A Book Can't Be Judged By The Cover Chapter 104: Groupings

"Wait up, Keiichi!"

The voice was calm, and it didn’t show any signs of rush even though the person behind the voice was running through the crowd as fast as he could.

’Eh?! Haji? Why is he running over here?’ gumi turned away just when Kaori and Shizuka started nudging her so teasingly. An unprecedented situation and she was caught off guard. Her cheeks flushed, and she imdiately covered her face with her shaky hands, all the while averting her gaze from Haji who showed up out of nowhere.

"Ah, Haji, what is it?" Keiichi asked with a sowhat heavy tone. There was an odd underlying ssage in his tone that scread ’don’t get in the way’ as he spoke to Haji with such clarity.

Then again, it’s not like Haji could care less about the entire situation. If Mizunari Keiichi spelled trouble then it is his duty to push that trouble or to get rid of that trouble altogether if it’s a threat to gumi. He was simply doing this out of his bodyguarding duty, not out of spite or jealousy towards Keiichi who clearly wanted to spend more ti with gumi, forcing his schedule on her without a second thought.

"Kichiro told to go with you. We can’t separate as a group. That’s why I should at least accompany you if you’re going to separate from us." Haji responded with a casual expression on his face, fully convincing Keiichi that he didn’t have any ulterior motives at all when he followed him like that.

Unbeknownst to him though, Haji was actually in denial. Of course, he did have an ulterior motive— to keep gumi safe as her bodyguard. While this is a secret from gumi, Haji still had to go through with it since his job hangs in the balance here.

"Are you sure about this? We might go to so expensive places... and I’m not in the mood to treat you." Keiichi shrugged, shaking his head as he was totally oblivious to the sharp stares that Kaori and Shizuka gave him. If Haji already scread bad news all around him, then Keiichi scread even more so— or at least, to Kaori and Shizuka that seed to be the case.

"We’re going to enjoy the school trip, girls only. You guys can go back to your group." Kaori pouted, twirling her index finger in front of Haji and Keiichi as she made her point. With a flick of her hair, she turned around grabbing gumi and Shizuka by the hand. "Co on, you ladies, we’re going to enjoy this trip to the fullest, just the three of us."

The sudden turn of events caused gumi to look down at the ground. She was stuck in a dilemma. In the first place, it was her fault that Keiichi was trying to force himself into joining the group. Heck, even his transfer was probably due to gumi’s fault— for ditching him way back then. But what else could gumi do? She thought that sothing bad had happened to Haji and she just had to visit him.

’Either I let him into the group or not... there are downsides to both options... but if Haji’s here... then I guess everything will be fine. If sothing goes wrong he can just brute force our way out of trouble, right? I an... he’s an idiot and all but... he can be reliable...’ gumi said to herself as she looked down in silence. anwhile, Kaori continued to drag the two of them out of the way.

Unlike Kaori, Shizuka was way more empathetic and she noticed the drastic shift in gumi’s expression. Shizuka stomped her foot, causing Kaori to stop dragging the two of them.

"If they want to join, then they can, right? Sure we can enjoy the entire school trip with just the three of us but it’s pretty dangerous if we’re an all-girls group. It would only attract unwarranted trouble if we don’t have at least one guy with us." Shizuka explained, much to gumi’s relief.

"Now that you ntion it... there was an incident when a group almost got kidnapped during a field trip, right?" Kaori said, rubbing her chin while thinking. "I guess you’re right! You two! You can co but don’t you go causing any trouble." Kaori continued.

’Well, that worked out better than expected.’ Haji inwardly heaved a sigh of relief.

gumi also heaved a sigh of relief. At least she didn’t have to worry about the Mizunari Company backing down from the partnership. Just to be sure though, she dragged Keiichi by the corner and told him about the partnership. He lightheartedly agreed without a second thought.

"So, where are we going?" Haji asked, walking side by side with gumi since she was the only one he knew well amongst the group. Sohow, he could tell that gumi and Keiichi knew each other. However, he didn’t want to ask them about it since that would be insensitive. Instead, he waited for gumi to explain everything. After all, she’s bound to tell him about it... just, not now.

"About that, I’ll take care of that." Keiichi confidently said, cutting in between Haji and gumi. With this, he’d replaced Haji in walking side by side with gumi. "You just have to follow , I know the best route here in Tokyo."

"Ou~!" Kaori cheered. Now that they don’t have to worry about stumbling into trouble, they can have all the fun they want.

"Does anyone want to eat first? My treat." Keiichi offered, his face chock-full of malice as he glanced towards Haji. "Except for you. I’m treating everyone except you."

"Fine by ." Haji indifferently reacted, angering Keiichi even more.

"Haah~ let’s see how long you can keep that up," Keiichi muttered to himself, fully aware that Haji didn’t have the money, to begin with.

While he was celebrating in his thoughts, gumi slowed her pace and briefly walked with Haji. "Don’t worry about it, I’ll pay for you," gumi whispered.

"No, it’s fine. I can handle myself." Haji reassured her as he wore a smile on his face.