Romantic Killer But I Made It Gay

Part 55

"Mori?"

I flinch, not wanting to turn around but forcing myself to. I know that voice... "H-Hey, Hijiri. Coincidence seeing you here." This is all going Kiki's way. I bet that egg thinks the love interests will be more invested in me if they have a rival, but that just shows how little it still knows about people.

"You don't have work today. Why're you here?" I try not to sound too annoyed. After the moment we had that day, I've grown to not think of him as as much of a little rat, and more like an actual person, no matter what he actually is.

"My shift starts in the evening," he explains, "but I am spying on other convenience stores to learn secrets of the trade and about commoner's tastes."

"What are you, a master on commoners?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

"That's what I'd like." He doesn't seem to catch my sarcasm.

Really, I expected Hijiri to quit working the moment he bought me something, but he's kept at it and is working hard and diligently. He's even walking around instead of driving in his fancy car. I'm impressed...not that I'd never admit or tell him that.

"Why do you have two drinks?" he notices suspiciously, his eyes darting to my hands. "Are you–"

"Oh, he's just holding mine," Kiki interrupts, popping up behind him with a scheming grin. "You must be from his work, right? Thanks for taking care of my Haru!"

He wraps an arm around my shoulder which I try to wriggle out of while Hijiri frowns even more.

"Your Haru? I was under the impression he was a very, very free spirit."

Giving up on exiting Kiki's grip the peaceful way, I grab his opposite cheek and pull it down until he yelps in pain and is forced to let go.

"Don't misunderstand," I growl to Hijiri. "I don't belong to anyone. This guy is my overly grabby cousin, Koi, brother of the equally annoying Kiki. He—"

"You don't have to make excuses." His cheeks flush lightly and he looks away. "It's not like I care who you spend your time with. To think that would be absolutely—"

"Oh yeah!" Kiki swats away my hand and peaches prances up to Hijiri with a smug grin. "You're the guy Haru turned down because of how annoying you were! Kiki told me alllllllll about it." He gets up in his face, whispering like he's giving an amazing tip, "You have to match his likes and needs, not force him into something. Otherwise he'll never go along with you." He hops back and grabs my hand, raising it in the air. "That's why he's enjoying this date with me so much!"

"Kiki, I'm not—I mean, Koi—I'm not on a date with you and if I were I wouldn't be enjoying it." I send Hijiri a frantic glance but he's too busy flipping his hair back as usual to notice.

"I'll admit I failed in making the date enjoyable for him then, but now that I've studied the commoners and learned their ways I'm sure I can entertain him even better than you can, Koi."

Kiki gives him an annoyed smile, and I can practically see the lightning flash between their eyes. I guess is the part where the protagonist squeals, "b-boys! Please don't fight over me!" but in reality I don't want to end up with either of them. Really, if they took each other out of commission right now that would be the best outcome, for me, at least.

"Jesus, would you two stop?" I groan, tucking one drink under my arm and grabbing Kiki by the shirt, pulling him away like I'm unsticking two sheets of Velcro. "He's trying to get under your skin. Trust me, he's great at that. But don't take anything he says seriously, especially not the part about taking me on a date, got it? Because if you ask, it's only gonna lead you to disappointment."

"I wasn't..." He turns away with nothing else to say, and I drag Kiki off in the other direction.

"You're such a bother," I grumble when we're out of earshot. "Why do you—" the weight of his body disappears from my hand and he pops up in front of me, smiling brightly as usual.

"If there's a rival in sight, they'll double their might~!" he sings, clapping his hands.

"I get that's your plan, but it's not going to work," I inform him. "We're friends, all of us. Kazuki seeing you be a little piece of crap isn't gonna make him fall in love with me. Your logic is still flawed, even after today."

"Then I guess we're not done yet!" He slips his boba out of my arm and takes my hand, taking a sip at the same time. "Let's continue on!"

"Seriously?" I can't really go against him. Guess my dream of going home is getting further away again.