“Yeah, I had to help someone and it took some time… can I sit here?”
“I’m fine with it, but…”
Violette stood up and tried to find another vacant table, but Yulan stopped her while holding a tray in one hand. The table was wide enough for one or even three more people sitting there. They wouldn’t feel cramped with Yulan joining them.
If Violette was eating alone, she would nod without any hesitation. She often had lunch with Yulan. She could even call it ‘the usual thing’.
But now, not only Violette was sitting here.
Yulan glanced at Claudia’s stiff expression and Mirania’s strained smile. Seeing her evasive gesture, he knew what Violette wanted to say even needing her to voice them. He plastered a friendly smile and opened his mouth.
“May I share a table with both of you?”
“Ah, yeah… I don’t mind.”
“…Sure.”
“Thank you very much.”
Yulan’s voice was cheerful, as if he was in a good mood. It sounded a bit unnatural for Violette, but she stopped thinking about that since Yulan was mostly acting like this when he was with her as well.
Yulan took the seat next to Violette like it was only natural. Having Yulan’s lunch lined up with Violette’s, it became even more transparent that she ate a lot less than him.
“Vio-chan, you’re only eating sandwich again? If you don’t eat properly, you won’t have enough stamina, you know.”
“I look like I eat less because my gender and physique are different from Yulan. I also eat my vegetables properly. There’s no problem with my nutrition.”
“That’s all thanks to Marin-san’s effort, right?”
“……”
“I know it, bull’s-eye.”
But then, Yulan didn’t say anything else and respected Violette’s will. In the end, he was also soft on her.
The friendly exchange that took place in front of Claudia gave him a heavy shock. After all, he usually had complex feelings for both of them. Yet, Violette wasn’t aware of his discomfort, and even if Yulan noticed, he didn’t care.
This area had been attracting attention from the start, but everyone became even more curious with Yulan’s appearance. Even so, only Yulan and Mirania noticed the crowds’ gaze.
There was a thin bizarre sense of tension that made everyone in the cafeteria held their breath. Ordinary people wouldn’t dare to approach them.
“Hey Yulan, call me if you already get a seat… eh, what’s with this lineup?
Even so, there was a lucky insensitive person who jumped in that place.
The person who appeared with a puzzled look was Gia, Yulan’s friend who Violette just met a few days ago. Like his laid-back atmosphere, it seemed like he didn’t understand the situation between the four people with complicated relationships. To be honest, Violette also wanted to ask what was happening here.
“Err, Gia… what is that?”
“Huh? Of course this is my lunch.”
“I’m not asking that…”
Gia casually answered, but what Violette wanted to hear was not that.
Since he came to the cafeteria, it was clear that he wanted to fill his stomach. But Gia’s tray and the things on it were far from Violette’s common sense.
He had one tray in each hand. Meaning, he was holding two trays. There was a pile of wrapped bread there. No, two piles.
Violette really wanted to ask if he planned to eat all of them.
“You buy too many again… I don’t care if you can’t read it, okay?”
“This much is not a big deal.”
“I’m not worrying about your stomach, but the time.”
“It’s still fine, right? We’re just going to be a little late.”
“I’m saying that because it’s not fine, so make sure you won’t make us late.”
Gia took a seat and put the trays on the table. The clanking sound was smaller than Violette had expected. Probably since he was only eating bread, the tray was lighter than how it looked.
The weight didn’t really matter in filling a stomach, so the amount was still abnormal no matter how Violette looked at it.