"We were just worried. I mean, that's what you do when you see your friend in trouble," I said, trying to keep a poker face.

"Yes, but…" a light flush appeared on Aoi's cheeks.

"Just tell us what's happened. Maybe we can help you," I said.

[Real Hero always worries about his friends! You have been granted 2P]

Seems like I am doing it the right way…

Aoi hesitated for some time, and then slowly nodded. The girl took a breath and, while staring at the table, explained to us what exactly has happened.

Turns out, someone has assaulted the restaurant during the night. They showered the façade of the building with eggs and then broke the window by throwing a stone. What's more, a note was tied to that projectile. It was very simple:

"F*ck off from Aozora!"

From the content of this message, one could easily tell that the entire operation had been done by some nationalistic group. People of Aozora weren't exactly fond of outsiders. They could tolerate Japanese and Westerners (to a lesser extent) but hated the Chinese with passion. The reason for that is the old and bloody history all of the makers of which had already been turned to dust in their graves.

In the morning, Lu's grandfather called the girl and told her about what had happened. He did not really want for her to come back, because in his opinion, it was just a stupid prank, and no one was injured, but Aoi still insisted.

Then came the police…

After telling us the entire sequence of events, Lu somewhat relaxed.

Then the door at the other end of the room opened, and the girl's grandfather came back, carrying several plates of some rice dish. Once he placed them on the table, Murakami immediately started gulping down her portion. She resembled a hungry wolf.

Lu, however, was still looking a little bit lost. She was silently staring at her plate.

Suddenly, I felt that it was it.

The most important moment.

I took a breath, stood up, and placed my hand on Lu's tiny shoulder.

"Ah!" the girl shivered but didn't try to free herself. I gazed into her black eyes and said:

"Everything will be okay. I find the responsible people, I promise." I told her in a deep voice.

For some reason, Murakami started coughing.

"I… I… Thank… you," nodded Aoi.

She was looking embarrassed.

[Ring! You have received 2P for giving a promise!]

[Ring! Aoi Lu's relationship has been improved by 10]

[Ring! You have accomplished your mission and have been granted 5P]

Great!

I smiled in my mind, feeling satisfied with my progress.

Meanwhile, Aoi lowered her head. Suddenly, I heard the sound of the door being open and then some steps approaching. Lu's grandfather was coming back after finishing his talk with the police officer. Aoi's face suddenly turned pale. The girl shivered and tried to free herself from my hand. She moved and accidentally threw her plate into the air…

I could evade it, but…

Ha…

I let the plate smash right into my face.

[Ring! You have received a light burn! 4P Granted.]

…

…

…

…

After I had washed myself, our sudden breakfast ended.

Lu's grandfather, Ming Lu, had taken a floor mop and started cleaning. Of course, his granddaughter started helping. Of course, Murakami and I started helping them too.

Because that's what heroes do.

We washed the floor and façade and put all the pieces of the broken glass into the trash bag. For the time being, a cardboard plate replaced the window.

After finishing with all that stuff, it was already 12.00. There was no point in going to classes anymore. Aoi hesitated for some time, and, after being encouraged by Murakami, decided to play truant today.

Her grandfather was very happy because of it.

"That's good. By the way, Lu, I have prepared a nice Yukarra for you, so maybe…"

"No!"

...Turns out, the Japanese theme that the restaurant was following right now was not its usual look, but just the fade of the week. Lu's grandfather was a very creative person, so every month or so his restaurant was changing its style. Right now, it was Japanese. Not so long ago, it was a maid cafe He even showed us a picture of Aoi dressed as a maid…

There were many such pictures. On one of them, dated 2017, a little girl was in a suit of a blue-white droid — R2-D2.

I felt very strange while looking at that photo. I could remember the release of Episode 7 of Star W*rs very clearly, but for Lu, who was a 16-year's old girl, it was just a distant childhood memory… That made me more aware of the actual difference in our age.

I had a body of a zoomer high schooler.

Nevertheless, my mind was that of a millennial…

Well, maybe not entirely.

Why does it sound like an insult, by the way?..

Anyway, Lu was red while Ming Lu was showing Murakami and me all these pictures. That was good, though. At least she wasn't as pale as death is anymore. The girl was had gotten so invigorated that she even scolded us for skipping school for no reason.

After all that stuff, I peeked into the magazine and saw this:

[Characters:

...

Aoi Lu.

Relationship: 34 (Friends)]

…

[Score: 30]

I've earned many points and almost met the Genre Score requirements for the rom-com.

So, everything was great if not for one little thing.

I still had one more mission to accomplish:

[Solve Aoi's problem: 10P]

Not only do I have to do this mission before finishing the Ark, but I also have promised Aoi to help.

A true main character never breaks his promises.

I had to find the gang that assaulted the restaurant… And do something with them.

Maybe I'll just call the police on them…

Feeling a little bit lost as to where should I begin, I asked to have a look at the stone that was used to break the window. Some detective could have deduced the location from where it was taken… But I'm not a detective, sadly. For me, it was just a rock.

Then, I checked the note that was tied to the stone. It was written with a normal pen, but what really had attracted my attention wasn't the instrument of writing, nor even the content of the message.

It was the handwriting itself.

I recognized it.

And whispered:

"That f*cking bastard…"