Five days passed ever since Amane met the man who appeared to be Mahiru's father.
Amane did pay attention whenever he went out, just in case he did meet the man, but his worry did not come to pass.
He probably came to meet Mahiru, or at least, to check on her, and hesitated at the last moment. Otherwise, he would have approached her.
Amane asked Mahiru, and she never was contacted by him, nor did she meet him. Perhaps he did not intend to meet Mahiru at this time.
"...I don't get it."
Amane understood that the man wanted to visit, but not the motive. The strange mystery continued to leave goosebumps in his heart.
Despite that, Amane could not press the matter too much. He could not do anything until the man actually made contact.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Just something on my mind."
Itsuki was at Amane's house, with his summer homework, and looked perturbed as Amane was merely grumbling away, looking at his assignments.
"It's rare to see you voice your troubles...alright, tell your big bro here."
"Aren't you born later than me?"
"Don't sweat the details. Come on."
Itsuki probably was sick of doing his assignments.
He tossed the mechanical pencil onto the table, slapped his own chest, basically telling Amane to leave it to him.
...What do I do now?
Of course, he could not tell Itsuki of Mahiru's family situation, Even though the latter was a good friend, he could not reveal things Mahiru had decided to keep secret.
Amane might be able to talk it out if it was his own secret, but he could not be forthfront and inform Itsuki of Mahiru's secret.
Despite that, he was quietly frustrated that he could not come up with an answer.
After being silent for a while, he chose his words carefully, and said.
"If there's one guy who always never contacted you, and suddenly showed up, what would you think of about that?"
"Is this about yourself?"
"No comment."
"Oh? Sure."
Itsuki showed a gaudy look at Amane's comment, and seemed to have understood something. However, he did not pursue the matter further, and pondered.
"Got to look at the situation...he never contacted beforehand, right?"
"Nope."
"Hm...is he a stalker?"
"...Not exactly."
The man appeared at the apartment discreetly, and vanished without a trace the moment Mahiru appeared; he was not exactly a stalker, but there was something suspicious about him.
"Barely, huh? I'm a little curious about that...hm, he's probably concerned. I don't know what relationship they have, but the possibility is that there might be something he had to verbally convey, or something caused him to change his mind, that he had to get involved."
"...Change his mind."
"I guess that's the only possibility for those who never made contact, only to suddenly show up."
*I don't know how exactly it goes though,*Itsuki shrugged. "I guess it." Amane noted wryly.
Considering what Itsuki had said, it was not strange for the man to appear, though the reasons remained unknown.
Amane did not know of Mahiru's father, how his personality was like, how he treated others, and he had no way to deal with this.
If there was, perhaps something happened with his mistress, or himself. He could not imagine any other reason why he wanted to meet Mahiru again.
"I don't know much, and I can't say much, but if it's me, I'll definitely be curious enough to try and contact him. I don't like to feel all gaudy and leave it be."
"It's you though..."
"Since you're more passive, why don't you wait for him to show up? I think he'll show up again sooner or later. If he's going to give up on making a direct appearance, he would have sent a message, made a call."
Itsuki said that they could only wait since they did not understand the situation, and Amane too made the same conclusion.
A major reason was that the man was looking for Mahiru, and Amane was helpless.
"I guess that's that." Amane sighed, and Itsuki's lips happily curled into a smile.
"...Yo, you're working hard for the one you love, young man."
"Wha?"
"You're easy to read. You would have said it's about yourself if it's really about you. Who else but Shiina-san's matters would leave you so frustrated?"
"...Shut up."
"I don't have the right to interfere with others, so this is all I'll go. Work hard for your cute girlfriend then, Amane."
Itsuki jabbed his elbow at Amane, who looked displeased, and muttered back, "I get that."
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