My Stepsister is My Ex-Girlfriend - Volume 8 - Chapter 2

Parallel Date in an Exotic World

A Request with No Flare

Joji Haba

I was the kind of person who could only live in the background. I acknowledged that. Even on crowded streets, I didn’t have to try to hide; people just didn’t perceive me due to my appearance or maybe even my aura. Thanks to that aspect of myself, I never had any worries or problems. It was just how I was, and I couldn’t explain it any other way. It was perfect for the likes of me.

Nobody noticed me. I felt comfortable being in everyone’s blind spot. If anything, that was my saving grace. I had no need to be in the spotlight. After all, there were countless gifted people in this world.

There were people who were amazing at befriending others. People who continued to face their shortcomings and grow. People who thought it was as natural as breathing to work hard at all times. People who just radiated charisma and could pull anyone into their orbit...

The spotlight was made for people like them. The more the light shined on them, the more it became obvious that they had their own sparkle to begin with. Even if the spotlight was put on me, it’d just show how empty a person I was. That’s why I much preferred to be an extra in their stories. I wanted to live in the background. That was the thing I wished for the most. Despite that...

“Join me on the student council, Haba-kun,” she’d said.

The person who tried and tried to pull me out of the background the most... She not only shined more than anyone else, but she was also the one person who was most different than me.

The Very Peculiar Trip-Goers

Nothing good could come from me arriving at the meeting place early. No one would notice me, so I couldn’t even serve as a visual landmark for where we were supposed to convene. So, instead, I’d decided to arrive on time and secretly slip in with the other members who’d already gathered. This was my usual modus operandi.

“Oh, there you are, Joe! We’re over here!”

Of course, that only worked when Suzuri Kurenai was not present. Even with all the people from across the world passing through Kyoto Station’s central gate, she immediately found me and waved.

When her clear voice called my name, the others focused their eyes on me, making me uncomfortable. I slightly picked up my pace and walked over to the group gathered by the escalator to the underground level.

It’d been a while since I’d last seen Kurenai-san in casual wear. She had on shorts with stockings—a very mature style which clearly showed off the lines of her legs. On the other hand, she was also wearing a baggy blouse, which made her look more childish. I wasn’t well versed in fashion, but my impression was that this intentional mismatch might have been a display of her personal fashion sense.

She swung the small braid on the side of her head like a pendulum and teasingly smiled. “You’re a little earlier than usual. Were you just that excited?”

“I simply considered that this particular group of people would gather earlier than the agreed-upon time,” I replied in a voice so low that it could’ve been lost in the surrounding hustle and bustle.

Despite that, Kurenai-san laughed in amusement. “I’ll have to thank everyone for being so serious about the meeting time then, since I get to see your face even earlier than expected.” She’d made sure to lower her voice just enough so only I could hear her.

It was always so surprising how she could say these things without even batting an eyelash.

“Hm?” She flashed her emerald eyes towards me, noticing my reaction. I immediately turned away to confirm the members gathered in front of the building, which included Aso-san, Asuhain-san, and the former president, Hoshibe-senpai. So far, just the usual student council.

As usual, Aso-san was clinging to Asuhain-san, who was trying to peel herself away with her usual annoyed look. Hoshibe-senpai was leaning on the railing next to the building directory, playing on his phone while trying to suppress a yawn.

The plan had been to meet at nine, which was a little early, but despite what you’d expect, Hoshibe-senpai was always perfectly punctual. If anything, it was surprising that the remaining student council member, Irido-san, hadn’t arrived yet.

“Apparently, Yume-kun is working to bring other participants here,” Kurenai-san said, reading my mind without my consent. “It took her time to force her little brother out of bed since he’s not much of a morning person. I’m certain she’ll be on time for the train, though.”

Her little brother... Mizuto Irido. I’d never spoken to him directly, but I had a one-sided distaste for that underclassman. Despite claiming not to care about others, he was always moving himself into the foreground when it was important. What I felt towards him might’ve been jealousy or disdain. I wasn’t really sure what it was, but I felt irritated whenever I saw his face.

“Hm? Speak of the devil.”

“Ah! Yumechi! Over here!”

Out of the pedestrian traffic jogged over a girl with long black hair, dragging two people with her. She was slightly out of breath and very apologetically looked at Kurenai-san.

“We’re a little late. I’m so sorry...”

“Don’t be. I told you that you just needed to be here in time for the train.”

I casually walked behind Kurenai-san and glanced at the two people behind Irido-san. One of them was a person I’d seen on the cultural festival organization committee. He yawned, and a sense of tiredness spread across his slender, calm face. Just one glance was enough to tell that he hadn’t fixed all of his bedhead. He really did appear to not be a morning person. It seemed that recently, he’d started growing more popular with the girls of our school, and I posited that this attitude of his might have been one of the reasons why.

The other one was a girl I’d never seen before. My impression was that she was a little uncouth, as she was also clinging to Mizuto Irido. Though she was by no means small-framed, she seemed smaller than she actually was, perhaps because her clinging to him was reminiscent of a fawn’s attachment to its mother.

Her name’s Isana Higashira...I think. This was the girl rumored to be dating Mizuto Irido. This was my first time seeing her, but I was starting to think that perhaps said rumor had stock to it. The reason she looked so frightened must’ve had to do with the fact that there were so many people she was meeting for the first time. A very stereotypical shy aura was emitting from her.

I observed that they’d all come here basically empty-handed. Most likely, the three of them had sent their clothes and other large items ahead to the inn, just as we’d done.

“Oh, Yumechi. Who’re those two?” Aso-san, appearing out of nowhere, asked.

“Right...” Irido-san said, moving to the side. “Let me introduce them. This is my little stepbrother—”

“Maybe in your mind.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said dismissively. “He’s my stepsibling, Mizuto Irido.”

He slightly bowed his head. It was a flawless display of distancing oneself from others. However, that didn’t mean anything to a monstrous socialite like Aso-san.

“Hm...” She carefully examined him. “I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere. Now that I’m gettin’ a good look at you, you’ve got a pretty cute face.”

“Senpai...he’s off-limits, okay?” Irido-san said, extending her arm in front of her little stepbrother as if to defend him.

Aso-san exaggeratedly tilted her head. “Whaddya mean?”

“No using your femme fatale routine on him!”

“That hurts! Do you think I’m some kind of loose girl who goes after any guy that falls in my sights?”

“Aren’t you? I heard you even tried to put the moves onto Haba-senpai when you first met him!”

Aso-san cutely tried to play things off by sticking out her tongue and lightly tapping herself on her head playfully with her fist. I could remember how annoying it was when she’d taken that attitude with me too.

