After staying at the Rabbit House for a while and chatting with Momoka to confirm that nothing unexpected had happened in the store today, Asakura did not continue to stay. Instead, he packed some unsold desserts and chose to go straight home.
After all, even though there was a room for him in the store, it was ultimately just for emergency use. Not to mention, the clothes he took off also needed to be taken home to be washed and dried.
As a side note, because there is no washing machine in the store, and Momoka is not the kind of diligent and thrifty person who would choose to wash everything by hand, her clothes are actually taken to a self-service laundry at the end of the shopping street. It seems only the underwear part is hand-washed by herself in the store.
Asakura originally thought that when he returned home, he would see Hiroi Kikuri slumped and drunk like a pile of mud, just like the previous two days.
However, today the doorstep was empty with no one there, which couldn't help but make him a little surprised.
But in various respects, this could be considered a good thing. After all, Asakura didn't really intend to become Hiroi Kikuri's "old mama" and take care of her forever.
It was only after walking through the front door and seeing the messy living room that he couldn't help but scratch his head again.
"What should I do about this now..."
Should he just set a fire and burn all the things Hiroi Kikuri left at his house? —Although Asakura would occasionally have such thoughts, for now, it hadn't reached such an extreme point.
"How about finding a cleaner? Recently, the Rabbit House has been profitable, so even if it's a bit of a luxury..." Asakura muttered while changing his shoes, but the long period of poverty after traveling to this world still made him unable to make the decision to spend money lavishly: "Forget it, I'll just clean it up myself..."
So, leaving it there and waiting for the day Hiroi Kikuri reappeared to let her clean it herself was also a good choice. However, to be honest, Asakura didn't think that fellow would honestly clean the room.
"Knock, knock, knock."
Before Asakura could decide what to do, the sound of knocking came from outside the door.
It should be Hiroi Kikuri appearing.
"You fellow—"
So Asakura frowned and pulled the door open, intending to use a fierce aura to crush the other party's psychological defense first, and then properly deal with her.
As a result, he saw a cute young girl standing at the door with flaxen long hair and honey-colored eyes.
The other party held a small disposable food container in her hand, her face revealing an expression of being startled by Asakura.
Asakura was stunned for a moment, then immediately said: "Sorry, I thought it was a fellow who eats and drinks for free at my house..."
"No, it's okay..."
The girl shook her head gently, seemingly not yet recovered from the timid expression caused by Asakura's aura, which instinctively made one feel a strong desire to protect her.
Asakura showed a very formulaic smile: "May I ask who you are..."
Actually, this question was a bit redundant, because Asakura actually recognized the other party.
"My name is Shiina Mahiru, you can just call me Shiina. I just moved next door today." The girl said in a soft voice.
That's right, the girl was the one Asakura saved from that middle-aged man playing with insects at the Ginza Hotel, and whose relevant memories he had burned away.
"Okay, Miss Shiina, may I ask if there's something you need?" Asakura asked with some vigilance.
"Because starting from today we are neighbors, I wanted to send some homemade Yokan over to build a relationship..." The girl said with some expectation and hesitation. It seemed that because of Asakura's strong appearance, she began to doubt whether her decision was correct.
"Can Yokan be made at home?"
"As long as there are ingredients, it's actually unexpectedly simple." The girl said: "Additionally, if you make it yourself, you can adjust the sweetness. If it's for sencha, it's fine, but if you're drinking something like black tea, you can reduce the amount of granulated sugar to make it taste less cloying."
"Sounds quite good..." Asakura nodded and took the disposable food container from the girl's hand: "Then I'll accept it without being polite... as for a return gift, please wait here for a moment."
"It's okay, I originally came to give a gift, it doesn't matter if there's One Goes Without Return gift for such a sudden event." The girl hurriedly tried to persuade him.
"If it were something else, a return gift would indeed be a bit troublesome, but this is different." Asakura smilingly took the box into the house, and after a moment, he came out carrying a packed box: "If you don't mind, please take these."
The girl took the box, opened it to look, and found it was packed full of many desserts. Moreover, judging from the professional presentation, these were definitely not things ordinary people would casually bake at home to eat, but were definitely products sold in a store.
This made Shiina Mahiru surprised, while she shook her head to refuse: "These are too many, and if calculated by the prices in a cake shop, they are too expensive..."
As she spoke, she tried to hand the packed box back to Asakura.
"You've misunderstood, these are things I brought back from the place where I work. They are leftover goods from today's sales. Even if they aren't eaten, they will be disposed of, so if you must state a price, it's 0 yen."
Asakura shook his head and did not take his packed box back: "Just like your handmade Yokan, to me, this is also a small thing used to bridge the relationship between neighbors. Don't worry too much, just accept it. Otherwise, I can only assume you dislike these as leftovers, and that's why you won't take them."
"...Um, I've already introduced myself, shouldn't the neighbor gentleman also introduce himself?"
"Sorry, I forgot." Asakura showed a smile that didn't reveal a hint of apology on his face: "My name is Asakura Takuma."
"Asakura-san seems very good at this kind of sales talk." The girl said helplessly.
"After all, I've worked in a store." Asakura nodded: "I'll just take it as Miss Shiina praising me."
Shiina Mahiru showed a reserved smile.
Asakura politely returned a smile, but this was only on the surface.
Although the girl appeared to be quite harmless to humans and animals, Asakura could still see that this child's "heart wall" was quite thick.
"By the way, although I didn't mean to pry, Asakura-san's living room feels a bit... um, messy?"
"Yeah, it's that fellow I just mentioned who eats and drinks for free at my house who made it. I'm currently having a headache over how to clean these things up."
Asakura rubbed his forehead and said with some helplessness.
"If you don't mind, let me lend a hand..." the girl said softly: "Just consider it... extra payment for these things." She said as she shook the packed box in her hand.