Chapter 106: Chapter 105 - The Hidden Part

The college students were laughing when Aoi arrived.

That would turn out to be their first mistake.

Their second mistake was thinking they understood her.

Their third mistake was not leaving immediately.

Aoi was standing under the light of a street lamp in a small park near the shopping district.

It was cold outside.

The streets were empty.

Everything was silent.

Except for four fools.

One of them greeted her casually.

"Hi."

Another laughed.

"Really?"

The leader grinned.

"I knew she would show up."

Aoi looked at them.

In silence.

Calming.

The same expression she wore at school.

At work.

At home.

But something was different.

The students noticed that.

Aoi approached by one step.

"Let’s talk."

The leader smirked.

"Yeah, sure."

The other student chuckled.

"Is it about your boyfriend?"

Silence.

Aoi looked at him.

The smile vanished from his face.

For the first time in a long time.

Something was different.

Very different.

The girl standing in front of them was not blushing.

Not showing any signs of nervousness.

Not behaving shy.

Nothing but indifference could be seen on her face.

Aoi crossed her arms.

Then said.

"You will stop harassing the cake shop."

The students blinked in surprise.

"What?"

"You will stop making the owner cry."

Silence.

"And me as well."

The leader frowned.

"And what?"

"I want you to stop bothering Kuro."

The atmosphere became tense.

Immediately.

They finally understood what Aoi’s plan was.

Unfortunately for them.

They still underestimated her.

That proved to be a grave mistake.

One laughed.

"So you are serious?" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Yes."

Another student sighed.

"Why does it matter?"

Silence.

"I can give you a lot of reasons for that, but I won’t."

A perfectly acceptable answer.

The students calmed down somewhat

That was a mistake.

Since Aoi wasn’t done talking yet.

"I don’t need to tell you the reason since I don’t have to hit you to make you behave."

An acceptable response.

The students relaxed.

Mistake.

"A threat is not always a physical attack, you know."

The students’ attitude changed immediately.

Aoi moved forward.

The space between them was reduced.

Unintentionally.

An unusual pressure filled the air around them.

Not the physical kind.

Some sort of force was pushing them away.

The leader forced a laugh.

"What?"

"Do you plan to beat us up or something?"

"No," Aoi said.

Surprising everyone.

"But that might cause problems."

A perfectly acceptable explanation.

The students became somewhat relaxed.

That turned out to be a bad decision.

"But I don’t need to beat you up either."

Silence.

Aoi’s expression didn’t change at all.

No hint of anger.

Only calmness.

Only kindness.

That made the scene far scarier.

"You are mistaken about one thing," Aoi said.

"What?"

"Kuro left because of me, not because he was scared."

Silence.

"He protected me."

The students suddenly remembered the cake shop.

Its owner.

Its customers.

Its job.

And its future.

Understanding started to appear.

Aoi continued.

"He protected my workplace from you."

The night breeze passed through the park.

"And you made fun of him for that."

Nervous looks passed between the four.

Without any reason.

For some strange reason.

Aoi took one more step forward.

Staring directly at each of them.

To make absolutely sure they got the message.

"If you keep bothering him."

Silence.

"If you continue annoying my family."

Silence.

"If you keep troubling people important to me."

Chills ran down the spines of the students.

While Aoi kept smiling calmly.

Making it scarier than before.

Much scarier.

Then she smiled.

Gently.

Beautifully.

Just like many other days.

Her smile was warm.

Kind.

Honor student.

Yet today, this smile looked terrible.

Absolutely terrible.

Then she spoke.

Softly.

Clear.

Without any doubts.

"I will make you pay for that."

It was silent for several seconds.

Nobody laughed.

Nobody smiled.

Nobody said anything.

Finally, for the first time all evening.

The students looked nervously.

Since they understood that Aoi wasn’t bluffing.

Not because she was going to beat them up.

Not because she was going to harm them in any way.

Just because of the meaning behind her words.

The leader tried to force a laugh.

"Whatever, lady."

The reply sounded pathetic.

Absolutely pathetic.

Aoi turned and left.

Confrontation was over.

Message was conveyed.

Job was done.

The students watched her leave.

None of them followed.

None of them called her name.

None of them wanted to follow.

Since Aoi managed to scare them more than any threat would ever do.Once she disappeared from their sight.

One of them sighed.

"What was that?"

Nobody replied.

Since nobody knew.

The only thing they all understood was simple.

They would not trouble Kuro anymore.

Neither the cake shop.

Nor Aoi.

Some lessons only needed to be shown once.

Next morning.

Things were going normally.

Or, at least, they seemed like that.

The cake shop opened for business.

People visited.

The coffee was brewed.

Cake was sold.

Nothing was disturbing.

Until Kuro entered.

Aoi lifted her head and saw her.

And relaxed instantly.

Smiling briefly.