I turned away for no particular reason and then saw Asuhain-san behind Aso-san, glaring at Mizuto Irido with animosity. It made sense. After all, if Asuhain-san were to go after the top student in their grade—Irido-san—with so much vigor, it was only natural that she’d hold the same feelings towards the other person who stood above her in the class rankings—Mizuto Irido. She must’ve seen him as a rival. Most likely the only thing holding her back from picking a fight with him was the fact that he was a guy.

“And this is Higashira-san,” Irido-san continued, introducing the uncouth girl still clinging to Mizuto Irido.

“P-Pleasure to meet your ac...acquaintanth,” she mumbled, bowing her head.

“Nice to meet ya! I’m Aisa Aso!”

“Likewise. Suzuri Kurenai.”

As Aso-san and Kurenai-san returned her greeting, their eyes flung towards Higashira-san’s chest area as if drawn by some kind of magnetic pull.

“Oh... Well, well, what do we have here?”

“The rumors were true, but those are...”

As a gentleman, I had manners and would by no means ever rudely ogle a girl’s chest, but the girls were different. They unreservedly stared at her breasts. Their faces made them seem as if they were experts appraising some kind of antiques. However, the “oohs” and “aahs” that came out of their mouths one after another made them seem like nothing more than idiots.

There definitely had to be a limit to how much they were allowed to stare at another girl’s chest, and they were definitely past it.

“Rude as it may be to interrupt my upperclassmen like this, I believe that it’s impolite to stare at a girl’s chest even if you’re all girls,” Asuhain-san exhaled and said this from behind the two of them.

Kurenai-san and Aso-san turned around. “Apologies. Even I was overwhelmed.”

“Who wouldn’t stare at these?! Everyone would stare! I’d bet anything!”

“Is that supposed to be an excuse?” Asuhain-san said with a tired expression.

In the meantime, there was another case of breast-ogling going on. A certain someone was gaping at Asuhain-san’s chest, which was disproportionately huge compared to her small stature.

“My god...” Higashira-san practically whispered. “A real-life oppai loli...”

“Who’re you calling an oppai loli?!” Asuhain-san immediately snapped, furrowing her brows and closing in on Higashira-san.

Higashira-san’s shoulders quivered. “A-Apologies! The proper term is a ‘shortstack,’ correct?”

“Who cares about the ‘proper term’?! You should know how unpleasant it is for someone you’ve only just met to start talking about your chest, right?!”

“M-My deepest apologies! I’ve only ever been exposed to this imagery in anime and games, so I couldn’t help myself once I was exposed to a real-life salacious body like yours!”

“What...did you call my body?!”

“A-Awa wa wa!”

Asuhain-san’s face had gone red from her anger hitting its limit, leaving Higashira-san to cower in fear and become a machine that could only repeat nonsensical noises. Irido-san immediately jumped in, frantically trying to mediate the situation.

I see. It looks like this girl is the type to say one word too many. Though I was sure that Irido-san would watch over her, I had a bad feeling about what was to come on this trip. During all this commotion, the last two of our group pushed their way through the crowd to us.

“Hey, guys!”

A girl with a ponytail who was about the same height as Asuhain-san practically skipped towards us. Behind her, a tidy guy with bright hair slowly walked over, as if he were her guardian.

“The name’s Akatsuki Minami!” the girl with the ponytail said, stopping in front of Kurenai-san and deeply bowing her head. “Thanks for having us!”

“Ha ha. You’re certainly very athletic, Akatsuki-san. This isn’t our first time meeting, so there’s no need to be so formal.”

“Heh heh heh. Sorry, it’s just a habit I’ve picked up from all the clubs I’ve helped with.”

I wasn’t sure when, but apparently Kurenai-san had become acquainted with this first-year, Minami-san. Kurenai-san was most certainly someone with an abnormally large social circle, but Minami-san might have exceeded that based on how quick she was to adapt.

“Name’s Kawanami. Thanks and all that.” Now the guy, Kogure Kawanami, gave a quick bow.

“Likewise. I’m Suzuri Kurenai. I hear you’re Akatsuki-kun’s childhood friend?” Kurenai-san said through a smile.

“Well, I guess that’s the absolute nicest way of putting it.”

An intimidating smile appeared on Minami-san’s face. “Hm? Hey, Kawanami, what would the worst way be?”

He paused. “Master and slave.”

“Maybe I should teach you who’s the slave in this situation. Hm?” she said in an innocent, but menacing, voice.

“Hey, there are people around today! Stop!”

What would she do if there wasn’t anybody around? At any rate, it was clear as day that those two were extremely close. I suspected that the two of them were very sincere when it came to their interpersonal relations, which was apparent by how they greeted their upperclassmen. When Kawanami-kun went to greet Asuhain-san, though, she took a step back and skillfully avoided him. He certainly did seem like the type of guy that she wouldn’t like, at least on the outside. My guess was that he was just a friendly guy and not nearly as flirty as his appearance might have suggested.

“You’re Hoshibe-senpai, right? I’ve heard ’bout you.”

“Nothin’ good, I bet.”

“Nah, you’re a legend.”

Kawanami-kun’s interactions with Hoshibe-san were completely normal. With Hoshibe-san’s large body and hairstyle, he typically gave off the impression of being a delinquent, which usually scared most people away at first. It didn’t seem like Kawanami-kun was even the least bit nervous, though. Having a guy like him around was honestly a big relief for me.

At any rate, everyone had arrived. Standing behind Kurenai-san, I took a look at the nine people who’d gathered around the building directory. I wasn’t sure when it’d happened, but the group of five first-years that Irido-san had brought and the five student council members had split into their own separate groups.

Irido-san was the center of the group she’d brought, with Kawanami-kun and Minami-san helping to be the core. The remaining two—Mizuto Irido and Higashira-san—were maybe a step away from the rest of them, having their own conversation.

I observed as Irido-san tried to bring them into the group’s conversation... Rather, she was trying to involve herself in their conversation. Whenever she attempted to do so, it seemed that Kawanami-kun and Minami-san would casually try to back her up.

I felt like I was getting a glimpse of what their power dynamic was like. Though I’d thought that the two of them had been in their own world, in actuality, the two of them—Mizuto Irido and Higashira-san—were the center of their group of five. It appeared that the remaining three were trying to involve themselves with them, or perhaps they were being strung along.

They aren’t a normal group of friends, are they? Compared to them, our student council group was very simple. As usual, Aso-san was attaching herself to Hoshibe-senpai. Asuhain-san was giving Kurenai-san looks of reverence, although she’d sometimes shoot looks of animosity at Mizuto Irido, looks of caution at Kawanami-kun, and confused looks at Higashira-san.

So it’s gonna be two nights and three days with these members, huh?

“Thoughts?” Kurenai-san asked, suddenly appearing in my field of vision.

I didn’t flinch at her abrupt appearance. My heart might have stopped beating for a second, but I was used to not showing any of my emotions through my attitude or expression. Kurenai-san’s eyes were filled with curiosity. For some reason, she was abnormally interested in how I viewed others.

