ᴍᴇɴʜᴇʀᴀ // ᴍᴀᴛꜱᴜɴᴏ ᴄʜɪꜰᴜʏᴜ

ᴛʜɪʀᴛʏ ᴏɴᴇ

THE SOUNDS OF A HAIRDRYER faded, and you stepped out to the living room, a towel around your shoulder as you used it to pat your face.

"Chifuyu-san, have you freshened up yet?" You asked.

"Oh, [Last Name]-chan. Yeah, I did." Chifuyu turned around from the couch. "Your aunt let me borrow your uncle's clothes while mine are in the washing machine." He said.

"Do they fit you?" You leaned over the couch to see.

"It's a little bigger than I thought, but yeah."

Vrrmmm... Vrrmmm...

Chifuyu took out his cellphone, which was vibrating in his pocket. "Oh, my mom's calling. Give me a second." He said, putting the phone to his ear while you walked around the couch to sit beside him.

"Hey―"

"Where are you!?"

Chifuyu immediately pulled his phone away from his ear, startled from the loud voice.

It was a bit quiet on your end, but you definitely heard that from Chifuyu's phone.

"'I'm at [Last Name]-chan's house right now." Chifuyu calmly told her. "There was a bit of an incident, but I'll be home soon. Promise."

You cautiously poked his shoulder.

Chifuyu glanced at you for a second. "Hold on for a bit." He pulled his phone away, looking at you.

"Can I talk to her for a second?" You asked in a hushed voice. "It's my fault that you ended up here so late..." You frowned, fidgeting with your hands a little.

"Ah, sure." He put the phone back to his ear. "Hey, [Last Name]-chan wants to talk to you for a bit." He handed you his phone.

You took it. "Um, hello, do you remember me? This is [Last Name]... I want to apologise first." You were quite nervous about talking to her.

Though this isn't your first interaction, you never had a chance to talk much with her either with your first. You could only conclude that she seems to be a nice person, based on your experience.

"Hm? Why?" You heard his mom on the phone.

"Ah, you see, we... I fell in some water and he thought... maybe I was drowning, so he tried to help me. In the process, his clothes got wet, so my aunt and I invited him to our house to dry off first." You explained. "But please don't blame him! It really was my fault! I wasn't thinking straight at all..."

"Well... as long as both of you are okay. Make sure he gets back home though, okay? I'm not mad, just worried." She reiterated.

"Thank you for understanding..." You smiled happily, moving back to your seat and handling the phone back to Chifuyu. "Chifuyu-san, your mom is really nice." You were relieved that she wasn't angry, at least.

"I know, right?" He grinned as if he was the one taking the compliment.

You eyed him for a moment. You never really took the time to analyse the injuries he had on his face. Those injuries were probably inflicted by Tenjiku from the train station, where he also retrieved Mr. Froppé for you.

You remembered the regretful things you said to him when you pulled out your box cutter.

The boy didn't have any time to react when your hand extended out to touch his face, specifically where his injuries were.

"...Hey, what are you doing?" His face turned red and he gently pulled your hand away.

"Ah." You blinked, almost as if you didn't realize what you were doing. "It's nothing. Sorry." He almost looked like the time when you met him at the convenience store. His face was bandaged up now, but they must've hurt back then.