#63 A new friend?

"Hmm, it looks pretty good. Is it a birthday present for a friend?" Ichinose carefully observed the entire necklace.

Huh? I have never really thought about it but I guess it would look pretty weird, giving someone a present without any reason so let's go with a birthday excuse...

"Yes, I wanted to ask for your opinion. If I or anyone of your friends gave you this necklace, would you appreciate it or would you want something more elegant or stylish?" I asked her with a slightly confused expression. I have never bought a gift for anyone, not to say a girl. How should I know what they like? I know that every girl has a different style but there should be at least a middle way where every girl would appreciate the said gift.

Although I know about Kei quite a lot, that only applies to her secrets and more important things, I have almost zero knowledge about what she likes to wear or whatever... I have a hunch that no matter what I would give her, she would still like it but if I bother to buy something for her then it should be something she will truly like.

"Oh?! So it's for a girl?!" She asked me with a wide grin and a few sparkles in her eyes.

"...Yes, is there a problem?" I was slightly confused by her demeanor.

"Of course, shouldn't you buy something else? ?! Don't get me wrong, this necklace is really beautiful, however, I would say it's more for boys rather than girls! How about this one here?" Ichinose blurted out and immediately realized that what she said was slightly rude so she quickly explained and took another necklace from the stand without thinking.

"?! She is my friend...I don't plan to confess to her on her birthdays" When I saw the necklace she grabbed, I gave her a weird look.

"Huh? Oh?! I am sorry, I didn't mean to grab this one...I wanted that one!" When she saw my weird expression, she finally took a quick glance at what she grabbed and it was necklace with a design of heart hanging from the chains. Her face turned a bit red and she began to panic. She took a quick look around the shop and then pointed at one particular necklace, or should I say necklaces.

"...Are you really sure about that?" When I saw 2 necklaces, each one with a half of the heart hanging from the chains, I couldn't help but ask her with a helpless expression.

Did she actually mishear me when I said I am not planning to confess?

"Are you buying a gift for a very good friend?" She asked me with a smile.

"I guess we are close but how are these 2 necklaces better than the previous one?" I asked back.

"Of course they are much better. If you were to give her the previous one then it could be understood as you giving her your heart but this way, if you give her only half heart while you keep the other one it will make your friendship even stronger and you won't be misunderstood as confessing!" She explained with a strict expression while shaking with her index finger right before my face.

"So if I were to give you this necklace and kept one for myself, you wouldn't think of it as a confession?" I asked for the last time, just to be sure.

"...Haha, of course not" She released quite an awkward laugh.

"Alright, thanks for helping me pick up an ideal gift." I thanked her and took the 2 necklaces to the counter and paid for them. They weren't exactly cheap but if I am to give a gift to someone, I better make sure they like it. Plus when it comes to Kei, I don't do things for her half-assedly or at least I try not to. I guess it's also better to buy her something more girly, however, I will give her both of these necklaces so she can give the other necklace to someone who she actually wants.

"Are you planning to go back to the dorms or do you have any plans for the rest of the day?" Ichinose asked me with a curious expression.

"Nah, it's already 6 PM. I will just go back, do you want to go together?" I asked her nonchalantly.

"Yes, that sounds good. I won't have to go back all alone and I can talk to someone to make the way there much shorter!" Ichinose had a happy look on her face once she heard my offer.

"When we were almost out of Mayaki Mall district, both of our phones vibrated indicating that we received a mail at the same time.

Is this from the school? I couldn't help but think, considering the timing.

We looked at each other in confusion and then we checked our phones.

When we were done checking the mail, we once again looked at each other and Ichinose giggled a bit.

"I guess we are lucky, we can still go to the convenience store here at Mayaki Mall." She said with a giggle.

The school apparently has problems with a supply of water so they just informed us about it. They also mentioned that we can get bottled water at the cafeteria if necessary.

