Outing Expressions

Airi didn't say where to go next after the accessory store, so he let her lead the way and walked slowly through the mall.

I knew it was coming, but the stares are horrendous.

Passersby glanced at them–to be exact, most of them were looking right next to Minato. Some of them even stood as if admiring.

Once again, he realized how good looking Airi was. She must have been subjected to these unreserved stares for a long time, and it made sense that she would not want to go outside.

Minato could also feel the eyes on him as he walked next to her. Some frowned, some were surprised, and some tilted their heads. He was prepared for this, so he didn't feel hurt, but he did feel uncomfortable.

He guessed they were probably thinking, "Why is the guy next to such a cute girl so plain?" Minato himself knew better than anyone that their looks did not match each other.

And it wasn't that he wore strange clothes or hairstyle, he just put on normal clothes and hairstyle.

Once before, he borrowed Kazuma's wax and changed his hairstyle, but it didn't suit him and he was laughed at. Minato also thought it didn't suit him, so he didn't plan to do it again.

When he was fed up with the fact that no matter how hard he tried, he could not improve, he heard an apologetic voice.

"…I'm sorry. I know you don't like it when people look at you like that."

"It's not that I don't like it, I just thought looks are important after all."

Honestly, he knew it would bother Airi, so he pretended to be dumbfounded as he looked around with just his eyes, and she gave a small pout of frustration.

"Do you still care about the difference in appearance? Don't worry about how someone else decides if we match or not, or I'll get angry, okay?"

"I know, I know. I don't want Airi to get mad at me."

Although he was still reeling inside, he remembered that she had once said that his face was not everything, and what she had just said cheered him up a little.

Then, he couldn't let her see him depressed. He should at least try to look good at times like this.

As he made up his mind to do so, Airi laughed calmly, probably satisfied with Minato's joking reply.

"Then that's fine."

She opened her mouth to say that although the smile itself was pleasing, she would have to be careful because her mask was coming off just as it had in the accessory store.

"Airi, your expression is like when you're at home. Be careful."

"Muu~ I know, I know. But it's the same at the store earlier, and no matter how many people there are, I don't know anyone–"

"Eh, Ninomiya-san?"

Just as Airi was about to deny Minato's words, she was approached by a group of girls. It was bad timing, or rather, it was as if they were perfectly timed.

"Hello."

Airi put on her outing mask the moment she was approached. Minato chuckled at how much she had changed.

This was the situation he had feared the most. However, Minato had a reason to be with her, so it would be fine.

The girls crowded around Airi, their eyes glittering. From what he had heard, they seemed to be in the same grade.

"What a coincidence! I never thought I'd see Ninomiya-san during summer vacation! Your casual clothes are so cute!"

"Thank you."

" Ne , ne , Let's hang out together!"

"Sorry, I'm in the middle of shopping."

"You can hang out with us after you're done shopping!"

"Um…"

Airi was starting to get overwhelmed by the momentum of the girls and looked at Minato with a troubled look on her face.

He didn't want to get in the way of their conversation.

But now, he should help her.

"I'm sorry, but I'm accompanying Ninomiya to the store instead of Momose. If you could do that another day, it would be great."

As he stepped in between Airi and the girls, he was met with a lot of unreserved, price-gouging looks.

Then, the girl at the front of the group asked him suspiciously.

"…You were with Ninomiya-san before we spoke to her. Who are you?"

The tone of her voice was blatantly guarded and hostile, friendly conversation seemed unlikely.

When Airi thought Minato was going to be accused, she made a stern face and tried to open her mouth, only to be rebuked with Minato's eyes.

Stop it, Airi, what are you doing getting emotional here?

Although Minato was glad she was going to defend him, nothing would come of it if she raised her voice here.

On the contrary, there was a possibility that Airi might even be ostracized at school in the future. Therefore, she must not cause any problems here.

She seemed to have grasped Minato's intentions just by looking at him, and without saying anything, she kept quiet.

However, her face was frowning unconvincingly, and her eyes were filled with anxiety.

Not wanting to cause any worry, Minato faced the girl in front of him with a firm and resolute attitude.