“You want me to be honest?”

“Yes.”

“Nine’s a crowd.”

Kurenai-san wryly smiled. “You should be including yourself in that count.”

Can you blame me? It’s not like I can see myself. You’re the only one who can see me, with your high-spec eyes.

What Isn’t Clear

Mizuto Irido

After exchanging pleasantries, we got on the JR Kyoto Line heading west.

Despite it being the first day of the long weekend, we apparently got lucky because it was empty enough on the train for us to all sit in the same area. As soon as I sat down next to the window, Isana quickly plopped down beside me, most likely worried about being left behind. Yume took the seat in front of me, leaving the seat next to her empty.

The other seven of our group, including Kawanami and Minami-san, went to other open seats. The only problem was that the rest of the seats in this car were two-seaters, meaning that one person would inevitably be left out. As a result, the small girl from the student council (Asu...something) was left in the middle of the train, nervously looking around.

“Asuhain-san, over here,” Yume said, beckoning the small girl (Asuhain?) over. When she arrived, she looked at Isana and me with a slightly stiff expression before blinking at the two of us as a sort of greeting and sitting down next to Yume.

She was short-statured, sure, but she gave off a rigid vibe. The outfit she’d chosen was a plain shirt, vest, and jeans. Paired with her short hair, she seemed almost tomboyish.

The biggest mismatch though had to obviously be her voluptuous body that stood out no matter what she did. I could tell from my peripheral vision that Isana’s eyes had locked onto them.

“Uh...I think she already introduced herself earlier, but this is Asuhain-san. She’s on the student council too and a first-year like us,” Yume said, tactfully introducing her.

“Hello...” Asuhain-san curtly said, bowing her head slightly.

I wasn’t really sure what was going on, but it felt as if she was directing some kind of animosity towards me. Hm? Wait. A first-year on the student council... Where have I heard this before?

“Oh.” I suddenly remembered. “You ranked third in test scores.”

Asuhain-san shot to her feet and growled with fury.

“C-Calm down, Asuhain-san! Down, girl!” Yume immediately held her back by the shoulders. “Why’d you have to say it like that?!” she demanded, glaring at me. “I’ve talked to you about her before! Did you forget?!”

“Right. Sorry.”

“Ugh!”

From what I remembered, she viewed the two people above her in the rankings, Yume and me, as her enemies. I honestly couldn’t have cared less, so it’d completely slipped my mind.

“Your days of leisurely enjoying your top spot are numbered!” She was glaring at me as if I’d killed her parents or something.

“I’m going to surpass you in the finals! There’s no way I’m going to lose to someone whose head is filled with thoughts of his girlfriend!”

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“She’s sitting right next to you!” she cried, thrusting her finger at Isana, who’d opened the box of JagaRico that she’d pulled out of her bag.

“She’s not my girlfriend or anything.”

“She’s...not?”

“Yeah, I’m not lying.”

“Would you like a JagaRico, Mizuto-kun?”

“Sure.”

“Say ‘ah.’”

“You are so lying!” Asuhain-san exclaimed.

How rude. Despite how I might appear, I’m an honest guy. Asuhain-san looked at me with doubt as I munched on the JagaRico that I’d accepted reflexively. Yume watched the entire scene with a wry smile.

Neither Isana nor I had any desire to try and correct the misunderstandings that people had about us, but correcting the group we’d have to be around for the next three days over and over would be annoying. With that in mind, I decided to go into detail.

“She’s simply someone who has absolutely no other friends and compensates for that by clinging to me. Honestly, just think of her as a dog.”

“Hey!” Isana exclaimed. “That’s a cruel characterization!”

“There, there,” I said, patting Isana on the head, eliciting a happy purr-like sound from her.

See? Look how calm she is now. Asuhain-san dispassionately stared at us as I moved on to pinch and rub Isana’s earlobes. It seemed that she understood.

“These two are always like this,” Yume said, trying to smooth everything over. “I know how you feel, but they really aren’t dating.”

“So they’re close, but not dating?”

“Yeah...pretty much.”

That about sums it up.

Asuhain-san looked at Isana and me again. “Well, in my opinion, a vague and convenient relationship like that is unhealthy...”

Though it’d just been an instant, I could’ve sworn I felt myself tense up. She was really showing off her rank as third in our year. She was sharp with her words and clearly laid out her reasoning.

She was wrong, though. Isana and I were just friends. There was nothing vague about our relationship...or at least that’s how I felt. If anything, the only vague and unclear thing here was that when I glanced at Yume, I could’ve sworn that she’d tensed up for a second too.

“Um...” Isana, probably not noticing the briefly tense atmosphere, nervously began speaking. “Would you...like a JagaRico?” Nobody but Isana could’ve discerned why she’d chosen that particular moment to ask.

The only thing that I could be certain about was the fact that Isana had suddenly offered Asuhain-san a single stick of JagaRico and that as a result of her random action, the atmosphere got tense for a different reason.

Asuhain-san stared at the offering for a little bit. “No, I’ll pa—”

“Here you go!”

“Mmff!”

Isana had thrust the JagaRico into Asuhain-san’s mouth, leading to her crunching on it like a hamster would.

“Heh heh... So cute,” Isana whispered as she watched Asuhain-san eat.

It seemed that she’d been looking for the right moment after all. Don’t treat someone you’re meeting for the first time like a family pet.

A Bountiful Now

Kogure Kawanami

The little less than an hour’s train ride turned out to be very worthwhile. I was surprised. I’d thought that the student council would be a bunch of stick-in-the-muds, but I smelled something interesting on them. It was especially strong on the Aso girl. I could already tell that she had a thing for the former president, Hoshibe-san, and I’d only just met her today.

She might have acted like she was teasing him for fun, but she couldn’t fool me. I caught glimpses of her genuine embarrassment and joy. She was hiding her love for him behind her femme fatale routine. It was honestly extremely adorable.

“Heh heh...”

“Creep alert.” Akatsuki’s expression as she looked at me made it seem as if she’d seen something gross, but I let it slide.

After all, if she hadn’t invited me on this trip, I wouldn’t have gotten this inside scoop on the student council. This semester’s student council was incredibly popular since it was filled with beautiful girls. If it got out that they had guys they were already into, that might rain on their fans’ parade.

It made sense why the student council members seemed to have a thing for each other though. People naturally gravitated towards people they’re in close proximity to. Then again, there were people like me.

“All right, everyone, we’re getting off.”

We’d stopped at the station before Kobe Station, Sannomiya Station. Compared to Kyoto Station—where when you exited it was like, bam, Kyoto Tower—there weren’t any real landmarks that jumped out at you. The line of shopping buildings wasn’t special; you could see places exactly like them just about anywhere.

That being said, the unfamiliar landscape made it feel as if we’d come to a different country entirely. One of the biggest contributing factors was the fact that the buildings were frickin’ huge. Kyoto didn’t have any of these massive buildings.

