"In short, the matter of Haruno wanting to treat you to a meal..." Yukino once again brought up the main point of the conversation.
"Help me decline." Asakura shook his head, "I didn't do those kinds of things just for a meal."
Although being invited to a meal wasn't a big deal to him, to be honest, his impression of Haruno was quite subtle.
Unlike Yukino, her older sister's mind was much deeper and more calculating. Asakura didn't want to have too much entanglement with her.
"The Yukinoshita family always repays a kindness." The girl tactfully refused Asakura's refusal.
"It's not like I haven't saved you before, but I didn't see you repaying any kindness." Asakura stared at the girl's chin and teased.
"What repayment?"
At this moment, Yanami, whose attention had been focused on the menu, finally came back online: "Is Yukinoshita-san going to weave cloth for Asakura-kun?"
"The possibility of taking me to Ryugu-jo is also slim." Asakura also followed along with the girl's playfulness in a serious manner.
"Setting the crane aside, no matter how you look at it, Yukinoshita-san has nothing to do with a turtle, right?" (Note)
"Well, though I'm not really interested in a box that turns people old regardless of whether it's a crane or not." Asakura said nonchalantly.
"No, no, no, the main point of the Crane Repaying a Kindness story isn't the cloth, but getting married to the benefactor, right?" Yanami said.
Yukino stayed silent and continued to pet the cat, her expression as indifferent as ever, but her ears turned red.
Noticing this, Yanami showed a thoughtful expression: Although she usually looks aloof, this child is actually quite a social butterfly in class, biologically categorized as a primate-family modern normie, and definitely not a fool in the true sense.
"You really don't understand, Yanami."
Asakura clicked his tongue and shook his head: "Only when they see someone good-looking is the repayment 'offering oneself in marriage'- otherwise, it's 'in the next life, I shall serve you as an ox or a horse to repay your kindness'."
"That's a bit too realistic for a way to repay kindness!"
Yanami complained, then she subconsciously sized up Asakura's face—although they had known each other for a long time, it seemed the girl had never actually taken a good look at Asakura's appearance.
His features weren't the kind of handsome that allowed one to be recognized in a crowd at a single glance, but his upright and non-sharp face shape was definitely not ugly. Rather, the five features were quite durable, the type that looked better the more you looked at them. If one had to say it, it was a so-called reserved handsomeness.
His hair was neatly trimmed, looking slightly crisp, especially eye-catching were the few strands of white mixed into the black hair as if they were highlights, which were very prominent but not abrupt.
What drew attention was his right eye; one couldn't say exactly what was different, but deep in the pupil there seemed to be a pool of shadows that was deeper and quieter than usual. Although the light was subtly empty and scattered, giving people a feeling that his eyesight might not be very good, when the gaze occasionally shifted, it faintly revealed an indefinable, almost substantive, strange luster that seemed to see through everything and perceive the truth, always making people unable to help but look more, yet instinctively wanting to avoid that deep pool.
Yanami, who usually treated Asakura as a brother (or possibly a sister?), suddenly felt her heart skip a beat.
What the, this kid is actually quite handsome.
She tried her best to suppress the strange feeling in her heart, put on her usual slightly out-of-tune silly smile, and said: "So Asakura-kun, do you think you are the type who would be told 'I will serve you as an ox or a horse in the next life'?"
"No, I'm the type who would say 'You wish!' to those who want to 'offer themselves in marriage'."
"That's too unromantic!" The girl was greatly shocked: "Don't destroy the beautiful impression of fairy tales in my heart!"
"Deciding to get married immediately after meeting once just because the other person is pretty is the truly irresponsible behavior, right?"
"It sounds strange coming from a boy..." Yanami rubbed the space between her eyebrows, "Clearly those guys in class are always looking at idols, VTubers, or anime characters and saying things like 'I love you! Let's get married!'..."
"That's just a joke among male compatriots. If you really let them choose seriously..." Asakura shook his head.
Well, eight times out of ten, they'd still be willing.
Better to say most would be more than happy to...
"Is... Is that so?" Because Asakura spoke halfway with an unfathomable expression of a hidden expert, Yanami had a subtle misunderstanding: "So boys have such unexpected integrity regarding marriage..."
"I beg to differ."
This was Yukinoshita putting down the cat in her hands—of course, it could also be because the cat was already annoyed by the petting and its tail began to lash back and forth—she spoke up: "I don't deny there are indeed some men with integrity, but the vast majority, at least at this age, are incarnations of desire."
"What evidence do you have?" Asakura immediately began to defend his male compatriots.
That's right, this was definitely not an exaggeration. At this moment, standing behind him were billions of boys of the same age, brothers from all over the world supporting him. Let me hear your voices!
"From the love letters found in my shoe locker every Monday and the way they look at me—"
The girl said calmly and unyieldingly: "Especially when I'm wearing gym clothes or a school swimsuit."
"...I've lost." Asakura sat motionless on the soft chair like a boxer who had been burnt out.
Although he could faintly hear someone shouting things like 'Don't admit defeat so easily!', 'Stand up like a man!', and 'I want to lick Yukino's black tights!', Asakura didn't care anymore.
Distracting thoughts, begone.
"In short, not just my sister, I also hope Asakura-kun you can..."
Yukino looked at the playful Asakura and wanted to say something very seriously.
"Guest, here is the classic meatball pasta you ordered."
At this moment, the cat cafe waiter delivered the items Yanami ordered to the table in front of them, interrupting the girl's invitation.
"Wow! I've been looking forward to this for so long!"
Yanami excitedly picked up her fork, her sapphire-like eyes seemingly glowing as she stared at the things on the plate. She said triumphantly, "Eating meatball pasta with a fork is the mark of an expert!"
Asakura and Yukino simultaneously showed a speechless expression of 'This kind of thing doesn't have any element worth being proud of at all'.
Note: Here he is alluding to the Crane Repaying a Kindness and Urashima Taro, both of which are classic Japanese animal repayment stories. Because they are quite famous stories, no further explanation will be given. In China, animal repayment stories seem to feature foxes primarily.