Chapter 58: Chapter 58

Straw was in my mouth, connected to the glass of iced lemon tea I was holding. Soft music played in the background.

Calmness filled the café, with not too many customers and waiters skillfully doing their jobs.

My table was the same, occupied by me, Yona, and the twin-tailed girl who kept averting her gaze. The atmosphere here was just as calm—or rather, silent. Because aside from speaking to order our food, we had stayed quiet since then.

Setting my glass, now half-empty, down on the table, I cleared my throat and looked at the girl in front of me. She was sitting across from me, far from Yona.

"Um. If I’m not mistaken, you’re Yuri’s little sister, right? Nice to see you again. Sorry about Yona. And about what happened earlier, even though it’s true that I’m in the same club as your older sister… we absolutely do not have the kind of relationship you think we do."

"My name is Kuro, don’t you dare forget it!"

Biting into her croissant with her bare hands, she snorted after swallowing.

"Hmph! Trying to dump my sister after getting caught cheating? You really are a gigo—"

"Finish that sentence and I’ll stab your tongue."

Yona interrupted without a hint of humor in her voice. Using her fork, she cut into her cake hard enough to make a metallic clink against the plate, causing Kuro to yelp in fear.

Her twin-tails bounced with the movement.

... Honestly, Kuro’s attitude was kind of annoying me. So I was glad Yona had the courage to get angry for my sake. But for now… I didn’t want her bullying Kuro.

I felt relieved hearing that.

Though, when I looked back at Kuro, unlike me, she seemed to pull even farther away from the table, looking tense.

I scratched my head in exhaustion. Now how was I supposed to make her stop misunderstanding? Words alone probably wouldn’t be enough...

After thinking for a bit, I got an idea and pulled out my phone to search for Yuri’s contact.

"Since your sister’s phone is broken right now and can’t be contacted… how about you look at the chat history between me and her, then decide for yourself?"

Without even glancing at my screen, Kuro looked like she wanted to open her mouth again, but quickly stopped when she noticed Yona’s sharp gaze aimed at her.

"I-I’ll take a look first..."

With trembling hands, Kuro took the phone from me.

Since there was nothing suspicious or too personal on it, I went back to sipping my drink while waiting for her to finish.

At first, Kuro’s expression was that of someone doing something reluctantly. But after she started swiping and reading my messages with Yuri one by one, her sweat increased.

She even forgot to eat or drink her order, only swiping and swiping until, after ten minutes, she stopped.

Her lips trembled as she slowly raised her head to look at me. A blush had spread across her face, made even more noticeable by the sweat.

Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly before finally uttering a single word.

"I’m glad you understand now."

A sigh escaped my lips. Honestly, if she still didn’t believe me after all this, I wouldn’t know what else to do—probably the only choice would be to part ways and leave her to Yuri herself at their house.

Handing my phone back with both hands while bowing her head in an oddly polite way, the twin-tailed girl spoke again.

"I’m very, very sorry for what I did. I even dared to call you something so rude. Please forgive my foolishness, and p-please… don’t hate Yuri just because of what I did."

"I won’t. Besides, I think it’s normal for a little sister to be worried about her older sister."

I was an only child myself. Also, even though I had acquaintances with siblings, it wasn’t like they were overly concerned for each other.

"Thank you so much..."

Kuro then tried moving her chair a little closer to us and glanced at Yona slightly, maybe to check her reaction, but quickly turned her gaze away again when the ponytailed girl continued cutting her cake with force.

In the end, Kuro just looked at my glass, which was almost empty, and spoke up.

"A-Ah, as an apology, how about I pay for both of your bills today? Don’t hesitate to get a refill or order something else."

At first, I wanted to refuse immediately. Setting her behavior aside, Kuro was still a middle schooler. It left a strange taste in my mouth to have her pay for us.

But it would be a shame to turn down something free. Especially since Yona might still not want me to treat her, it was better to let Kuro do it.

At least that way, Yona wouldn’t have to pay for her own order.

"Thanks then. I won’t hold back."

Calling over a passing waiter, I picked up the menu and ordered another drink, then turned to Yona.

"Do you want to order anything else?"

Slowly swallowing her cake, Yona sipped her lemon tea with her eyes closed before speaking.

Kuro looked like she wanted to say something but stopped again, probably because the fear Yona had instilled in her was still so deep. She could only sit back and fidget with her fingers.

I couldn’t really blame her. Since Yona somehow felt more intimidating than ever lately...

After telling the waiter to leave, I sat back down and Kuro spoke again.

"C-Could I ask you both something?"

"Go ahead. What is it?"

Now that I thought about it, when Kuro stammered, her voice sounded so much like Yuri’s. If she cut her hair and styled it like her sister’s, I wondered if they could look like perfect twins.

"Did you see my sister while you were playing at the game center earlier?"

Could it be she got separated from Yuri?

But, hm? Wasn’t Yuri absent from school today? Why would she be out with her sister now? Don’t tell me… she was skipping school?

"Wasn’t Yuri sick today?"

"... So that’s what Mom told the school"

Kuro’s eyelids lowered, as did her twin-tails. For a moment, she confused me again. But I understood right away after she continued speaking.

"The truth is… my sister hasn’t come home since last night."