The old woman kept staring at the cash being handed to her, but her hand never lifted to take it.
Reiji, whose arm was getting tired, waved it in front of her face and squinted in confusion.
"Helloooo? My arm hurts, take it quickly."
"Ah? Oh, right. Thank you?" she was shaken out of her daze and she accepted it, albeit a little reluctantly. "Are you sure this is ok? I don't want anymore trouble."
"You're worried about this guy? Don't worry, he has enough on his plate as it is, the Yakuza won't be happy with him impersonating them," Reiji reassured her.
The man who had just gotten up and was about to step in to get his money back stiffened instantly. His eyes darted around, and he saw the crowd around them whispering while looking at him.
Their gazes were both mocking and pitying, scaring the man even more.
"Shit!" he muttered under his breath as he ran off immediately, clearly not wanting to waste more time here in case the Yagami Syndicate somehow caught a whiff of this and looked for him.
"See?" Reiji chuckled with a light grin.
The old woman's lips quivered as she let out a laugh as well, pocketing the money that was given to her. But in the next second her face transformed into something a little more stern.
"You have a nasty mouth on you young man, didn't your parents teach you how to talk to your elders?" She said in a lecturing tone, her hands on her hips.
"Wha-?" Reiji's eyes widened, not expecting the topic to change into this so suddenly. But then he caught the teasing look in her eyes and he relaxed slightly.
"Give me a break Granny, is that how you thank people? Didn't your parents teach you manners?" He responded with an equally teasing look.
"My parents are dead you little brat," she glared.
"Yeah, no shit! Otherwise they'd be like 200 years old by now."
"Fuck you! Just how old do you think I am?" She yelled in mock anger.
"Look in a mirror, my parents taught me to never guess a lady's age," Reiji snorted.
"I'm surprised they taught you anything at all, seeing your ridiculous hair style and earrings!"
"Hey! My fashion is amazing, I'll have you know! Many women have asked me out!"
"Pfft, yeah right. Have they heard you talk? They'd go running for the hills if you opened your mouth!" The Granny chuckled.
As they kept bantering back and forth, the crowd that had stuck around a little to see the ending of the conflict looked around at each other in utter bewilderment.
The kid had helped the woman, the woman had been paid for her troubles, so why the fuck did they start insulting each other?
To the outside eye who couldn't read their expressions from a distance, it looked like they were arguing with each other for no reason. Only the two people involved knew that they were just joking around with each other.
"And why are you even here at the market at this time, shouldn't you be in school?" she added on.
Reiji froze in place, a trace of panic flickering in his eyes.
"S-School let out early today, haha that's it!"
"Yeah right! Forget it, come help me pack all of this up. I gotta clean those clothes before the stains stick permanently," she turned around and started pulling the clothes into her sack.
"What the fuck? Why should I help you with that?"
"What do you mean why? You should always help people to completion if you're going to do it in the first place, do I need to teach you everything?" She scowled and handed Reiji another sack.
He stood there for a few seconds looking at the sack, and then he sighed as he moved to put the clothes in it as well.
'Well, whatever. I don't have anything better to do anyway.'
The old woman smiled slightly as she saw him helping her, and then she continued on with her work. In about fifteen minutes, everything was packed up and the old lady closed her stall for the day.
In this time, Reiji had somewhat guessed the sequence of events in the original game. It was highly likely that the man had pushed the rack of clothes into the puddle since Reiji wouldn't have been there, causing everything to be ruined.
This would have led to the Granny packing up quickly so that she could get home as fast as possible to try and salvage any products that she could, ending up in her collapse on the street because of the heat.
He wasn't sure to what extent the man would have caused her problems if he hadn't been there, but Reiji was a little annoyed at himself because even with his help the old woman had to close her shop early as some of the clothes still got stained.
Even though his interference allowed her to save most of the clothes and even earn a bunch of cash as well, the end result will still be the same if he did nothing after this point.
Just as he was thinking this, Haruna's grandmother turned to him and patted him on the back.
"I don't know if I said this already, but in all seriousness thank you for what you did today. Come back another day and I'll give you a few clothes as a gift to fix your god awful fashion sense," she said softly, not forgetting to add another joke at the end.
But as she turned to leave, Reiji's grabbed the multiple sacks from her hand and slung them on his shoulder.
"Some old bat taught me that if I help someone, I need to do it to completion. If you carry all of this in this heat, your rickety old bones might shatter so I'll carry them home for you," he quipped back with a sly grin.
The old woman's eye twitched as she gave his back a hard slap, the sound echoing through the street.
"FUCK WHAT THE HELL!"
"I'm not that old you little shit! But fine, I don't mind having a porter for today," she laughed as she walked off, signaling him to follow.
Reiji just muttered under his breath but shuffled beside her anyway. They walked out of the market, exchanging some light banter, but for the most part Reiji focused on carrying the bags.
They were surprisingly heavy, which confused him a little. He was pretty damn strong, so it wasn't much of a problem for him, but he had no idea how she was able to carry all of this almost every single day.
"How do you bring so much stuff by yourself? Do you have some sort of ancient potion recipe from the medieval ages that gives you more strength? You did live through that age anyway," he mused.
"You really need some beatings, I should have brought my belt. Are you tired already?" She hissed and poked his arm repeatedly.
"Nah, I'm fine. But seriously, don't you have a wheelbarrow or something at least? It's not good for you to carry so much."
"Are you worrying about me? Don't worry, I usually have a wheelbarrow but the handle broke yesterday and it's being fixed so I had no choice but to manage for today," She smirked.
Reiji just nodded, but he was a little frustrated with the 'devs'. Setting such a scenario just so that this old lady would faint, how heartless of them.
***
A few minutes later, they had already reached the apartment where the granny lived. It was a small, dilapidated 4-storey housing where the paint on the walls was peeling and the piping on the side was leaking.
Reiji frowned internally at the site, he had seen this place in the game, but seeing it firsthand made him sad again as it spoke volumes about the circumstances Haruna and her grandmother lived in.
"Come up with me, I'll make some snacks for you," the old woman said, snapping Reiji out of his thoughts.
"Hmm? Oh nah, I don't have time. Plus, you don't need to do all that," he responded.
This earned him another glare as she slapped him in the back once again, causing him to cry out one more time.
"STOP SLAPPING ME YOU OLD BAT!"
"Then shut up and come in, I know you don't have anything else to do, simply skipping classes! If you don't come in, I'll report you to the school's administration, I know where you attend," she threatened.
"Fuck you, why are you blackmailing me! You're not better than that broke man from the market!"
"Yeah, I'm even worse than him! So, are you coming in or not?!" She snapped, but her eyes held a hint of affection that made Reiji hesitate.
If he went in, he knew there would be no way to avoid Haruna. Meeting her for the first time in HER HOUSE? With his reputation?
That was guaranteed to cause a lot of problems, and he didn't want to deal with that headache for now.
But seeing the Granny's earnest 'request', he just couldn't bring himself to refuse.
'Fuck it, I'd have to talk to her at some point anyway for other events, this might earn me some brownie points.'
"Fine..... I won't stay for long though," he gave in with a look of exasperation.
The old lady showed a brilliant smile for the first time, and she walked up the stairs a little faster, her joy evident with every step.
"HAHA GOOD! I'LL SHOW YOU MY COOKING SKILLS!"
Reiji sighed as he looked up.
'Into the Lion's den we go.'