The smile disappeared almost immediately.

But she smiled.

And that was good enough for Sachiko.

Seeing that, Sachiko laughed loudly.

"Your boyfriend is here," she stated.

Kuro groaned.

"Not that again."

Aoi simply gave Kuro the menu and waited.

For the first time ever.

She didn’t protest.

Even a little.

Sachiko’s eyes widened.

Sparkled.

She almost started celebrating.

Kuro, on the contrary.

Was completely oblivious as usual.

The conversation continued normally.

Nothing unusual happened.

Except for something.

Something that Aoi could feel.

Maybe nobody else could.

Not even Kuro.

But she could.

Many years ago.

A small girl made a request to a boy to marry her.

Childish.

Silly.

Absolutely impossible.

But somehow recently.

This childish dream didn’t sound impossible anymore.

For now.

That was good enough.

After the lunch rush was over, the shop became unusually quiet.

There weren’t many customers left.

Sachiko entered the kitchen, humming contentedly to herself.

And that was dangerous.

Because whenever the old lady seemed cheerful, it meant that she was up to something.

Aoi decided not to inquire about what.

To preserve whatever sanity she still had left.

Kuro was sitting by the window, slowly sipping on his coffee.

While the sunlight coming through the window lit their table.

For some time they didn’t speak to each other.

It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence.

Quite the opposite, actually.

They didn’t have to say anything.

Eventually, Kuro looked around.

"The shop looks nice."

Aoi nodded.

"Sachiko-san is proud of it."

"I can see that."

Kuro grinned.

"She also likes causing trouble."

"That too."

This time the answer came without delay.

Kuro laughed.

And to her surprise, Aoi felt quite pleased to hear that.

---

A couple of seconds later, she noticed a small bandage on her finger.

"What happened?"

Aoi briefly glanced at her finger.

"Oh."

She had completely forgotten about the little scratch.

"I got a little injured when I was decorating cakes."

Kuro frowned.

"It must have been painful."

"No, it was nothing."

"You should be careful."

"Okay."

"Why didn’t you disinfect it?"

"Yes."

"Why didn’t you disinfect it?"

"Yes."

"Don’t you want to be careful?"

Kuro’s concern was sincere.

Simple.

Natural.

Exactly like the worry he always showed towards everyone around him.

But somehow this was different.

Somehow it was directed towards her.

Aoi had no idea why she felt that way.

---

Kuro moved closer.

"Can I see it?"

"No."

"Can I see it?"

Aoi sighed.

She extended her hand.

Kuro took it.

Examining the little bandage.

The most innocent gesture.

Completely unremarkable.

Absolutely harmless.

Unfortunately for her.

Her heart immediately started beating fast.

She acted as coolly as possible.

Several years of practice had made her pretty good at it.

But inside.

Disaster zone.

---

"Seems fine."

Kuro let go of her hand.

And once again, Aoi missed the warmth of his touch.

It only aggravated her situation even further.

---

"Thank you."

She said quietly.

Kuro smiled.

"No problem."

---

For some reason, now she found herself staring at him.

The same black hair as before.

Relaxed expression.

Easygoing smile.

The same Kuro who she knew for years.

But for some reason lately everything was different.

Not Kuro himself.

But her perception of him.

---

"What?"

He suddenly said.

Aoi immediately looked away.

Nothing good ever followed getting caught staring.

"Nothing."

"That wasn’t nothing."

"I didn’t stare."

"But you did."

Aoi didn’t pay attention to him.

The safest choice.

---

The door between the kitchen and the shop suddenly opened.

Sachiko entered the room holding a tray.

She looked at both of them.

Then smirked.

An especially dangerous look.

And without saying a word, she put two slices of cake on their table.

"This one’s on us."

Kuro was surprised.

"Really?"

"Certainly."

Sachiko said.

"We must feed young couples properly."

Complete silence.

Kuro hid his face behind his hand.

Aoi calmly took a bite of her cake.

Like nothing happened.

Sachiko almost died laughing.

---

Some more time passed.

Then Kuro decided to go.

"I should probably be going."

Aoi nodded.

"See you."

"See you."

The usual parting words.

But she never failed to eagerly anticipate hearing them.

Kuro turned to go.

But then he turned back.

"Oh."

Aoi looked up.

"What?"

He said with a smile.

"I’m glad you enjoy your job."

The words sounded so natural.

So normal.

But they stung.

Before she could react, Kuro waved goodbye and went out.

And the soft ringing of the bell followed him.

---

The shop became slightly quieter.

Aoi looked down at her plate.

Then a small smile appeared on her face.

A rare sight.

Soft.

Gentle.

The kind that she saved just for herself.

Unfortunately for her.

Sachiko was looking right at her.

So the old lady hurriedly put her hand in front of her mouth.

Almost choking herself with laughter.

Aoi saw it and immediately regretted her smile.