"Ah… I…"
Listening to all the flattery pouring out of him, Yoshida Saki's head was getting dizzier and dizzier.
'Ugh! Being praised by soone, really is sothing embarrassingly hard to deal with.'
'But co to think of it…'
'Is this… flirting?'
'Does he really think I look cute?'
Seeing the girl in front of him blushing bright red and stamring so badly she could barely speak, the smile on the young man's lips widened.
He spoke again, "Let introduce myself first. My na's Hayato."
"How about this? If we keep standing here, we'll just be getting in the way of the shop."
"So why don't we find sowhere quiet where we can sit down and slowly look through this magazine together?"
The mont he made the invitation, Hayato only gave her about one second to think. Before Yoshida Saki could even finish processing it, he answered for her himself.
"Great! Then it's settled!"
"I'll go buy the magazine first. Beautiful miss, please go ahead and wait for outside for a mont~"
Hayato spoke to Yoshida Saki with a smiling face, even placing one hand over his chest while extending the other in a welcoming gesture, looking just like one of those elegant butlers in ani wearing a suit.
Hearing his words and seeing that refined invitation pose, Yoshida Saki, who was still frozen in place like a student being punished to stand still, felt her mind spinning rapidly.
'This guy nad Hayato does look pretty stylish.'
'And he seems gentle too.'
'If it's just chatting together for a bit...'
'Then… maybe it's okay?'
'Yeah right!'
Those thoughts only flashed through her mind for an instant before Yoshida Saki firmly rejected them.
"Sorry, Hayato-san. I don't want to leave with you. You can have the magazine. I don't want it anymore."
Yoshida Saki suddenly shoved the magazine toward him, then quickly took a step back to widen the distance between herself and the overly friendly Hayato.
"Then—huh?"
Seeing her sudden action and response, Hayato, whose smile had already beco impossible to suppress and whose heart had been filled with pride, instantly froze.
The smile on his face stiffened like a statue as he stared blankly at Yoshida Saki.
Honestly, if Yoshida Saki had encountered soone like Hayato before eting Hikari, there really was a good chance she would've mistaken his behavior for genuine warmth and friendliness and accepted his invitation.
But after eting Hikari, those kinds of thoughts no longer appeared in her mind.
Because before eting him, if soone had tried to flirt with her like this, Yoshida Saki would've been even more flustered and panicked than she was now.
And without having t Hikari, she would've had even less experience interacting with boys.
So if she had suddenly received such strong affirmation from Hayato, she definitely would've secretly felt happy about it. She might even have mistaken the pounding in her chest caused by the sudden situation for romantic excitent, then gradually followed along as he guided her step by step until she agreed.
But after eting Hikari, even though she didn't seem very different on the surface, inside she had already changed completely.
The figure of the person who had saved her and helped her multiple tis had long since taken root deep inside her heart.
She was no longer the girl whose heart was completely empty.
And honestly, even in terms of appearance, now that she looked carefully, this supposedly handso young man only seed fashionable because of his flashy styling.
That face of his, those narrow eyes, those otherwise ordinary features, there was absolutely no comparison to Hikari.
The difference between them was like comparing a firefly to the moon.
Hikari was simply way too handso. Although Yoshida Saki felt it was his personality that attracted her more, his absurdly high looks were still an undeniable fact.
And so, compared side by side, Yoshida Saki realized she genuinely felt absolutely nothing toward this sudden stranger nad Hayato trying to flirt with her.
He simply wasn't her type at all.
The only reason she had panicked earlier was because she had never been hit on before, and because she was introverted and socially anxious.
A guy with dyed hair and earrings who looked basically like a delinquent, comparing him to Hikari was practically insulting Hikari.
And then Yoshida Saki suddenly rembered sothing Hikari had told her before.
He had warned her to be careful around n who tried to hit on her, especially young guys dressed like delinquents.
Looking at the dyed-haired Hayato standing across from her now, Yoshida Saki's expression beca even more guarded.
She vaguely rembered that Hikari had even specifically warned her to be careful of people trying to flirt with her inside bookstores.
At the ti, Yoshida Saki had thought he was worrying too much. How could anyone possibly approach soone like her?
And in a bookstore of all places. Weren't people supposed to flirt in bars or bubble tea shops?
Or at least out on the street?
But now, Yoshida Saki only felt that Hikari had been frighteningly farsighted.
And while Yoshida Saki's thoughts raced faster and faster, making everything clearer in her mind, Hayato, who had been stunned after suddenly getting rejected, gradually recovered.
Seeing the wary expression on Yoshida Saki's face, he imdiately developed a headache.
'What the hell is going on?'
'Hasn't things been going perfectly just a second ago?'
'How did she suddenly reject out of nowhere?'