“We’re stopping somewhere first before heading to the inn, right?” Akatsuki asked while looking at her phone.

“It’s called the Ijinkangai. Apparently the city was built a long time ago and is filled with Western-style residences.”

“Oh, wow. Western-styled residences? I bet Irido-san would like them.”

“Definitely,” Akatsuki replied. “Apparently there are some rooms made to replicate the ones seen in Sherlock Holmes.” Sounds fun. I read a little of that series when I was a kid too. “Whoa! What the heck?! Look! There’s a ridiculously chic Starbucks!”

“Huh? The screen’s too close. I can’t see. Wait, seriously?!” My eyes widened when I saw the picture that Akatsuki was showing me.

I wasn’t especially into those kinds of chic coffee shops, but it was apparently a renovated Western-style residence turned into a coffee shop. It was almost like the stage for a Western movie.

“Hey, let’s go here! Yume-chan, Higashira-san, and the others should come too!”

“Good idea! I’m gonna teach those homebodies how to order from Starbucks!”

“Yeah!” the two of us yelled in unison, bringing up the energy.

Maybe it was because of how close we’d used to be, but we were perfectly in sync at times like these. Since there’d been a downtick in the number of people who were trying something with Irido-san, we didn’t have to be as on guard anymore, so it felt like we’d begun returning to the laid-back distance that we’d had before.

I kinda liked being next to her. It was comfortable. Also, being able to watch all the cute couples around me was quite satisfying.

You’re Not Allowed to Be Alone

Tohdo Hoshibe

This wasn’t the first time I’d traveled with underclassmen. I was technically the oldest one here, but having Kurenai around made things so easy. I could leave every last detail up to her. Even I was in awe of how discerning of an eye I’d had to bring her on to the student council.

I’d gotten a college recommendation for the sake of keeping things easy, but honestly, I couldn’t deny that I kinda felt like I was in limbo. Obviously, I wasn’t able to match how everyone was desperately studying for college entrance exams since I didn’t have any to take. They were so busy that they didn’t accept any invitation to hang out. Even if I suggested that they take a break to switch things up, I’d just be met with disdain.

As a result, the only people I could hang out with were the members of the student council—an organization that I’d already exited. Honestly, I was pretty pathetic, if I did say so myself.

It’s been a while since I’ve felt this way...like I’ve been left behind. Although, this was nowhere near how I’d felt when I messed up my shoulder.

“Okay, let’s split up into groups.”

It took about fifteen minutes to go from Sannomiya Station to the mountainside by climbing the hill road. As the Western-style residences lined up just barely came into view, Kurenai began passing out tickets to everyone.

“The road’s relatively narrow. It’d be hard to move as ten, so let’s split into groups of two or three.”

Of course, she’d done her homework. It’d probably be pretty easy to split into groups. The student council group had five in it and Irido’s group of first-years also had five. Hm. It might not be bad to just walk around by myself too. I yawned as I weighed my options, when someone suddenly grabbed my hand.

“Senpai!”

“Huh?”

Aso had been the one to grab onto me. I was used to this sight. Putting it nicely, she was girly. Badly, clingy. She seemed somewhat resolute in her frilly, doll-like clothing. She looked up at me with determination in her eyes.

“Would you go with Aisa?”

“Huh?”

She held my arm tighter as if to say she wasn’t going to let go.

Love Isn’t All There Is to Life

Mizuto Irido

As we watched Aso-senpai forcefully drag Hoshibe-senpai away, I heard Yume whisper something.

“She’s...serious too, huh?”

“Serious about what?” I asked.

“Huh? Nothing! Just talking to myself...” she said, forcing a smile to try and play it cool.

But it wasn’t exactly hard to tell what Aso-senpai was thinking with how she was acting. The student council was more flippant than I’d expected. The treasurer and Suzuri Kurenai were also flirting. The only straitlaced person seemed to be that small girl—Asuhain-san. I was just a stranger to her, but I was a little worried that she might’ve had an inferiority complex against them.

“Well, I think it’s best if we leave those two alone,” Kurenai-senpai said before turning to Yume. “You’re going with those four, right?”

“Oh...yes.”

“Then I’ll go with Joe... Ran-kun, what about you?”

Asuhain-san looked between Kurenai-senpai and Yume as if comparing them. “Um...” she said hesitantly. “Then, I’ll go with you.”

“Okay. Let’s go then.” Is she really okay not being alone with the treasurer? But before I had time to speculate any further, Kurenai-senpai spoke again. “All right then, around noon, let’s meet up at the Starbucks a little down the hill. There’s a living room on the second floor that can fit a lot of people,” she said with finesse before she, Asuhain-san, and the treasurer went off.

I noticed that Kawanami was weirdly smiling as he watched them walk away. “I guess we ended up with the usual suspects, huh?”

There were five of us here—me, Yume, Isana, Minami-san, and Kawanami. Well, this is about right.

“It’s all good! We just met these people today. It’d be uncomfortable for everyone if we had to suddenly all be together. Right, Higashira-san?” Minami-san said.

“Mm... So long as Mizuto-kun is present, I don’t believe there’s much of a difference for me.”

“That reminds me—you were talking a lot on the train even though you were with a person you just met,” I said.

“A girl with a body like that overrides any shy bone inside you.”

It’s probably best to stay shy if you’re gonna sexually harass someone you just met. 

“Isn’t that like the pot calling the kettle black, Higashira-san?” Minami said with a slight wry smile.

“Speaking of which, how does that compare to a person who squeezes the boobs of someone they just met, Akatsuki-san?” Yume asked.

“Tee-hee!” Minami-san jokingly stuck her tongue out in a cute way as if to feign ignorance.

I really have to wonder why all the girls around me are so keen on sexual harassment stereotypical of old men.

“So, where’re we goin’?” Kawanami asked, most likely looking at a map of the Ijinkangai on his phone. “There’s somewhere you want to go, right, Irido-san?”

“Oh, yes. There is. It’s called the English House...”

“’Kay, let’s get goin’, then!” Kawanami said. “Looks close.”

“Okay, off we go!” Minami-san said, skipping forward.

We followed after her and as we were walking, I felt Isana tugging on the hem of my shirt.

“Mizuto-kun, Mizuto-kun,” she whispered.

“What?”

“Are you okay? Don’t you...wish to be alone with Yume-san?”

I was wondering what was gonna come out of your mouth. What are you even asking? “Listen, Higashira. Who do you think I came on this trip for?”

“Huh? Y-Yume-san, right?”

“I’m not simping for her that hard. Remember? I’m here so you can get new drawing material.”

“Wha...?”

“I’m the one who invited you. I’m not gonna throw you to the wayside. You’re my responsibility.” Isn’t that obvious?

Isana blinked at me for a little before her expression melted into a smile and she began playing with her bangs.

