19 Chapter 18 - Hello Again

"Eh? Takei, is that you?"

Takei turned around quickly to look at the people who called out to him. The two people turned out to be his old friends, Eiji Hosegawa and Rikka Hosegawa.

After realizing who they were, Takei did a complete 180 and started to walk in the opposite direction of them.

Takei let out a casual comment to ensure they wouldn't follow him. "Nope, wrong person."

Shit, I can't let them see me with Akari or else some weird misunderstanding will happen. It'll really be a pain in the ass to clear up the accusations later.

He then grabbed Akari's hand. "Let's go. Now."

Akari was extremely confused since it sounded like Takei knew those people. She kept following Takei, but wanted to inquire about those people as much as possible.

"Don't you know those two?"

After hearing the obvious question, Takei winced a bit.

"Ah, kinda..."

Hearing his confession, Akari stopped her feet. She was fully convinced that they were Takei's friend at some point in time. Since she didn't recognize them, Akari deduced that they were most likely from his middle school days. That meant she didn't have to keep up the goddess facade because Takei wouldn't be friends with shallow people.

"We have to go back and greet them then. You can't just leave your friends hanging right?"

Takei was lost at how to respond to Akari's logical explanation. He knew his reasoning was being influenced by childish emotions, but he really didn't want to explain this situation to them.

As he was thinking to himself, Takei felt a powerful stare aimed at him. It seemed like the goddess would not budge on this.

Takei signed in exasperation. "Haaah, fine."

The both of them turned around and walked back towards the sibling duo who was extremely confused about the situation.

Takei was the first one to break the tension. "Hey Eiji, Rikka. Long time no see."

Eiji seemed fine even though Takei had tried to run away from him. He even gave a light laugh. "Hey man, I've missed messing around with you. Why did you even run away? I wasn't going to bite, haha."

Takei's face relaxed once he realized Eiji wasn't mad. "Ah, my bad. I just didn't want to deal with a troubling situation..."

Once Eiji heard that, his mouth curved into a smile. "Same as always, huh? By same, I mean the bluntness of course."

"Haha yep, I guess I didn't really change that much..."

Eiji was slightly astonished to see Takei not noticing his changes. "Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that..."

Takei tilted his head sideways in befuddlement. He had no idea what had changed about him, if anything at all.

Once a lapse in the conversation appeared, Rikka finally found a spot to join the conversation.

"Hi Takei, I haven't seen you in a long time."

Rikka slowly pushed her long black hair behind her ear. To most people, this would've been a sign of seduction. Unfortunately for Rikka though, Takei was a complete blockhead.

Takei replied with exasperation. "Yep, I've been a bit busy."

Rikka then glanced behind Takei and noticed a girl there holding his hand.

"Um, Takei?"

Takei replied questioningly. "What is it?"

"Who is that girl holding your hand?"

"..."

Takei looked at his hand and realized that he was still grasping Akari's hand. Immediately, he dropped her hand and turned his face in embarrassment. It seemed that Akari was feeling the same too, since she was avoiding eye contact and looking at the ground.

After retrieving his bearings, Takei explained her identity. "This is Akari Akazawa, a friend from school."

Takei looked at Akari after explaining her identity to find her slightly pouting.

Did I say something wrong?

Rikka continued the conversation as Takei was trying to find out why Akari's mood had been spoiled.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Rikka Hosegawa and that idiot behind me is my brother, Eiji Hosegawa."

Eiji didn't seem to care about being called an idiot, but he still wanted to tease her. "That's kinda mean, isn't it my little sister?~"

The goddess then turned on her divine mode on full blast. "Hello, it's nice to meet you! As Takei said, my name is Akari. I hope we can be good friends."

After finishing her sentence, Akari flashed her signature million dollar smile. It seemed Eiji and Rikka were not immune because they were both slightly shaken for different reasons.

Eiji clapped his hands and prayed in front of her. "Thank you for your benevolence."

"Hey..." Rikka karate chopped Eiji's head for his rudeness.

"Ouch!"

Rikka sighed. "Please apologize to her for being rude."

Eiji showed no remorse since he was joking around, but he still apologized nonetheless. "I'm very sorry about my actions."

Akari didn't seem to mind it at all. "It's okay, I thought it was a bit funny." She gave a smile once again which resulted in more civilian casualties from the people walking around.

Takei decided to try and end the conversation before the situation went in an unfavorable way. "Anyways, that should be it for introductions."

Rikka was not planning to let Takei go this easily though. "Hold it, I have a question."

Takei frantically replied. "What is it?"

"What is your relationship with her?"

"..."

The worst case scenario happened for Takei. He didn't want to explain their complex relationship to them in fear of a misunderstanding happening. There's no way they would believe a boy and a girl would spend so much time together and have platonic feelings.

Once again, Rikka would not let Takei go without a fight.

"You have to answer."

A resolute statement was declared. There was no getting out of this one for Takei.

"Um..." He was clearly struggling to find an answer that didn't invite misunderstanding.

Luckily for Takei, Akari seemed to be ready to save him. She seemed to have planned something.

Thank goodness, I'm saved.

"Um, excuse me! Our relationship is..."

It looks like I'll live to see another day. I have no doubt Akari has found an answer to this situation. Honestly, I'm so thankful for having someone quick on their feet like her. As a reward, I should get her some ice cream after this. Yep, she'll definitely love some ice cream.

"...we're boyfriend and girlfriend!"

The goddess declared her relationship with Takei which resulted in...

"What?!"

"Huh?!"

"Pfft!"

A mixed bag of reactions from the three other people that were there. Everyone was pale faced and confused as to what Akari said. Well, everyone besides Eiji. He was grinning slyly and giving a thumbs up to Takei.

It seems I've overestimated her analysis skills... She completely made the situation worse.

There was no ice cream bought today, to say the least.

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Akari's Affection Meter: ERROR

Looks like the IT man is going to have to work overtime.

Apologies for the cliffhanger, meter will return in chapter 19.5's Akari POV. Look forward to it!