I Do Not Dream Of Eating Your Pancreas (IWTEYP x Seishun Buta Yarō)

Chapter 5: Talking With Strangers

As Rio reached out to ring the doorbell, the door in front of us opened up. Standing in front of us was a girl, she looked to be around the same age as me. She glanced at me before seeing Rio, and a big smile filled her face. "You came, I'm so happy you're here Rio-chan."

Rio smiled back at the girl in front of us. "Hey Kaede, I wish this was under better circumstances but it's nice to see you too." She lifted up her hand holding her bags from the store, "do you mind if we head inside? These bags aren't getting any lighter unfortunately." Kaede moved into the apartment, and we followed her inside.

It was a nice apartment, even as someone who didn't go inside a lot of apartments could tell that much. The halls had framed posters of different movies, shows, and even some product ads. The kitchen looked new, with the appliances looking as though they had been put in recently. Either this Sakuta had just gotten the apartment, or he was well off to keep it looking so nice.

We set the bags down, and Rio quickly put away our purchases. "Kaede where's Sakuta? I thought he was going to be here." Rio called out as she finished up. "He had to run out for a second, he didn't say where he was going but he promised me he'd be back soon." Kaede peeked her head around the corner and the look on her face made it seem like she was sorry, even though it wasn't her fault.

"Well I know he wouldn't break a promise to you, so I guess we'll just have to wait for him to come back." Rio shrugged and headed out of the kitchen, beckoning me to follow her as we ended up in the living room. The tv was on, there was a documentary about Pandas playing. Kaede eagerly jumped onto the couch and patted the spot next to her for Rio to sit down.

"By the way, who's the guy that's with you?" Kaede looked over at me before staring at Rio. I meekly smiled and waved, and Kaede waved back. "This is someone I met today, he's going through a rough spot because of adolescence syndrome. So I brought him here to get Sakuta's help."

Kaede nodded, and looked back over to me. "My name is Kaede, Sakuta is my older brother. If Rio-chan is helping you out, you must be a good person" She smiled and tilted her head slighty. I introduced myself, and felt a little more at ease.

As we sat waiting for Sakuta to arrive, I watched the pandas on the documentary currently in the middle of a nap, as the voice over talked about their sleep habits. The low tone of the speaker mixed with the peacefully sleeping pandas had affected me, and it was only the sound of the front door opening that prevented me from joining the pandas in their nap.

A guy entered the room, the look on his face making it seem as though he was trying to avoid any contact from the world. "I'm glad you could join us Sakuta, I was beginning to think you ran off instead." Rio crossed her arms and stared at Sakuta. He ruffled his hair and sighed. "Tomoe called and said there was some guy following her so I walked with her home. I would have let you know but she made it seem pretty urgent on the phone so I didn't have the time."

He sat down across from us, leaning back and closing his eyes for a moment. Rio reached out and lightly kicked his leg after he did this. "Alright alright you don't have to abuse me." He opened his eyes and looked at her. "So what help of mine do you desperately need?"

She rolled her eyes at this. "Actually this is just a favor to me. He's the one who needs the help." She looked over at me as she said this, and Sakuta and I stared at each other. I introduced myself and held out my hand. Sakuta reached back and we shook hands.

"Kaede do you mind going to your room for a bit, it might make our guest feel a little more comfortable." Sakuta looked over at Kaede, and I felt grateful to him. Having to tell someone else everything was already going to be hard enough, having a third party there would ruin my concentration.