"I'm Minato Kujo, a childhood friend of Shiori Momose and Kazuma Mutsura. If you have any doubts about what happened today, just contact Momose and she'll be happy to help you. Nice to meet you."

"…Eh?"

He didn't need to lie, so he told the girl honestly, but the moment the girl heard Minato's name, she stiffened and her face began to pale.

He hadn't meant to say anything strange, but it seemed that something in his words had sounded wrong as she was clearly not in a normal state.

"Um, are you ok–"

"I'm sorry!"

The moment he called out to her in concern, she bowed deeply. He had no idea what was going on.

The other girls were also bowing their heads together, making it a bizarre scene.

The surrounding area was buzzing, and he was standing out like a sore thumb, so he called out to them, thinking that he had to stop them.

"For now, please raise your head."

"…I understand, I'm really sorry."

The girls looked up and had a downcast look on their faces, and it didn't look like their apology was a lie.

However, Minato had to ask them because he had no idea what was going on.

"Can you explain it to me first? I have no idea what's going on."

"Yes. So–"

The girls seemed to be the ones that Momose had told him about before, the ones who were determined to protect Airi from the hands of men.

This time, seeing how Airi was at school, Airi didn't seem like she would be with a guy on her days off, and the girls were worried that she was being picked up again, so they tried to protect her. This seemed to be the reason why she was so hostile.

But then again, I'm sometimes with Momose at school…

They were walking together in the first place, so it seemed much reasonable to assume that they knew each other, and Minato was sometimes with Momose, including Kazuma, during lunch and after school, but from what the girls were saying, it must not have been memorable for them.

In the first place, it might be absurd to expect them to remember the face of a friend of a friend with whom they had almost no relation.

It could also be because it was during the summer break that the rumor started that Minato had become the closest friend to Airi, and the rumor hadn't been widespread just yet from one day of school.

He felt a little hurt because he felt like he was implicitly being called plain and inconspicuous, but he knew that if he expressed it to the girls, they would apologize again, so he kept his sadness to himself.

Also, the reason why they suddenly apologized was because Momose had spread the word that Minato was the person who saved Airi during the fireworks display, and from their point of view, they had been rude to the person who saved Airi.

So, Minato and Airi gave a bitter smile as they listened to the story.

"–Like that."

"I understand what you're saying. Anyway, you're convinced that I'm with Ninomiya, right?"

"Yes, if Kujo-senpai says so, I can trust him."

He felt complicated by the fact he had won her trust, when earlier, she didn't seem to trust him in the slightest.

However, he was thankful that the situation was not too complicated.

"Then I guess I don't have anything to say."

"Thank you so much!"

Seeing the girls finally smiling, he let out a sigh of relief that it was nothing serious.

And now that the tension was gone and the walls were down, the girls were able to talk with Airi again, including Minato.

"Kujo-senpai, thank you for protecting Ninomiya-san from Amamiya and the others."

"It's natural to help people in trouble. I didn't do it to be thanked."

"You're very kind, aren't you, senpai?"

"…Is that so?"

He didn't feel bad when he was praised with a smiling face.

Although he didn't do it because he really wanted to be thanked, he felt slightly itchy to be praised so honestly.

"…Muu~"

"Ninomiya-san, what's wrong?"

For some reason, Airi became grumpy when Minato was talking, and the girls saw the disgruntled look on her face.

However, the moment she was asked a question, she put on her usual outing expression.

"No, it's nothing."

"…Is that so? But it's unexpected, isn't it? I didn't think Ninomiya-san would go out with a boy, even if it's Kujo-senpai."

"I just asked Kujo-senpai to help ward off men because I know he can be trusted."

There was nothing wrong with what Airi had said, but several of the girls grinned when they heard the statement.

"Hee~ That's right! Since it's such a good opportunity, why don't you come and hang out with us, Kujo-senpai?"

Suddenly, she changed the person she was talking to to Minato, and several girls approached him, their eyes shining strangely.

He could see the curiosity in their eyes that they had found somebody interesting.

"No, that's–"

"You can't."

He felt a thin chill from the girls' expressions, and when he tried to refuse on the grounds that he was in the middle of shopping and couldn't just abandon it, Airi cut the flow with a voice that didn't let him say no.

