Reiji hummed happily, an extra pep in his steps as he walked to school. His test meal yesterday had gone really well, with the two idiots spending an entire 15 minutes after eating just gushing about his skills and how much they liked it.
Normally he would have shut them up quickly after being annoyed, but it wasn't often that he got praised for his food because he rarely cooked for others. So it was actually pretty encouraging, allowing them to continue with his nose turned to the sky.
Of course, he didn't become complacent because of this. Reiji tested out a few other compositions and thought about how he could improve the experience, and if there was something that needed to be added.
So he was now incredibly eager to get through classes today and jump straight into the test. He had made a couple of changes, and was confident that he'd pass with flying colors.
On the way, his phone buzzed, and he rubbed his temple tiredly as he saw the number of notifications he had.
Yui had been constantly messaging him, but since he was busy for almost the entire day yesterday, he hadn't had the time to respond properly aside from an acknowledgement.
'She might throw a tantrum later....'
He would need to have a talk with her about this.
As he was daydreaming, he heard a faint sobbing noise from the turn he was about to take.
His steps faltered and he frowned, leaning forward to peek at who was making the sound. He saw a girl wearing the same school's uniform, hunched over on a bench with her head in her hands.
Her crying wasn't very loud, but the street was empty since this was a residential area which made it reach his ears unobstructed.
'Is that..... Hina?'
Reiji eyes twitched in frustration as he watched her from the corner, thinking immediately of the buffoon who probably caused this situation. He wrestled with his thoughts internally, wondering if he should do something or not.
He knew from their recent encounter at the mall that she was still scared of him, so consoling her might not necessarily help her calm down.
In fact, it might do the opposite and make her break down completely.
He knew how sensitive Hina was early on in the game, being heavily reliant on Riku and Haruna for emotional support. If something happened with either one of them, it would put her down the path of depression.
He sighed and decided he couldn't just ignore her.
He walked up to her, stopping a few inches away from the bench and called out.
"Are you ok? Why are you crying here alone?"
She snapped straight back in surprise, and she jolted in her seat when she noticed who was talking to her.
"Hic- Hic-"
She started hiccuping again, something she does when she gets overly stressed or anxious, leaning away from Reiji with her body trembling.
'Bruh.....'
Reiji backed away slowly, raising his arms in defeat.
"Ok, Ok! Calm down, I'll leave," he reassured, walking away from her slowly.
Hina watched him leave with shaky wet eyes, and once he turned the corner, she hunched over again.
But this time it was with regret.
'Why did I do that!?? This is what's wrong with me!'
She scolded herself. She wasn't stupid, she saw the concern on his face, and combined with how he had acted in the mall, Hina knew that Reiji wasn't exactly how the rumors made him out to be.
She didn't know how much of it was false, but it was still absurd to act this scared towards someone.
Hina knocked on her forehead repeatedly, chastising her behavior for a minute. But then a cold feeling knocked against her cheek, and she flinched at the strange sensation.
Reiji was standing there again with a cheeky grin, two cold bottles in his hands. She stared at him in confusion as he handed her one of them, which she accepted instinctively.
She looked down at her hand blankly, and saw that it was her favorite drink. A blend of green tea, lemon soda, spices, and hazelnut infusion called 'Doozy Soda'.
A completely bizarre flavor that most people despised, but one that she secretly enjoyed because it was so unique.
"I don't know what drink you like, so I thought I'd get you the weirdest flavor they had in the vending machine," Reiji chuckled.
"....Why? Couldn't you just buy something normal?" Hina asked, completely forgetting her fear because of how random this situation was.
"Yeah, but if you didn't love those, then it wouldn't cheer you up! With this soda, you either love it or you hate it to the core. If you enjoyed it, awesome! Mission accomplished! But if you hated it, then you'd probably be so distracted by how disgusting it was, you'd forget why you were sad," Reiji explained as he cracked open the bottle and took a deep sip.
Hina blinked at him as he sat on the bench's armrest, a good distance away from her out of consideration. That was such a dumb reason, but it made so much sense that she couldn't think of what to say.
When Reiji saw that she wasn't drinking it, he pointed to her bottle and said, "Don't worry, I didn't do anything suspicious to the bottle. See, the cap's seal hasn't been broken."
"...Th-That's not what I was thinking, why would you even say that?" Hina stammered in bewilderment.
"Can you blame me? You looked like I was going to chop you into pieces a minute ago," Reiji scoffed defensively.
She zipped her mouth shut at that.
'That's.... true.'
"You like these sort of drinks?" Hina asked curiously, ignoring his comment.
"Hmmm, I kind of don't have a flavor that I particularly dislike. I enjoy trying a bunch of things, so I thought I'd give it a shot. It's my first time having this," he replied as he studied the ingredients on the label, smacking his lips at the taste.
"Seriously? Then, do you like it?"
"It's..... disgusting! But in a fun way? Not sure how to explain it, it kind of feels like the flavors are cohesive yet completely clash with each other at the same time. Whoever invented this was a respectable weirdo," Reiji muttered in amusement.
They didn't have such strange drinks in his previous world, so it was a novel experience for him. He bought it because he knew Hina loved them, but also to satisfy his own curiosity.
"RIGHT!? That's what I say whenever someone asks why I love this! It's disgustingly fun!" Hina jabbered excitedly, completely forgetting about being sad.
"You have odd taste buds, but so do I in a way," Reiji laughed.
Hina unscrewed her bottle and took a couple of deep gulps, sighing in satisfaction as she drank half of the bottle in one go.
Reiji grinned inwardly at her improved mood, his eyes softening a little.
'This idiot, what am I going to do with her.'
Reiji stood back up and took another sip of the deliciously poisonous-tasting drink.
"Looks like you're fine now. We should get going or you're going to get into trouble," Reiji said and looked at his watch. There was barely any time left until homeroom began and he knew how serious Hina was about her academics.
She'd probably start crying again if the homeroom teacher started scolding her, and that would be a pain in the ass.
Hina stiffened and gaped in horror when she checked the time as well.
"SHIIIIIIIT!" She yelled as she ran off after grabbing her bag, the bottle still in her hand.
He watched her race away towards school, leaving him in the dust with raised eyebrows.
'Damn, she's fast!'
He shook his head with a laugh and shuffled on as well. He didn't care much about being late, doing it once in a while wouldn't kill him.
'Hmmm, I think I have an idea for Hina.'
***
"Yagami Reiji, you're late again!"
Kahawara Sensei slammed his attendance book onto his table, glaring at the disinterested boy who had just walked in as he was finishing his roll call.
"Sorry, it won't happen again.....probably."
Reiji bowed slightly and took his seat next to Airi who was tutting with a disappointed expression, making him want to flick her head.
"What do you mean 'probably'??" Sensei hissed with clenched teeth.
"I mean, what if I get into an accident? Or if I find someone crying on the road and I had to help them out?" He shrugged, glancing at Hina with a sly smile.
She was looking towards him with guilt and worry etched on her face, but when she heard his words she blushed in embarrassment and turned to face the front.
"What nonsense is that? You? Help others?"
Kahawara Sensei narrowed his brows in disbelief.
"It was just an example, I'll try to be on time."
"Hmph, you better. I've marked you as late anyway!"
"Okay," Reiji gave him an uncaring thumbs up and looked out of the window.
'Maannn, can't the cooking test happen already?'