I woke up in the morning to see a text message from Raphtalia. She was saying that everything with Atla was going fine- or at least, better than could be expected.
She didn't elaborate whatsoever regarding what had happened between them overnight, though it seemed everything was alright for now.
So long as that was the case, I didn't want to pry further. Raphtalia would tell me whenever it would be relevant, or she felt like it.
"Rise and shine bro!" Shindo exclaimed on seeing me wake up. "Someone stayed up late, huh? Also what's for breakfast?"
I stifled a yawn. "We have mac and cheese leftover from last night."
"But... those are leftovers!"
"In that case we'll have whatever you manage to make."
"Aww..." he said before reheating the mac and cheese, and finding that it still tasted pretty good, even if it wasn't fresh.
"So, what do you want to do today?" I asked him. The whole project was over, and he'd be going home soon.
"I dunno," he replied.
"Well, I'm open to doing whatever you want," I told him.
"Really? That's pretty nice of you," Shindo said.
Truth be told, I was grateful towards Shindo.
What had happened last night with Raphtalia- I wouldn't have been able to do that if I was in my earlier state. Heck, I had barely been able to approach her as it was, and that was only after she had already tried to kiss me once. Most women wouldn't even have gone that far on their own, waiting for the guy to make the first move. If it had been like that, we'd have ended up playing a will-they-won't-they game for months on end.
I had been quite broken by what that woman had done, even if I didn't show all of it right now. The only reason I even had the strength to walk around in society was because of the support from my family. If I had been all alone, I don't know what would have happened to me. Or what kind of person I'd have become. Probably someone nearly irreparably damaged.
But I wasn't alone- my family had always been there, no matter how tired of their antics I occasionally got. And of them all, it had been Shindo who had supported me the most. Sure, he was a goofball most of the time, but he was my lovable goofball brother. And he could show maturity at times.
"Yeah, just wanted to let you know that it's great that you're here," I told him. "You have to go home soon, but it was nice having you drop by. So what do you want to do? Go to the aquarium? The zoo? The movies?"
"Aww, thanks bro," Shindo said. "But what I was thinking that we'd do is watch this new anime together."
Alright, not what I had been expecting, but still acceptable.
"What's the anime?"
"It's called- 'If My Wife Became An Elementary School Student!'"
...
"Bro... what's with that weird look you're giving me?" Shindo asked.
"I take back all the nice things I said about you," I said to him. Seriously, what was wrong with this country? Why was this country filled with lolicons?
"Bro, it isn't like that I swear- it's a really wholesome anime and not weird at all!" Shindo said.
Ultimately, we decided to just go outside and take a walk in the park instead.
"What are you doing?" I asked him. His head was buried in his phone, despite the fact that we were supposed to be enjoying the great outdoors.
"I was watching Magical Girl Kiiroi," Shindo said.
I sighed. "Don't tell me that you've started becoming a fan of that stuff too..."
"Hey, I can see why Melty likes this," Shindo said. "Plus, she's a law school student just like you, right? So that means that even mature people like you like it!"
"No, that logic does not work there, she still likes it because it's childish," I told him. That said, I had seen several college students play 'children's games' like Pokemon, so maybe he wasn't wrong.
It was a nice day- the sun was out, but before we knew it, it started raining, causing us to have to run and seek shelter in a nearby shop.
Granted, I didn't want to actually go in, I was just looking for shelter from the rain and we were near the outside of the shop, but still close enough that we would be shielded from the rain.
However, Shindo naturally wanted to go in after a few minutes of standing outside, and I obliged.
And inside, we were greeted by a giant beaver.
"Hello and welcome!" a girl's voice came out. Naturally the giant beaver was only a costume, though I couldn't see who it was given the costume covered themselves up entirely.
"Eh?" Shindo said. "Why's there a furry here?"
"FUEEH! I'm not a furry- I just wear this because I'm the shop's mascot!" she protested.
"Rishia, calm down," a voice from behind said.
It belonged to a young man with blonde highlights. I had seem some boys do that at school, though it was more popular with girls. He looked like he was just in high school, and with an exasperated expression, sighed. "Please ignore what she said. I'd be happy to help you with whatever you're looking for."
He seemed a bit too young to be the shop's manager, but there was only him and the girl wearing a beaver costume in the shop, so there was nowhere else to turn.
"Uh, we were just running away from the rain and looking around," Shindo said.
"Alright then- let me know if I can help you," he said. He seemed least interested in us- this was not the demeanor of someone who worked in retail, I should've known, then again, Shindo had just blatantly said that he didn't want to really buy anything, so I couldn't blame them.
The girl named Rishia walked away, though she ended up knocking some merchandise off the shelves as she did so. "Rishia!" the boy complained, as if this was a routine occurrence, though I for one couldn't see how you could not end up running into something while wearing that costume. Seriously- why was she wearing it indoors? It wasn't like the shop needed a live mascot, now then was it?
The fact that we didn't really need anything didn't stop Shindo from buying four different things including two ice cream bars, and then we left as the rain had cleared up.
"See?" I asked Shindo, pointing to a rainbow that had appeared in the sky. "Isn't this more interesting that staying at home watching anime?"
"Hmm?" Shindo asked. He was watching that weird anime he had mentioned earlier on his phone, not even paying attention to me or his surroundings.
Seriously, kids these days!
