, it's on me!"
"No, wouldn't fancy places need a reservation? Especially during this time, there shouldn't be any seats left anywhere. And no, we just finished shopping and wanted to grab something on the way home."
"Eh, that is true. Then we can go for something simple for today and I'll give you my number, if you ever want to go somewhere fancy on a date it's on me, this is a rare chance as students so be thankful!"
Despite her dark clothes she is has a really bright personality.
"U-um, we aren't like that..."
"Eh? Really? I'm sorry for assuming that, you two just seemed so awfully close."
"Cough. That sounds great, once we are done with the police, we can go grab something to eat."
The mood got really awkward there, so I decided to just switch the topic quickly.
"Yeah, they should be here soon."
I sure hope so, I'm usually fine but how come these two keep talking leisurely when some guy is hurting on the ground?
A few last chapters got better, than completely cliche idiocy, that appered before. Wouldn't say it is good, but it's decent again.
yes focusing on the quality is a good idea!
I wonder if there some Harem Management Skills to be gained? Mostly for the fact that managing a Harem does take a special skill set to do.
I wonder about that, the people in this world have some seriously skewed common sense you know. With normal people it would be nigh impossible to create a harem in most places in the real world. But he is playing on easy mode.
@GodlessEmperor He could probably get away with one-night stand'ing random 9/10's all the time. Just raw dog it and cum inside, who cares if they get pregnant, right? They'd probably consider it an honor to raise his child by themselves. And even if they had a more normal reaction, it's not like family courts could touch him, he could just use magic to mind-whammy whoever's involved to get them to drop it if they become a problem. In fact, with a bit of magic, Hiro is basically immune to the legal system. It's not like they could even arrest and imprison him if he didn't let them.
@0xFFF1 I repeat, you have too many dangerous thoughts! At some point, this might be true but currently, he is not able to do all that yet. Except for the pregnancy part...
Also, while common sense is skewed here, it's not on the level of some other novels. If I had to make a comparison it would be something like this. "Accepting crazy things" vs. "Willing to accept crazy things" (our case). If that makes sense.
@GodlessEmperor So like the Veil is weaker here but still present? So it's much easier for people to pierce the Veil upon witnessing something absurd, and it also has a second function that primes the mundanes in preparation for if they pierce the Veil and then guides their thought processes to help them adjust to handle their new worldview? This would have the side effect of causing mundanes to have skewed common sense even for normal things since their mind's ability to irrationally reject new ideas and opposing opinions would be severely weakened.
Does it also work for Eldritch stuff so they can safely witness things that those from other dimensions would have been driven insane from? Someone who has adjusted to the supernatural will tend to seem insane from a mundane's point of view because of the missing context, but that doesn't mean they aren't still mentally intact and functional.
@0xFFF1 That, umm, you see, basically, umm... The world is mostly normal because Idk My brain is not capable of thinking how things would develop if they were more accepting of everything abnormal so they only get that way when it's about the MC. Or if I need them to be like that for plot reasons...
No, the Eldritch still makes them crazy, that is not to say that no cultists exist.
@0xFFF1 I like your dangerous thoughts, why don't you go test them...