“Th-Thank you... I won’t act reserved one bit then, okay?”

“As long as you keep it within the realm of common sense.”

No sooner had I said that than Isana leaned her shoulder against mine. This is exactly what I’m talking about, but...whatever. This behavior of hers wasn’t exactly anything new to this group of people.

Though it was true that I liked Yume, it didn’t mean I needed to change how I behaved entirely. I wanted to keep a good balance. I needed to make sure I didn’t repeat my past failures.

Only Beautiful Girls Can Be Great Detectives

We arrived at a place with white walls and exterior louvered shutters on either side of the windows. I’d only ever seen this kind of thing in Western movies, fantasy series, and various anime. It had two floors, and though it was smaller than the kind of Western-style houses that mysteries typically took place in, that was more than enough to make it feel like we’d left Japan and entered some foreign country.

“Whoa!” Minami-san exclaimed. “Can we wear these?!”

Walking inside, we found a rack in the corner with deerstalkers and Inverness capes of various colors—the exact outfit of Sherlock Holmes.

“This is so cute! Yume-chan, which color do you wanna wear?!” Minami-san demanded.

“Uh... Beige would be the usual choice, but red and blue look cute too...”

“What about you, Higashira-san?! The cape you wore at the cultural festival looked really good on you!”

“H-Huh? I-I have to dress up too?!” Isana exclaimed as Minami-san dragged her over.

In the next moment, the girls of our group were fussing over the outfits on the hangers, leaving Kawanami and me to watch them from the background.

“Slightly different color options really get them this fired up? Love that for them.”

“You’re not interested?” I asked.

“I roll with the vibes. If you’re not gonna wear one, then I won’t either.”

“Wow. Thanks for being so considerate.”

“Anyway, I don’t think a hat and coat are anythin’ to write home about, but a pipe’s kinda sick, right? When you think Sherlock Holmes, first thing that comes to mind is him smokin’ a pipe, right?!”

“The mental image of a gaudy guy like you smoking a pipe is kinda lame.”

“Don’t be so blunt! Come on!”

As we had our own inane conversation, Yume and the others returned with Minami-san leading the charge.

Her cape practically fluttered as she made her way towards us. “Heh heh. What do y’all think? Huh?”

She’d chosen the blue Inverness cape. For the unfamiliar, this was a type of coat with a cape that closely covered the shoulders. But on a smaller girl like Minami-san, it definitely looked more like a poncho than a coat. One might have said that it made her look cute, but it felt wrong for me to be the one to say as much.

Kawanami exaggeratedly examined Minami-san. “Hm... Not bad,” he remarked. “You remind me of a grade-schooler in a raincoat.”

“How about you get your eyes checked?!”

“Ow!”

As expected, she kicked him in the thigh. In the meantime, the two girls behind her looked at me restlessly.

“Heh heh heh... Did you wait long?” Yume pompously laughed.

She wore both a very smug expression and a red version of the Sherlock outfit. Isana, on the other hand, wore a white version and was looking down at it and pinching the cloth, seemingly not sold on it.

“What do you think? Nice, right?” Yume asked, confidently showing off her detective outfit. Both the coat and hat were checkered. The nicest way of putting it was that it had a casual vibe, but still, it kind of...

“This is less like Sherlock Holmes and much more reminiscent of Milky Holmes,” Isana mumbled.

I wasn’t really familiar with the series she was referencing, but I got what she was trying to say. For better or worse, the colors really gave the outfits cosplay vibes. The facility had prepared these outfits, so we couldn’t do anything about it, but the clothes didn’t exactly seem elegant or mysterious. Is a mystery-crazy person like you okay with that?

Yume pensively stared at my feet. “You served as a military physician in Afghanistan, didn’t you?”

“Uh, no?”

“Heh heh. I’ve always wanted to try wearing an Inverness cape. Eheh heh heh.” Yume then proceeded to twirl, making the cape flutter about.

The look of satisfaction on her face made her look like a kid playing around. Seeing her like this, compared to her usual serious self was...

“What do you think? Nice, right?” She looked at me expectantly.

That’s not the word I would use. You look cute, if anything. “You look...kinda smart.”

I suppressed my real thoughts and instead went for a safe comment. She broke out in a broad smile.

“Thanks!” she said before heading over to Minami-san, presumably to take pictures.

Maybe it would’ve been better to say what I was really thinking, but I can’t remember how to put my honest feelings into words anymore.

What Only Existed outside of Books

“Wh-Whoa! Th-There are faces in the ceiling!”

“That appears to be Sherlock Holmes looking down... Is that a reference to the Musgrave Ritual perhaps? But if it’s replicating the scene I’m thinking of, then they should be looking down into a cellar, and he shouldn’t have met Watson yet.”

“Oh! This is Sherlock Holmes’s room?! Hm? But there’re two mannequins. Which one is he? Neither is wearing his coat.”

“He wouldn’t be wearing the coat indoors, Akatsuki-san. But moreover, this look is just something that the illustrator made up, and—”

“What’re these...? Bullet holes in the wall? It kinda looks like it spells VR... Virtual Reality?”

“Victoria! You know, the queen of England back then?! He shot that into the wall out of boredom!”

As we walked around on the second floor of the English House, two things became apparent. First, the entire floor had been constructed to recreate the world of Sherlock Holmes. Second, Yume had gone full otaku mode. It was rare for her to so brazenly reveal this side of her since she was usually focused on maintaining her image as a prim and proper honor student. It just went to show how touched she was by both the gothic atmosphere and the recreation of the Sherlock Holmes universe.

But also, if memory served, she was more an Agatha Christie or an Ellery Queen fan than she was a Sherlock Holmes fan. Then again, for fans of mystery and great detectives, Sherlock Holmes pretty much transcended preferences, so it probably didn’t matter.

“Whoa! This is, indeed, a garden!”

As Minami-san had said, it was indeed a garden—specifically a Western-styled garden. There was a flower bed with various kinds of flowers and trees that weren’t native to Japan. All of this was surrounded by a white stone walkway. There was also an area in the back corner that seemed to have been dedicated to recreating a London subway station—Baker Street.

It had a white roof, and underneath it was a bench, like one you would see at a bus stop. In the back of the left side, there was a life-size cutout of Sherlock Holmes in a black Inverness cape. Seeing the bench, Isana promptly went towards it, heaving a sigh of relief as she sat down.

“I guess we should take a break. We did just climb a hill to get here, after all.”

“True. I’m a little tired from walking around too,” Yume said.

No, you’re tired from being as excited as a kid in a toy factory. I joined Yume and Isana on the bench while watching Minami-san go full extroverted tourist and stand next to the life-size Sherlock Holmes.

“Wahoo! Snap a pic of me with Holmes!” she said to Kawanami, who pulled out his phone to take her picture.

