Rika's Problems

"When morning came, I could hear the birds landing by my window and chatting with each other. As I opened my eyes to the songs of the birds, Yuki's head was on my chest, and she continued to snuggle up to me.

When I checked the time, it was already 09:12 in the morning. Worriedly, I tried to wake up Yuki quietly, as Hori had already been awake for a while.

"Mmm- Just five more minutes, Mom!" Yuki continued to cling to me with a strange smile and drool dripping from her mouth.

"Yuki!" When Yuki heard my voice again, she opened her eyes and looked into mine. She turned as red as a beet from her throat up to her head, and like Hori, she also tumbled out of bed.

"I-I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"I'm sorry for pressuring you last night, Finn-chan." Meanwhile, she got up from where she fell and started putting on her clothes.

"It wasn't a bad experience for me. Thank you, Yuki..."

She was surprised when I addressed her directly by her name, but she welcomed it and continued to talk.

"Strangely, my libido was very high last night, so I jumped on you right away. Thank you for not taking my virginity, Finn-chan. You're very considerate." After Yuki said these words, my face involuntarily turned red.

"No problem..." Without wasting any more time, she got dressed and left my room. After a few minutes of waiting, I also got up to change, removing the soiled sheets from yesterday and replacing them with new ones.

I quickly put the soiled sheets into the washing machine. When I went to the living room in my new clothes, I was relieved to see that Hori was still asleep. At least, he was still resting.

When I asked Yuki if she was hungry, she said she was a little hungry. Meanwhile, since I was also hungry, I went to the kitchen, prepared a simple breakfast, and started eating with Yuki in the living room.

I had to interrupt my meal with a notification sound from my phone. I needed to see what the notification was about, so I opened my phone and saw that it was from an unknown number.

I clicked on it for details and waited for it to open.

"Finn-san. I'm a classmate of Rika's, but we haven't been able to contact her since yesterday. I think Rika is close to you. Can you somehow reach her?"

The email was like this. Yuki wanted to know what was going on.

"A girl from my school has gone missing..." I replied.

"I'm sorry," Yuki said, taking another bite of the toast I had prepared.

I pressed the <Reply > button to respond to the email and started replying to this person, whose number I didn't even know how they found.

"I'm sorry, it's true that Rika hung out with me, but I don't know where she is."

When Yuki looked at her watch, she saw that it was 09:30.

"Oh no. I forgot to go home. Thanks for the meal, Finn-chan." Yuki rushed to put on her shoes to go out.

"Would you like me to drive you to the station?"

"Huh? Well, if it's not a problem, you can come."

Meanwhile, walking side by side with Yuki, we didn't talk much on our way to the station. After a not-so-long walk, I dropped Yuki off at the station, and after waving goodbye, she got on the first train that arrived and started to leave.

I left the station and entered a nearby market to buy some breakfast items. After getting the necessities from the market and heading back home, I saw a familiar face on the grass by the river.

"Rika?" I called out to her, and when Rika realized that I had called her, she continued to look into my eyes expressionlessly.

Something was clearly wrong. Rika should have an energy that never runs out, just like Hinata. But it didn't seem that way. Rika sat there, completely bored with life, her knees pulled up to her chest, watching the flowing river.

Approaching her, I asked if I could sit down.

"You can sit."

After she replied, Rika buried her head in her arms and waited silently for a while.

"What's going on, Rika? Your friends are worried about you, so they found my number."

I was surprised when Rika showed her face for a second. I hadn't noticed from a distance, but there was a slight bruise under Rika's left eye.

"Did you get into a fight?"

"No..."

"Why is your face like this then?"

Rika, who always had bursts of energy, seemed completely disillusioned with life in recent days. It was clear which questions she didn't want to answer. But if she didn't want to say, I couldn't force her.

Just as I was about to get up from where I sat, I heard Rika start to speak.

"My stepfather... my eye looks like this because I argued with him."

Since I was about to get up, I sat back down to listen to Rika.

"Why did you argue?"

"He was trying to convince me to move to another city against my will, and I had finally had enough and got angry."

So, that's why... Well, after all, nobody would be happy to be forced to leave a place where they get along well.

"Finn... you're the only person I can talk to properly. That's why I don't want to leave."

"What will you do?"

"No matter what, I'll never go back to that house."

"Do you have another place to stay?"

For a while, Rika tried to think of a place to stay.

"I never thought about that..." Oi, oi... Well, at least she seemed a bit more cheerful now that she could talk to me.

"Maybe I can stay at your place, Finn?"

"Ha!?" I lowered my face and asked in surprise.

"I'm just kidding. Just kidding!" I have to reject even if it's true. After all, I often meet Hori and Yuki, and having a third girl at home would be too much.

"Most likely, I'll stay at Ai-kyun's place."

"Ai-kyun?"

"Yes, she doesn't go to our school, but she attends a nearby school. However, we've been friends since middle school, and she's a very cute girl." As Rika described the girl she called Ai-kyun, she held her cheeks with her hands.

When our conversation with Rika approached an hour, it was interrupted because I had to go home. I got up from where I was sitting, and before leaving Rika, I gave her my contact number.

Seeing that I had given her my number, Rika's face turned red.

"Heh!? Finn-kun, have you finally fallen in love with me???"

"Whaa? What nonsense!"

"Then why are you giving me your number? Don't only lovers give each other their numbers?"

"Oi... Oi... I'm giving you my number so you can message me to let me know how things are going."

Yare~ Yare~ Anyway, at least Rika seemed to be in better spirits. Without spending any more time to go back, I said goodbye to Rika and left. When I returned home, I noticed that Hori had already woken up.

"Ohayo, Hori-nee." At that moment, Hori was looking at me with an irritated expression.

'I messed up...' After saying that, I closed the door.