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“Your friend, Maki?”

“Ah… Mm… Well, not really a friend, but she’s my classmate.”

It was probably a coincidence that she was here.

“What happened, Nitta-san? Why are you yelling?”

“Ah… Uhm… Well… It’s just a small problem… My wallet…”

“You didn’t bring enough money?”

“…Uhm… Yes…”

She nodded with a bitter look on her face.

Her table was lined with drinks, snacks and desserts. Around this time of the day, each item in this restaurant would cost over 1,000 yen each. Seeing her table, the cost for everything would be at least around 4,000 yen.

“…I’m supposed to be with my boyfriend… He told me that he’ll come here later so I should eat first and he’ll pay for it… He called me just now to tell me that he got a date with another girl…”

“Ahh…”

That’s right, she said that someone confessed to her at the cultural festival, so she was probably talking about that person.

So that person cheated on her, huh?

She looked so excited when she was talking about her love life back then, poor girl…

“…I have around 1,000 yen with me, but I got so excited from eating that I lost myself…”

Now I understand why she was yelling. Well, she brought it on herself for believing a mere verbal promise and getting carried away like that.

“Have you contacted your parents?”

“They are working… I tried to call them, but neither of them picked up my calls…”

“Then, what about calling your friends?…”

“…Rep, if you were in my position, would you beg your friends for money?…”

“…No…”

If I were in her position, I could ask Umi for help and she would probably be willing to help me, but begging for money like that would be lame.

“…How much do you need?”

“Eh? Uhm… Around 3,000 yen… But, uncle… Uhm?…”

“I am this boy’s father. Thank you for always taking care of my son.”

“H-Huh? …Maehara-kun’s? …N-No, I mean, it’s my pleasure…”

Dad seemed to have heard everything. He was holding 3,000 yen in his hand.

“Dad, are you going to pay for her?”

“Well, if we leave her like this, it would get messier. If she’s a stranger, I wouldn’t care, but she’s your classmate, right? It wouldn’t be right for me to ignore her.”

Right, if we left her alone, the police might get involved in this and if that happened, she might be suspended or even expelled.

She brought this upon herself, but I still wanted to help her if possible.

“B-But, wouldn’t it be a bother to Maehara-san?”

“Then, just treat it as a loan. You can pay back the money to my son later. I don’t really care even if you don’t return the money though.”

“U-Um…”

Nitta-san glanced at me.

I guess she had enough common sense to be hesitant instead of accepting his offer right away.

“Nitta-san, just standing around doing nothing wouldn’t make money magically appear in your wallet. You don’t need to be reserved, it’s the best thing you could do in this kind of situation.”

“…Alright… My parents said that they’re going to be really busy today, so I don’t know when I will be able to contact them…”

The restaurant wouldn’t care about who pays for what as long as they received the money. To prove this, the waiter was watching us from a distance without trying to interfere.

“…I’m sorry, may I trouble you then, Maehara-san? I’m sorry again…”

“Don’t worry, I don’t mind.”

Dad was about to pull his card out of his wallet.

“I’ll pay for her, dad. You just pay for ours.”

I grabbed his wrist.

“What are you talking about? This much money wouldn’t be a bother to me… Besides, you don’t have that much money with you, right?”

“Mom gave me enough money for it, so I can pay for her. Besides, I don’t need money at the moment, she can pay me back later… You’re fine with this right, Nitta-san?”

“…Uhm… I don’t mind since I’ll be returning the money to you either way…”

“So she said.”

I immediately called the waiter and paid Nitta-san’s bill. Since I got leftover money from last week’s date and the money mom gave me today, I had enough to pay for it.

Well, the budget for our Christmas party would be reduced, but it wasn’t a big deal. I just needed to be more creative.

“Maki, you…”

“Nitta-san is my friend, so it’s natural that I’ll lend her a hand… Dad, you’re pretty much a stranger to me at this point, so you shouldn’t really meddle with a stranger’s business like that…”

We might be related by blood, but we haven’t lived together for a whole year.

Our earlier conversation convinced me that he had no intention of getting back together with mom. The scenes in our family album would never return.

Because that was the case, mom would be my only family now. I’m grateful to him, but since he has Minato-san already, he should be focusing on taking care of his new family instead of me.

I’m sure that Minato-san would hate it if mom and I lingered in his mind.

“Let’s go, Nitta-san.”

“…Are you sure? Is your dad okay?…”

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t pry.”

“…Well, from your conversations, I kinda figured out everything anyway…”

In exchange for that, I won’t tell anyone about her predicament. As for the money, she could pay me back whenever she wanted to.

“Dad, can I ask you one last question?”

“What is it?”

“Do you like Minato-san?”

“…”

After a short silence, he turned his gaze away from me.

“…You will understand everything when the time comes, Maki…”

“…If that’s your answer then, fine. Goodbye.”

I left the family restaurant with Nitta-san.

I have always loved my dad. I wanted to be like him, he was my role model.

But today, he looked more pathetic than any adult I had ever seen in my entire life.

I don’t want to be like him anymore.

“…Rep…”

“What is it?”

“Things seemed rough for you, huh?”

“…I know, right?”

Nitta-san and I hurried home under this dark, cold night.

For the first time in my life, I resented my father.