“Hm...” Isana brought out her tablet from her bag, started up its camera, and carefully positioned it to take a picture of the garden and the English House in the same frame. Then, she opened another app and took out a stylus from a case before laying the tablet on her lap and beginning to draw.

“You’re drawing here?”

“Just a quick rough sketch.”

In under a minute, the silhouette of the English House appeared on the tablet screen. Then, Isana began embellishing it with other small details without any hesitation.

“Hm... So doing it like this gives it a Western impression...”

When we’d walked around the interior of the building, I’d noticed Isana looking closely at the designs of the walls and ceilings as well as the furnishings and thoroughly taking pictures of them. It was as if she knew exactly what information she needed to draw.

I quietly watched her. I wasn’t an editor or an agent—I was a simple high school student—but I still had an idea of who had talent and who didn’t. The irrational part of me was certain that Isana was definitely the former. Just watching her draw wasn’t enough for that; it was everything, from the way she thought to every little action she took. It all convinced me she was some sort of genius. There’s no age limit for ingenuity. Some people have sparks of inspiration at a young age, while others are late bloomers. Some rack up awards starting in elementary school, and some can represent an entire generation after picking up a pen for the first time as an adult.

In Isana’s case, her genius had most likely started in her first year of high school. It had been a period of time when, as a normal otaku, the passion from happily copying existing works had changed into a focus on improving her own skills. Most likely in the future, she’d look back on this and see this period as the turning point in her life, and I currently had a front row seat to that.

Before I knew it, I couldn’t stop watching her sketch. Simple squares became pillars, windows, verandas, handrails, depth—but suddenly, I felt a hand squeeze mine. They weren’t gripping it tightly or trying to pull it. They’d simply put their hand over mine, leaving a soft sensation. That was enough to startle me, though, and make me turn around.

Yume was looking at her lap, her hand on mine. It was as if she was trying to keep me here. She didn’t say anything or even look at me. The two of us just sat in silence. She didn’t express her thoughts, complain, or even shoot me a glance. Without any of these to base my opinion on, I could only look at her side profile and think that she looked somewhat lonely. Was I about to leave her by herself?

I had no clue. I couldn’t reach a conclusion that quickly. Maybe this had just been another pessimistic delusion of mine. Or maybe, just as my instincts had determined that Isana’s talent was the real thing, my instincts had also taken all the evidence available into account and come to their own conclusion.

Either way, there were two truths within me. One, I definitely liked Yume Irido. Two, I felt progressively charmed by Isana Higashira, but in a completely different way.

Our Good Fortune

Joji Haba

My position in a group was always the same—the very back. It was a place where I was just barely visible from behind the people walking in front of me. Even now, I was walking about two steps behind Kurenai-san and Asuhain-san.

Kurenai-san gently spoke to her underclassman, who still seemed very tense and nervous. Faced with her beloved upperclassman, Asuhain-san could but nod along to whatever Kurenai-san said. Kurenai-san was a genius in regards to the speed with which she could get people to warm up to her, but Asuhain-san was still having a hard time getting used to chatting with her, even after spending half a year idolizing her.

We walked like this for a few minutes before climbing up a narrow path that almost looked like an alleyway. As we did, two tubular towers attached to a white-walled Western residence, covered with tiles that resembled scales came into sight. This was known as the Uroko House, and it looked like it belonged in a mystery novel. Sheesh. Even the name sounds like something straight out of a mystery novel.

Though I’d expected people of the more eccentric variety to be here, the guests seemed to be fairly normal. There were groups of what looked like college students, senior citizens, and tourists already walking through the doors. So, we walked through the gate, waited in the visitor’s line, and entered the front garden after paying to get in.

In the center of the front garden, there was a copper sculpture of a boar, about as big as a large human, enshrined. Kurenai-san and Asuhain-san walked across the straight gravel path and approached it.

“Porcellino...” Asuhain-san mumbled, reading the name on the placard.

“It says that you’ll be blessed with good fortune if you rub his nose,” Kurenai-san said while reading the placard as well. “Take a look. The nose is the shiniest part of the entire sculpture, since people rub it all the time.”

“Oh, it is. It’s almost as if just this part is made of gold.”

“This little piggy may be tired of this treatment. Perhaps it’d be better if we rubbed his nose as gently as possible.”

“I get the feeling that you don’t need any kind of luck or fortune, President Kurenai.”

“That’s not true. I consider the very fact that you came on this trip—no, the very fact that I was able to meet you—as nothing but a stroke of good luck, Ran-kun.”

“I-I, um—”

I had this thought some time ago, but Kurenai-san would still be a heart stealer even if she’d been born male. How could she say such flirty lines with a straight face like that? It was amazing how she could make it sound so sincere too. Yeah...it really doesn’t sound like a joke.

I was repeatedly counting my lucky stars that Asuhain-san had decided to come with us. If she hadn’t, I would’ve been alone with Kurenai-san, and I had no clue what kind of “jokes” she’d come at me with.

After they finished rubbing the statue’s nose a little, I switched places with them. I wasn’t exactly the kind of person who believed in spiritual hot spots, but I’d come all this way. It’d be a waste not to rub it at least a little. I slowly extended my hand towards the paint-chipped nose of the boar and suddenly felt another hand beside mine.

Kurenai-san was smiling at me in close proximity. “Now both of us will have good luck,” she said as our pinkies overlapped. “Hm, I wonder what kind of good fortune you wished for.” She giggled as if she were enjoying my expression.

Several thoughts crossed my mind in that instant, but I didn’t let any of them show. Instead, I looked away from her and did my best to calmly respond.

“Someone as unimaginative as I can’t come up with anything.”

“I see, so you’re just leaving it to fate, then?” Kurenai-san took her hand off of the statue and turned around again. “I promise you the best fortune of your life. Look forward to it, okay?” she sweetly whispered into my ear before chasing after Asuhain-san.

I had no words. It took me a bit to take my hand off the statue and go after the two of them. The sensation of her pinky lingered. Don’t misinterpret things. Don’t misinterpret things. Don’t you dare misinterpret things. I walked along behind Kurenai-san, and for some reason, I could’ve sworn she was intentionally sticking out her pinky.

A Wishless Husk

Tohdo Hoshibe

“There’s a place I wanna go to, Senpai!” Aso said, linking our arms and tugging me forward.

She’d been like this ever since we met on the student council. She was unafraid of being given the cold shoulder and wouldn’t hesitate to try and get close to others. I figured she was the type of person who needed someone to give her attention. I mean, she had declared she entered the student council to be fawned upon. But when she took it a little too far with Haba, Kurenai got pissed at her, so she ended up shifting all her attention to me.

There were a lot of times when I’d gotten fed up with her—actually, I tended to be fed up with her more often than not—but this particular underclassman had a weird attribute to her that made it hard to turn her away. I wasn’t sure how to put it, but at least over this past year, I could tell that she wasn’t helpless. That much was evident from how she worked alongside Kurenai. At the same time, though, there was something about her. I wasn’t sure I could leave her alone.