By now, every student probably already read this mail, so it is expected that a lot of convenience stores will be sold out on the water very soon. But thanks to us being so close to Mayaki Mall, we can just walk there in a few minutes and we should still be able to buy some water before it will all be sold out.

Lucky, huh? I couldn't help but remember what that fortune-teller lady told me. Maybe she misunderstood, maybe I am not full of misfortune, maybe she just couldn't see through my secrets. I can't actually remember any misfortune since I have possessed this body. Maybe she has divided fortune for this body which was originally Asao's. At that time he was still within my body, maybe she divided fortune for him, I wonder what would happen if she tried to divine my fortune right now since Asao is no longer here.

"We should definitely go back to Mayaki Mall before it will be crowded with people." I nodded at her and we began to walk back from where we came.

...

We entered the convenience store and we immediately saw that it was pretty empty.

"It seems that we arrived fast enough. Let's go" I said and led Ichinose to the section with drinks. I took one pack of six 2-liters bottled water and when I was about to go to the counter I stopped and looked at another pack.

*sigh* I guess I should take another one for Kei just in case.

I took another pack into my other hand.

"You are buying so much?" Ichinose who only had 2 bottles in hand asked me with a surprised expression.

Maybe she thinks that we should leave some for others but I couldn't care any less for others. They can go to the cafeteria if really necessary.

"Yes, I am already anticipating that a lot of people from my class will ask me for help. You know how most of the people from Class D behave right?" I lied that it was for my entire class and when she heard me she immediately understood and nodded with a smile.

"That's really thoughtful of you, but will you able to take it all the way back to the dorms? They aren't really close by and you will have to carry 12 kilograms in each hand for the entire time." She asked me with a slightly concerned expression.

"No problem here, I am an athletic type of guy so I can take that much but I guess you were already able to tell that from my body shape." That might have sounded a bit narcissistic but it's the truth. I am not overly large like the foreign guy from Class C named Albert. My muscles are more refined and I have better control of them this way but of course, my strength is something they wouldn't be able to comprehend. Still, even if I am not that large, it is still visible through my clothes that I have a "few" developed muscles.

"Yeah, I am sorry, I wasn't thinking before opening my mouth." She said with a slightly guilty face, maybe she thought that I was offended but whatever.

When we came to the counter to pay, the clerk gave me a look when he saw the amount of water I wanted to buy but he hadn't said anything. He also noticed my strange eyes, however, except for slightly surprised expression, he didn't say anything else since it wasn't something he should concern himself with.

...

"Are you sure you don't need to stop for a while to get some rest? Please don't mind me, you shouldn't feel embarrassed if you truly need to rest." She asked me with a concerned expression when we were already halfway to the dorms.

"? I am really ok, I don't need to rest" I said with an indifferent expression. If she didn't mention it, I would have perhaps forgotten about the bottles. 12 kilograms for each hand were extremely lightweight for me already so even though I was able to slightly feel it, it wasn't tiring me out at all. Now that I think about it, maybe I should start wearing body weights, that would greatly help me with my training and after I would be accustomed to them, whenever I would take them off it would drastically increase my speed.

Ichinose nodded when she saw that I had no problems. We kept on walking until we heard sound behind us.

*Meow*

Both of us turned around and we saw a little kitten following us.

"Wow! Look at her, she is so cute!" Ichinose's eyes started to shine when she saw a white kitten with one black stripe between her eyes. She couldn't help but cry out enthusiastically and approach her.

*Meow!* The kitten meowed in quite an aggressive manner when she saw Ichinose approaching her.

"Huh?!" Seeing the kitten's reaction she stopped approaching her and had a sad expression on her face.

I stared indifferently at the kitten with my vertical slit pupils.

"Meow!!!" When our eyes met with each other, the kitten released an enthusiastic meow, run up to me and started rubbing against my foot while purring loudly.

"Hah? Not fair! It must have something to do with these contact lenses!" Ichinose immediately complained with a dejected expression when she saw this.