Dinner with the neighbours

Finally, the school day ended. I ended up not being able to go home early after hurting my ankle. The nurse refused to leave the infirmary, so I couldn’t get a chance to get out.

Well then, the worst is yet to come. First, I have to find Sawa so that we can get going. I went down to the front entrance of the school. Sawa seemed to be there already, waiting for me. I hope she wasn’t waiting too long—I don’t want to have to deal with her complaining about making her wait.

“You’re finally here. Great. Let’s get going,” Sawa called out as I exited the school.

Beside her was Lei Mei. Why is she here?

“Yeah… my bad,” I replied to Sawa. I looked over at Lei Mei, but she didn’t say a single word. “What brings you here, Lei Mei?” I asked her.

She looked over at me with a confused look.

“Oh, I didn’t tell you because you were being creepy. Lei Mei is also coming with us. Her family recently moved into our neighborhood, and my parents met them a few days ago and wanted to become friends. Pretty much why we’re having this dinner together to begin with,” Sawa explained.

“Wow, so you really chose not to mention such a crucial piece of information because I was just looking forward while eating?” I yelled out of frustration.

Sawa coming to my house is one thing, but having Lei Mei also come makes it much worse. We’ve barely talked, and knowing Sawa, she would drag Lei Mei into doing something stupid. I also don’t need two people seeing the state of my room.

“Don’t yell at me. What the hell is wrong with you? You’re literally a degenerate no-life. You’ll remain unloved for the rest of your life. Just shut the fuck up—you’re an utter disgrace to all humans to exist,” Sawa said calmly.

I looked at her. I was left speechless. I wanted to reply, but I couldn’t. My voice was unable to project itself.

We ended up walking in silence. No one said a word until we arrived at my house.

I was hoping to get a few seconds to throw my stuff somewhere safe, but my parents instantly dragged us into the dining room to eat. There was plenty of food spread over the entire table. They were probably looking to impress the Lei family.

“So, how was school today?” asked my mother.

Aguni Esumi, my mother, tends to be fairly energetic and nosy about everything. She doesn’t have a job, so she has a lot of spare time.

“Yeah, it was good,” I replied while looking over at Lei Mei.

“Anything interesting happen?” my father asked.

Aguni Shunsen, my father, tends to just go with the flow or whatever my mother tells him. He spends most of his days at work, so he doesn’t really know how to interact with me.

“No, not really,” I replied.

“Taji was close to scoring a goal, but someone tackled him. He had to go to the infirmary. They said he was the man of the match, though,” Sawa added.

“Woah, Taji, never knew you were so good at football,” said my father.

“He’s really not,” Sawa replied for me.

Sawa seems to still be mad at me, or she’s trying to tease me. Either way, this is getting quite annoying, but if I were to leave, I’d make a bad impression, and Sawa would win. Also, she could use that as an excuse to get away and go to my room.

“Yeah, haha, Sawa’s right.”

She looked over at me with murderous intent. Her eyes sharply gazed at me. I probably should have taken the bait—it would have been safer for me.

“Say, Mrs. Lei, how are you finding life here in Japan so far?” asked my mother.

“Ah, yes, it’s very nice. It’s a bit different but not too much,” Mrs. Lei replied.

“Do you plan to stay here permanently?” asked Mrs. Sawa.

“Yes, we’re looking to stay here. It’s much better here,” Mrs. Lei answered.

I really wish I hadn’t messed up Sawa’s plan. Now we have to sit here so that we don’t look too rude.

The three of us sat there for the past half-hour, listening to our parents chat about all the boring stuff—school, work, and so on. I really wish I hadn’t messed up. This entire time, Sawa has been death-staring me; she might have even been cursing me under her breath.

“Can I go to the loo?” Lei Mei asked all of a sudden.

“Yes, of course, you can. Taji, show her the way, please,” my mother said.

Finally, a chance to get out. I got up and led Lei Mei to the bathroom. As soon as she closed the door, I sprinted across the corridor to my bedroom and began to hide all the mess I had.

Sawa walked into my room only a few minutes later, as I was still hiding stuff around my room. I should have expected her to find her way up after I ditched everyone downstairs.

Unfortunately, I happened to be attempting to hide one of my erotica manga. This has to be the worst timing possible.

