Chapter 17 - Chat

The rest of the day went on as it should. Ryousuke continued his school time until the dismissal bell rang. Then after that he went straight home as he had no club activities for today. After all, going home early wasn't a bad feeling for him. He could have more fun, play games at his house or read a book.

Returning to his house, he said, "I'm home". And with that, his mother immediately came from the living room and greeted him. "Welcome back, Ryou-kun. How was your day at school today?", with concern, she smiled and asked her son. Although it could be said that she was a kind and understanding mother, but another reason she cared so much for her son was because she could not give birth to another child.

She was diagnosed with infertility which made it impossible for her to give birth to another child after Ryousuke. Although in her dreams, she wanted one boy and one girl, but what can it be. God was not willing.

Ryousuke was like a precious jewel in his parents' home life. Without him, it was certain that their lives would be more empty, a family without children.

But really, Ryousuke's mother was born to be a good and ideal mother. "Good. Today also went well", Ryosuke replied. "fufufu, good then", and his mother smiled happily at her son who seemed to be happily enjoying his youth.

"The water's been heated, so hurry up and take a shower."

"Okay, thanks mom"

"You're welcome."

Ryousuke walked in after finishing taking off his shoes. Storing his bag in the living room, he immediately went to the bathroom and quickly took a refreshing shower. "Fuuh, feels really good..."

Ryousuke showered for about 30 minutes before exiting the bathroom. Quickly putting on his casual clothes, he walked out and climbed the stairs to head to his room.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. My bag is still downstairs", he forgot to pick up his bag that was still lying in the living room and quickly retrieved it. After returning to his room, he went to get his cell phone and turned it on.

"...What is she doing, I wonder?" Ryousuke had just remembered that he had gotten Kawajima's contact number. So, he curiously opened his smartphone app. There, Kawajima's contact had indeed been saved, with a profile picture of a cute little dog.

'... Let's try sending her a message'

[Hello, Kawajima-san. Are you home yet? ] Ryousuke pressed the send button. Waiting for a response from her. Not even a minute had passed, he already got an answer from her.

[Hello Toru-san, yes. I'm home. How about you?]

[me too, today I don't have a schedule for the drama club I'm in, so I went straight home]

[You're in drama club Toru-san? I just know that... ]

After getting Kawajima's answer, Ryousuk realized that they hadn't told each other which club they each joined. Curious about the club Kawajima joined, Ryosuke typed in quickly, [oh yes, Kawajima-san. what about you, what club did you join? ]

Waiting for the answer to come from Kawajima, Ryousuke casually lay down on his bed. Kawajima, like Ryousuke, was the type of person who would reply to any chat that came his way quickly. So, there was no need to wait for a long time before the answer came.

[I joined the book club. I've loved reading various books for a long time, and since we have such a diverse club at school, I tried to look for it and finally found it]

Seeing the message sent by Kawajima, Ryosuke did not feel surprised at all. Ever since they first met, he had felt that Kawajima was a bookish type of girl, and it turned out that his guess was right on target. Smiling happily, he replied, [Really? I actually like reading books too. Although, I mostly only read realistic books]

[!! I see, it looks like we have similar hobbies! Maybe we should exchange books sometime>_<]

"haha, so she can also type emojis like this huh, it's cute coming from you Kawajima-san", he gazed at the screen which was currently showing the latest message from Kawajima. She sent her impression of his hobbies and even added an emoticon at the end.

'She seems to be the type of person who expresses himself more easily when not face-to-face', he discovered new things he knew about Kawajima.

'hmm... But wait, isn't this...'

Looking back at the message from Kawajima, Ryousuke wondered if it was an invitation for him. 'On second thought, it wouldn't bad if we exchanged books, outside, I mean. Yeah, it's not a date, we're just going to exchange books', his mind began to run wild with that thought. Making up his mind, he typed,

[hahaha, that's a good idea. How about this weekend, let's exchange books. And maybe, we can also have lunch together outside]

Send.

...

.....

.....

'... There was no answer. Kawajima-san is supposed to be someone who would reply to messages quickly, so what happened? ' Ryousuke stared at his smartphone screen, waiting for the answer that had yet to arrive from Kawajima. But, after about two minutes, there still wasn't even an answer.

[Kawajima-san? It's okay if you refuse too you know?]

[typing... ], information can be seen at the bottom of her name. 'She seems to be refusing, well... I guess it's too soon for her? ', and after a while, finally a new message appeared.

[no, no, I'm not refusing! But... Isn't this like... a date?]

"oh? He realized it huh, good...", he immediately typed her reply, [well, you can take it that way if you want. So how was it?]

[good! If Toru-san doesn't mind that then, fine with me^^]

[good, then we have a deal. Saturday, 10 am in front of station A, good for you? ]

[fine, then please cooperate Toru-san!]

[hahaha, no need to be shy. We're friends after all] he smiled seeing that he had accepted. After finalizing their agreement, Kawajima took permission to leave as she had to cook dinner for her family. So, after tying up the phone in his hand, Ryousuke who was currently in a very good mood, started planning the places they would visit on their date-uhum! in the book exchange later.

Looking around at various places that might be good for them to visit together later, he was so focused on what he was doing that he lost track of time. His mother even had to call Ryousuke herself for their dinner, which she usually didn't do.