Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Restaurant Matsuba
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Restaurant Matsuba
She finished a short call with someone I didn't know and started waiting for the bus again.
"Ue...?"
Harumi stared blankly up at the LED panel broadcasting the announcement.
Is this her first time seeing something like that too?
Right in front of her, reacting like a country girl visiting the city for the first time, bus 147 pulled up.
Screeech...
Whoosh—
"Excuse me~ Are you getting on?"
"Eh? Ah, y-yes! I am."
Should I hop on too, pretending it's a coincidence?
But Harumi just walked straight to the back without paying the fare.
"Miss~ What are you doing? You need to pay first before boarding."
"Huh? What..."
"You have to pay the bus fare to get on... Don't you have a transit card?"
"Eh, ehh...? I-I have... this... a debit card, but..."
"It's not registering. Looks like your card isn't set up for pay-as-you-go transit. Or do you not have a PASMO or SUICA?"
PASMO and SUICA are both IC cards used for transit payments in Japan, like T-money. Pretty much every Japanese person knows about them, and anyone who's even taken a short trip there would recognize them.
But Harumi, standing there timidly with her debit card, started fumbling awkwardly.
"Ah, uh... Wha...? Wa-watermelon ...?"
Having mistaken the transit card SUICA for "watermelon," she stood frozen in front of the reader, not knowing what to do. Even the Japanese bus driver was starting to look annoyed.
He just kept repeating himself.
"No transit card? Just tap it on the reader there."
Harumi's face stiffened at his words.
"...Tap it?"
Her small mouth uttered a voice filled only with bewilderment. She was so flustered that even though I was right there in front of her, she hadn't snapped out of it.
No matter how sheltered a girl with her own personal maid might be, isn't this a bit much? Did she really spend her whole life only riding in limos?
"D-do I need a watermelon? Do I have to charge it...? Can't I just pay with cash? Eh, ehhh...?"
She frantically shoved her tiny hand into her pocket and pulled out a bunch of 10-yen coins. Had she raided a piggy bank or something?
"No, what... I mean, miss... You really got on without knowing any of this?"
As Harumi kept blurting out nonsense, the driver's patience was clearly wearing thin.
Oh dear.
She looks like it's her first time on a bus. Can't let her have a scary experience.
"Driver, I'll cover it for her. For two people, please."
"Ah, sure~ Thank you."
Beep—
Only now did Harumi realize who the guy at the front door was.
"Hep...!?"
Confusion crossed her face, followed by the relief of unexpectedly running into a familiar person in an unfamiliar place.
"You're... Papa, no, Yu Sanghyeon? Why are you here..."
But that relief quickly turned to embarrassment. She probably never expected to see me.
The flustered face of a beautiful girl really is the best.
A bit pervy, but I wanted to tease her more.
"Who knows. Isn't it normal for a commoner like me to ride the bus? More importantly, I'm curious why someone as noble as a young lady is boarding this hunk of junk."
At my smoothly buttered words, Harumi's face turned beet red, like it might explode.
Completely different from her usual haughty demeanor... She must find it mortifying to show the side of her that looks like a poor college student living alone.
"Ugh... U-um, th-that's... because..."
Her cute lips trembled.
Her mouth moved desperately to gloss over the situation.
"Ahh! R-right!! It's a commoner experience! To see what commoners are thinking when they ride this thing... That's why I'm here! Got it!?"
No matter how you look at it, that doesn't seem right.
"Wow, such a noble purpose. My apologies."
"Y-you! You're treating me like an idiot right now!!"
Oh, quick on the uptake?
As I stifled a laugh, Harumi got properly mad and stormed off to the back. She stomped her feet to vent, but she was so tiny that it barely made a sound on the bus floor. Every time I see her, her antics are so pathetic and cute.
"Passengers, we're departing. Please take your seats."
Thud!
Harumi plopped down into the bus's cushy seat and turned her head to the window. Her lips were pursed out a full inch.
I naturally sat down next to her.
"Who said you could sit next to me?"