As soon as I noticed she was constantly hanging around someone like me, it became all too obvious that she didn’t have many friends. What was she planning on doing once I graduated? Maybe I was sticking my nose into her business, but I couldn’t help but worry.

Thanks to that, I’d landed in a position where I remained dependent on the student council. At first, I’d just intended to check in on them, but I ended up going back again...and again, despite wanting it to be more of a onetime thing. Sheesh. I’m starting to envy the former general affairs officer as they study themselves to death.

“I looked this up online, but there’s a spiritual hot spot around here that grants wishes!” she said excitedly.

She was so close that I could almost feel her breath on me.

“Uh-huh,” I said, acknowledging her statement. “That kinda place sounds right up your alley.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I’m gonna take a wild guess and say you were totally into black magic back in middle school.”

“I-I wasn’t totally into it...”

“What’re you shiftin’ your eyes away for?”

Aso, who was obviously looking away because she was flustered, curved her lips cutely into a frown. “I can’t help it! All middle school girls are like that! They all draw magic circles in their notebooks and get hooked on gory horror films! I bet there was a time you wrapped your arm in bandages, right?!”

“Yeah, no. People aren’t like that these days. Anyway...I was always playin’ basketball, so I didn’t have time to do any of that useless ‘look how edgy I am’ crap.”

“It’s so nice how self-aware you are. I bet you had girls lining up to date you,” she said through a sigh.

“Hm. Not sure. I don’t really remember.”

“Aw, come on. You were on the basketball team. All the guys on it are total players.”

“Could you maybe keep your deep prejudices to yourself?”

Aso giggled and looked up into my eyes. “Don’t worry—I know you didn’t have a girlfriend.”

“Why do you know that?”

“Everyone knows, I think. All they have to do is look at you.”

What? Because I look like that much of a dud? Personally, I don’t think I look that bad. Aso wrapped her arms tighter around mine, making me slightly tilt my head.

We climbed the narrow hill to reach the Western-style residence that Aso wanted to go to. It was a weird place with two demon sculptures glaring menacingly while holding garden lanterns. Apparently it used to be someone’s house and was later turned into a museum.

“So what’s here?” I asked.

“Saturn’s Chair.” She then eerily giggled like she was some kind of witch. “It’s a magical chair that will grant the wish of whoever sits in it.”

“Satan? That’s a crazy name to be popping up here of all places.”

“Clean out your ears, Senpai. I said Saturn. You know, the one from the Roman myth?”

“Ah. Gotcha.”

“He’s apparently the god of harvest.” The eeriness was suddenly gone from her voice.

“What, you have some wish you want granted?”

“Heh heh. Yeah. Have a guess as to what it might be, Senpai?”

“Hm... Maybe to get ten thousand retweets and start trending?”

“Do you think I’m some kind of attention whore, Senpai?”

“Uh...duh.”

“Rude! Aisa’s plenty happy just with you watching me...”

“Ha,” I snorted, brushing off her comment.

We entered the building and were immediately greeted by a flight of stairs and rooms on either side of it. The room on the right had shelves filled with strange sculptures that looked like twisted animals. If I’d seen it at night, I might’ve been a little put off. The room on the left seemed to be the one that Aso was interested in.

“That it?”

Deep inside the room, there were two gorgeous red cushioned chairs. Interesting. These chairs definitely feel like thrones. There were very intricate details carved into both the head and armrests. Under the armrest, a baby was carved into the wood. If Aso hadn’t corrected my misunderstanding, I would’ve totally believed this was Satan’s chair.

“The one on the right is for girls, and the left one is for boys.”

“Hm. They don’t look too different.”

“Let’s sit down together at the same time!”

What does the timing of us sitting down have to do with anything? But I didn’t have the time to even ask because she immediately approached the chair on the right.

“Ready? Sit!”

I matched her timing and felt my butt come into contact with the cushion. It was just as comfortable as it looked. The gorgeous cushion perfectly absorbed my weight, but as comfortable as it was, the carvings made it hard to relax. I looked over to Aso, who was sitting straight up in the chair with her hands clasped together.

Oh, right. She said something about a wish. I guess I should probably wish for something too. I took a few seconds to think before heaving a sigh. I couldn’t come up with anything, no matter how hard I racked my brain.

“Senpai, did you make a wish?” she asked, looking over at me, her hands no longer clasped together.

“Yeah.”

“Oh, really? Tell me!”

“No.”

Looking at it differently, I was satisfied with how things were now. But also, I couldn’t help but feel that I was empty. I stood up, since there wasn’t any reason for me to keep sitting there. Following my lead, Aso stood up too and skipped over to my side.

“You’re not too greedy, are you, Senpai? You don’t even spend money in games.”

“Shaddup. What did you wish for?”

“Oh? You wanna know?” Aso asked, grinning mischievously, teasing me. “Okay then, here’s a quiz! What do you think I wished for?”

“To be famous.”

“Nope.”

“To be rich.”

“Nope! Aisa’s much more original a girl than that!” Aso said, purposely puffing out her cheeks. Do girls your age really do that?

“Is originality really that important?”

“Mm... Now that you mention it, maybe it’s a more common wish than I thought. But at the very least, this is definitely a wish that only Aisa would make.”

“Hm?”

“Didn’t I tell you, Senpai?” Her lips curled into a teasing smile and she seductively poked my face with her slender finger. “I know that you’re not popular with girls.”

I furrowed my brow, not able to interpret the meaning behind her words. “Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Yeah, what indeed?” she giggled before cheerfully walking away.

So, she knows that I’m not popular with the girls and she made a wish that only she would make? I stopped my train of thought. Continuing it would’ve consumed more energy than I had within me.

I Don’t Understand My Childhood Friend

Kogure Kawanami

After walking around the Ijinkangai, we arrived at the Starbucks, and it looked just as crazy as it did in the pictures. It made sense that this Starbucks was stylish since it was built from a chic, refashioned Western-style residence. Inside were chandeliers, windows, a fireplace, and lamps—it was like walking around an isekai anime. With the way the tables were set up around the place, combined with the imagery of customers enjoying themselves while sipping on their coffee, it almost seemed like we’d walked into a high-class salon.

In the back of the first floor, I saw the standard Starbucks counter I was familiar with. We ordered there and then went to the second floor to get to the large dining room. Right in the middle of the room was a long table that could seat eight people, and in the back, there was a painting that was as big as a blackboard. On the same wall, there was a huge tower of Western books. It’s almost like they’re not even trying to hide that this is all just for show.

“I-It’s so chic... It’s too chic...” We were all very impressed by the sights, but Higashira’s eyes were practically sparkling.

An otaku like her wouldn’t usually set foot into a trendy spot like a normal Starbucks. A place like this, which seemed straight out of fiction, was probably more her speed.

