"Nomnomnomnomnomnom."
While Haruna munched on her cookies, still occasionally glaring at Reiji, who was right next to her on the table, he tried his best to avoid eye contact.
".....I was joking?" he mumbled, trying to plead his case.
"Were you?"
".....Well, what else was I supposed to think?"
She'd been making a twisted expression at random times throughout the day and then suddenly ran into the bathroom in the middle of their conversation.
'Is that really my fault?'
He'd considered the other possibility, but stomach problems seemed more accurate.
'And Haruna was always mid-to-late game, so that couldn't be the case.'
"Ugh, just eat your cookies!" she responded irritably.
"Yes, Ma'am."
He'd outdone himself this time, at least in his opinion. The chocolate chip cookies were perfectly crisp on the outside and super gooey on the inside, creating that perfectly warm contrast.
People usually ate theirs with milk, but Reiji preferred iced coffee as the complementary beverage.
"Is it good?" he asked, licking the crumbs off his lips.
"Mhm! I feel like I should stop visiting you, or I'll grow fat at this rate...."
"Meh, don't worry about that. These treats will be occasional, I'll balance them out with healthy food now and then."
"So..... You're gonna keep cooking stuff for me?" Haruna asked, glancing at him through the side of her eyes.
"Of course, I like to cook whenever I have people over," he chuckled, patting his chest proudly.
But for some reason, she didn't seem to like that answer.
"Tch."
"Huh?"
"Nothing!" she snapped.
'.....OHHHHH! Now I see why she's been cranky all day. It isn't diarrhea, it's just that it must be that time of the month! I need to tread lightly....'
Reiji zipped his lips for the rest of their snack time, opting to respond minimally to her questions instead.
Once they finished eating, he stood up to clear everything from the table.
"This is our last study session, so let's take things easy and focus on the tough concepts instead of reviewing what you're already confident in. It's not good to overload your brain," he smiled.
"....What?"
Haruna, who'd returned to the couch, froze in place, slowly turning towards him as if she realized something.
"What's wrong?" Reiji asked, confused at why she looked so surprised.
"....I just forgot that this is our last study time. I was so preoccupied with the exams and your illness that it completely slipped my mind."
"Isn't that a good thing? No more intense studying and cramming after tomorrow's midterms. Well, until the semester exams, at least."
"....I guess so."
Reiji turned off the tap when he noticed that she still seemed off, frowning at the forlorn look on her face.
He wiped his hands with a washcloth and sat down next to her.
"Okay, out with it," he said gently.
Haruna, after a few moments of apparent inner turmoil, sighed and lifted her legs off the floor, crossing them on the sofa and leaned against his shoulder whilst hugging a cushion.
Reiji was taken aback by the sudden contact, but his eyes softened when he felt her body trembling.
"You know..... Before this, I had no hopes for getting good grades. I had pretty much resigned myself to graduating as soon as possible and finding a job to help out Granny instead of attending university. But now..... Now I feel like I can actually do something more than that."
She turned upwards, locking her gaze with Reiji's as nervousness washed over her.
"But.... what if after this I go back to overthinking, making idiotic mistakes, or overall regress to being as bad as I used to be?" she continued quietly.
Reiji didn't reply for a second because a thought came to mind.
That was exactly what had happened in the game.
Hina couldn't always be around to tutor Haruna, so after this main event was completed and she reached the Top 10 with her help, Haruna eventually slipped back down in the rankings.
Although not as bad as before, she hovered just outside the Top 50 until the issues with her debt were resolved and there was no pressure on her shoulders anymore, allowing her to purely focus on her life and academics like most of the other high schoolers.
And that period varied significantly depending on the choices the player makes.
So her concerns were valid.
But only if Reiji wasn't there.
He smiled and ruffled her hair aggressively, completely messing up the style and neatness.
"What are you doing?" she groaned with a pout, but didn't move away even a little bit, allowing him to turn her head into a bird's nest.
"What do you think we've been doing so far? Just studying?" he asked.
"Uh.... Yeah?"
