Mash-Up: Anything for Money

Hakuto stretched lazily as he walked out of the library.

"Work and all that can wait. What if Ginko comes looking for me to play shogi again tonight…?"

With that thought in mind, he headed toward his home.

"Right, tomorrow's Saturday, isn't it…?"

Meanwhile, inside the library, Utaha sat by the window, watching Hakuto's departing figure.

A fleeting trace of melancholy appeared on her face. Only now did she realize just how much misunderstanding Hakuto had endured over the past few months.

But the very next second—

"Pfft! Hahaha!"

It's in the bag! It's in the bag!

"That blonde tsundere… no, no, that blonde loser. Since you love playing three twos with two jokers so much, I'll gladly take this win for myself."

As an observer of this whole situation, Utaha naturally knew about certain hidden truths behind it all.

But why should she say anything?

Her mood instantly lifted, and even her steps felt lighter.

As for that momentary look of sadness?

That was just her sympathizing with Hakuto's situation, of course.

…Not that it lasted even a second.

…

Meanwhile, at Eriri's house—

"Eriri, what are you doing?"

Sayuri stood at the doorway of her daughter's room, puzzled by the complete mess on the floor.

In the middle of it all, Eriri was on all fours, her butt sticking up as she rummaged through something.

"Looking for something…"

Eriri pulled out a dust-covered golden plush doll from under her bed and tossed it into a cardboard box.

Then, without hesitation, she bent down again to continue searching.

Sayuri slowly approached and glanced into the box.

Inside, alongside the plush bear Eriri had just thrown in, were a bracelet and a sketchbook.

"If I remember correctly, Hakuto-kun gave this to you, didn't he?"

Sayuri picked up the bracelet. Even though it was covered in dust, its deep blue color still shimmered faintly.

From what she recalled, Hakuto had gifted this to Eriri on her birthday, and it was even handmade.

The materials weren't expensive, but the thought and effort were undeniable. She distinctly remembered Eriri being quite fond of it back then.

But judging from the thick layer of dust… just how long had it been left forgotten in some corner?

A few moments later, more items found their way into the box.

Sayuri took a quick glance—without exception, every single one of them was something Hakuto had gifted to Eriri.

"What's this? Are you reminiscing about the good old days with Hakuto-kun?"

Sayuri teased, but she had already more or less figured out why her daughter was digging these things out.

Looking at the dust-covered gifts, she sighed helplessly.

Even if it were just presents from an ordinary friend, there was no reason to let them gather dust in some corner, right?

Her daughter was really…

"Reminisce? I didn't dig these out for something that pointless."

"Then… is Hakuto-kun asking for them back?"

Sayuri asked tentatively, though she highly doubted Hakuto would do something so petty.

"No, I'm throwing them away."

"Right, I figured as much—wait, what? You're throwing them away?!"

That would have been better than letting Hakuto take all these things back himself.

"Eriri, can you tell Mom the reason?"

"The reason?"

Faced with her mother's question, Eriri was momentarily stunned.

Yeah… Why was she throwing all this stuff away?

All she knew was that when she was lying on her bed earlier, Hakuto's words from this afternoon kept replaying in her mind.

"What about the gifts I gave you?"

"Do whatever you want with them. They're an eyesore. I don't mind if you throw them away."

At that thought, a sudden heat rushed to Eriri's head. 

She had immediately sat up, turned her entire room upside down, and started gathering everything Hakuto had ever given her—ready to toss them all out.

But now, with a bit of calm reflection, she realized she didn't really have a reason to do this.

Throwing away all his gifts just because her pursuer had given up? What kind of logic was that?

And yet…

Eriri looked at the dust-covered presents in the box, a complicated mix of emotions swirling in her heart.

Had she ever truly cared about the gifts Hakuto had given her?

Shaking her head, she crouched down in front of the cardboard box and picked up the golden plush bear. She gave it a few pats with her hand.

"Cough, cough… so dusty."

The cloud of dust made Eriri cough violently, making her realize just how long this plushie had been left under her bed.

"I think this was the one Hakuto-kun gave you last year, wasn't it?"

"I know… he even threw it in through the window back then."

Staring at the dirt-covered plush bear, Eriri's thoughts drifted back to a year ago.

At the time, she had been feeling down for days over some trivial matters. The moment she got home from school, she had locked herself in her room.

She remembered that it was around three in the afternoon. 

She had been sitting on her bed, working on her manuscript, but no matter how long she stared at the blank page, she couldn't bring herself to draw a single stroke.

Then—

A golden paper airplane suddenly flew in through her window, landing right at her feet.

Eriri picked it up, walked over to the window, and looked outside.

Down below, standing under the blazing sun, was Hakuto, grinning up at her. In his hands, he held a golden plush bear.

"It finally made it in."

Hakuto smiled, about to say something more—

But before he could, Eriri pulled the window shut with a loud thud and even closed the curtains for good measure.

"Eh? Hey, hey, isn't that a little too heartless?"

Ignoring Hakuto's complaints, Eriri sat back down at her desk and continued working on her manuscript.

The paper airplane? She casually tossed it into the trash bin.

That day, Sayuri had been out, so there was no one at home to open the door for Hakuto.

And so, time passed. Eriri never reopened her window, nor did she even peek outside to check on him.

Every now and then, the sound of something hitting her window interrupted her focus, irritating her even more.

Finally, she opened it—

And there he was, still standing there. 

At his feet were several identical golden paper airplanes.

So those were the culprits making all that noise.

"Shiratori Hakuto! Do you ever stop being annoying?!"

"Sorry, Eriri, but you weren't responding, so this was the only way I could get through to you."

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