Chapter 4-Sakurai’s POV

“I made a lot of fried chicken yesterday, just for you Sho-chan~!” A big plate of fried chicken was served onto the table, along with the fried rice that was just made by Masaki and Nino. I bit into the fried chicken happily as I thought how about lucky I was to be able to hang out with this group.

I never knew that Masaki was running the store with his friend, and if I hadn’t met Satoshi-kun at the park, I wouldn’t have brought him here. Masaki and Satoshi-kun have both grown up a lot but their personalities haven’t changed much from before. They are both very kind and I am really glad that I became friends with them.

...And Nino, the guy I met today. 

He looks a little bit like a girl on the outside and some of his actions remind me of my pet dog, but I feel some sort of wall between him, and me and Satoshi-kun. I think he will open his heart to us because we’re friends with Masaki, but I felt that Nino’s smile towards Masaki and Nino’s smile towards us felt a little bit different. I think he’s doing this unconsciously but I have a feeling that it’s not just because this is the first time we met him. I think that people who act like this have overcome a certain past when they were younger and are doing these things when interacting with people, to try to protect their feelings from getting hurt. I wonder what happened...?

Oh well, nothing is going to happen from evaluating him like this, I just want to become friends with him. He hangs out with Masaki so I’m sure that Nino is a good guy. I finally came back to Japan, so I think I will try to make more opportunities to hang out with Masaki from now on. I also want to hear Nino’s performance again. As I looked to my side, I suddenly noticed Satoshi-kun sitting dazedly in his seat, not doing anything in particular.

…Satoshi-kun, you’re nodding and replying short answers when we ask you something but you look like you’re daydreaming. :D Was it from after Nino’s performance? Satoshi-kun is staring at Nino from time to time. Hmm, that’s really rare, Satoshi-kun is rarely curious about other people.

When we were still in school, although Satoshi-kun always liked to talk about his hobbies but he never talked about other people. Of course, he never said anything bad about people or listened to any rumors but he never talked about people that he was interested in either. 

In middle school, Satoshi-kun always used to say that he was very bad at studying, but he was absolutely brilliant at art and he also extremely sporty. That was why he was popular and I saw him leave school with a girl that he was apparently going out with couple of times. But when I asked him about it in person, he always said, “Mm, I don’t know. What about you, Sho-kun? Are you interested in anybody?” Therefore, I have always thought that Satoshi-kun was not so interested in people, so it was unexpected that Satoshi-kun was staring at Nino so much.

I sensed that we were all going to get along very well and I suddenly felt glad that I came back to Japan.

Ohno's POV

The fried rice that Aiba-chan and Nino made tasted like home and it was very good.
I didn't eat a decent meal in so long, I always buy boxed lunch at convenience stores because I am very busy with my work recently.

“Why did you want to start a restaurant?” Sho-kun asked as he finished his cup of beer and reached for the bottle to refill his cup.
“Well, it was sort of my dream since I was a kid. Because my parents own a Chinese restaurant, you know? I always liked the loud and cheerful atmosphere, but I thought that these kind of quiet restaurants where you can stop to eat and think while you’re sad and lonely… it’s nice too, don’t you think?”
“And plus…” Aiba-chan added as he looked towards Nino.
“ I wanted more people to listen to the songs that Kazu-kun composed.” Sho-kun opened his eyes wide in surprise.
“Wait a second, Nino made that song that he performed just now?”
“The songs that Nino plays here are generally the songs he composes. But if there’s a request from the customers, you play them too, right Kazu-kun?” Nino nodded to Aiba-chan’s words.
“If I don’t know the song, then I would have to practice it to be able to play it and sing it…”
“Then you know how to play all of the songs that you know?! Wow, that’s amazing!” Sho-kun’s voice gradually became louder as he talked in astonishment. I was very surprised too. I never thought that the beautiful song that he performed was actually composed by Nino.
“Well… if I knew the song but I didn’t remember it as well, then I can’t play it…”
When we started talking about Nino, his voice became smaller and smaller and Aiba-chan looked at him with a warm smile.

“It was amazing! When I heard your performance just now, I was so impressed! The sounds you created with the piano was amazing! Right, Satoshi-kun?” I was surprised that he suddenly asked me a question but I answered without hesitation.

“Oh, yeah…I thought that it was… a very warm song. It was English and I didn’t really understand the lyrics, but I thought that it was a… very kind and… reassuring. The piano and the song really blended in together and it was… just wonderful.” I told him my feelings honestly and I looked up to see Nino looking at me with his mouth open.

“Um… did I… say something weird?”

“No, you spoke so much at once just now, Satoshi-kun. :D” Sho-kun was grinning at me as if there was something funny about what I said. Watching our expressions and conversation, Nino laughed with a huge smile on his face. That was the first you time you smiled at me, not Aiba-chan, truthfully from your heart.

“Ohno-san, you’re a weird person. :)”

“Yeah, a little.”

“I think so too.”

“Why? :D” You look so happy. Being laughed at does not feel bad at all.