"In a way, sure. But I knew you would make the Top 10 when I saw how fast you were improving early on, so I changed my study plans. I reduced the amount of stuff I was teaching you and focused more on helping you understand how you should learn. Things like how to approach a problem, general rules to keep in mind, traps to look out for, and memorization and concentration tips. Remember that?" he explained.
"Uh huh...."
"So even after this, you really won't have much trouble in the future. Instead of just learning the topics, you also learned how to study."
"But that doesn't mean I'll understand all of the tougher concepts that they'll teach later on," she countered.
"Of course not, that would make you smarter than me, which ain't happening."
Haruna pinched his waist at those words, making him wince with a laugh.
"Then I genuinely might drop down in the ranks, right?" she muttered.
"You're acting like I'm just disappearing off the face of the Earth after the midterms. I'm not going anywhere, so you can just ask me if you find anything difficult."
Haruna blinked for a couple of seconds.... and then smiled warmly.
She giggled and got up from the sofa, sitting down on the floor in front of him instead as she handed him a comb she took out from her skirt pocket..
"You ruined my hair, so untangle it," she grinned.
"....You just carry around a comb everywhere?"
"You think hair this good is effortless?"
"I guess not," he nodded, taking it from her and slowly clearing up the knots he'd accidentally made.
Haruna closed her eyes, lying there comfortably, before she started humming a tune with an upbeat and cheerful tone.
"HmmHaHummHumHaaHmmm."
***
"Here, take this back with you," Reiji said, handing Haruna a box with the remaining cookies inside. "Tell Granny to try some."
The night had fallen, bringing their studies to an end for the time being.
"Okay, but when are you going to come over next? She was really worried about you, you know?"
".....Yeah, I should visit her. How about after school tomorrow? There are no clubs, and the midterms will be over."
"Perfect! I'll let her know!" she declared, clapping her hands happily.
Reiji booked a taxi for her on his phone, and they both left the house, getting into the elevator so that he could walk her down.
Haruna inhaled deeply, letting her breath fall with a long sigh of relief.
"As fun as it was, I'm so tired of studying..... I'm not even going to pick up a book for the next few days," she laughed.
"Same, I can't remember the last time I spent so much time on academics," he replied, trying to think if that was ever the case in either life.
"....It's annoying how you can boast so easily without even meaning to."
"Huh? Oh, I just meant that I simply didn't care about my grades before high school. You know, since I wasn't exactly a straight-laced student," Reiji elaborated, referring to OG Reiji's minimal effort in most things.
*DING*
The door slid open on the ground floor, and they walked out of the apartment building in silence.
Haruna seemed to be pondering something, gripping her backpack tightly.
"Speaking of which..... You're not gonna keep doing dangerous things for the Yakuza, right?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Reiji stopped in his tracks, his footsteps faltering as he looked back at her.
He wanted to say no, promise her that he'd stay out of it.
'But I don't know how big of an impact Z will have....'
The letter from that psychopath had thrown a complete wrench in his plans to sever ties with the syndicate.
He needed to know the exact relationship Daichi had with him, and whether or not he'd get caught in the crossfire for simply being the heir.
And after the guilt he experienced and the disappointment within Haruna after he lied to her about the injury, he didn't want to make empty promises again.
"....Does your silence mean you'll keep doing it?"
She stepped forward and rubbed the outer part of his right shoulder, as if reminding him of his wound.
"It's not quite that simple. All I can say is that I'll do my best not to get hurt," he sighed.
"You've said that already."
"Yeah, because I can't promise anything else."
Haruna's brows furrowed, either with anger or worry.
He couldn't quite tell, so maybe it was both.
They both just stayed quiet, with neither side knowing what to say until the taxi pulled into the complex a minute later.
They both turned to the car, and Haruna lifted her head to meet his eyes.
"....Good night."
"....Yeah, good night."
Reiji watched as she got into the back seat and the car drove off, leaving him at the building entrance alone with his hands in his pockets.
'After the midterms, I need to see what the deal with Z is.....'