«R-Ren… um… are you… in a relationship?»
It's lunchtime when a third-year girl timidly approaches the cafeteria table where he is sitting and eating and asks him.
Ren shakes his head.
«No, but I'm not looking for one right now. I'm sorry.»
«T-Then… I'm sorry!» she exclaims, her face red with embarrassment. Then she bows apologetically and runs back to her group of friends at a nearby table.
Even though he turns down at least three girls a week, all the girls at Tsugumi High keep hitting on him anyway.
But the last thing he wants right now is a girlfriend. One reason is that taking care of his little sisters leaves him no free time at all. Most of all, he has no intention of getting an innocent girl involved in the dangerous world he is deeply involved in.
«Life's unfair…» Leon complains, sitting across from him.
Usually, Yuzu and Mika have lunch with them too, but today they're gone all day on a school trip.
«Every girl in this school is crazy about you, while nobody gives a damn about me!»
«You know why.»
«It's your fault! You're the one getting all the attention! Ugh… I should start hanging out with friends uglier than me. At least then they'd notice me too…»
«Even if every girl in the world liked you, it wouldn't make any difference. You're so lazy you'd refuse to fuck them just because having sex would be too much effort,» Charlotte cuts in, sitting at the same table.
Charlotte DuFleur is a fourth-year girl with red hair tied in a long ponytail. Although she transferred to Tsugumi only recently, she's the only girl who has managed to get close to Ren, to the point where she eats lunch with them every day.
And yet, there's no hint at all of romance between the two of them. They talk and joke like two guys would, and that's one of the reasons Ren enjoys her company.
Still, Yuzu and Mika have never approved of the almost immediate closeness that formed between her and their brother.
But behind their friendship, there is something more. A secret of Charlotte's that only he knows.
«And they say French girls are polite and refined…» Leon grumbles.
Charlotte shoots him a murderous glare.
«I am polite and refined, you piece of shit! Say that again and I'll shove that sandwich down your throat and choke you with it!»
Ren bursts out laughing. He's gotten used to the constant bickering between Leon and Charlotte, but he still finds it amusing.
Even so, that still isn't enough to shake off the growing sense of unease inside him.
He keeps staring at the dark screen of his phone, waiting for it to light up with a message. A message that still hasn't come.
Every day at noon, as punctual as clockwork, Iris lets him know that she's finished her morning shift, and at 2 p.m. she tells him when she's about to start working again.
He received the noon message, but it's already 2:30 p.m., and the second one still hasn't come.
Something feels wrong.