Suruga-Ya SS: Her Popular (?) Boyfriend

"...Hmph."

"What's that stony-faced look for…?" Amane asked. "Oh, you ironed for me? My bad. I put it off and was gonna do it after I went shopping. Sorry you had to see me being so sloppy, you really helped me out here. Thanks."

After returning from a round of grocery shopping, Amane put everything he bought into the refrigerator and found Mahiru sitting in the living room with a stern expression, ironing board out. Next to her was a stack of ironed and neatly folded clothes, so she must've seen the clothes draped over the sofa and ironed them before him.

Amane apologized, reflecting on the fact that he should have ironed before going out on his little shopping trip, but Mahiru looked at the pile of folded clothes as if telling him, No, that's not what I meant…

Amane wondered if there'd been anything strange mixed in with the clothes, but since he had dried his underwear in his bedroom, that shouldn't be the case. "Then what are you…?" But… once he looked at the clothes once more, it finally clicked. "Ohh, I see. So that's what it was."

What Mahiru had been staring at was Amane's work uniform. Naturally, Amane had washed it amongst his other laundry, but Mahiru was able to touch his uniform because of it, which was something that she hadn't been allowed to do before. For Mahiru, who wanted to see Amane in his work outfit as soon as she could, this was tantamount to dangling a carrot in front of her while all she could do was wait.

"Sorry I haven't shown it to you yet, but could you please wait a little longer?" Amane requested once more. "I'd like to get used to wearing it first."

"I-I know that; I can wait properly, you know? B-But Kido-san saw you wearing it, didn't she?" Mahiru asked.

"Well, that's because she came to check up on Kayano."

It seemed that Mahiru had caught wind of Ayaka seeing him in his uniform, and she looked slightly dissatisfied at the thought.

"Th-That's so unfair… I want to see you wearing it as soon as possible, too…," she said petulantly.

"Kido did apologize for that. She said that she felt bad for seeing it first despite how much you were looking forward to it."

"I know it cannot be helped. But I still feel fidgety whenever I think about it… In the end, I'm worried that you'll become popular with the ladies, Amane- kun."

"Why would that happen…?" Amane asked, confused. He was unsure as to why Mahiru reached such a conclusion just because she wanted to see him while he was working.

"B-But… after Kido-san went to the café, she came up and said, 'Fujimiya- kun's so popular, isn't he~?' and then she laughed…"

"You're telling me that's her idea of being popular…?"

It was questionable whether being cared for by an aunt or uncle two or three times his age marked the onset of his popular phase, especially when they had much more life experience than he did.

"B-Besides," Mahiru continued. "I heard you were popular with young girls, too."

"You're talking about a girl as tall as my waist, you realize? If you're that worried, why don't you come and see for yourself?"

"I-It's okay. Erm, I'm just feeling uneasy on my own…," Mahiru sounded a little hesitant. It's a good thing for my boyfriend to be popular, you see."

"Why're you saying something so obvious?" Amane remarked, and Mahiru's face began to heat up in a blatant manner.

"I'm narrow-minded when it comes to things like this, aren't I?" she whispered, throwing herself into his chest. Thinking that her childishness was endearing, Amane silently welcomed her with a smile.