The Aberrant

"Phew... phew..."

Both of them were panting heavily. Shinomiya was especially exhausted from carrying someone; he had practically dragged Kushida along the entire way.

Good thing he had learned some dancing before, or he would not even have been able to come up with the moves.

Kushida buried herself in Shinomiya's padded coat, her little face flushed rosy from the exertion.

"Phew... Shinomiya, thank you."

"Phew... It's nothing."

The people around them were having the time of their lives watching the spectacle.

"Kiss! Kiss!"

Each one shouted louder than the last.

Kushida's face reddened even more when she heard them. She buried her face in Shinomiya's chest, too embarrassed to look up.

Shinomiya could only hold Kushida, lift her up, and skate off the rink himself.

With both feet dangling in the air, Kushida became even more embarrassed and instinctively hugged Shinomiya tighter.

Shinomiya took Kushida off the rink and brought her to the lounge. Only then did the two separate.

Looking at the slightly disheveled Kushida, Shinomiya simply bought her a hot drink.

"Get some energy back."

Kushida accepted the drink and took small sips.

Even after they changed out of their clothes and skates and left, neither of them said another word.

Just as they were about to part ways, Shinomiya finally spoke.

"Um, Kushida, can I call you..."

Kushida's phone suddenly rang.

"Sorry, I need to take this."

Kushida answered the phone and agreed to something in her sweet voice.

"Mm... ...See you tomorrow."

Shinomiya did not pay close attention, but it was probably another girl asking her out.

"Shinomiya, Airi asked us to go to the electronics store tomorrow to get her camera fixed. Don't forget!"

After saying that, Kushida ran toward the dorms and disappeared in an instant.

Shinomiya wanted to say something, but stopped himself. He had not even finished what he wanted to say.

Airi Sakura, you're something else!

You really exceeded my expectations. You actually wanted to take the initiative and approach the sun to die?

Shinomiya was irritated too.

He headed straight for the gym.

The next day, beneath the scorching summer sun.

Sakura apologized with a ninety-degree bow.

"I'm sorry for making you come with me."

"I should be the one apologizing. I broke your camera." Kushida awkwardly took responsibility.

The three of them sat down outside a bubble tea shop.

"I actually want to know why you asked us to come." Shinomiya looked at Sakura in confusion.

Shinomiya did not even use his analyst talents anymore. If he saw through everything at a glance, it would be too boring.

"Well... it's like this."

The three arrived in front of the camera store.

Shinomiya's mouth twitched as he looked at the aberrant creature before him.

Well, now it all made sense.

"Ah↑... this one↓... this is broken↓.

Oh↑... it's a power issue↓... mm... it's broken↓."

It would have been one thing if the clerk were merely ugly, but he also spoke with exaggerated rises and falls in his voice, splitting every sentence into three parts.

His tone was bizarre and faintly lecherous. His eyes wandered all over the place, accompanied by strange body movements.

Shinomiya really wanted to punch him!

"The warranty card?↑ The warranty card.↓"

Sakura was clearly frightened and had no idea how to deal with someone like this.

Kushida stepped in. "Did you bring the warranty card?"

"Mm." Sakura nodded and had Kushida hand over the warranty card for her.

The clerk took the card and held it right in front of his eyes. It was impossible to tell whether he was reading it or smelling it.

"It's still under warranty, so we can replace the parts free of charge."

After saying that, the clerk looked toward Sakura.

Shinomiya frowned. This clerk was genuinely unpleasant.

No wonder Sakura had wanted to bring several people along.

Fine, he forgave Sakura.

Sakura had no idea she had narrowly escaped disaster.

Kushida was unaffected. Maybe she had endured this sort of thing too often.

"How long will it take?" Kushida asked. After all, just standing here had already taken all of Sakura's courage.

"Two or three days, two or three days."

"Please fill in the required fields on this storage form.

We need your address, name... and phone number."

When he mentioned the phone number, the clerk even twisted his body and leaned closer.

Shinomiya immediately clenched his fist.

Don't you come any closer!

Shinomiya nearly punched him. The man's approach instinctively disgusted him.

Sakura held the pen, seemingly lost in thought. In any case, she did not write anything.

"Sakura?" Kushida reminded her.

"Mm." Sakura responded, but still did not write.

Meanwhile, the clerk kept acting like an aberrant creature, tilting his head to the right.

Shinomiya had had enough.

"I'll fill it out. Just contact me." Shinomiya directly took Sakura's form from her.

This time, the clerk finally panicked.

"Wait, that camera belongs to this girl, right? Isn't that inappropriate?"

Shinomiya was rather surprised. This aberrant creature had actually started acting normal.

"The warranty card is fine. What legal issue could there be?"

"Really?"

The clerk wanted to say more, but then he saw Shinomiya's hostile gaze.

Shinomiya's meaning was simple: hurry up and finish this!

Shinomiya took Sakura's place and handed the form to the clerk.

The clerk wisely indicated that there was no problem.

Shinomiya suddenly felt someone watching him.

Following the feeling, he found a camera that was on sale.

Shinomiya picked it up directly.

"Wait, you can't touch that!" the clerk shouted in panic.

Shinomiya ignored him and discovered that the camera was recording.

He immediately pulled out the memory card.

"I don't like being secretly filmed, so I'm taking this.

Also, if you can speak normally, then stop disgusting me!"

Shinomiya slapped the counter with one hand, leaving a palm print behind.

He directly took the two girls and left.

He really did not want to stay there even one second longer.

That palm print was the result of Shinomiya's recent martial arts training.

Shinomiya had already decided to make a file on that clerk.

He would call it "Aberrant."

The three returned to the bubble tea shop where they had started.

A gulp of icy fruit tea went down Shinomiya's throat, and much of his anger faded.

"Thank you for this, Kushida, Shinomiya."

Sakura lowered her head again.

Kushida was as usual. "It's fine. I was the one at fault first."

Then she launched her attack. "But Sakura, can you talk to us like friends?"

Shinomiya assisted, "Yeah, you've been using polite speech this whole time."

"Mm... I'll do my best."

"Don't force yourself." Kushida smiled and reassured Sakura again.

"It's okay..." Sakura answered softly.

Shinomiya felt that today's mission had been successfully completed. Kushida's efforts to win Sakura over were already showing initial results, though that clerk had been rather disgusting.

He somewhat regretted leaving his phone number. He would have to see that man again.

"Sorry, I'm going to the restroom." Kushida stood up and left.

Only Shinomiya and Sakura remained, and the atmosphere immediately became awkward.

Shinomiya wondered whether he should say something so Sakura would not withdraw into herself again.

"Um... Sakura, why did you ask me to come?

Shouldn't you have only asked Kushida?"

Sakura looked a little nervous.

"That's..."

"That's because you don't look at me with strange eyes, Shinomiya."

Shinomiya froze. Strange eyes?

Shinomiya had always looked down on everyone. It seemed Sakura had misunderstood something, mistaking his disregard for others as a form of equal treatment.

That was not entirely wrong. Shinomiya did treat everyone equally.

Kushida excluded.