"Thank you so much for breakfast Mrs. Takagi." Ai said sweetly.
"Oh it's no bother, and please call me Yuki next time you visit~"
Ken's mother was all smiles as she saw off Ai at the front door of her house. It was clear from how she acted that she quite liked this female friend of her son's.
"W-Well we're off now." Ken said, all but dashing out the door.
He grabbed the pink bicycle on the ground and carried it over his shoulder once again. Ai came out not long after and caught up to him with an amused expression on her face.
"Wow your mom is so lovely." She said, stretching slightly in the sunshine.
Ken let out a grunt, "Yeah, to you."
"Pfft hahaha"
Once again, Ai began to giggle to her hearts content. It seemed as if she took some pleasure in his misery this morning, especially the embarrassing talks over breakfast. She felt as if she got to know a lot more about Ken.
Hearing her laugh brightened his mood, allowing him to forget a little of the pain he had gone through.
Once the laughter died down, Ken spoke. "She's not usually on a mission to embarrass me. I kind of woke her up last night by accident." He admitted.
"Ohhh, I see. It all makes sense now."
"You must never wake a woman up during their beauty sleep, unless you're prepared to face the consequences that is." Ai said matter-of-factly. Yet she still held an amused expression.
Ken nodded, committing this to memory. It was helpful to know that it wasn't just his mother that suffered from such an affliction.
"Do you also get cranky without enough sleep?" He asked.
Ai was thoughtful for a moment, but responded truthfully. "Oh definitely, I might even be worse than your mom." She sent a wink his way.
"Haha, well remind me never to wake you up early then." Ken blurted out.
Silence.
Both Ken and Ai stopped in place and stared at each other with wide eyes.
'What the hell did I just say?'
'When would I ever get the chance to wake her up to begin with?'
'Argh you idiot!'
Ken's mind raced as he quickly averted his gaze from Ai's, feeling stupid for saying something so outlandish.
Ai blushed, not expecting such words. However she was able to quickly recover, since it was probably just a slip of the tongue. Ken's words never felt intrusive or sleazy and he was always respectful.
Out of consideration for Ken she quickly changed the subject, allowing the conversation to return to normal.
Around 30 minutes later, the duo arrived outside Ai's house. The place was a cozy two story building with the bakery on the ground floor, of which the delicious smell of baked goods would make any passerby stop.
Ken who had only had a few bowls of rice this morning suddenly felt his appetite rouse from the delicious smells.
A man in his early forties wearing an apron and sporting a black and gray goatee walked out of the doors and onto the street, stopping when he spotted the duo of Ken and Ai.
He was average height, but his shoulders were wide and he had muscular arms. If it weren't for the bakers apron, one might think that he was a construction worker or something.
"Ai, did ya deliver those pastries? What took ya so long?"
His voice was gruff and he talked with an accent, however one could hear the care within his tone.
"Yes dad, I delivered them but Mrs. Masuda gave me money even though I told her you said it was free." Ai replied, not yet introducing Ken for whatever reason.
"Argh that damn woman, she's more stubborn than a mule."
It was only now that he seemed to notice the tall Ken who was conspicuously still holding the pink bicycle over his shoulder.
"Who the hell are you? And why are ya carrying a pink bike man?" He looked at Ken in confusion.
"Dad!" Ai was shocked with how rude her father was being. This was the reason why her mother was the one who dealt with customers while her dad was stuck baking all day.
"What? Isn't it weird for a grown man to be carrying a pink bike over his shoulder?"
'Oh sh*t! Can he see my real age?'
Ken panicked, seeing the eagle eyes of the gruff man in front of him seemingly penetrating through his very being.
Ai frowned, moving in front of Ken and puffing her cheeks in annoyance.
"Dad! This is my classmate Ken. He's helping me bring back my bike after I crashed."
Ken suddenly felt warm inside noticing how Ai had stuck up for him, even twisting the story so as not to place any blame on himself.
"Classmate!?"
Ai's father's face morphed into one of shock, at least for a few moments before a look of understanding crept onto his features.
'Ah, he must have had to repeat the first year of High School a few times.'
"Nice. To. Meet. Ya. My name is Tetsu Koyama." Ai's father extended his hand for a handshake.
Not understanding what possible conclusion Ai's father had come to, nor why he was speaking so slowly to him, Ken grasped the hand and shook it. The first thing he noticed was how soft and delicate the mans hands were, the next was the vice-grip like strength behind it.
'What is this disparity!?'
Even with his A- strength, Ken had a hard time not succumbing to the crushing of his hand. However, since Ai was standing near him, he did not want to look weak in front of her.
Donning his best pokerface, he locked eyes with Tetsu the entire time.
Fortunately for him, a beautiful woman walked out of the bakery and cleared her throat gently, getting the attention of the man in the apron.
Tetsu stiffened, feeling his body turn cold. He quickly took back his hand and bowed towards Ken a few times before running back into the bakery without a word.
Ken blinked a few times, unsure of what he had just witnessed.