Romantic Killer But I Made It Gay

Part 47

I stare at the paper in my hands, feeling my heart pound with excitement. Payday is always the best. I know I should save this for food and other essentials, but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to buy myself some sushi—nope, can't have that. But I'm sure chocolate or something would be allowed.

I groan in annoyance. It feels like it's been years since I've had sushi or played games, but I know it's only been a few weeks. Speaking of Kiki, I wonder what its plan is. I've been working with Prince Charming for a bit now, and I feel absolutely no romantic attraction to him. Unless he has a drastic change of heart and...I dunno, gives away all his money to the poor, I don't plan on ever getting close to him.

"Mori."

Well, speak of the devil. Or, at least, one of his forms. I force myself to turn around with what I hope isn't a look of disgust.

"Ko—Hijiri. Why are you here? You don't have any shifts."

He blinks. "You addressed me by my last name. Why?"

My eyes flick over Tsuchiya before I shrug nonchalantly. "Since we're working together, I thought I should address you formally." After my talk with his guardian, I thought I should be more respectful. After all, I was only calling him by his first name to annoy him, and I think that's getting a little childish.

"I see," he disregards it casually, holding out a slip of paper identical to mine. "What do you want?"

I look from the paper to him, and back again. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? What're you doing?"

"I was paid today. You told me to earn your gifts with my own money, so I did. It's not a lot, but I'm sure it's loads for a commoner like you."

"You mean..." I feel a teasing grin slide onto my lips. "You did all this for me?"

He flushes, shaking the money in my face. "Don't get the wrong idea, peasant! I didn't do this for you, I did it because I wanted to. So what do you want?"

Wow, he really turned into a tsundere, huh? Ikeda would be proud.

"Well, sorry." I push the paper back toward him. "I don't really want anything right now." More like I don't want anything from you. "Go get yourself something."

"I can buy you sushi," he offers hopefully.

Well, consider my attention grabbed. Since this is a gift, accepting it is allowed by Kiki's rules. That means I can eat sushi, free of pain or strings attached. But what would that mean for our relationship? The last thing I want is for us to get too close because of this. But I'm the one controlling my feelings, right? So there should be no harm in a little bit...This is too much. Why am I overthinking this? It's just sushi with someone who wants you to like them. Where's the hurt in that? Although that might just be the part of my brain that wants the food talking, I decide to listen to it.

"Alright," I reluctantly agree and he smiles haughtily, but something seems genuine about it this time.

"You made the right choice."

Tsuchiya drives us to the nearest convenience store and I walk to the isle that normally holds sushi, delighted to find exactly two boxes of my favorite rolls surrounded by cauliflower. Hijiri purchases them and we walk to the park around a block away. I seat myself on a small red bench and open my box, and after a second Hijiri joins me. As I devour roll after roll he watches me closely.

"This was incredibly cheap, even by commoner's standards. It didn't even use all the money. Why would you want this?"

"I enjoy it, even if it's cheap," I explain slowly, like I'm talking to a small child.

"So this has satisfied you?" He nods to himself, then meets my eyes seriously. "Have I ascended to a level of friendship with you, then?"

"F-Friendship?" I don't know what to say to that. It seems like such a simple thing he's aiming for. Doesn't he want me to fall for him anymore?"

"Indeed. We go to the same school, we work at the same job, we buy each other food, and now we're talking alone. According to my research this means we're "friends" now."

He finally looks away, almost embarrassed, and I can't help but laugh. "Sure, why not? I'll be your friend, if you're really that desperate." Oh, I probably shouldn't have added that last part, but I can't take it back now.

Hijiri sighs tiredly. "I will ignore that, for your sake."

"Don't you want any?" At his look I gesture to his unopened box of sushi. "It might not be fancy, but it's still sushi."

He glances distastefully at the lid before taking it off, opening his chopsticks, and tentatively picks up a roll. Then, like he's eating a live roach, he shoves it in his mouth, quickly chewing and swallowing.

"What do you think?" I watch his expression closely as he reflects on what he just ate.

"It was incredibly cheap tasting," he finally decides. "The rice was too hard, and the insides were too soft. But..." He turns away so much I almost can't see his expression as a soft smile covers it. "...It wasn't bad."

Where did that Hijiri come from? It seems like he's a completely different person from the spoiled brat I know. In this form, he's almost...

I feel my cheeks heat and I pinch the bridge off my nose as hard as I can, the pain shocking the weird thoughts out of my mind. Friends, if even that. That's all we are: tentative new friends.

No way am I falling for a third love interest.