On the way back, Tanaka Masao could very clearly feel that Eriri's mood was low.
He really wanted to comfort her, but he had no idea what to say. What was he supposed to say—something like:
[Eriri, stop thinking about Aki Tomoya and throw yourself into my arms.]
If he dared say something like that, Eriri would definitely block him on the spot.
Tanaka Masao followed behind the silent Eriri, racking his brain for a way to comfort her.
But as he kept thinking… his gaze ended up being drawn to something else entirely.
[Eriri's usually pretty flat, but that hip curve is actually not bad… could maybe—]
At that thought, Tanaka Masao violently shook his head.
[No, no, what the hell am I thinking? I should be thinking about how to comfort Eriri right now.]
[Comfort… safe-for-childbirth hips…]
All along the way, Tanaka Masao failed to properly control his gaze, and as a result, he naturally didn't come up with any good way to comfort her either.
And Eriri, preoccupied with her own worries, didn't notice what Tanaka Masao behind her was looking at.
...
Without exchanging a word, the two returned to Eriri's house.
"I'm home."
Eriri called out weakly, then went straight back to her room.
Sawamura Sayuri, who had just come out, frowned slightly at the scene.
She pulled Tanaka Masao aside and asked,
"Tanaka-kun, what happened? Did you and Eriri get into a fight?"
"No, we had a lot of fun today."
Tanaka Masao briefly explained what had happened on the way back to Sawamura Sayuri.
"After that, Eriri suddenly stopped talking, and her whole mood just sank."
Hearing this, Sawamura Sayuri let out a helpless sigh.
"Ah… it must be that boy, Tomoya."
She was clearly at a loss herself.
At this rate, let alone getting the two of them together—even getting them to talk again would be a problem.
She looked at Tanaka Masao apologetically.
"I'm sorry, Tanaka-kun, for letting you see this mess. That boy is called Aki Tomoya—Eriri's childhood friend."
"The two of them had a falling-out over something back then, and they still haven't made up."
Seeing the dejected look on Sawamura Sayuri's face, Tanaka Masao tried to comfort her.
"Sayuri-san, it's normal for friends to have conflicts. They can always be resolved eventually."
At those words, Sawamura Sayuri seemed to have found someone she could confide in. She pulled Tanaka Masao to sit down and began pouring out her worries.
Over the years, it wasn't just Eriri who had been hung up on this matter.
She herself had been extremely concerned about it too.
Her only daughter, and her daughter's only true close friend—she didn't know what to do either.
Now, at last, she had someone she could talk to.
Although Tanaka Masao knew about this situation from anime in his previous life, he didn't know the detailed specifics.
So he listened seriously.
As she spoke, Sawamura Sayuri suddenly asked,
"Tanaka-kun, when you have conflicts with friends, how do you usually resolve them?"
"Uh…"
After hesitating for a moment, Tanaka Masao finally said,
"I don't have any friends."
Sawamura Sayuri, who had been immersed in her own world while venting, froze for a moment when she heard that.
It took her a good two and a half seconds to react, before she asked uncertainly,
"Tanaka-kun… what did you just say? You don't have any friends?"
Tanaka Masao nodded.
"That's right. I don't have any friends, so I don't know how to resolve that kind of conflict."
He wasn't lying—his previous body really hadn't had a single friend, so there had naturally never been any conflicts.
As for his previous life, sure, he'd had friends—but that was practically a lifetime ago.
And even then, whenever he had conflicts with friends, they'd usually be forgotten naturally within a day, and the conflict would just resolve itself.
After receiving that confirmed answer, Sawamura Sayuri fell into an awkward silence.
She had thought that Eriri being unable to reconcile with her only close friend was already tragic enough.
But she hadn't expected Tanaka Masao to be even more pitiable—not even having a single friend.
Thinking about how she had just been dumping her worries on him, she suddenly felt ashamed.
What difference was there between someone who had just scraped their skin complaining about pain to an amputee?
A sense of guilt suddenly welled up in Sawamura Sayuri's heart, and she silently cursed herself.
[Ah… I'm the worst.]
"I'm sorry, Tanaka-kun. I didn't know you—"
Looking at the awkward and ashamed Sawamura Sayuri, Tanaka Masao waved his hand.
"Sayuri-san, you don't need to worry about that. And it's not really that rare of a thing."
This time, it was Sawamura Sayuri's turn to be surprised.
"No, no—having no friends at all… no matter how you think about it, that's not exactly normal, is it?"
"Is that so?"
Tanaka Masao thought about it for a moment. Right now, the people he knew were Yukinoshita Yukino, Kawasaki Saki, and the Sawamura mother and daughter.
Out of those four people, two of them had no friends.
That was already half—so it really didn't seem that rare.
"Well, I've kind of made friends at school now. And there's also Eriri and you, Sayuri-san."
Hearing that, Sawamura Sayuri showed a gentle smile.
"That's right. I'm Tanaka-kun's good friend now—and Eriri is too."
Suddenly, Sawamura Sayuri's eyes lit up, as if she had thought of something.
"Tanaka-kun, you live in Chiba, right? Since you don't come to Tokyo often, how about staying over tonight?"
"Stay over?" Tanaka Masao hesitated slightly.
"Wouldn't that be too much trouble?"
To be honest, Tanaka Masao actually really wanted to stay.
Not because of any weird thoughts.
It was simply because he was tired.
He had come from Chiba early in the morning, then spent most of the day out with Eriri—his stamina was seriously drained.
It was already afternoon. If he headed back to Chiba now, it would be dark by the time he arrived.
He really didn't want to make the round trip.
Seeing his hesitation, Sawamura Sayuri pressed her advantage.
"It's no trouble at all. You went out with Eriri all day—you must be exhausted. Just rest here tonight.
It's settled. I'll go get a room ready for you."
With that, she left to prepare the guest room without giving Tanaka Masao a chance to respond.
Watching her leave, Tanaka Masao sat nervously on the sofa.
This was his first time staying overnight at a girl's house.
[I'll be staying for dinner, right? I wonder what tonight's food will be like.]
[Will Eriri's dad come home tonight? If he does, how should I face him?]
[I'll probably be taking a bath here tonight… I didn't bring a change of clothes.
What's Eriri's bathroom like, anyway?]
[Will something unexpected happen?]
At the same time as his nervousness, Tanaka Masao also felt a faint sense of excitement and anticipation.