“So, Taji. Why the hell didn’t you take the hint to get out of the room? You could have stormed out, and I would have said I was going to apologize, instead of having to sit there for half an hour,” Sawa said in a frustrated tone.

“I didn’t realize what you were trying to do until after.”

“Well, great. I wasted a whole 30 minutes of my life listening to our parents’ chit-chat about the most boring stuff possible.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It did suck, but all of us had to deal with it, so deal with it.”

“Huh? Do you think I care about what you felt? Please never assume that I would put your feelings under my consideration.”

Wow, she really just said that. I knew she was straightforward, but this is just plain rude. Whatever, as long as she doesn’t question what I was doing.

“Anyways, now that’s done, what are you doing?” Sawa asked curiously while wandering around my room.

“Uh, I was just putting stuff away. Left some books out, so I wanted to put them back.”

“Oh, okay. Do you have the latest Shuuman Skip Weekly? I haven’t had the chance to get one yet. You know how my parents are with those things,” she said as she jumped around on my bed.

“Uh, yeah, I have it. It should be somewhere next to the bed, actually.” I tried remembering where I left it, but with this mess, I might have moved it.

“Oh, I think I found it.”

I looked over and glanced at what she grabbed. Sadly for me, my luck must have really run out today. She was holding one of my yuri manga I had gotten.

“Oh wow, this is definitely not the Weekly Skip,” Sawa said while flipping through the pages.

I quickly jumped at her to try to get her to drop it. I ended up landing entirely on top of her. She did drop the manga, though, so half of what I was planning to achieve was done.

“What do you think you’re doing, you perverted degenerate trash?!?!” Sawa said surprisingly calmly.

“I’m not doing anything.”

“You’re on top of me.”

“I know, and you’re under me.”

“That was your cue to get off me, not point out the obvious, you creep,” Sawa said as she threw me off.

Lei Mei walked into the room. Her face was just as red as Sawa’s. Seems like she came at the wrong time.

“Oh, h-hey, Mei,” Sawa nervously said.

“Good evening,” Lei Mei replied politely.

“When did you get here…?” Sawa asked.

“Well, when Aguni was on top of you. I’m glad you weren’t doing anything indecent. I was about to let your parents know,” Lei Mei replied.

I’m really glad that she stayed long enough to realize it was just a misunderstanding and that it wasn’t anything else. I really don’t need either my parents or Sawa’s parents to get hold of this situation.

“Anyways… Mei! Do you read any manga?” Sawa tried to change the topic.

“Yes, I do,” Lei Mei replied.

“Oh? You do? What kind?” I asked.

“I mostly read Lian Huan Hua. Currently reading Zhan Shanghai,” Lei Mei told us.

Both Sawa and I stared at her. She stared back at us with full confidence and a smile on her face. Not sure if she realizes that neither of us knows what that is. I’m glad that she’s at least happy, even if we have no idea what she’s talking about.

“Hey, Lei Mei, what are you trying to become when you’re older?” I asked curiously.

“Most of my family has been doctors, so I’m studying to become a doctor.”

“So that’s why you’re good at first aid. Pretty cool.”

I’m quite amazed that someone is dedicating so much time and effort to becoming a doctor at our age. Most people would just act stupid and not do much or even consider their future. She really is quite amazing.

“We should totally hang out more often, Mei,” Sawa suddenly yelled out.

Lei Mei got knocked back by the overly hyper-energetic Sawa. She must not be used to this kind of company.

“Y-yeah, we could,” Lei Mei replied in a soft voice.

She really is adorable. She steals my attention every time. Man, I really hate this. Ever since she first came into our homeroom yesterday, she’s been on my mind. I need to stop wasting my time on these thoughts.

“Taaaaaaaaaaaaaji!!!! You gotta stop staring so much, you weirdo,” Sawa called out while yanking my hair.

“I wasn’t staring. I was just thinking about stuff,” I tried to explain.

“Yeah, sure, that’s what they all say. You were probably thinking about some dirty stuff. I mean, after all, you have two attractive young ladies in your manky room. You were without a doubt having some perverted thoughts about us,” Sawa carried on teasing me.

We ended up playing on the YCube for the rest of the night.