Chapter 13: Blushing Norika Harada

Despite the hostile look in his eyes, the middle-aged man still politely introduced himself to Quillan: "Hello, I am Miyuki’s father, Masao Sakurai."

"Hello, Uncle." Quillan bowed to Masao Sakurai and gave his own introduction: "My name is Quillan, and I’m from America..."

"America?" Hearing that Quillan came from America, Masao Sakurai didn’t seem to mind much. He simply repeated the word "America" under his breath before looking back at Quillan to ask, "So, are you a student?"

"Yes!" Quillan nodded. Just then, a middle-aged woman carrying a shopping bag arrived at the front door of the Sakurai residence.

The woman bore a striking resemblance to Miyuki Sakurai. Upon seeing her, Miyuki immediately bowed and greeted her, "Mother, you’re back?"

"Haha, Miyuki’s home! How was your first day of high school?"

Compared to Masao Sakurai, Miyuki’s mother seemed far more easygoing. Before Miyuki could even answer, the woman spotted Quillan standing nearby. Surprised, she gave Miyuki an unexpected glance, and noticing her daughter’s blushing face, she seemed to realize something. With a smile, she said, "Oh, we have a guest! Hello, I’m Miyuki’s mother, Kayo Sakurai. Welcome to our home."

In Japan, women change their family name after marriage to take their husband’s surname. It seemed that was indeed the case here, as both of Miyuki’s parents went by the surname Sakurai.

Quillan groaned internally. He had merely walked Miyuki home—how had he suddenly become a guest invited into her house? He quickly gave an explanation and introduced himself properly. Upon hearing that he was just Miyuki’s classmate who had accompanied her home simply because they were heading in the same direction after school, Kayo Sakurai realized she had misunderstood. Still, she remained exceptionally warm, repeatedly inviting Quillan inside to sit for a while.

"It’s dinner time anyway," Kayo Sakurai smiled warmly, making it impossible for Quillan to find a way to decline.

Quillan could only bite the bullet and agree to go inside for a bit, though he couldn’t help wondering whether Norika Harada had saved any dinner for him...

As they entered the house, Mr. and Mrs. Sakurai walked ahead, whispering to each other in low voices. Kayo Sakurai asked softly, "Masao, it seems our daughter... has grown up! She even knows how to date now!"

"What do you mean?" With a stern face, Masao Sakurai inadvertently raised his voice from their previous hushed conversation: "Are you saying... Miyuki is dating this boy from America?"

Hearing Masao Sakurai’s outburst, Miyuki, who was walking beside Quillan, noticeably trembled. Quillan’s jaw dropped, a look of utter astonishment on his face!

How on earth did this suddenly turn into him dating Miyuki? Isn’t this... a bit too much of a leap?

The mindset of the Japanese was truly... beyond words. Quillan felt he had to leave immediately, or staying any longer in the Sakurai household would only breed more chaos!

Stopping in his tracks, Quillan spoke up with a look of slight embarrassment: "Uncle Sakurai, Auntie Sakurai, I’m so sorry... I just remembered I have something extremely important to attend to tonight, so... my apologies, but I’ll have to visit you both another time!"

Hearing that Quillan was leaving, Kayo Sakurai cast a reproachful glance at Masao, but she didn’t force Quillan to stay either. Instead, she said, "Haha, if you have business to attend to, Quillan-san, go right ahead. But since you promised to visit next time, don’t forget!"

Japanese parents sure are open-minded, Quillan thought with a wry smile. Even after misunderstanding that I’m dating their daughter, they still invite me over to visit again...

Left with a feeling of helpless amusement, Quillan shot Miyuki a resigned look before taking his leave from the Sakurai residence.

Once Quillan was gone, Mr. and Mrs. Sakurai turned around in unison to look at Miyuki. As for that adorably spacey girl, her face had turned so bright red it looked as if it might drip blood—making it practically impossible for anyone not to suspect something!

Stepping out of the Sakurai house, Quillan let out a long sigh of relief. The way the Sakurai couple had looked at him was unmistakably the gaze of parents-in-law scrutinizing a prospective son-in-law, which made him feel thoroughly uncomfortable!

Who would have thought that after coming all the way to Japan to study just to get away from trouble, he would still end up attracting all sorts of messes? Now he was misunderstood by Miyuki’s parents, and next, he had to pretend to be his own homeroom teacher’s boyfriend...

Life really isn’t going to get a single moment of peace!

Especially given that Norika Harada was twenty-three years old—a full six years older than Quillan—making him feel that pretending to be her boyfriend was... a huge loss on his part, even if Norika was a top-tier beauty!

At the thought of taking a loss, Quillan quickened his pace, running toward the address Norika had sent via text message. Norika had felt Quillan was taking far too long walking Miyuki home, to the point of threatening him in the text that if he didn’t hurry over, she would throw all the dinner away!

Quillan was currently tight on money. Although he had borrowed a sum from Ai Oda, that was an advance paid from his own hard-earned labor, so he naturally couldn’t bear to waste it!

Thus, Quillan could only grit his teeth and sprint toward Norika’s apartment, feeling immensely dissatisfied with her threat along the way!

No matter—once dinner’s over, she’s going to get what’s coming to her!

Gritting his teeth, Quillan finally arrived at the apartment building where Norika lived just before running out of breath. Her rented apartment was on the third floor. Climbing the stairs, Quillan pressed the doorbell and waited a moment before Norika came to open the door.

The moment the door swung open, Quillan nearly spurted a nosebleed. Norika was wrapped only in a bathrobe, and the length of it barely reached the base of her thighs, leaving more than half of her attractive figure exposed.

Perhaps not expecting Quillan to arrive at this exact moment, Norika’s face was flushed completely red. After hurriedly pulling Quillan inside the apartment, she immediately dove into the blanket on her bed, stammering out an explanation: "I-I... Hey, Student Quillan, don’t get the wrong idea! I just suddenly realized I forgot to wash all the clothes at home, and the only clean set left is my uniform, which I have to save for school tomorrow..."