Chapter 321 - THE STRANGE FRIEND

The moving truck arrived at the Yamazaki home at half-past two. While the large vehicle was impressive, the most eye-catching thing was the flamboyant yellow sports car in front of it. The loud engine caused the twins to rush out to see who had come to visit.

Their mother followed while rebuking them for behaving like bumpkins. The reproach was extremely ironic to the rest of the family, but no one said anything. They feared that Nanase would turn her eyes if they dared to say something.​​

Still, the loud engine followed by the sound of a large truck drew their attention. Therefore, the entire group ended up going outside.

When they stood on the entrance steps, Akira saw Hina stepping out of the sports car and striking a cool pose. The sight made her want to dig a hole and bury the supposed right-hand woman.

Naturally, she was not the only one who thought that Hina was strange.

The whole family looked at the scene with mixed feelings and without words. All the while, the tall girl in all black clothes with short spiky hair, dark shades and random jewellery stood outside the house as if waiting for applause.

"Who is she?" Sayaka finally asked.

Even though they had both been at the restaurant the previous night, Hina had not appeared before the Yamazaki family. She and Akira had talked in the kitchen before parting ways. It seemed that Hina had a plan to appear before the Yamazaki family after all.

"She is my friend. She is the one who helped me coordinate with moving some of my things to Mountain Ridge." Akira responded.

Sayaka turned her eyes to the large truck and wondered about its contents. However, before she could ask Akira, she saw her daughter going to meet with her strange friend.

Hina took off her sunglasses and looked at Akira like she was waiting for praise.

"You look like a clown," Akira said coldly.

"How can you say that? I decided on this look after hours of consulting online on how to look intimidating to prevent bullying." Hina said with a clutched fist. "I know that you are being low-key right now, but everyone needs to know you have support."

Akira touched her forehead and rubbed it lightly. It was unfortunate that she could not say anything because Hina's heart was in the right place, even though it looked like her brain had checked out of the building.

"So, what's with the large truck? I told you that I wanted most of my things in my apartment." Akira turned her attention.

"Don't worry. You know my mind is always in tune with yours. I only picked a few important things from your house in Tokyo. You would hardly notice. I placed them in the apartment after furnishing it just the way you like." She praised herself with a superior smile.

"And the truck?"

"It is not my fault. Hide was taking care of some business, and he accidentally let out that you were moving to Mountain Ridge. Before long, everyone knew about it." Hina betrayed her fellow Musketeer immediately.

Akira nodded with understanding. She had been wondering how that nag had found out she was moving in the first place. She would never have thought it would be Hide.

"Anyway, they were all afraid that you would forget about them, so they might have sent a few things in a truck to the restaurant. I had no choice but to accept. The point is almost everything in the vehicle is a forget-me-not gift." Hina looked pitifully at Akira.

"Fine, fine." Akira paused. "Would you like to meet my new family?"

Hina nodded vigorously.

She felt like her happiness was complete.

As Akira introduced Hina to the people, Maria led a group of people to help the driver unload the items from the truck. Seeing things moving on smoothly, Sayaka led back the group to the house.

"It is so nice to know that Akira has friends in Mountain Ridge." She said after the group sat down.

"Well, we all work in Elements. When the boss decided to open another branch here, we decided to follow." Hina explained with a glance at Akira.

"Oh, so that is how it is." Sayaka was enlightened.

These details explained the restaurant and the reason Akira could use the facilities without worry.

"What is Elements?" Nanase asked.

"It's a restaurant. Akira works there." Sayaka said.

"Oh, you are going to keep working even after becoming a rich miss?" Nanase expressed her shock in her usual crude way.

Hina wanted to respond with a few harsh words, but Akira put her hand on her arm, stopping her from speaking. Akira had paid attention to the loud woman and knew that Nanase was not done speaking.

"That is the way of a real woman. True security comes from knowing that you can still earn your keep even if everything around you falls apart." Nanase added with a laugh. "Let me tell you. I still operate a large rice farm which inherited from my grandmother."

She pointed at Isami. "If this man dares to act unscrupulously, I will burn down his house, cut off his little brother and go back to live on my farm."

The words were followed by a loud laugh from Nanase while the rest of the group had an awkward expression. The men looked a little sick as their faces lost colour. As for Hina, she was completely speechless. It was a good thing that Akira had stopped her from saying anything.

"Oh, is there a moving-in party? Why weren't we invited?" A smooth and refined voice spoke out.

Immediately, everyone in the room became quiet and sombre.