Ruby's New Friends

After school ends, Saki, Rena, Asuka, Yuta, and I, the five of us, go outside of another school to wait for Ruby.

Rena had already told them that Rena and I had made a new friend named Ruby. We were picking her up so we could go back to the park and play.

I had also mentioned to them in the morning that I was just going jogging, and in the evening, Rena and I would go back to her place to play games. Saki believed me, but Asuka seemed to have some doubts. I'm not sure why.

It doesn't matter much. Why am I letting them meet Ruby now? Why didn't we let them meet before?

The answers to these questions are that Rena and I wanted to know Ruby's personality first. In the game, she had a very cold personality that rejected people even if they came within one meter of her.

So, we wanted to confirm her personality, which surprisingly turned out to be very good. It was easy to become friends with her. So, for a week, Rena and I deepened our friendship with Ruby before introducing her to Saki and the others.

Based on what I've learned from my gift, Ruby is being bullied at school. While I could confront the bullies, that's not the solution. The problem is something else, and I'm going to solve it soon.

The five of us children are walking to school, and I notice a cute girl with white hair standing near the gate. As she sees Rena and me, she runs towards us but then stops and walks over.

It seems that Rena scolded her yesterday, which made her stop running. As she approaches, she curiously looks at Saki, Asuka, and Yuta, who are also looking at her.

"This is Ruby, the new friend I made," I say to the three of them, and they smile at Ruby. She gets closer to Rena and holds her hand, partially hiding behind her.

"Ruby, meet our friends Yuta, Saki, and Asuka," Rena says with a smile, pushing Ruby forward. Ruby seems shy as she looks at me. Saki and the others seem uncertain about what to say or do.

"Hey, I'm Takeru Asuka. Nice to meet you," Asuka steps forward and extends her hand to Ruby.

Ruby looks at the hand, then at Asuka, and shyly nods her head, saying, "N-Nice to meet you. I'm Miyazawa Ruby."

"Nice to meet you, Miyazawa. I'm Takeru Yuta," Yuta nods and smiles at Ruby.

"I'm Ryuki's older sister, Shizimu Saki. Nice to meet you," Saki adds.

Asuka breaks the awkward silence, making it easier for Saki and Yuta to join the conversation.

"How about going to the park?" I suggest, and everyone agrees.

While we head to the park, Rena stops and says, "Let's go there and eat. It's my treat."

"Really?" Saki's eyes light up, she has her finger on her lips as she asks, looking at Rena and then at the food truck.

"Of course, it's my treat." Rena nods.

"Yuppie, let's go, little brother," Saki pulls me along, running toward the food truck.

"Hey, slow down, I might fall."

"Don't worry, even if you fall, it won't hurt too much."

As Saki drags me to the food truck and starts checking the menu, I notice Ruby holding onto Rena's arm, Yuta with his hands in his pockets, and Asuka walking toward us.

"Okay, I want to eat Spicy Noodles," Saki declares. When Rena and the others arrive, we place our orders and eat right there, while listening to Saki. She's sharing interesting things that happened in her class, and Yuta is also sharing his classroom stories, which I forget about.

Ruby also seems to become more comfortable being around Saki and the others. After we finish eating, it's getting late, so we all decide to head back home.

---

Ruby walks happily to her house, humming and occasionally skipping a step. Since meeting Rena and Ryuki, she's felt much happier. Today, she also met Yuta, Asuka, and Saki, and she thinks they're all good people.

But there's one thing she can't understand: how can Saki be Ryuki's older sister?

She feels that Ryuki is more mature than Saki, not just Saki, but also more mature than Yuta and Asuka. Only Rena seems to be as mature as Ryuki.

It puzzles her that Ryuki calls Saki his older sister while Saki calls him her little brother. She wants to ask about it, but she can't gather the courage to do so.

"No, I'll ask them tomorrow," Ruby says, pumping her fist, determined to get answers.

As she thinks about this and feels happy, she reaches her home. As she looks at her home, all her happiness suddenly puffs away, vanishing as if it had never been there to begin with. She feels a bit afraid as she tries to open the door, but she can't.

"Um?" Ruby blinks her eyes and uses force to unlock her house's door, but it isn't opening.

"It's locked," she understands this, but she can't comprehend where her father went.

In her entire life, she had never seen her father away from home when she returned from school. Even though she had been coming home later than usual for the past few days, her father was still at home during this time. So where did he go today?

Ruby didn't know, so she goes to the front yard of her house. There's a tree in her front yard, and she sets down her bag and sits under the tree, leaning against it.

She thinks about tomorrow, when she will meet up with Ryuki and Rena, and play with them.

"I should do something for them," Ruby says to herself.

She understands that from the moment she met them, they have been giving her lots of food, helping her with homework, and more. She also wants to do something for them.

While she's lost in these thoughts, she falls asleep under the cool shade of the tree and awakens to the rumbling of her hungry stomach. She opens her eyes and sees that it's dark.

She blinks her eyes, gets up, and looks around. She realizes it's nighttime, and she can see light through the window of her house.

"Father returned," she mumbles to herself. She goes to the door and tries to open it, but it's still locked.

She frowns and decides to knock, but then she stops herself. She fears that her father might be sleeping, and if she wakes him up by knocking, she'll have to face his anger.

When she thinks about her father's angry face, fear courses through her entire body. She lowers her shoulders, retreats back under the tree, and tries to sleep. However, her hungry stomach makes it difficult for her to fall asleep easily. Eventually, exhaustion wins, and she falls asleep.