She glared at him with jittery eyes, but he couldn't understand why she was looking at him that way.

When he questioned her attitude, she sounded pouty.

"Kujo-senpai, you promised to go shopping with me, right? Why are you turning your nose up at me?" (T/N: An idiom I think…)

He was a little bit happy, but he was definitely not turning his nose up.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Liar, even though you're blushing. You were happy when she said you were nice earlier."

"…That's not true, though?"

He thought, what guy wouldn't be happy to be praised by a girl, but his sixth sense told him that if he admitted it here, he would die.

His reply was delayed for a moment, and Airi, who usually observed Minato, couldn't have missed it, making her even more grouchy.

"Why was there a pause in your response? So any girl is fine, is that it?"

"Oh, God, just calm down for now."

" Mou! You're dodging the question!?"

"Hey, Ninomiya, do me a favor, won't you?"

"…Um, Ninomiya-san, just calm down for now, okay?"

As Airi started to go completely off the rails and Minato was desperately trying to appease her, one of the girls offered a helping hand.

"What? I'm in the middle of…something…important…"

In the middle of her words, she must have realized what kind of situation she was in.

Airi's words faltered as she realized that her acquaintance had seen her being as expressive as she always was at home.

"Um, well, this is, uh…"

"That's why I told you to calm down."

"…I'm sorry."

When he warned Airi, who seemed to be panicking, in a dumbfounded way, she lowered her eyebrows and became depressed.

The change in her expression seemed to be a tremendous shock to the group of girls, and almost all of them froze.

The only person who didn't freeze, the girl who first spoke to Minato, asked Airi with a wry smile.

"Have you calmed down?"

"Ye-Yeah…"

"Kujo-senpai, may I borrow Ninomiya-san for a moment? We'll be right back!"

"That's alright."

"…Eh?"

Airi's expression was colored with surprise.

She probably didn't think Minato would allow it.

"Well then, excuse me! I'll be borrowing her!"

"U-Um, Kujo-senpai?!"

Minato allowed it, and soon Airi was taken away.

When they were separated, she gave him a confused look for help, but when he smiled and gave her an encouraging good luck, she had a look of loss on her face.

Well, I think they should be okay.

He had been watching the girls' personalities, and they were probably not bad people, since they tried to protect Airi from Minato and even apologized to him the moment the misunderstanding was cleared up.

So he decided that there would be no problem even if Airi's mask came off, and he watched their conversation.

By the looks of it, they seem really excited. What could they be talking about?

The girls, with Airi in the center, were frolicking in a position where Minato could not hear them. Every once in a while, he could see Airi's face turning bright red, which made him wonder what they were talking about.

However, he couldn't poke his head into it, so he took a leisurely break by himself while checking to make sure that she didn't look uncomfortable.

He wondered if Airi's mask was getting thinner lately, but if she could still talk that much, maybe he didn't need to be so concerned about her outing expression.

"Well then, Kujo-senpai, excuse me! Nihihi, see you later, Ninomiya-san!" (*snickering.)

The conversation seemed to be over, and the girls, strangely cheerful, easily left Minato and Airi. They had said they wanted to play together, but was it really okay?

He was about to ask, but the clinging eyes of Airi seemed to say, "Please, don't say anything."

As the girls came and went like a storm, he felt exhausted.

The girl next to him, Airi, must have been exhausted as well, because she looked a little tired.

"Airi, do you want to take a break?"

"…Yes."

He took Airi, whose cheeks were still red, to a coffee shop.

"I think they were nice kids, but they didn't do anything bad to you, did they?"

"No, they didn't do anything bad to me. It wasn't unpleasant."

"That's good then. It was worth the effort."

Hopefully this would make Airi's time at school easier. He judged the girls based on what he could see from their personalities, but it seemed worth it for Airi to be dragged along.

When Minato let out a satisfied smile, he was stared at with pouting lips.

"What's so good about it? Good grief, does Minato-san know how hard it was for me?"

"…You didn't like it after all, did you?"

"No, that's not it. Hah~ Well, it's my fault, I know that, but I just can't believe it…"

Airi complained in a small voice, but it didn't seem like she was blaming Minato, so he let her have her way for a while.