"C'mon, cut me some slack. I paid your fare for you. That doesn't earn me a seat?"
"Ugh... F-f-fine, do whatever... "
At the mention of money, she shrank back a bit and whipped her head back to the window.
A brief silence.
The rattling vibration of the bumpy bus ride.
Harumi's fingertips still clutched her skirt.
She must be really tense riding in this big metal box on wheels instead of her comfy limo.
Her pink nails had turned white underneath from gripping so hard. Especially when the bus jolted over uneven road bumps, she flinched with surprise.
But that didn't last. Though she'd initially turned away to ignore me, Harumi soon got captivated by the passing cityscape.
"...The bus isn't as bad as I thought."
"Right?"
"Uwoong... Ah! Don't just casually talk to me!"
I smiled nonchalantly and bantered with her.
"Man~ As expected of a young lady. Commoners find it super tough to ride the bus alone, you know? Look at elementary kids—they all hold their mom or dad's hand. But you rode it solo. You're amazing."
It was a rude remark treating a full-grown adult woman like a little kid, but Harumi—maybe because she'd never met anyone who teased her like this before—grinned widely.
"Heh... Of course! I'm... good at everything! Because I'm a daughter of the Kanemochiru family!"
Now that she's loosened up, it should be smooth to slip in some questions.
"So, where are you headed right now?"
"Right now? Res... What, trying to slyly pry? I don't owe a guy like you any explanations."
Tougher reaction than expected.
Her guard shot back up as the passing scenery softened her mood.
Plus, hearing the sudden bus announcement, Harumi jumped in shock and shoved me away.
"G-get off!"
"Huh? What do you mean all of a sudden?"
Why is she reacting so intensely?
"Anyway, get off!"
Her expression now resembled yesterday's when she didn't want anyone knowing where she lived. She was trying to make me get off early so no one would know where she was getting off.
Fine, I'll play along for now. Even if I get off here, I won't lose her.
Hiss—
"Alright... If the young lady says so, I have to obey. Take care~"
"Y-yeah! Bye!"
Harumi waved awkwardly with a stiff smile.
Vrooom—
The bus drove off indifferently, leaving engine noise behind.
The good vibe got cut short by the sudden boot, leaving me dumbfounded, but I'd learned plenty.
First: Harumi doesn't have a lying habit or delusions.
She genuinely had no idea how to ride public transit like a bus.
Mistaking a transit card for a watermelon alone proves she wasn't faking being a commoner. If she were really from humble roots pretending to be nobility, she'd know how to ride a bus.
So Harumi really is a rich girl from a wealthy family, and for some reason, she's suddenly fallen on hard times.
"I thought she'd only fall in the ending route..."
She's been going through tough times much earlier than I expected.
Thinking about it like that makes my heart ache more...
The confident, bright sides she showed me in the game.
Knowing there was a backstory I didn't know behind that mask hurts.
I have to make her happy no matter what.
And second thing I learned.
Harumi doesn't want anyone knowing where she's going right now.
I got off at Nakano Ward 3-chome station.
Forcing me off here suddenly means she's getting off soon after. She didn't want to show me where, so she booted me early.
Alright, time to see where Harumi gets off...
Crack—crack—
I stretched my neck and ankles.
City buses top out at 40 km/h anyway.
Slower than me.
"Harumi..."
No matter how much you want to hide your circumstances, I won't give up.
A bus won't shake me.
.
.
.
"Huff... huff..."
The stops were pretty far apart. Chasing three by foot was tiring even for me.
But I caught up, so good enough.
Thud—
Under the bus stop sign reading "Minamiyama Shopping Street Entrance," I saw Harumi cautiously step off.
I faintly read her lip movements from a distance.
She walked toward somewhere, lacking confidence just like yesterday. When cars or motorcycles whizzed by, she hunched her shoulders and trembled slightly. Like a canary tossed into the raw wilderness of a world she didn't know.
Five minutes of stealthily tailing her with bated breath.
The sign over the door she entered was a name all too familiar to me.
"That place..."
The family restaurant she refused to visit with me right before the bad ending.