“Let’s sit by the window!”

“Whoa, even the way the couch is shaped is chic!”

The windows weren’t flat, but angled outwards in an almost fan shape. The sofas were arranged to match that shape, and they even had round tables set up in front of them. I bet a mafia boss would sit in the middle here.

Irido sat at the end of the couch without saying a word, and Irido-san quickly sat next to him. She’s a lot more aggressive than she used to be. Before, it’d felt like she was nervous about even brushing her shoulder against him, but now it seemed that she was perfectly okay with being close enough to count his eyelashes. She was even speaking to him perfectly normally while looking at him.

But with Irido-san taking the seat next to Irido, Higashira was lost. I wouldn’t put it past her to squeeze herself next to Irido. With that in mind, I decided to call out to her...

“Higashira-san, over here!”

...But Akatsuki got to her before I could.

She pulled her by the hand and sat right in the middle of the couch. Higashira nervously agreed, pulled in by the flow of events, and sat to the right of Akatsuki.

I sat across from Irido, to the left of Akatsuki, and whispered in my childhood friend’s ear.

“You on Team Irido now?”

“Whaddya mean? Isn’t it normal to wish for your friend’s happiness?”

Something was up. I was sure that she hadn’t given up on trying to set up Irido and Higashira, but...

“Why don’t you quit worrying about stupid things and enjoy your usual voyeurism?” she said, grinning while shooting me a side glance. “Look, those two are finally by themselves.”

Something’s really fishy... I heard Irido-san giggle. Irido didn’t look straight at her, but instead kept glancing at her while mumbling something. In contrast, Irido-san was leaning forward, seemingly really into their conversation. Their relationship right now was vexing because they both only had an inkling of how they felt towards each other.

And yet I wasn’t watching them—I kept looking to my side. I glanced at the side profile of the shrimp next to me, slurping up her Frappuccino with extra whipped cream. Whether it was when we were friends in elementary school, when we dated in middle school, when we broke up and avoided each other, or when we reconciled and started hanging out again, I always got the feeling that I understood the thoughts behind her actions. This might’ve been the first time that I had no clue what was going on in her head.

How to Look at Myself

Joji Haba

“Oh em gee! This place is so hype! I wanna use it as a film spot!” Aso-san said excitedly as Hoshibe-senpai looked on, ignoring her.

With that, the ten of us reconvened and planned to have lunch here before heading to Arima Hot Springs in the afternoon. Fortunately, the rooms would be separated between the boys and girls, so I’d finally be able to relax. The relations between this group were all over the place, so I felt a little out of place. Plus, if I was with Kurenai-san for too long, I wasn’t sure what she might do.

“Thoughts?”

“Whoa!” I suddenly heard her whisper into my ear, catching me off guard. Looking to my side, I saw Kurenai-san pleasantly giggling.

“Even though you pretend nothing fazes you, your ears are your weakness. It never gets old.”

“I think anyone would be startled like I was.”

“Are you sure you were only startled? I tried to be as seductive as possible with that breath.”

“I was only startled.”

If that’d been enough to make my heart race, then no way would I be able to survive her company in a one-on-one situation. I looked away from Kurenai-san. Asuhain-san had her hands full with Aso-san all over her and wasn’t looking at us at all. Kurenai-san must’ve noticed and decided to take this opportunity.

“So? What do you think?” she asked in a low voice, leaning her shoulder against mine.

Even though it was just her shoulder, it was more than enough for me to tell how soft, light, and dainty she was, and how steeped in that feminine scent she was.

“You’ll have to be more specific,” I said.

“Same question as this morning. What do you think of this group?”

“You expect my answer to change when they were all off in their own groups?”

“You’re a person capable of pulling out impressions regardless, though, aren’t you?”

I think you have me confused for some kind of great detective. If anything, you’d be more suited to that role.

“The group of first-years over there are very...complicated.”

“Oh?” Kurenai-san glanced over at the five first-years sitting by the window.

“It’s obvious that Irido-san likes Mizuto Irido, and he seems fond of her as well. Apparently, the two of them became stepsiblings this year, and while I think that feeling affection for your stepsibling isn’t uncommon...the closeness between them makes it seem more than a simple case of mutual, one-sided love.”

“Oh? And?”

“They definitely have feelings for each other, but it’s like they drew a line and are trying not to cross it. They like each other, but they aren’t sure if they want to date each other.”

I could tell they had feelings for each other but lacked the will to develop their relationship further. But of course, all this was just nothing more than my own speculation from my own observations.

“So then what about her? The one with the big chest—Isana Higashira, I believe.”

“She’s even more of a mystery. She’s so weird that I’m not capable of even beginning to be able to understand her. It’s obvious that she likes Mizuto Irido, but it doesn’t feel like there’s a love triangle between her, him, and Irido-san. If anything, I get the impression that her beliefs and values are fundamentally different from others’.”

“So then what about the other two? From what I can tell, they’re also quite into each other.”

“Not to be rude, but you’re way off base.”

“Hm?”

“The two of them are obviously exes. They’re the type who can still be friends after breaking up.”

They knew each other very well and didn’t have to hold themselves back around each other. But still, I felt that there was a kind of inviolability between them. They were definitely exes. I was confident about that.

“I see... So that can happen even with childhood friends? How boring.”

Anime and manga usually ended once a couple started going out, but in reality, there was a possibility that they’d break up. Of course there was. Thinking about how that could happen to me didn’t bother me one bit, though.

“The only people who can interact with their ex like that are people with incredibly high social skills. Those two probably have a large network of acquaintances at school. As long as they stay on good terms with each other, there’s a lot of advantages.”

“You know...I think you should become a secretary for a politician or something when you grow up.”

“Thanks for your vote of confidence, but I’m not interested in being someone’s fall guy.”

Kurenai-san giggled. Why is it that the cheekier the thing I say, the more she laughs? “But wow, you really do nothing else but observe people incredibly closely.”

“You knew that alread—” Just as I was about to respond, a straw was thrust into my mouth. It was the one from the latte she was holding.

“But you know, maybe you should look at yourself a little more.”

My face was reflected in her doe-like eyes. It was a face like any you’d see. It was as if it’d been copied and then pasted onto my head. It was a face without substance. I understood that and removed my mouth from the straw.

“How...do you suggest I do that?”

“You already know how.”

My face is reflected in your eyes. Though I can’t see myself, I can when I look into your eyes. She was right that I knew that.

Kurenai-san took the straw that had been in my mouth and put her thin lips on it. “Tonight, I’d like you to accompany me somewhere. Alone.”

“Just me?”

“Yes,” she said, sucking on her straw. Then her thin lips curled into a confident smile as she looked at me. “Let’s have ourselves a late-night rendezvous. It’ll be our little secret,” she boldly declared.

Her face was so cool and so bright that I was stunned and couldn’t immediately respond.