'Is this just how won were?'
'Changing moods at the drop of a hat.'
Looking at the magazine now stuffed into his hands, Hayato still refused to give up.
He took another step forward and showed what he believed was his gentlest smile.
"Beautiful miss, you really are the cutest girl I've ever seen. But please don't misunderstand, I truly don't have any bad intentions."
"It's just that today feels like fate, so I couldn't help but boldly invite you. I just wanted to spend a little more ti with you."
"How about this, miss? I'll go pay for the magazine right now."
"Then we can go to the milk tea shop next door and read it together. Once you finish reading, we'll say goodbyes imdiately, okay?"
Seeing Yoshida Saki becoming increasingly cautious, Hayato knew he couldn't push too hard.
So he planned to retreat first and advance later, easing off for the mont.
But what he didn't realize was that after she had already clearly rejected him, his continued insistence only made Yoshida Saki feel even more uneasy and guarded.
"There's no need, Hayato-san."
"Thank you for the complints, but I really don't like spending ti with strangers."
"So… I'm sorry."
Faced with Hayato's second invitation, Yoshida Saki rejected him once again, firmly and decisively.
Seeing her repeatedly refuse him, the muscles on Hayato's face twitched slightly.
But he quickly forced out another smile and politely said, "Alright then. Sorry for bothering you, beautiful miss."
After speaking, he stopped pestering her further.
Picking up the magazine, he headed toward the register.
Only after watching Hayato pay and leave did Yoshida Saki finally let out a sigh of relief.
It wasn't just being flirted with that she had never experienced before.
She had barely ever rejected people either.
So repeatedly turning Hayato down had actually made her extrely nervous.
But every ti she thought of Hikari, courage welled up inside her.
'Thank goodness… I actually managed to do it!'
'Thank you, Hikari-kun. And I did great too!'
"Thanks, Hikari-kun… and I did really well this ti too!"
Having successfully rejected the flirting invitation, Yoshida Saki clenched her tiny fists and silently cheered herself on.
Still, to avoid making things awkward, she didn't imdiately turn around and leave while Hayato was paying.
Instead, she went back into the bookstore and picked out a few more manga from the shelves.
She deliberately lingered for a while before finally going to the counter to pay and leave.
———
anwhile, although Hayato had intentionally shown Yoshida Saki a smile while turning away after his failed attempt, the mont his back was turned, an incomparably furious expression appeared on his face.
His expression darkened completely.
Hayato tightly clenched the magazine in his hand. After walking out of the bookstore, he crumpled it into a ball and tossed it straight into the trash can.
"Damn it! Trash like that actually dares reject ?"
"Bitch! What an ungrateful s!ut!"
Standing at the bookstore entrance, Hayato kicked the trash can before cursing under his breath in frustration.
Then he pulled out his vibrating phone and answered the call.
"Hello? Mr. Tie?"
["Hayato, you little shit, when the hell are you paying back?"], The mont the call connected, a rough middle-aged man's voice exploded into furious yelling.
"Soon… I'll pay it back soon…", Hearing that, Hayato's voice instantly shrank.
["Soon? How many damn tis have you said 'soon' already? You took several batches of goods from saying you'd sell them for , but you used all of it yourself! Damn junkie! Why don't you just fucking die already?"], Mr. Tie continued roaring.
"Just give a little more ti. I'll definitely pay you back! I've already found a way to make money! Mr. Tie, trust ! We've known each other for years," Hayato pleaded quietly.
["Bullshit! I don't have any friendship with you! Pay what you owe. I'm giving you two more days. If you still don't pay up by then, breaking a few bones won't be the end of it,"] Mr. Tie spat out viciously before hanging up imdiately.
"Yeah, fuck you too!", Only after the call disconnected did Hayato finally dare curse back.
Spitting hard onto the ground, Hayato ground it under his shoe while thinking darkly.
As a self-proclaid cool and stylish delinquent, life hadn't been going very well for him lately.
Especially financially. Not only had he run out of money to buy drugs, he had also accumulated a lot of debt.
So back in the bookstore, the reason he had approached soone young and easy to fool like Yoshida Saki was because he had several ulterior motives from the start.
The first was simple: Lu.st at first sight.
Although Yoshida Saki wasn't the type with heavy makeup or the sort of breathtaking beauty that instantly turned heads, she still looked very cute and delicate.
And as a professional street punk, in so ways Hayato was actually very good at judging people.
Girls like Yoshida Saki, innocent and inexperienced, with that youthful and naive appearance, Hayato was certain he could fool soone like that every single ti.
All he had to do was act friendly while approaching her, constantly praise how cute she was, and show off his "gentle" side.
Then slowly deepen things step by step, using a few tricks here and there.
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