Kawamoto Ren is uneasy after the phonecall with Kiyohira. Something is just not right. He can sniff it. Kiyohira is absolutely hiding something. He calls back. The call cannot be connected. He"s even more suspicious.
Kiyohira definitely wanted someone else to hear what happened with Has.h.i.+moto Chisa. Then, who could it be other than Rie? Judging from his tone, there"s no one else on the planet who can make Kiyohira speak like that. Ren knows Kiyohira for 5 long years. He knows him enough to know who can tick him off like that.
Ren is worried.
Why did Kiyohira ask him to clarify things?
She wouldn"t think in the opposite direction, would she?
Did Rie believe him?
Kiyohira is with Rie right now!!!
In less than a minute, Ren has gone from zero to 100 on the scale of emotional turbulence, ending up sobbing to himself while missing his best friend. "Rie, I have no one who will play games with me. Please come back."
At the age of 34, Ren is single as h.e.l.l. He"s a gaming geek. He has been to prison once. He spends his day blogging about Nano and DH, freelance work, and writing about cybercrime. He has been a.s.signed as a cybercrime a.n.a.lyst by the special cyber crime investigation division. His life isn"t bad, but he"s still a 34 years old virgin.
He checks his laptop. Nano has deleted his p.o.r.n again. She likes to do it regularly. He hates her from the bottom of his belly. He writes another hate blog about her, calling her a psychotic old bald p3doph1le woman with wrinkly yellow skin. He warns all the hackers and non-hackers males to be cautious of her in her blog.
Satisfied by the response of the people who follow him online, he smirks and says, "Nano, how long are you going to ignore me? If you don"t stop deleting my p.o.r.n... Heeeheeeheee!!!"
He"s sure that he"s not half wrong about Nano.
After he is finished, he looks at the clock. He has no urge to cook. He decides to visit Kiyohira"s house for food.
As soon as he opens the door, he sees a woman standing there. The first thing that he notices is her expressive gray eyes on her heart-shaped face. She has shoulder-length wavy brown hair. Her small red mouth reminds him of a rabbit.
She"s around 160 cm, reaching up to his chest. She"s only wearing an oversized beige sweater with giant red letters -Your Bunny. It covers her up to her pale thighs. She"s also wearing furry pink slippers.
He raises his brow sharply. "What are you doing in front of my apartment door?"
"I was thinking about pressing the doorbell." Nina smiles at him. Her gray eyes twinkle in amus.e.m.e.nt.
"Why didn"t you press it then?" Any other man might be affected by her provoking attire and flirtatious gestures. But Ren is immune. He"s been single since birth and the only woman he kissed is Rie. He is, what they say, a dried fish who doesn"t feel anything for a 3D woman in front of him.
Also, she"s too young. Nearly a decade? He can tell. She"s not his type.
"I was nervous." Nina looks down with a blus.h.i.+ng face. "You didn"t ask me who I am and why I am here."
"I was going to ask that." He doesn"t ask her to come inside. He"s a single man. She"s a young suspicious woman. He has already been to prison once and he doesn"t want to go back there.
Nina takes a step toward him. "I am Nina. I live there."
She points at the end of the corridor. Holding the door frame and leaning forward, Ren looks in the direction she pointing in. Did somebody live there? Okay. He turns his head toward her with a question mark on his face.
"I saw you around a lot." Nina is wondering why is this hard. Usually, guys are easy to handle, but Ren is making each sentence awkward. Aren"t virgin guys desperate? Ren doesn"t frequent the bars. It"s hard to meet him at a place where one thing leads to another thing and that could lead to the one night stand. She"s been watching him for a while. He"s always working or at his home. Other times, he"s at Kamiyama Kiyohira"s place. So, she has to take the hard way.
"Okay?" Ren waits for the explanation. Why is she here?"
"Ren, I like you," Nina confesses to him in a shoujo style. She has seen his browser history. He"s a sucker for the romantic manga, though he wouldn"t admit it to anyone else even if he is threatened to death.
Ren stares at her dumbly. She looks down shyly. He looks up at the ceiling with a frown. Are his ears buzzing? He"s hearing strange things. A pretty girl comes to his door and says that she likes him? That"s too good to be true. Scratching his chin, he glances at her again, scanning her from the head to the toe.
"I like you." These words demand an answer. She"s waiting. What should he say? She"s either pretending or being truthful.
It doesn"t matter, right? He doesn"t like her either way.
He walks out of the room and closes the door. He faces the girl.
"Sorry, I don"t like you." He tells her with a light smile, "You are pretty. But you aren"t my type. I also think that you shouldn"t go to a man"s room dressed up like this. This world is not a good place. Treasure yourself more, little girl."
Stunned, she watches him leave. Her brain cannot process the words. Did he call her little girl? He rejected her and then, he called her a little girl. A little girl.
He"s only 9 years older than her. She"s been with older men than him when she was younger.
Nina smiles darkly. She will teach this virgin dried fish a lesson.